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Don’t forget to attend the annual Norwegian Constitution Day Parade in the wonderful Ballard neighborhood. More details are available at www.17thofmay.org.
The Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study and the Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies welcome papers, panels, and roundtable presentations for the first joint conference of Scandinavian and Baltic Studies in the United States. The deadline for abstract submission is December 11, 2009.
The Department will be sponsoring a 17th of May Concert featuring the Hellvik Male Chorus from Norway and the Ladies Chorus of Seattle in a concert of choral music.
Saturday, May 16, 7:30 pm
Kane Hall 130
Free Admission
The Dance of Life: Edvard Munch and his life
Communications 202
The film “The Dance of Life” follows Edvard Munch through his life and focuses on the most significant events. This film shows how his life directly influenced his art and paintings, and how he developed into one of the most influential and important artists of his century.
Since the film opened it has been sold to a number of TV-channels all over the world. It was nominated for the Norwegian Amanda and won a prize in the film festival of Bratislava in1998. It was also chosen to represent Norway in the Film festival of Montreal in 2003 as a part of a Nordic film program.
This lecture will explore the way in which the film is telling the story of the Norwegian painter Edvard Munch. Is there such a thing as a Nordic film story? – A singularly Nordic way to tell a story?
Using clips from the film the lecture looks at both the script and the visuals and how the director chooses to portray the life of the painter and how his life translated into his art.
Norwegians in Hollywood
Parrington Hall Commons (3rd floor)
Arne Lunde (Assistant Professor of Scandinavian, UCLA) provides an overview history of Norwegians in Hollywood cinema during the classic studio era. The talk will focus on the hyperwhite star persona of Sonja Henie at 20th Century-Fox in the 1930s and 1940s, as well as on lesser-known stars such as Greta Nissen and Sigrid Gurie. This illustrated lecture will also discuss how Norwegians have been represented on the American screen. Subjects include WWII-era films such as Casablanca and The Moon is Down, postwar family films like I Remember Mama, and the screen persona of Norwegian-American character actor John Qualen, Hollywood’s quintessential “squarehead.”
Scandinavian Studies - Norway, America, and Life’s Vocations
Kjetil Flatin
2008 Distinguished Alumni Lecturer
Sverre Arestad Professorship Distinguished Lecture
Kjetil Flatin (Ph.D., 1971) has been chosen the 2008 Distinguished Alumni Lecturer by the Department of Scandinavian Studies. Dr. Flatin, who lives in Oslo, Norway, will visit the campus for several days in early March, 2008, and give the Distinguished Alumni Lecture on Monday, March 10.
Flatin earned his Ph.D. at the University of Washington in 1971 with a dissertation on the short stories of Norwegian writer Johan Borgen. It was the first Ph.D. formally granted by the Department of Scandinavian Studies since the establishment of its doctoral program in 1967.
The Sami in Norway: Cultural and Political Revitalization, 1970-2000
Bård Berg
Visiting Fulbright Professor (University of Tromsø)
New Music by UW Student Cónan Mclemore
Three Poems of Vesaas, a sonata for flute & piano commissioned by Ed Egerdahl for the 25th anniversary of the Scandinavian Language Institute and based on three poems of Tarjei Vesaas: Vårlukten, Slik Var Den Draumen, and Gjennom Nakne Greiner.
Concertino for Alto Saxophone (a musical re-telling of Helge Kjellin’s Swedish fairy tale Leap the Elk and Little Princess Cottongrass.
Brechemin Auditorium (Music 128)
Draumkvedet - The Dreamsong of Olaf Åsteson
Lecture and discussion at the Nordic Heritage Museum with Katherine Hanson (Affiliate Associate Professor) exploring the content and history of this medieval Norwegian literary treasure. Nancy Quensé will accompany with story and Beth Kollé with harp. This free presentation will also feature a preview of the performance of Draumkvedet scheduled for January 6, 2006 at Town Hall Downstairs.
Great Voices of Norwegian Literature
In celebration of Norway’s centennial, Marianne Stecher-Hansen lectured on Knut Hamsun and Tiina Nunnally lectured on Sigrid Undset at the Smithsonian on an evening dedicated to Great Voices of Norwegian Literature.
The Saami Today: Cultural and Resource Rights
In celebration of Norway’s Centennial, the Smithsonian Associates, the Royal Norwegian Embassy, the Norsemen’s Federation (Pacific Northwest Chapter), and the Department of Scandinavian Studies invite you to attend a special free event with Ánde Somby, native Saami and Professor of Law at the University of Tromsø, Norway.
‘Our old fatherland’s independence and freedom at stake’:
Norwegian-Americans and the Dissolution of the Swedish-Norwegian Union, 1905
Odd S. Lovoll is Professor of History at the University of Oslo, Norway and Professor Emeritus at St. Olaf College. He earned his doctorate in U.S. History, specializing in immigration history, at the University of Minnesota. He has served on the faculty of St. Olaf College since 1971 and has been publications editor for the Norwegian-American Historical Association since 1980. In 1992 he was appointed to fill the King Olav V Chair in Scandinavian-American Studies.
Since 1995 he has held an appointment as Professor II in History at the University of Oslo and teaches there in the fall semester. His published works include A Folk Epic; The Bygdelag in America (1975); The Promise of America: A History of the Norwegian-American People (1984); A Century of Urban Life: The Norwegians in Chicago before 1930 (1988); and The Promise Fulfilled: A Portrait of Norwegian Americans Today (1998), in addition to a large number of articles dealing with Scandinavian-American topics. In 1986 Lovoll was decorated by H.M. King Olav V with the Knight’s Cross of the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit and in 1989 he was invited to occupy a seat in the history section of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.
Svalbard var deres verden: Personlige beretninger fra kvinner på Svalbard
Ingrid Urberg (University of Alberta - Augstana) lectures in Norwegian on some of the long-standing myths about gender and Svalbard, and points out how the narratives she has collected challenge these myths.
Pathways to Peace: Norway’s approach to democracy and development
The Wang Center for International Programs at Pacific Lutheran University presents a public forum on the Norwegian approach to achieving world peace through conflict resolution, economic development and relieving global poverty. Press Release [PDF]
Intersubjective Literary Interpretation: Donald Davidson, Triangulation, and the Role of the Author
A Colloquium with Jan Sjåvik.
Using Donald Davidson’s holistic epistemology as his point of departure, Sjåvik tries to show that authorial intention should again be allowed to play a role in the interpretation of literary works. Davidson’s concept of triangulation is at the core of the argument. When two or more persons together are confronted with an object in a common world, Davidsonian triangulation makes it possible to avoid the kind of skepticism that often undermines attempts at objective interpretation. Sjåvik suggests that intersubjective literary interpretation, which entails that reader and author together arrive at a common perception of the meaning of the work, should replace skeptical approaches to literature. Two examples drawn from the works of Arne Garborg are used as illustrations of this line of thinking.
Studying Myself in the United States - Studying the United States in Myself
The University of Washington has an active Faculty Exchange Program with the University of Bergen in Norway, where Dr. Øverland is Professor of American Studies. He is shown here with Christine Ingebritsen, Associate Professor of Scandinavian, Associate Dean of Undergraduate Education and Chair of the Bergen Exchange Committee.
The UW Norwegian Club marches in Ballard as part of the annual Norwegian Constitution Day Parade.
America - Scandinavia: Cultural Differences and Cultural Similarities
Steinar Bryn (Professor & Cultural Philosopher, Nansen Humanistic Academy, Lillehammer) earned his Ph.D. in American Studies at the University of Minnesota,Twin Cities, in 1993. A Visiting Professor this Spring at Pacific Lutheran University, Bryn is a Professor at the Nansen Humanistic Academy in Norway where is is Project Director for the Nansen Network, a conflict resolution project, supported by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, running 10 Nansen Dialogue Centers in the former Yugoslavia. With a degree in American Studies, Bryn has a unique perspective on the cultural communication between the United States and Scandinavia, especially Norway.
His lecture looks at the perceptions held by Americans and Srcandinavians and challenges general assumptions about “Americanization.”
Einar Jarmund
Architect, Oslo, Norway
The College of Architecture and Urgan Planning Lecture Series
Co-Sponsored by The Department of Scandinavian Studies and the Valle Scandinavian Exchange Program
