Scandinavian Studies Courses Fall 2025

(4 credits)

• Lecture 001: MTWR 8:50 – 9:40 am
• Lecture 002: MTWR 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)

• Section 001: MTWR 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)

• Section 1: MTWR 12:05 – 12:55 pm

Instructor: Helen Durst

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)

• Lecture 001: 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)

• Lecture 001: MTWR 11:00 – 11:50 am

Instructor: Liina-Ly Roos 

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

Prerequisites: SCAND ST 112.

(4 credits)

• Lecture 001: MTWR 2:25 – 3:15 pm

Instructor: Helen Durst 

Course Description: Description to come!

Prerequisites: None

(3 credits)

• Lecture 001: MW 2:30 – 3:45 pm

Instructor: Scott Mellor

Course Description:

The World of the Sagas is a course that will give you an introduction to medieval Scandinavians and the Vikings and will help you explore Medieval and Scandinavian studies as fields as they relate to image and narrative. This course approaches medieval Scandinavia along historical lines, and its backbone is texts from medieval sources. However, most of us come to the topic of the medieval Norse, Scandinavians, or Vikings through gaming, movies, TV shows, or books which give us images and ideas of the people and era before we even reach the classroom.  This class will start with those images and investigate where they come from and how they mould our lay ideas. We will then explore what scholars know and do not know about: the legendary history of early Scandinavia, the consolidation of the Scandinavian kingdoms, developments both at home and abroad during the great period of Viking expansion, and finally the conversion of the medieval Scandinavians to Christianity, which wrote finis to the Viking adventure. Within this historical framework, attention is devoted to the pre-Christian religion, to the system of writing – the celebrated runes, and the literature including the Icelandic sagas and the mythological and heroic poetry of the Eddas.  As we learn about the medieval Scandinavians, we gain a greater understanding of ourselves and the human condition.

The Sagas of Icelanders;
Historical Atlas of the Vikings;
Jesse Byock’s The Prose Edda;
Jackson Crawford’s The Saga of the Volsungs.

Prerequisites: None

3 credits and part of a FIG

(3 credits)

• Lecture 001: TR 4:00 – 5:15 pm

Instructor: Helen Durst 

Course Description: An intro level class for those who would like to know more about the Nordic or Scandinavian countries and cultures: primary focus is on Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Iceland, with awareness of the Faroe Islands and Greenland. There will be an emphasis on Nordic approaches to sustainability, handicrafts, and folk culture as ties into language and literature for those who may be interested in pursuing Scandinavian Studies.

Prerequisites: None

(3 credits)

• Lecture 001: TR 1:00 – 2:15 pm

Instructor: Dean Krouk 

Course Description: Scand St 251 er en historisk innføring i norsk litteratur fra det moderne gjennombrudd (1870-1890) til etterkrigstiden (1945-1965). Vi leser et skuespill av Henrik Ibsen (Et dukkehjem, 1879) og en samling av kortere tekster (noveller og dikt), samt noen tekster av norske samtidsforfattere. Kurset inkluderer mye diskusjon og forutsetter aktiv deltakelse og kontinuerlig lesning av pensum gjennom hele semesteret.

Prerequisites: Scand St 202 or cons. inst.

(Taught in Norwegian)

(3 credits)

• • Lecture 001: MWF 1:20 – 2:10 pm

Instructor: Susan Brantly

Course Description: “Readings in Swedish Literature” is both a language course and a literature course. Students should have the equivalent of two years of Swedish language and the course counts as a fifth-semester language course. We will be reading and discussing short literary texts from the 19th and 20th Centuries. All instruction is conducted in Swedish and students will improve their speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills. Required assignments include papers, translations, and presentations. Course readings will be provided.

Prerequisites: SCAND ST 212 or consent of instructor.

(3 credits)

• • Lecture 001: TR 1:00 – 2:15 pm

Instructor: Claus Anderson 

Course Description: Description to come!

Prerequisites: None

(3 credits)

• Lecture 001: TR 11:00 am – 12:15 pm

Instructor: Ida Moen Johnson

Course Description: Astrid Lindgren’s Pippi Longstocking is an icon of childhood in the Nordic countries and beyond. Pippi has come to symbolize the Nordic “autonomous” child par excellence. Takes up a diverse selection of books and films that represent both the common ideas of the Nordic Child, as well as various elaborations of and exceptions to the idealized norm. Examines a number of the prevalent forms and themes in Nordic children’s culture, such as nature, play, school, sexuality, death, loss, and storytelling.

Prerequisites: Satisfied Communication A requirement or graduate/professional standing

(“Meets with”  LITTRANS 320)

(3 credits)

• Lecture 001: TR 2:30 – 3:45 pm

Instructor: Scott Mellor 

Course Description: Nordic Mythology, Scandinavian/Folklore/Medieval/Religious Studies/Literature in Translation 342, is a course that will give you an introduction to Medieval Nordic Mythology and put it in a European context. Scandinavian Mythology will introduce you to the belief systems of early and medieval Scandinavia in a European Context and take a look at the literary works written by Christian Scandinavians about their former Religion. We will look at the Kalevala, the mythological and heroic poetry of the Edda and the Icelandic legendary sagas, as well as a few early Christian texts.

Robert A. Segal Theorizing about Myth (online, purchase, and at college library);
Jesse Byock trans., The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki (purchase and at college library);
Patricia Terry trans., Poems of the Elder Edda (online, purchase, and at college library);
Anthony Faulkes trans., The Prose Edda (online, purchase, and at college library);
R.G. Finch,  Volsunga saga (online and at college library);
Diane Wolkstein and Samuel Noah Kramer Inanna: Queen of Heaven and Earth (online, purchase, and at college library);  

Prerequisites: None

3 credits Soph standing

(4 Credits)

• Lecture 001: MTWR 8:50 – 9:40 am
• Lecture 002: MTWR 1:20 – 2:10 pm

Instructor: Ida Johnson 

Course Description: Description to come!

Prerequisites: None

(4 Credits)

First Semester Danish for Grad Students

• Lecture 001: MTWR 12:05 – 12:55 pm

Instructor: Helen Durst 

Course Description: Description to come!

Prerequisites: None

(2 Credits)

Arctic Literature in Norwegian

• Lecture 001:

Instructor: 

Course Description: Description to come!

Prerequisites: None

(3 Credits)

Readings in Norwegian Lit- Grad

• Lecture 001: TR 1:00 – 2:15 pm

Instructor: Dean Krouk

Course Description: Description to come!

Prerequisites: None

(3-4 credits)

• TR 11:00 am – 12:15 pm

Course Description: Course description to come!

Meets with SCAND ST 436.

(3 Credits)

• Lecture 001: TR 9:30 – 10:45 am

Instructor: Kirsten Wolf 

Course Description: 

Objective: The course is intended to give students an overview of the development of the Scandinavian languages (Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Icelandic, and Faroese) from Proto-Germanic to modern times, focussing on phonological and morphological changes. The emphasis will be on Proto-Scandinavian (ca. 200-ca. 600), Common Scandinavian (ca. 600-ca. 1050), and Old Scandinavian (ca. 1050-1350).

The course is a combination of lecture and seminar. Following a general introduction to and a brief survey of the various methods of study, the development from Indo-European to Proto-Germanic will be considered. Proto-Scandinavian, Common Scandinavian, and Old Scandinavian will be treated in detail with emphasis on phonological and morphological changes. The characteristics of the five individual Scandinavian languages will be examined.

By the end of the semester, students will have a good overview of the development of the Scandinavian languages and understand the main differences between East Norse (Danish and Swedish) and West Norse (Faroese, Norwegian, and Icelandic).

(1 Credit)

• Lecture 001: T 4:00 – 5:15 pm

Instructor: Scott Mellor 

Course Description: Description to come!

Prerequisites: None

(4 credits)

• Lecture 001: MW 8:00 – 9:15 am

Instructor: Benjamin Mier-Cru 

Course Description: Description to come!

Prerequisites: None

(3-4 Credits)

• Lecture 001 (online)

Instructor: Susan Brantly 

Course Description: The 19th-Century generated some of Scandinavia’s best-known writers. The course begins with Romanticism and looks at Norwegian folktales, Esaias Tegner’s popular Viking tale (Frithiof’s Saga), and Hans Christian Andersen’s world-famous stories, to name but a few highlights. From there, we move to the Modern Breakthrough, perhaps the most important period in Scandinavian literary history, during which writers were urged to take up current issues for public debate and let science be their inspiration. Internationally famous Nordic writers did just that in classics such as Ibsen’s A Doll’s House and Strindberg’s The Father. We will trace how these influential social debates about class and gender took literary form. As the century comes to a close, some writers, such as Nobel laureates Knut Hamsun and Selma Lagerlôf, react against the rationality of the Modern Breakthrough by turning to literary Decadence and Neo-Romanticism. This course on 19th-Century Scandinavian Literature is being taught entirely online.

Prerequisites: Junior status or higher and 2 years of Scandinavian language. 4th Credit requires a substantial research project.

(3-4 Credits)

• Lecture 001: TR 11:00 am – 12:15 pm

Instructor: Ida Moen Johnson

Course Description: In Henrik Ibsen’s famous play, The Wild Duck (1884), the animal is often understood as a symbol for the drama’s damaged characters. But is the duck just a metaphor, or is the duck a duck, too? As for the humans in the story: are they people, animals, or both? In this course, we will study Nordic texts that center the animal, from ugly ducklings and charismatic reindeer to Moomintrolls and hobbyhorses. We will also learn from the fields of animal studies and posthumanism, whose lessons are critical at a time when human-made climate change threatens all forms of life on Earth. Through fiction, film, and theory, this course tackles questions such as: Can art created by humans ever be “true to the animal?” How might literature and film help us challenge humanist hierarchies? And, what can Nordic texts teach us about the possibilities and limits of being an animal—including the human kind?

Prerequisites: Sophomore standing

(Counts as LAS credit (L&S))

(3-4 credits)

• TR 11:00 am – 12:15 pm

Course Description: Course description to come!

Meets with SCAND ST 404-004.

(3 Credits)

• Lecture 001: TR 4:00 – 5:15 pm

Instructor: Liina-Ly Roos 

Course Description: The Nordic countries are known for being some of the most egalitarian and sexually open countries in the world. In this course we will explore how they have achieved this reputation, focusing on a variety of sources since the Moral Debates of the 1880s. We will discuss literary works, films, art, television, and critical articles to explore the ways in which Nordic societies and cultures perceive and understand gender and sexuality. We will also complicate some of myths regarding sexuality in the Nordic countries and explore how gender and sexuality are intersected with race, ethnicity, social class, and the rhetoric of the welfare state.

Prerequisites: Sophomore status or higher.

(4 Credits)

• Lecture 001: MWF 8:50 – 9:40 am

Instructor: Claus 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. This course is for Scandinavian Studies majors.

(3 Credits)

• Lecture 001: TR 11:00 am – 12:15 pm

Instructor: Kirsten Wolf 

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

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 12^th 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.

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.

(3 Credits)

• Lecture 001: M 2:25 – 5:00 pm

Instructor: Dean Krouk 

Course Description: This seminar introduces graduate students to foundational ideas and contemporary theoretical texts within the interdisciplinary field of memory studies. The goal of the course is for students to become familiar with the key terms and concepts needed to undertake their own research projects within various regions and subfields of the humanities. Central ideas considered in the seminar will include collective memory, trauma, postmemory, history and memory, forgetting, multidirectional memory, and the politics of memory in contemporary societies. Participants will read authors and theorists such as Aleida Assman, Pierre Nora, Cathy Caruth, Marianne Hirsch, Dominick LaCapra, Astrid Erll, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Svetlana Boym, Christina Sharpe, and W. G. Sebald. Although it is offered in the Scandinavian Studies graduate program and will include some Nordic examples, both medieval and modern, the seminar is taught in English and open to graduate students from other programs.