Scandinavian history

Scandinavia is known internationally as a region of largely Social Democrat-oriented welfare states, and as the historic homeland of the Vikings. This course offers a broader understanding of Scandinavia's past, highlighting the dramatic events that transformed a peripheral European region into modern industrial nations. Themes explored in the course include debilitating poverty, ruthless autocracies with colonies in four continents, civil war, and volcanic eruptions, but also intercultural encounters, science, and democratic breakthroughs. The course covers Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, and Icelandic history from the Viking age onwards, and provides knowledge of the politics, demography, religion, economy, and culture of the region. There is a special focus on state building, conflicts and conflict resolution, migration and minorities, as well as cultural developments in the Nordic countries. Instruction is in the form of lectures, which provide overviews of Scandinavian history, and seminars.