Scandinavian Studies Courses Fall 2022

(4 credits)

• MTWRF 1:20 – 2:10 pm          Instructor: Ida Moen Johnson

Course Description: This course introduces students to the Norwegian language through the skills of speaking, listening, reading, and writing. The course covers fundamental grammar concepts and topics including language and identity, education, food, and daily life. Instruction will emphasize communication and understanding as well as the intersections between language and culture.

Prerequisites: None.

(4 credits)

• MTWRF 12:05-12:55 pm

Course Description: For beginning learners of Swedish; emphasis on proficiency through speaking, listening, reading, and writing, and on communication in cultural context.

Prerequisites: None.

(4 credits)

• MTWRF 11:00-11:50 am

Course Description: This is an introductory course in basic Danish, so we will be working with the foundational skills of language acquisition, i.e. speaking, listening, reading, and writing. The most important aspect of learning a new language is using it, and we will base our strategy on the communicative language approach.

Prerequisites: None.

(4 credits)

• MTWR 9:55 – 10:45 am

Course Description: For beginning learners of Finnish; emphasis on proficiency through speaking, listening, reading, and writing, and on communication in cultural context.

Prerequisites: None.

(4 credits)

• MTWR 2:25 – 3:15 pm          Instructor: Ida Moen Johnson

Course Description: In this intermediate Norwegian language course, students will complete the Sett i gang curriculum and read a novel. This course continues the language sequence’s focus on the core skills of speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Topics covered include work and economy, health and welfare, and advanced grammar skills. Instruction will emphasize communication and understanding as well as the intersections between language and culture.

Prerequisites: SCAND ST 102.

(4 credits)

• MTWRF 11:00-11:50 am          Instructor: Benjamin Mier-Cruz

Course Description: Reading of selections from Swedish writers, grammar review, and conversation.

Prerequisites: SCAND ST 112.

(3-4 credits)

• MWF 11:00 – 11:50 am          Instructor: Dean Krouk

Course Description: Norwegian prose, poetry, and drama read in the original. Norwegian used extensively as classroom language

Prerequisites: SCAND ST 202.

(3 credits)

• TR 1:00 – 2:15 pm          Instructor: Benjamin Mier-Cruz

Course Description: Prose, poetry, and drama read in Swedish. Taught extensively in Swedish

Prerequisites: SCAND ST 212.

(3 credits)

• TR 11:00 am – 12:15 pm          Instructor: Claus Elholm Andersen

Course Description: This class will help you to become even better at speaking, writing, reading, and listening to Danish.We will read authentic Danish texts and discuss current issues to help expand your knowledge and understanding of Danish.

Prerequisites: SCAND ST 222.

(3 credits)

• TR 1:00-2:15 pm          Instructor: Scott Mellor

Course Description: Nordic Mythology, Scandinavian/Folklore/Medieval/Religious Studies/Literature in Translation 342 will give students an introduction to Medieval Nordic Mythology and put it in a European context. The course will use literary works written by Christians; the Kalevala, the mythological and heroic poetry of the Edda and a few of the Icelandic legendary sagas, as well as a few early Christian texts; and look at the material culture that help us understand this volatile time.

Prerequisites: Sophomore standing.

(3 credits)

• TR 1:00-2:15 pm          Instructor: Dean Krouk

Course Description: How have the wartime issues of occupation, resistance, collaboration, neutrality, and the Holocaust been addressed in Nordic culture? During the Second World War, Norway and Denmark were invaded and occupied by Nazi Germany, while Sweden remained neutral, and Finland fought against the Soviet Union. Resistance movements developed in the occupied countries, but some Norwegians and Danes collaborated with the occupying power and were tried for treason after the war. After gaining familiarity with the basic history of the period, we read texts of various sorts (essays, novels, diaries, poetry, memoir) that were written during the war years and since. By analyzing films and works of fiction, in addition to historical writing, we learn how the Second World War and the Holocaust have been represented and remembered in the Nordic countries. 

Prerequisites: Sophomore standing.

(4 credits)

• MTWRF 1:20-2:10 pm          Instructor: Ida Moen Johnson

Course Description: This course introduces students to the Norwegian language through the skills of speaking, listening, reading, and writing. The course covers fundamental grammar concepts and topics including language and identity, education, food, and daily life. Instruction will emphasize communication and understanding as well as the intersections between language and culture.

Prerequisites: Sophomore standing.

(4 credits)

• MTWR 2:25 – 3:15 pm          Instructor: Ida Moen Johnson

Course Description: In this intermediate Norwegian language course, students will complete the Sett i gang curriculum and read a novel. This course continues the language sequence’s focus on the core skills of speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Topics covered include work and economy, health and welfare, and advanced grammar skills. Instruction will emphasize communication and understanding as well as the intersections between language and culture.

Prerequisites: Sophomore standing.

(2-4 credits)

• MTWR 9:55 – 10:45 am

Course Description: Continuing Finnish offers students the opportunity to review and practice the fundamentals of modern Finnish as presented in the first-year Finnish language series (Scand 131 + 132). Students work to expand their ability to speak Finnish actively and to understand the spoken language, both in its informal variety (“puhekieli”) and its formal variety (“kirjakieli”). Reading and writing skills are practiced with materials that help deepen the introduction to Finnish culture gained from more elementary Finnish courses.

Prerequisites: Sophomore standing.

(3 credits)

• TR 9:30 – 10:45 am          Instructor: Kirsten Wolf

Objectives: The course has a linguistic purpose and is designed to give students a reading knowledge of Old Norse through the study of Old Icelandic grammar and selections of Old Norse-Icelandic texts.

Content: The course begins with with an introduction of Old Icelandic grammar through the study of Kenneth G. Chapman’s Graded Readings and Exercises in Old Icelandic. Next, students move to Michael Barnes’ A New Introduction to Old Norse. Part I: Grammer. At the same time, students read, translate, and analyze a selection of literary texts in Anthony Faulkes’ A New Introduction to Old Norse. Part II: Reader with the help of Part III: Glossary and Index of Names.

Learning outcomes: By the end of the course, students will have a basic understanding of Icelandic phonology and grammar with a focus on nominal and verbal inflection. (For a more in-depth understanding of verbal inflection and also syntax, it is recommended that students move on to 408 Old Norse II). Students will have sufficient vocabulary to be able to read and understand basic texts in normalized editions and access more challenging texts with the help of a dictionary.

Prerequisites: Sophomore standing.

(1 credits)

• T 4:00-5:15 pm             Instructor: Scott Mellor

Course Description: Scandinavian Crime and SciFi Tv shows have long been popular both there and here. This class will look at the history of Scandinavian Crime and SciFi genres and watch several Crime and SciFi series and look at their development, what they teach us about the Scandinavian countries and how they have been influenced by and influenced the genre in the US.

Prerequisites: SCAND ST 251, 261, 271, or graduate or professional standing.

(3 credits)

• TR 9:30 – 10:45 am

Course Description: Coming soon!

Prerequisites: Sophomore standing.

(3 credits)

• TR 2:30 – 3:45 pm          Instructor: Thomas DuBois

Course Description: In a medieval Europe in which most written communication occurred in Latin, the Celtic areas of the British Isles (particularly Ireland, Scotland, and Wales), as well as the Norse-speaking societies of Iceland, Orkney, Shetland, and Scandinavia were distinctive in producing large bodies of vernacular literature. Stories of local saints, pre-Christian heroes, and momentous local feuds or battles became narrated in unique ways that reflected local values and cultures. This course examines the medieval vernacular literatures of the Celtic and Norse worlds from a comparative perspective, looking at the ways in which writers in the two areas thought about themselves and each other on the remote periphery of medieval Christendom and at the edge of what was then the “known world.”

Prerequisites: Sophomore standing.

(4 credits)

• MWF 12:05 – 12:55 pm          Instructor: Claus Elholm Andersen

Course Description: Hans Christian Andersen’s fairytales are known all over the world. He wrote The Little Mermaid, The Snow Queen, The Ugly Duckling and many, many more. This course to going to familiarize you with the works of Hans Christian Andersen, with an emphasis on his fairy tales. During the course, we will read and analyze some of his best-known fairytales, but also look at a few texts from some of the other genres he mastered. Our readings will include the biographical traits of his stories, but will primarily focus on his mastery of the genre and his complex narrative method. We will also talk about the time and place in which Hans Christian Andersen wrote his fairytales – Denmark in the 19th century ­– and discuss how this influenced his stories. Though his stories/tales might seem simply, they are complex literary artifacts. This course will argue that Andersen should be considered one of the great authors of the 19th century, not just an author of simple fairy tales for children.

Prerequisites: SCAND ST 202, 212, 222 or graduate or professional standing.

(3 credits)

• TR 11:00 – 12:15 pm          Instructor: Kirsten Wolf

Objectives: This is a history of writing in Iceland ca. 1150-ca. 1700 on the basis of manuscripts as principal sources for Old Norse-Icelandic.

Content: The course builds on 407 Old Norse I and 408 Old Norse II and must be regarded as a continuation of the two courses. It provides a survey of the development of the Icelandic language from the 12th century until a couple of centuries after the Reformation and introduces students to the field of codicology. The history of writing and writing materials are treated in detail. The development of writing in Iceland and Norway from the introduction of Christianity (1000) until around 1700 will be examined on the basis of exercices in transcribing medieval manuscripts. Students will be trained in dating manuscripts on the basis of paleographic and orthographic features and introduced to the methods and principles of editing a medieval text.

Learning outcomes: By the end of the course, students will be able to transcribe an Old Norse-Icelandic manuscript and present both a diplomatic and normalized edition. They will be able to identify a variety of scripts (Carolingian, Carolingian-Insular, Gothic Formal, Gothic Formal Half-Cursive, etc.). They will also know how to date a text on the basis of paleographic and orthographic features.

Prerequisites: SCAND ST/MEDIEVAL 407 or graduate or professional standing.

(3 credits)

• M 2:35 – 5:35 pm          Instructor: Liina-Ly Roos

Course Description: The studies of Nordic cinema have often focused on specific filmmakers, their unique styles and approaches to filmmaking (what it means to watch and make a film), and how they explore universal topics, such as love, intimacy, melancholy, identity. As scholars of Nordic cinema also emphasize, social commentary has been important for many of the Nordic filmmakers. In this graduate seminar, we will watch and discuss a variety of films by Nordic filmmakers, such as Gabriela Pichler, Aki Kaurismäki, Anja Breien, Ingmar Bergman, Lars von Trier, Liselotte Wajstedt, Laila Pakalniņa, Ahang Bashi, and Jonas Poher Rasmussen. We will read and talk about the changing meaning of and different approaches to film authorship, problematize the dominance of white male directors as auteurs, and discuss the increasing archive of films made by people of color, women, LGBTQ+, and Indigenous filmmakers in the Nordic region. We will also read theoretical discussions that address different approaches to the encounters between the viewers, the films, and the filmmakers (by scholars like Linda Rugg, Laura Marks, Laura Mulvey, Thomas Elsaesser and Malte Hagener), in order to discuss the multiple ways in which these Nordic films establish intimacies both on screen and beyond. The discussions and analyses will also include the significance of Nordic cultural contexts for the films and film authorship. All of the films will have English subtitles and graduate students with no previous knowledge of Nordic culture/cinema/languages are welcome to join.

Prerequisites: Graduate or professional standing.