Swedish Culture and Everyday life, 7.5 credits
Contents
The course provides an introduction to Swedish society, culture and daily life. It explores a number of themes and questions in contemporary culture such as, gender and equality, minority groups, urban-rural, civil movements, and issues about nature, tourism, and sustainability. The course is mainly based on analysis of material from ethnographic fieldwork and popular culture where representations of Swedishness and Swedish culture and identity are highlighted and problematised.
Expected learning outcomes
After completed course, the student should be able to account for:
- contents and meanings in representations of Swedish culture and everyday life
- how representations of Swedish culture is expressed in different areas such as the relationship between urban and rural, civil society, tourism, and the relation to nature and sustainability
- meanings of gender, equality, diversity in debate and popular culture end research
After completed course, the student must show the ability to:
- orally and in writing critically reflect and analyze examples of swedish culture in public debate and popular culture in relation to political discourse and research
- conduct a documentation of own examples of the notion of Swedishness through observation and text analysis of popular cultural examples
Required Knowledge
General entry requirementsForm of instruction
The course is given in English. The teaching consists of lectures, seminars, group exercises and excursion (s). If attendance at lectures and exercises is compulsory, that is to say of an examinatory character, this is specified in the schedule. If the student is absent from a compulsory seminar or lecture, a supplementary assignment will be provided by the teacher.
For those who are registered for a course and have a disability, there are resources for special support. For more information contact the Student Center.
Examination modes
The course is examined through participation in seminars and excursions, which are graded U (Fail) or G (Pass) and one individually written examination. The written exam is held at the end of the course and will cover both descriptive and analytic elements. On the written examination one of the grades U (Fail), G (Pass), or VG (Pass with distinction) is given. In order to pass the course all exams and compulsory sessions must be passed and one of the grades U (Fail), G (Pass), or VG (Pass with distinction) is given.
Students who fail the scheduled final examination have the right to retake the examination within two months after the regular exam date, but the first exam might also be rewritten with a restriction to recieve the highest grade (VG). Examination on the same syllabus as the ordinary examination is guaranteed until two years after the first registration to the course.
Students who have passed an examination cannot redo the examination to receive a higher grade. Students have the right to be re-examined up to five times per course. Examination and supplementary examination based on the syllabus outlined here can be guaranteed for up to two years after the start of the course. If a student is given a "fail" grade on at least two consecutive attempts of the examination of the course or course component, she or he has the right to request a new examiner. The director of studies should be consulted in such circumstances.
Literature
Literature
Course literature
Agnidakis Paul
Ethnology
The international encyclopedia of anthropology :
2018 :
Elektronisk resurs
Mandatory
Booth Michael
The almost nearly perfect people
: the truth about the Nordic miracle
London :
Jonathan Cape :
2014 :
406 s. :
ISBN: 9780224089623
Mandatory
Search the University Library catalogue
Carlsson Nina
Revitalizing the Indigenous, integrating into the colonized? The banal colonialism of immigrant integration in Swedish Sápmi
Ethnic and racial studies. 43(16) :
2020 :
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01419870.2020.1776360
Mandatory
Reading instructions: pp. 268-286.
Crang Mike
Nation, region and homeland: history and tradition in Dalarna, Sweden.
Included in:
Cultural geographies
London :
Arnold :
2002- :
6 :
447-470 pages
http://cgj.sagepub.com/content/6/4/447.full.pdf+html
Mandatory
Extending the local: activist types and forms of social media use in the case of an anti-mining struggle
Dahlberg-Grundberg Michael, Örestig Johan
Social movement studies. 16(3) :
2016 :
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14742837.2016.1268955
Mandatory
Exploring everyday life
: strategies for ethnography and cultural analysis
Ehn Billy, Löfgren Orvar, Wilk Richard R.
Lanham, Maryland :
Rowman & Littlefield :
[2016] :
153 pages :
ISBN: 9780759124066
Mandatory
Search the University Library catalogue
Reading instructions: pp. 81-98; 99-114
Eriksson Madeleine
(Re)producing a "peripheral" region
: Northern Sweden in the news
Wiley-Blackwell :
2008 :
Mandatory
Force of habit
: exploring everyday culture
Frykman Jonas, Löfgren Orvar, Bringéus Nils-Arvid, Crozier Alan, Weston David
Lund :
Lund Univ. Press :
1996 :
172 s. :
ISBN: 0-86238-426-5 (Chartwell-Bratt)
Mandatory
Search the University Library catalogue
Reading instructions: Introduction. The Study of Swedish customs and habits
Sweden after the recent election : the double-binding power of Swedish whiteness through the mourning of the loss of “old Sweden” and the passing of “good Sweden”
Hübinette Tobias, Lundström Catrin
Nora 19 (1) :
2011 :
Elektronisk resurs
Mandatory
Reading instructions: pp. 42-52
Race performativity and melancholic whiteness in contemporary Sweden
Hübinette Tobias, Räterlinck Lennart E.H.
Social Identities 20(6) :
2014 :
Elektronisk resurs
Mandatory
Reading instructions: pp. 501-514
Isenhour Cindy
Building sustainable societies: A Swedish case study on the limits of reflexive modernization
American ethnologist 37(3) :
2010 :
Elektronisk resurs
Mandatory
Reading instructions: pp. 511-525
Langvasbråten Trude
A Scandinavian Model? Gender Equality Discourses on Multiculturalism.
Social politics 15(1) :
2009 :
Elektronisk resurs
Mandatory
Reading instructions: pp. 32-52
More than just a job
: exploring the meanings of tourism work among indigenous Sámi tourist entrepreneurs
Leu Traian, Eriksson Madeleine, Müller Dieter
Routledge :
2018 :
Mandatory
Reading instructions: pp. 1468-1482.
Ljungström Åsa
Coffee and Class for the Swedes – as seen in the Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson
Linköping University :
2013 :
Coffee as materiality. In: Dahlin, Johanna & Andersson, Tove (eds.) On the Move: ACSIS conference 11-13 June Norrköping; Sweden 2013. Linköping: Linköping University Electronic Press. pp. 69-79
Mandatory
Civil outrage. Emotion, space and identity in legitimisations of rural protest
Lundgren Anna Sofia, Nilsson Bo
Emotion, Space and Society 26 :
2018 :
Elektronisk resurs
Mandatory
Reading instructions: pp. 16-22
Martin Brian
Activism, political and social
Encyclopedia of activism and social justice :
2007 :
Elektronisk resurs
Mandatory
Reading instructions: 99. 19-27
Pluralistic struggles in gender, sexuality and coloniality
: challenging Swedish exceptionalism
Alm Erika, Berg Linda, Lundahl Hero Mikela, Johansson Anna, Laskar Pia, Martinsson Lena, Mulinari Diana, Wasshede Cathrin
[Basingstoke] :
Palgrave Macmillan :
2021 :
316 pages (PDF) :
ISBN: 9783030474324
Mandatory
Search the University Library catalogue
Reading instructions: pp. 19-47
Hall Stuart
Representation
: cultural representations and signifying practices
London :
Sage :
1997 :
400 s. :
ISBN: 0-7619-5431-7 (inb.) ; £39.95
Mandatory
Search the University Library catalogue
Reading instructions: pp.1-29
Teitelbaum Benjamin
Come Hear our Merry Song:' Shifts in the Sound of Contemporary Swedish Radical Nationalism
Brown University :
2013 :
https://repository.library.brown.edu/studio/item/bdr:320631/
Mandatory
Reading instructions: Selected reading according to the instructions of the teacher.
Sweden and Swedishness from Migrants Afar
Tolgensbakk Ida, Woube Annie
Ethnologia Scandinavica :
2016 :
Elektronisk resurs
Mandatory
Towns A. et al.
The equality conundrum: Gender and nation in the ideology of the Sweden Democrats
Party Politics, 20:2 :
2014 :
Elektronisk resurs
Mandatory
Reading instructions: pp. 237-247
Becoming an Activist Citizen: Individual Experiences and Learning Processes within the Swedish Suburban Movement
Ålund A., León Rosales R.
Journal of Education and Culture Studies 1(2) :
2017 :
Elektronisk resurs
Mandatory
Reading instructions: pp. 123-140
Articles according to teachers' instructions may be added
Encyclopedia of activism and social justice
Anderson Gary L., Herr Kathryn
Thousand Oaks, Calif. :
Sage Publications :
cop. 2007 :
Mandatory
Reading instructions: Martin, B., "Activism, political and social", p. 19-27
Bendix Regina
Introduction: Ear to Ear, Nose to Nose, Skin to Skin — The Senses in Comparative Ethnographic Perspective
Etnofoor :
2005 :
Mandatory
Reading instructions: Etnofoor, 18(1), 3-14 (14 p.)
http://www.jstor.org/stable/25758082
Booth Michael
The almost nearly perfect people
: the truth about the Nordic miracle
London :
Jonathan Cape :
2014 :
406 s. :
ISBN: 9780224089623
Mandatory
Search the University Library catalogue
Citizenship policies and ideas of nationhood in Scandinavia, Citizenship Studies, 14:4
Brochmann Grete, Seland Idunn
Mandatory :
2010 :
Mandatory
Callan Hilary
The international encyclopedia of anthropology
[Hoboken, NJ?] :
John Wiley :
[2018] :
1 online resource :
ISBN: 9781118924396
Mandatory
Search the University Library catalogue
Reading instructions: Agnidakis, Paul: "Ethnology"
https://www.umu.se/globalassets/organisation/fakulteter/humfak/institutionen-for-kultur--och-medievetenskaper/student/filer/agnidakis-i-wiley-blackwells-international-encyclopedia-of-anthropology-2018.pdf
Carlsson Nina
Revitalizing the Indigenous, integrating into the colonized? The banal colonialism of immigrant integration in Swedish Sápmi
Ethnic and racial studies. 43(16) :
2020 :
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01419870.2020.1776360
Mandatory
Reading instructions: pp. 268-286.
Crang Mike
Nation, region and homeland: history and tradition in Dalarna, Sweden.
Included in:
Cultural geographies
London :
Arnold :
2002- :
6 :
447-470 pages
http://cgj.sagepub.com/content/6/4/447.full.pdf+html
Mandatory
Reading instructions: pp. 447-470
Extending the local: activist types and forms of social media use in the case of an anti-mining struggle
Dahlberg-Grundberg Michael, Örestig Johan
Social movement studies. 16(3) :
2016 :
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14742837.2016.1268955
Mandatory
Reading instructions: pp. 309-322.
Eriksson Madeleine
(Re)producing a "peripheral" region
: Northern Sweden in the news
Wiley-Blackwell :
2008 :
Mandatory
Reading instructions: pp. 369-388
Ethnologia Scandinavica
: a journal for Nordic ethnology
Uppsala :
Kungl. Gustav Adolfs Akademien för svensk folkkultur :
2010- :
Mandatory
Reading instructions: Tolgensbakk, I. & Woube, A., 2016. “Sweden and Swedishness from Migrants Afar", Ethnologia Scandinavica: A Journal for Nordic Ethnology, Vol 46: 21-37. (16 pp). Available online at: http://gustavadolfsakademien.se/tidskrifter/bok/ethnologia-scandinavica-2016
Gerholm Lena
The Concept of Culture in Ethnology
In: Sjögren, Annick & Lena Jansson (eds.). Culture and Management. p.15-27 (13 p.). :
1994 :
Mandatory
Hall Stuart
Representation
: cultural representations and signifying practices
London :
Sage :
1997 :
400 s. :
ISBN: 0-7619-5431-7 (inb.) ; £39.95
Mandatory
Search the University Library catalogue
Reading instructions: pp. 1-29
Sweden after the recent election
: the double-binding power of Swedish whiteness through the mourning of the loss of “old Sweden” and the passing of “good Sweden”
Hübinette Tobias, Lundström Catrin
Included in:
Nora
London :
Taylor & Francis :
1998- :
Mandatory
Race performativity and melancholic whiteness in contemporary Sweden
Hübinette Tobias, Räterlinck Lennart E.H.
Routledge :
2014 :
Social Identities, 02 November 2014, Vol.20(6), p.501-514
Mandatory
Isenhour Cindy
Building sustainable societies: A Swedish case study on the limits of reflexive modernization
Included in:
American ethnologist
Washington :
The Soc. :
1974- :
37 :
511-525 pages
Mandatory
Langvasbråten Trude
A Scandinavian Model? Gender Equality Discourses on Multiculturalism.
Included in:
Social politics h [Elektronisk resurs] b international studies in gender, state & society
Oxford :
Oxford Univ. Press :
2005 :
15 (1) :
32-52 (20 s.) pages
Mandatory
Reading instructions: pp. 32-52.
More than just a job
: exploring the meanings of tourism work among indigenous Sámi tourist entrepreneurs
Leu Traian, Eriksson Madeleine, Müller Dieter
Routledge :
2018 :
Mandatory
Reading instructions: pp. 1468-1482.
Ljungström Åsa
Coffee and Class for the Swedes – as seen in the Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson
Linköping University :
2013 :
Coffee as materiality. In: Dahlin, Johanna & Andersson, Tove (eds.) On the Move: ACSIS conference 11-13 June Norrköping; Sweden 2013. Linköping: Linköping University Electronic Press. pp. 69-79
Mandatory
Pluralistic struggles in gender, sexuality and coloniality
: challenging Swedish exceptionalism
Alm Erika, Berg Linda, Lundahl Hero Mikela, Johansson Anna, Laskar Pia, Martinsson Lena, Mulinari Diana, Wasshede Cathrin
[Basingstoke] :
Palgrave Macmillan :
2021 :
316 pages (PDF) :
ISBN: 9783030474324
Mandatory
Search the University Library catalogue
Reading instructions: Lundahl Hero, M., 2021. “Public Intimacy and ‘White Feminism': On the Vain Trust in Scandinavian Equality" pp. 19-47
Civil outrage. Emotion, space and identity in legitimisations of rural protest.
Lundgren AS, Nilsson B
Included in:
Emotion, Space and Society
2008- :
26 :
16-22 pages
Mandatory
O'Dell Tom
Culture unbound
: Americanization and everyday life in Sweden
Lund :
Nordic Academic Press :
1997 :
256 s. :
ISBN: 918911602X
Mandatory
Search the University Library catalogue
Reading instructions: Available online via Umeå University Library
Teitelbaum Benjamin
Come Hear our Merry Song:' Shifts in the Sound of Contemporary Swedish Radical Nationalism
Brown University :
2013 :
https://repository.library.brown.edu/studio/item/bdr:320631/
Mandatory
Reading instructions: Selected reading according to the instructions of the teacher.
Towns A. et al.
The equality conundrum: Gender and nation in the ideology of the Sweden Democrats
Party Politics, 20:2 :
2014 :
Mandatory
Reading instructions: arty Politics, 20:2, pp. 237-247
https://journals-sagepub-com.proxy.ub.umu.se/doi/full/10.1177/1354068813520272
Exploring everyday life
: strategies for ethnography and cultural analysis
Ehn Billy, Löfgren Orvar, Wilk Richard R.
Lanham, Maryland :
Rowman & Littlefield :
[2016] :
153 pages :
ISBN: 9780759124066
Search the University Library catalogue
Reading instructions: pp. 81-98; 99-114.
Culture builders
: a historical anthropology of middle-class life.
Frykman Jonas, Löfgren Orvar, Crozier Alan
New Brunswick :
Rutgers Univ. Press :
ix, 321 s. : ill. :
ISBN: 0-8135-1239-5
Search the University Library catalogue
Force of habit
: exploring everyday culture
Frykman Jonas, Löfgren Orvar, Bringéus Nils-Arvid, Crozier Alan, Weston David
Lund :
Lund Univ. Press :
1996 :
172 s. :
ISBN: 0-86238-426-5 (Chartwell-Bratt)
Search the University Library catalogue
Reading instructions: Introduction. The Study of Swedish customs and habits" In: Force of Habit: Exploring Everyday Culture [translated by Alan Crozier & David Weston].