The spring semester of 2015 is off to a wonderful start! Three new seminars are being offered in the Department: Dr. Ursula Lindqvists’s SCA-360: Nordic Colonialisms; Dr. Kjerstin Moody’s SCA-344: Nordic Poetry, as well as her SWE-344: Ingmar Bergman. Our department congratulates Dr. Glenn Kranking on his promotion to a tenured faculty member at Gustavus Adolphus College. Dr. Ursula Lindqvist has recently completed her book manuscript Roy Andersson’s Songs from the Second Floor: Meditating on the Art of Existence, for the University of Washington Press’s Nordic Film Classics series. Dr. Kjerstin Moody recently had an article about and excerpt of her translation of Lukas Moodysson’s book-length poem Vad gör jag här published in the special edition of Scandinavica: An International Journal of Scandinavian Studies dedicated to Moodysson’s work.
Our students, as well, and as usual, are up to wonderful work. This spring we will have nine majors graduating with a degree in Scandinavian Studies, and we look forward to listening to them present on their diverse research in the field at the Annual Senior Majors Colloquium on Thursday, May 14th, from 5:00-9:00 p.m. in the Student Union.
Our department is looking forward to welcoming a number of guests to campus this spring. Swedish poet Aase Berg will be on campus from April 20th through 24th as the 2014-15 Out of Scandinavia Artist in Residence. Her English-language translator, poet Johannes Göransson, will join her on campus April 21st through 24th. During their stays, Aase and Johannes will visit classes in our Department as well as the Department of English. Aase’s keynote talk, “To Lose Control Over the Words,” will take place on Wednesday, April 22nd, at 7:00 p.m. in the Intepretive Center in the Gustavus Arboretum. Aase and Johannes will present a reading of and discussion about their work on Thursday, April 23rd, at the American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis at 6:30 p.m. Both evenings’ lectures are free and open to the public.
We also look forward to welcoming Dr. Henrik Williams of Uppsala University, who will be visiting numerous colleges and universities in throughout the U.S. during the month of April. On Tuesday, April 14th, Dr. Williams will present the talk “The Kensington Runestone—The Birth Certificate of European America?,” at 7:00 p.m. in the Interpretive Center in the Gustavus Arboretum.
On Wednesday, April 15th, the evening following Dr. William’s visit, the Department of Scandinavian Studies is co-sponsoring a visit arranged by the Department of Modern Foreign Languages and Cultures by Dr. Per Linell of the University of Gothenburg. Dr. Linell will present the talk “Language: Individual Property or Collective Culture” at 7:00 p.m. in Confer 127.
As the semester and academic year draws to a close, the Department will help welcome to campus and Minneapolis/St. Paul Edward and Hanna Broadbridge of the Grundtvig Study Centre at Aarhus University (Denmark), May 18th through 24th.
We wish you a glorious, green, and happy spring!