I work with pre-Christian Scandinavian mythology and religion (Old Norse or Viking Age mythology and religion). I take an interest in the oral background to the medieval Icelandic literature, its ecological context, and contemporary applications such as Neo-paganism and the use of the Scandinavian past in politics. I also research Scandinavian witchcraft and occultism.
DANE 1010 - Beginning Danish 1-DILS
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2018
Provides practical, communicative language skills for use in a variety of situations. Examines basic language structure and grammatical forms. Introduces students to Danish history and contemporary culture and society.
DANE 1020 - Beginning Danish II-DILS
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2019
Provides practical, communicative language skills for use in a variety of situations. Examines basic language structure and grammatical forms. Introduces students to Danish history and contemporary culture and society. Department enforce prerequisite: DANE 1010 (min grade C-).
DANE 2010 - Intermediate Danish I - DILS
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2019
Building on the skills that the students have acquired in Beginners Danish I-II, this course offers additional reading, writing, speaking and verbal comprehension. Students will learn to conduct business at a government office, talk about holidays and festivals and discuss conservation and environmental protection. They will read and write small texts, becoming exposed to differences between written and spoken Danish.
DANE 2020 - Intermediate Danish II - DILS
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2018 / Spring 2020
Offers extensive reading, writing, speaking and verbal comprehension skills in Danish. The students will discuss Danish history, cultural differences and stereotypes, politics, social groups, learn how to write letters and email in Danish, read short texts and write short essays on the above topics.
IAFS 3631 - Arctic Society and Culture
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2018 / Spring 2019 / Spring 2020 / Spring 2021 / Fall 2022 / Fall 2023 / Fall 2024
Investigates representations of the Arctic in literature, art, cinema, media and scientific, and geographical writing over the past century and a half, spanning material from North America, Britain, continental Europe and the Nordic region. Interpretive approaches include ecocriticism; post-colonialism; literary studies; indigenous studies; visual, film and media theory; Cold War studies. Same as SCAN 3631.
SCAN 2202 - The Viking Age
Primary Instructor
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Summer 2018 / Fall 2018 / Spring 2019 / Summer 2019 / Fall 2019 / Spring 2020 / Summer 2020 / Fall 2020 / Summer 2021 / Fall 2021 / Fall 2022
Examines the social, political, technological, spiritual, and artistic background to the Viking Age, asking how Scandinavian society functioned in the Viking Age, why the Scandinavian expansion occurred, and what its lasting effects have been on the global stage. Taught in English.
SCAN 3202 - Old Norse Mythology
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2020 / Spring 2021 / Summer 2021 / Summer 2022 / Summer 2023 / Fall 2023 / Summer 2024
Presents Old Norse mythology as it is represented in medieval Nordic literature. Discusses strategies for analyzing Old Norse mythology as medieval literature that reflects social narratives in Scandinavia in the period 500-1300 AD. Interprets and contextualizes Old Norse mythology in relation to its codification in literature. Students will gain insight into the historical development and the complexity of transmission of Old Norse mythology in medieval literature and its subsequent reception in the global public. Taught in English.
SCAN 3203 - 19th & 20th Century Nordic Literature
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2018
Examines the Nordic region's influence on social realism, expressionism, and postwar literature, including such themes as women in society, nature and industrialization, and identity and angst. May include works by Ibsen, Strindberg, Dinesen, and Nobel Prize winners Lagerlof, Hamsun, Undset, and Lagerkvist. Taught in English.
SCAN 3204 - Medieval Icelandic Sagas
Primary Instructor
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Summer 2018 / Summer 2019 / Fall 2019 / Summer 2020
Advanced introduction to medieval Icelandic saga with readings in the family, outlaw, skald, and legendary sagas as well as the main scholarly approaches to this unique literature. Topics include honor, blood feud, fate, sexuality/gender, oral composition, and legend. Taught in English.
SCAN 3206 - Nordic Colonial History and Legacy
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2023
Examines Nordic colonial enterprise and the relationship between the Scandinavian center and colonial peripheries from the Arctic to the Caribbean, Africa, and India. Studies colonial and postcolonial cultures, and postcolonial criticism and theory. Taught in English.
SCAN 3302 - Witchcraft and Magic in Scandinavia
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2021 / Fall 2021 / Spring 2023 / Summer 2023 / Summer 2024 / Fall 2024
Investigates witchcraft and magic in Scandinavian cultures from the Viking Age to the Burning Age. The class examines witchcraft and magic in the broad perspective of Scandinavian cultural history, tracing traditions of magic from the earliest sources in runes to film and literature in the modern era. We will investigate the styles of magic and cultural attitudes to it in Iceland, Norway, Denmark, and Sweden.
SCAN 3303 - Norse Paganism: Contemporary Nordic-Germanic Neopagan Movements in America
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2024
This course introduces to the contemporary neopagan movement in North America known as Norse paganism or �satr�. It surveys the historical development of the movement, its attachment to Scandinavian pre-history, and the major socio-cultural components of its identity constructions. We will investigate the movement's attitudes and conceptualizations of modern Nordic-based spirituality in light of gender, race, ethnicity, and its ecosocial ethoses. Recommended prerequisites: SCAN 3202 and SCAN 3302.
SCAN 3631 - Arctic Society and Culture
Primary Instructor
-
Spring 2018 / Spring 2019 / Spring 2020 / Spring 2021 / Fall 2022 / Fall 2023 / Fall 2024
Investigates representations of the Arctic in literature, art, cinema, media and scientific, and geographical writing over the past century and a half, spanning material from North America, Britain, continental Europe and the Nordic region. Interpretive approaches include ecocriticism; post-colonialism; literary studies; indigenous studies; visual, film and media theory; Cold War studies. Same as IAFS 3631.
