Course Syllabus

 

Course Description

Sweden is known as one of the most gender equal countries in the world and is well-known for its progressive culture supported by forward-thinking laws and legislation. Legalized prostitution (but illegal to purchase sexual services), paid leave for all parents, very strong representation of women in leadership positions, progressive sex education, and almost equal rights for gay people are among the hallmarks of all Scandinavian societies. However, Sweden also has one of the most gender-divided workplaces in the Western world and gender equal policies do not automatically lead to gender equal behaviors.

This course explores how concepts of gender, bodies, sexuality, and race intersect in current debates about changing family structures, children’s rights, and new ethical dilemmas in Scandinavia. We explore recent initiatives discussed in Swedish media and worldwide, including a gender-neutral approach to raising children, recognition of the gender-neutral pronoun “hen” in the Swedish dictionary, and implementation of a norm-critical approach to teaching and learning. We follow public debates on various burning issues and compare and reflect on the differences observed between the United States, Sweden, and Scandinavia, as well as question norms and "traditional" ways of thinking about gender, equality, and sexuality.

 

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the summer course, you will be able to:

• Employ methodologies from critical gender and sexuality studies to analyze the assumptions about gender and sexuality, which inform studies about us as individuals, societies, and cultures.
• Focusing on Scandinavia and the US, examine how societies’ construction of gender and sexuality intersects with ethnicity, race, class, age, dis/ability, among others.
• Be familiar with the most “burning issues” in Scandinavian debates about gender, equality, and sexuality.

 

Faculty

Iwo Nord is a trans researcher and educator, especially focusing on transgender and queer lives and culture, nuances of agency and power, intersections of the transnational and the local, and questions concerning mobility (travel and migration). The past years he has been committed to building and strengthening Transgender Studies in both the Nordic region and in the former Yugoslav space. Devoted to social change for trans people, he is involved in trans academic and activist alliances, resulting in the forthcoming collaborative volume In Transition: Trans Lives, Activisms, and Culture in the Post-Yugoslav Space, edited by Bojan Bilić, Iwo Nord and Aleksa Milanović, Bristol University Press. He was one of the founding members of Trans Fest Stockholm, an activist collective that strives to create inclusive and empowering cultural and community events in the Swedish capital. Iwo is a PhD candidate in Gender Studies at Södertörn University, and is affiliated with the Center for Baltic and East European Studies. His doctoral project ethnographically explores Belgrade as a transnational destination for gender-affirming surgery. He holds an MA from the University of Oslo, Norway, and has formerly taught at the Institute of Scandinavian and Finnish Studies at the University of Gdansk, Poland. Iwo’s publications include “Routes to Gender-Affirming Surgery: Navigation and Negotiation in Times of Biomedicalization” in Body, Migration, Re/constructive Surgeries: Making the Gendered Body in a Globalized World, edited by Gabriele Griffin and Malin Jordal (Routledge 2018).  

 

Guest Lecturer

• Together with Emma Raask we will learn, talk about and explore different aspects of sex education. The seminar will include both historical and contemporary perspectives. Our focus will be Sweden, but you are welcome to have your own experiences (or absence) of sex ed as a reference frame. 
  Emma Raask holds a M.A. in Cultural Studies from Goldsmith’s University of London, where she studied bodies, plasticity, plastic & queerness. She has previously worked as a sexual educator with sexual politics, education & sexual violence & is teaching the semester course Sex Education and Sexual Reform in Europe at DIS since 2020.

   

  2-day Workshop with Photographer Lærke Posselt

• Technologies of Gender in Photography: Gender is created in images that we see around us every day. How does gender shape photography and how does photography shape gender? Angle, body language, pose, gesture, posture, light, focus, environment, distance, whether the person is smiling or not, if it is several in the picture – what roles you give them, clothes, shoes, hair, makeup and props. What looks “right”? What happens if you do it “wrong”? How can we work with gender identity and expression in photography? What is written on the body? Together with photographer Lærke Posselt & the teacher of the course (Iwo Nord) you will learn about and explore how gender is constructed in photography through a range of different techniques. After an introductory workshop your assignment will be to create 5-10 photos where you work with gender and yourself as a canvas in a conscious way. We will have an exhibition at DIS where we display the photos you have made together with a short artist statement. 
• Lærke Posselt (b. 1984) is a photographer based in Copenhagen, Denmark, working in documentary and art photography. She graduated from Fatamorgana, The Danish School of Art Photography in 2004 and from The Danish School of Media and Journalism, DMJX, in 2013. She is a recipient of numerous awards, including World Press Photo, Pictures of the Year International and the Danish Crown Prince Couple’s Rising Star Award. Her work has been exhibited widely and published in New York Times, The New Yorker, Newsweek, GEO, Stern, Der Spiegel, Le Monde among others.

The City as a Classroom / Field Studies

• A guided tour at Botkyrka Art Gallery: On our first day we explore how Botkyrka Art Gallery tackles the complexity of segregation, culture, ethnicity, race, and intercultural approaches in the municipality of Botkyrka.

• Closing field trip to Vinterviken, Löfholmen, Gröndal: On our last day we wander off to another neighborhood in Stockholm, for a class round up and to learn about art in post-industrial spaces and gentrification. Moreover, what is the role of the LGBT community in the gentrification of neighborhoods? Additionally, we will visit one of Stockholm's ecological garden cafés, located close to the site where Alfred Nobel had his factories. We will learn about Bertha von Suttner, the woman behind the Nobel peace prize.

• Regular classes will take place both in the regular classroom and in the city, depending on the weather & plan. 

  

Selected Readings

Steven Seidman (2011) Theoretical Perspectives in Introducing the New Sexualities Studies, 2nd Edition

Marie Gustafsson Sendén, Emma A. Bäck & Anna Lindqvist (2015) Introducing a gender-neutral pronoun in a natural gender language: the influence of time on attitudes and behavior, Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 893

Eva-Maria Svensson & Asa Gunnarsson (2012) Gender Equality in the Swedish Welfare State, Feminists@Law, Vol 2, No 1

Maja Sager & Diana Mulinari (2018) Safety for Whom? Exploring Femonationalism & Care-Racism in Sweden, Women's Studies International Forum, 68, 149-156

Siim, Birte (2015) Migration, Multiculturalism and Gender – a Nordic Perspective in Peter Kivisto & Peter Kraus (Eds.) Challenging Power: Equality, Culture and Minorities

Jay Levy & Pye Jakobsson (2014) Sweden’s abolitionist discourse and law: Effects on the dynamics of Swedish sex work and on the lives of Sweden’s sex workers, Criminology and Criminal Justice 

Constance Penley, Celine Parreñas Shimizu, Mireille Miller-Young and Tristan Taormino (2013) Introduction: The Politics of Producing Pleasure, in The Feminist Porn Book: the politics of producing pleasure, the Feminist Press at the City University of New York, 9-22

Kristin Shutts, Ben Kenward, Helena Falk, Anna Ivegran and Christine Fawcett (2017) Early preschool environments and gender: Effects of gender pedagogy in Sweden, Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 162, 1-17

Anna Odrowąż-Coates (2015) Is gender neutrality a post-human phenomenon? The concept of 'gender neutral' in Swedish education, Journal of Gender and Power, Vol. 3 , No.1, 113-133

Janne Bromseth & Renita Sörensdotter (2013), Norm-critical Pedagogy, in Gender Studies, Education and Pedagogy, Anna Lundberg & Ann Werner (Eds), Swedish Secretariat for Gender Research: Gothenburg, 24-31

 

ASSIGNMENTS AND EVALUATION

FORMAT	EVAL.	CRITERIA	DEADLINES
Participation	40%	Includes attendance & in-class, field/study tour participation: engaged listening, speaking up in productive ways, participating actively in the learning activities, small group discussions, &/or group work. Additionally includes a presentation / discussion leading in groups, where the students guide our discussions in one of the sessions marked with a rainbow: 🌈	Throughout the course
Group Reflection Presentation	15%	Students will participate in a Group Reflection Presentation on an aspect of our Study Tour (20 mins).	23 June
Photography Workshop assignment	20%	5-10 photos where you work with gender in a conscious way. We will have an exhibition at DIS where we display the photos you have made together with a short artist statement. Additionally, you will write a one page reflection text.	28/29 June
Academic Reflection	25%	A 2-3 page academic reflection	1 July
		Further information about assignments will be given in class.

 

COURSE SPIRIT AND POLICIES

Mutual learning atmosphere: The course is based on a student-centered approach with a strong emphasis on class discussions. My role as instructor is to facilitate the course and learning process, but all of us are responsible for creating the most beneficial atmosphere and environment for creation of knowledge. Different learning activities will occur during the course, such as group work, workshops, reflection tasks, field studies, text analysis and more. In addition to this, you will also be given the opportunity to add your own research and to get insights into the contemporary public debate.

Everyone’s opinion counts: Some of the topics covered in this course could be seen as controversial and sensitive. You should feel comfortable in expressing your personal opinions regarding issues discussed in class, and we are all responsible for creating the discussion climate where this is felt by all participants. In order to attain this, also be prepared to be open to other points of view than your own, and always express disagreement in a respectful and constructive way. See this as an opportunity to broaden your perspective by listening to other opinions.

Names and Pronouns: Students should be referred to by the name they prefer and with the proper pronunciation by the teacher of this course and other students. As a teacher, I will gladly honor your request to address you by the name you prefer and the gender pronouns that correspond to your gender identity. We will introduce ourselves to each other with names and pronouns when we meet the first day of class. 

Disability Access: If you need accommodations related to disability, please let me know as soon as possible so that your learning needs can be appropriately met.

Laptop and phones: Attention in class is to be focused on the learning process, on class discussions and learning activities. Laptops can be used if allowed by instructor for course purposes, but please put your phones away. Consideration will of course be taken if you have special need for a computer for note taking. In this case, please provide an accommodation letter from DIS to give to the instructor.

Format and evaluation criteria: You will be evaluated in several ways. Each assignment will let you meet course objectives. All work has to be completed in order to pass the class. Late assignments will be marked down with 1/3 of a grade for each day it is late.

 

Academic Regulations  

Please make sure to read the Academic Regulations on the DIS website. There you will find regulations on:

• Course Enrollment and Grading
• Academic Expectations and Honor Code

 DIS - Study Abroad in Scandinavia - www.DISabroad.org