Swedish History from a Nordic Perspective

This course will provide you with a short overview of Swedish and Nordic history from the Viking Age to the present. A Nordic perspective is taken to allow critical approach to an otherwise Swedish interpretation of history. Selected issues from Swedish and Nordic history will be discussed in order to orient you in relevant discussions and arguments in historical theory as well as to train you in historical argumentation based on scholarly foundations.

Course content

The course includes important developments, relationships and events in the history of Sweden and the Nordic countries over a broad time span. You will particularly get:

• an overview of the Viking Age, and how the period is perceived by historians with regards to the sources,
• an overview of the political and social changes in Sweden between 1000-1800, and learn more on
• the historical roots of modern society and the Scandinavian Model of the Welfare state, with special attention to gender issues.

Teaching

Teaching takes the form of lectures and seminars. The assessment is based on class participation, group assignments and a take-home examination. In the course you will learn more on how to account for the scientific basis of historical knowledge, and how to discuss and evaluate academic historical writing.

Further information

The course is given in our humanities and theology centre, LUX. This offers an exciting campus environment with a vibrant student life. Lund University has one of Swedens oldest and largest research library, and the library at LUX is one of 26 libraries within this network.

The course is given as a part-time course once a year, during the autumn semester (day-time). The course is a free-standing course for beginners. It can be included in a first or second-cycle degree.

https://www.hist.lu.se/en/course/SASH64