Course Syllabus

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"Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced", James Baldwin.

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  DIS Summer, Copenhagen, Active Citizenship

Semester & Location:

Summer Session 1 - DIS Copenhagen
Type & Credits:

Summer Course - 3 credits

Major disciplines Education, educational studies, political science, sociology.
Faculty Members:

Ditte Marie Egebjerg-Rantzau (current students please use the Canvas Inbox)
Time:

Class schedule varies, please see calendar for details. Please, note that we have an overnight stay from June 4 to June 5.
Classroom:

S26-100

 

Course Description

Democracy depends on citizens to actively engage in society. In this course, we discuss social change and cohesion, civic responsibility, and the importance of active citizenship. How can we engage responsibly with others? How can we work towards building communities governed by fairness and mutual respect? How do we achieve inclusion and equality for those excluded from majority discourses and communities? We will explore these questions through active engagement with local students, activists, and communities.

 

Learning Objectives

  • to give students insight in majority and minority perspectives on civic education and active citizenship in Denmark.
  • to invite students to engage in collaborative pedagogical practices inside and outside the classroom in order to prepare them for engaging actively as local and global citizens.
  • to strengthen students' capacities to collaborate and to co-create participatory spaces of learning and engagement. 
  • to offer students a variety of perspectives on volunteering, activism and civic engagement through meetings and conversations with professionals and volunteers in Danish NGO's and grass root organizations.

 

Faculty

Ditte Marie Egebjerg-Rantzau

Cand. mag. in Nordic Literature and French, University of Copenhagen.  Areas of specialization: collective narratives, postcolonial studies, civic education and social change. With DIS since 2006.

 

Selected readings

Some readings will be assigned for in class or online discussions, other readings will serve as references for your written assignments. Detailed instructions and page indications will follow in calendar.

  • brown, adrienne maree: Emergent Strategy, Shaping Change, Changing Worlds, AK Press, 2017.
  • Gilliam, Laura: " The Decent Citizens - Lessons on Moral Superiority and the Immorality of Wealth in a Class of Privileged Youth". In:  Gilliam, Laura and Gulløv, Eva: "Children of the Welfare State - Civilizing Practices in Schools, Childcare and Families". 2017.
  • Ginwright, Shawn: The Four Pivots - Reimagining Justice, Reimagining Ourselves, North Atlantic Books, 2022. 
  • Hall, John A., Korsgaard, Ove and Pedersen, Ove K. (eds.): Building the Nation: N.F.S. Grundtvig and Danish National Identity. McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2015.
  • Hooks, Bell: Teaching to Transgress. Education as the Practice of Freedom, Routledge, 1994.
  • Jaffe-Walter, Reva: Coercive Concern. Nationalism, Liberalism, And the Schooling of Muslim Youth. Stanford University Press, 2016.
  • Lidegaard, Bo: "Prologue 1849-1901". In: A Short History of Denmark in the 20th Century", Gyldendal 2009.

 

Field Studies

This is an explorative course with many activities outside the classroom. We will be doing visits to local institutions and organizations, trips to Danish schools and more. Be prepared to learn and be active outside the classroom as much as in it. Please see calendar for more details. More info will be provided in class. 

 

Guest Lecturers

Several guest speakers will share their expertise in volunteering, civic education and community building. Guest lectures will be interactive and offer students possibilities of gaining insights in a variety of perspectives on social change and active citizenship in Denmark. Please see calendar for details. More info about the guest lectures will be given in class. 

 

Approach to Teaching

This course will draw upon collaborative pedagogical practices as well as the pedagogies practiced in the Danish Folk High Schools. As the teaching methods are closely tied to the topic matter and objectives of the course, our first class will introduce these approaches in more detail.

 

Volunteering while in Copenhagen

Students in this course are offered the possibility to sign up as volunteers at 'You People',  a morning café for homeless and socially vulnerable people in 'Folkets Hus' in the district Nørrebro, Copenhagen.  

 

Grading

Percent

Engaged participation

30%

Canvas discussion posts

20 %

(pass fail)

Final Reflection Paper

25%

Group project (podcast)

 25%

 

Academic Regulations 

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

 

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

 

 

Course Summary:

Date Details Due