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Syllabus:

Swedish Culture and Everyday life, 7.5 Credits

Swedish name: Svensk kultur och vardagsliv

This syllabus is valid: 2024-01-15 and until further notice

Course code: 1ET055

Credit points: 7.5

Education level: First cycle

Main Field of Study and progress level: Ethnology: First cycle, has only upper-secondary level entry requirements

Grading scale: Three-grade scale

Responsible department: Department of Culture and Media Studies

Established by: Faculty director of studies, Faculty of arts, 2020-09-03

Revised by: Head of Department of Culture and Media Studies, 2023-06-20

Contents

The course provides an introduction to Swedish society, culture and daily life. It explores different themes and questions connecting contemporary culture with societal changes over the past century. Themes covered, includes gender, perceptions of Swedishness, the rural north and sustainability. Through a variety of learning activities, material, and assignments, representations of Swedishness and Swedish culture and identity are highlighted and problematized.

 

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 are expressed in various settings and by different actors
     

After completed course, the student must show the ability to:

  • orally and in writing critically reflect on and analyze examples of Swedish culture e.g. in media and public culture
  • conduct smaller documentation(s) of Swedish culture and reflect of the notion of Swedishness

Required Knowledge

General entry requirements

Form of instruction

The course is given in English. The teaching consists of lectures, seminars, individual and group assignments. 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 including preparatory assignments, which are graded U (Fail) or G (Pass) and one individually written examination (home exam). The individual final exam is graded with Pass with distinction (Väl godkänd), Pass (Godkänd) or Fail (Underkänd). To pass the course all mandatory parts are required, and the individual exam must have received the grade G. To receive Pass with distinction (VG) for the course, all mandatory parts are required (grade G), and the individual exam must have received the grade VG.

 

For each examining part of the course there is a regular examination given with a second reexamination within two months after the regular examination. For examinations performed in May and June, the first reexamination is  offered within three months of the regular examination. In addition to this, a third reexamination is given within a year after the end of the course. Those who have passed the test may not undergo a re-test for higher grades.
 
 A student who does not fully meet the objectives of an examination but is close to the limit for a passing grade can, after a decision by the examiner, be given the opportunity to supplement in order to achieve the examination assignment's criteria for a passing grade. Completion of the examination must be adapted individually based on the goal(s) not achieved by the student and must take place within two weeks after the students have been notified of the examination results, but before the next examination opportunity. It is only permitted to supplement an unsuccessful result to pass, supplementation for higher grades is not permitted.


The examiner can decide on deviations from the syllabus' examination form. Individual adaptation of the examination form must be considered based on the student's needs. The examination form is adapted within the framework of the syllabus' expected study results. Students who need an adapted examination must request adaptation from the department responsible for the course no later than 10 days before the examination. The examiner decides on an adapted examination which is then communicated to the student.


To pass the course, all exams and compulsory parts must be passed. The grade constitutes a summary assessment of the results in the various parts of the examination and is only set when all compulsory parts have been approved. To obtain the grade Pass with distinction on the entire course, the student must have received this grade on the home exam.


Students who are registered for a course and have registered credits in Ladok on the course have the right to be examined on the course and its parts up to two years after the first registration date. A student who, without a passing grade, has passed an ordinary examination and a re-examination for the course, has the right to have another examiner appointed at the next re-examination, unless there are special reasons to the contrary. Requests for a change of examiner are made to the director of studies at the Department of Culture and Media Studies.


Transfer of credits
 The student who wishes to take advantage of education obtained at another department or university (Swedish / foreign) must do so in the order described in Tillgodoräknandeordning vid Umeå universitet (Dnr. 545-3317-02).


The application for credit must be made in writing. The application must state which element or course the application refers to. Certified copies of course certificates or equivalent, stating the university, time, subject affiliation, level, points and grades must be attached. In addition, the syllabus, including bibliography for the courses referred to and, where applicable, essay work, must be attached.

 

Other regulations

In a degree, this course may not be included together with another course with similar content. In case of doubt, the student should consult the Director of Studies at the Department of Cultural and Media Studies

Literature

  • Valid from: 2025 week 4

    Literature

    Course literature

    Agnidakis Paul
    Ethnology
    The international encyclopedia of anthropology : 2018 :
    Elektronisk resurs
    Mandatory

    Bartlett Flora Mary
    Freezers full of gold: Living well with landscape in rural Northern Sweden.
    Kulturella Perspektiv 32. : 2023 :
    Elektronisk resurs
    Mandatory

    Cocq. C.
    Anthropological Places, Digital Spaces, and Imaginary Scapes: Packaging a Digital Sámiland
    Folklore, 124(1): 1-14 : 2013 :
    Elektronisk resurs
    Mandatory

    Representation : cultural representation and signifying practices.
    Hall Stuart, Evans Jessica., Nixon Sean.
    2nd ed. : London : SAGE : 2012. : 1 v. :
    ISBN: 1-84920-547-7 ¹70.00
    Mandatory
    Search the University Library catalogue
    Reading instructions: Selected parts

    The Invention of tradition
    Hobsbawm E. J., Ranger T. O.
    Cambridge [Cambridgeshire] : Cambridge University Press : 2012. : 1 online resource (vi, 320 pages). :
    Online access for UMUB
    ISBN: 9781107295636
    Mandatory
    Search the University Library catalogue
    Reading instructions: Selected parts

    Ingridsdotter Jenny
    ´Waffles with dulce de leche’: Settler Society and the Making of Swedish Heritage in Northern Argentina
    Ethnologia Scandinavica 50 : 2020 :
    Mandatory
    Reading instructions: pp. 145-168

    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

    Kuoljok K
    Without land we are lost: traditional knowledge, digital technology and power relations.
    AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples, 15(4) : 2019 :
    Elektronisk resurs
    Mandatory
    Reading instructions: pp. 349-358

    Löfgren Orvar
    Changing emotional economies: The case of Sweden 1970–2010
    Culture and Organization, 19:4 : 2013 :
    Elektronisk resurs
    Mandatory
    Reading instructions: pp. 286-296

    Narratives of progress: cooking and gender equality among Swedish men.
    Neuman Nicklas, Gottzén Lucas, Fjellström Christina
    Journal of Gender Studies 26:2 : 2017 :
    Elektronisk resurs
    Mandatory
    Reading instructions: pp. 151-163

    The #MeToo Movement: Men and Masculinity in Swedish News Media.
    Nilsson Bo, Lundgren Anna Sofia
    The Journal of Men’s Studies, 29(1) : 2021 :
    Elektronisk resurs
    Mandatory
    Reading instructions: pp. 8-25

    Nygaard Mathias Ephraim
    ‘Swedish Fermented Herring as a Marker of Rural Identity: The Alfta Surströmmingsskiva’
    Food, Culture & Society 22 (4) : 2019 :
    Elektronisk resurs
    Mandatory
    Reading instructions: pp. 407-222

    The importance of friends: social life challenges for foreign physicians in Southern Sweden
    Povrzanović Frykman Maja, Mozetič Katarina
    Community, Work & Family, 23:4 : 2020 :
    Elektronisk resurs
    Mandatory
    Reading instructions: pp. 385-400

    Runfors A
    Challenging the hierarchies of Swedish whiteness: Negative experiences and undesired effects of passing as white and Swedish
    Kulturella Perspektiv – Svensk Etnologisk Tidskrift, 31 : 2022 :
    Elektronisk resurs
    Mandatory

    Sustainable living in a periphery : Interpreting ways of rural mobility in a low-carbon world.
    Hämeenaho P., Wollin, E.
    Ethnologia Scandinavica, 50 : 2020 :
    Elektronisk resurs
    Mandatory

    Eating Together in the Twenty-First Century : Social Challenges, Community Values, Individual Wellbeing / edited by Tamas Lestar, Manuela Manuela Pilato, and Hugues Séraphin
    uuuu-uuuu :
    Online access for UMUB
    ISBN: 9781003817284
    Mandatory
    Search the University Library catalogue
    Reading instructions: Chapter 4 Swedengate

    Logics of rurality: Political rhetoric about the Swedish North.
    Nilsson Bo, Lundgren Anna Sofia
    Journal of Rural Studies 37 (February) : 2015 :
    Elektronisk resurs
    Mandatory

    Sweden and Swedishness from Migrants Afar
    Tolgensbakk Ida, Woube Annie
    Ethnologia Scandinavica 50 : 2016 :
    Mandatory

    Articles according to teachers' instructions may be added

  • Valid from: 2024 week 3

    Literature

    Course literature

    Agnidakis Paul
    Ethnology
    The international encyclopedia of anthropology : 2018 :
    Elektronisk resurs
    Mandatory

    Bartlett Flora Mary
    Freezers full of gold: Living well with landscape in rural Northern Sweden.
    Kulturella Perspektiv 32. : 2023 :
    Elektronisk resurs
    Mandatory

    Cocq. C.
    Anthropological Places, Digital Spaces, and Imaginary Scapes: Packaging a Digital Sámiland
    Folklore, 124(1): 1-14 : 2013 :
    Elektronisk resurs
    Mandatory

    Representation : cultural representation and signifying practices.
    Hall Stuart, Evans Jessica., Nixon Sean.
    2nd ed. : London : SAGE : 2012. : 1 v. :
    ISBN: 1-84920-547-7 ¹70.00
    Mandatory
    Search the University Library catalogue
    Reading instructions: Selected parts

    The Invention of tradition
    Hobsbawm E. J., Ranger T. O.
    Cambridge [Cambridgeshire] : Cambridge University Press : 2012. : 1 online resource (vi, 320 pages). :
    Online access for UMUB
    ISBN: 9781107295636
    Mandatory
    Search the University Library catalogue
    Reading instructions: Selected parts

    Ingridsdotter Jenny
    ´Waffles with dulce de leche’: Settler Society and the Making of Swedish Heritage in Northern Argentina
    Ethnologia Scandinavica 50 : 2020 :
    Mandatory
    Reading instructions: pp. 145-168

    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

    Tullia Jack
    ‘Cleanliness and Consumption: Exploring Material and Social Structuring of Domestic Cleaning Practices’
    International Journal of Consumer Studies 41 (1) : 2017 :
    Elektronisk resurs
    Mandatory
    Reading instructions: pp. 70-78

    Jönsson Håkan
    ‘A Food Nation Without Culinary Heritage? Gastronationalism in Sweden’
    Journal of Gastronomy and Tourism 4 (4) : 2020 :
    Elektronisk resurs
    Mandatory
    Reading instructions: pp. 223-237

    Kuoljok K
    Without land we are lost: traditional knowledge, digital technology and power relations.
    AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples, 15(4) : 2019 :
    Elektronisk resurs
    Mandatory
    Reading instructions: pp. 349-358

    Löfgren Orvar
    Changing emotional economies: The case of Sweden 1970–2010
    Culture and Organization, 19:4 : 2013 :
    Elektronisk resurs
    Mandatory
    Reading instructions: pp. 286-296

    Narratives of progress: cooking and gender equality among Swedish men.
    Neuman Nicklas, Gottzén Lucas, Fjellström Christina
    Journal of Gender Studies 26:2 : 2017 :
    Elektronisk resurs
    Mandatory
    Reading instructions: pp. 151-163

    Logics of rurality: Political rhetoric about the Swedish North.
    Nilsson Bo, Lundgren Anna Sofia
    Journal of Rural Studies 37 (February) : 2015 :
    Elektronisk resurs
    Mandatory
    Reading instructions: pp. 85-95

    The #MeToo Movement: Men and Masculinity in Swedish News Media.
    Nilsson Bo, Lundgren Anna Sofia
    The Journal of Men’s Studies, 29(1) : 2021 :
    Elektronisk resurs
    Mandatory
    Reading instructions: pp. 8-25

    Nygaard Mathias Ephraim
    ‘Swedish Fermented Herring as a Marker of Rural Identity: The Alfta Surströmmingsskiva’
    Food, Culture & Society 22 (4) : 2019 :
    Elektronisk resurs
    Mandatory
    Reading instructions: pp. 407-222

    The importance of friends: social life challenges for foreign physicians in Southern Sweden
    Povrzanović Frykman Maja, Mozetič Katarina
    Community, Work & Family, 23:4 : 2020 :
    Elektronisk resurs
    Mandatory
    Reading instructions: pp. 385-400

    Runfors A
    Challenging the hierarchies of Swedish whiteness: Negative experiences and undesired effects of passing as white and Swedish
    Kulturella Perspektiv – Svensk Etnologisk Tidskrift, 31 : 2022 :
    Elektronisk resurs
    Mandatory

    Sweden and Swedishness from Migrants Afar
    Tolgensbakk Ida, Woube Annie
    Ethnologia Scandinavica: 2016 : 2016 :
    Elektronisk resurs
    Mandatory

    Articles according to teachers' instructions may be added