SCAND 100 A Wi 26: Introduction To Scandinavian Culture

Instructor

Andrew Nestingen (akn@uw.edu) (he/him)

Office: Raitt Hall 318; Office Hrs - Wed. 10-11AM, or by appointment 

Teaching Assistant

Ian Gwin (iangwin@uw.edu)

Offce: Raitt Hall ; Office Hrs. M, W, 2:30 - 3:20, or by appointment 

Introduction

SCAND 100: Introduction to Scandinavian Culture does what it says: it provides an introductory survey of the Nordic-Baltic region through a sampling of important cultural texts. As a 100-level course, our pace is reasonable --  30-50 pages of reading a week, more or less, some films, a play and a novel. (The play and the novel might include a few more pages, but you'll have more time to read). After the class,  you'll be able to talk about key moments in the history of the Nordic-Baltic region (the Vikings!), some important authors and works, and some recurrent meaningful cultural loggerheads -- for example, the individual vs. the state. 

Syllabus Matrix

Learning Goals

• Be able to identify the five Nordic and three Baltic countries and discuss with reference to literature, cinema, and scholarship selected key issues in their historical and contemporary culture;
• Be able to raise informed, critical questions with reference to examples of salient issues in contemporary and historical Nordic and Baltic culture.

Assignments

Participation: You should come to class with the assigned reading completed. I strongly encourage you to take notes on the readings, which you can draw upon while discussing the assigned texts in small groups and with the whole class. Active participants and leaders in discussion will earn high grades for participation, but my experience is that students come to the class from many perspectives and participate in various, valuable ways. I take the variety of participation seriously and include it in evaluating your participation. That is why I ask for your self-evaluation as an important data point in determining your final participation grade. If you prefer to shop on Amazon during class in a location where others can't see your screen, please note, I will notice and take it into consideration in your participation grade.  30 points. 

Quizzes: There are five quizzes for the course -- three multiple-choice and two short-answer quizzes. The multiple-choice quizzes will ask factual and interpretive questions about the readings and our in-class discussions. The short-answer quizzes will ask you to respond to five short-answer interpretive questions. Each quiz is worth ten points. The quizzes are online, time limited, and open book. 50 points. 

Final Exam: The final exam is scheduled by the UW for Thurs., December 12th, 4:30-6:20PM. It will include 20 multiple-choice questions, 10 short-answer questions (2 pts. each), and and one essay question (you'll select one question from a menu of three possible questions). The essay question will be worth 40 points. The final is worth 100 points. You must be present for the final exam. 

Grade Scheme

• Participation 15%
• Quizzes 30%
• Final Exam 55%

Required Books

Ibsen, Henrik, An Enemy of the People, 1882.

Saisio, Pirkko, The Red Book of Farewells, 2003. 

Both books are available at the University Bookstore -- a student co-op -- where you are encouraged to purchase them. 

All readings that are not part of the books assigned for the course are available as PDFs or linked readings on the Canvas course webpage. If you have any challenges accessing the course materials, please email me at akn@uw.edu.

Course Policies

Access and Accommodation:  Your personal learning experience in this class is important to me. If you have already established accommodations with Disability Resources for Students (DRS), please communicate your approved accommodations to me at your earliest convenience so I can accommodate your needs in this course. If you have not yet established services through DRS, but have a temporary health condition or permanent disability that requires accommodations (conditions include but not limited to; mental health, attention-related, learning, vision, hearing, physical or health impacts), you are welcome to contact DRS at 206-543-8924 or uwdrs@uw.edu or disability.uw.edu. Links to an external site.DRS offers resources and coordinates reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities and/or temporary health conditions. Reasonable accommodations are established through an interactive process between you, me, and DRS. It is the policy and practice of the University of Washington to create inclusive and accessible learning environments consistent with federal and state law.

Academic Integrity: The University of Washington is a community dedicated to learning. Ethical expectations of students belonging to the community are defined in the student conduct code. Plagiarism, cheating, and disruptive behavior in class violate the code. Violation of the code in connection with the course will result in referral to the College of Arts & Sciences Academic Integrity Office for investigation. The university provides guidance about how to avoid plagiarism

All work submitted for this course must be yours. If you wish to use others’ work in completing the assigned papers, you must cite that work in text and in your bibliography. If you use words that you have not put together yourself, you should indicate your are doing so by placing the borrowed material in quotation marks and providing the source of the borrowed words in the bibliography. You may use library or online sources, including generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT, when working on assignments, but you must cite such usages in text and in your bibliography. Uncited use of generative AI will be considered academic misconduct and I will refer it to the College of Arts & Sciences Academic Integrity Office for investigationLinks to an external site.. Please be aware, ChatGPT4 is generally a poor source, which includes many errors that can be hard for a  novice to spot. 

The assignments in this class have been designed to challenge you to develop creativity, critical-thinking, and problem-solving skills. Using AI technology will limit your capacity to develop these skills and to meet the learning goals of this course.

If you have any questions about what constitutes academic integrity in this course or at the University of Washington, please feel free to contact me to discuss your concerns.

(This course policy is based on and uses language from The UW Center for Teaching and Learning’s guidance on students’ use of artificial intelligence.)

Religious Accommodation: Washington state law requires that UW develop a policy for accommodation of student absences or significant hardship due to reasons of faith or conscience, or for organized religious activities. The UW’s policy, including more information about how to request an accommodation, is available at Religious Accommodations Policy. Accommodations must be requested within the first two weeks of this course using the Religious Accommodations Request form. 

Land Acknowledgement: We recognize that the University of Washington stands on the lands and waters of the Coast Salish Peoples - the Duwamish, Muckleshoot, Suquamish, and Tulalip. 

Inclusive Language: I use the pronouns he/him. TA Ian Gwin uses the pronouns he/they. During class introductions, we will note the pronouns we use. In introducing themselves to the class, students may choose to indicate the pronouns they use.  My expectation is that all class members will honor others in the class by referring to them with their preferred pronouns. 

Final Exam: Thursday, December 12, 2024, 4:30-6:20 pm, DEN 303