Scandinavian Area Studies

10/08/2019

https://channel.louisiana.dk/video/johan-harstad-fiction-is-closer-to-the-truth

Watch the praised Norwegian author on finding truth in fiction.

07/06/2019

In Denmark’s elections, the far right crashed and socially-conscious parties surged, says global politics professor Michael Strange

28/05/2019

A list of the six magazines we love best for their content and aesthetics, including Kinfolk, Oak the Nordic Journal, The Gentlewoman, Gather Journal and Darling.

27/05/2019

Watch the acclaimed writer on the invisibility of middle-aged women in literature – something which she has set out to change: “I decided to describe her.”

22/05/2019

There are too few women in leading roles at Danish companies, and change in the area is currently too slow, Minister for Gender Equality Eva Kjer Hansen has said.

05/03/2019

Find out what weather patterns and temperatures to expect in Denmark as well as when the best time to view the Northern Lights in this handy guide.

02/03/2019

What is the one thing foreigners need to know about working in Denmark? Share your experiences with other readers.

01/02/2019

As cultural assimilation intensifies, lifelong residents feel increasingly isolated in a place once known as a haven of tolerance

24/01/2019

NEW ELECTIVE: “Danish hygge” – a cultural concept and a lifestyle brand

In the past two centuries, the notion of hygge has been a proclaimed marker of national identity in Denmark. Defined as striving for social harmony that takes place in settings devoid of status-competition and calculated behavior, hygge has remained a popular self image, although criticized by progressive intellectuals. Despite disagreements on the subject, academic scholars consider hygge a persistent cultural feature that reached a climax in recent decades by resembling the Danish welfare state’s normativity oriented towards ideals of proximity and comfort, of an inner substance of things and honest functionality.
However, these ascribed qualities and assumptions are currently being challenged by immense international media attention. A vast number of popular books on “Danish hygge”, many published in Britain in 2016, regard it as the distillation of a perfect lifestyle associated with a widespread interest in digital detox. “Danish hygge” is presented as a “whole way of life” characterized by tranquility and simplicity as rendered in photogenic displays showing an idealized, “instagrammable” Denmark of the imagination.
This course considers these different aspects of “Danish hygge” as both a canonized cultural concept and as a utopian lifestyle brand. We will be focusing on how “Danish hygge” has been and continues to be framed verbally and staged visually by means of powerful narratives and aesthetic features. We will further discuss continuously how this construction of a somewhat fictitious national Danish identity might in fact have an impact as if being real.

24/01/2019

When I arrived in Denmark, my dating experience was nil.