SCAND 367, Sexuality in Scandinavia: Myth and Reality, Spring 2026
Elements of this syllabus are subject to change, based on the needs of the class!
Any changes will be discussed and reflected on our Canvas page.
- When: M/W 1:30-3:20
- Where: ART 003
- Drop-in hours: By appointment
- Professor: Olivia Noble Gunn, ogunn@uw.edu
Course description
The recent public global image of the Nordics involves their status as the most egalitarian and sexually open countries in the world. In SCAND 367, we consider how they achieved this reputation, as well as what has changed (and stayed the same) since the decency debates of the 1880s. Our sources—literary works, research articles, sociopolitical writings, film, art, and television—will help us to explore how the Nordics have perceived human sexualities since the late nineteenth century, while also acknowledging the complexity and heterogeneity of the landscape of family, gender, and desire in Northern Europe. Students who complete this course earn A&H (arts and humanities) and I&S (individual and society) credit.
Required Reading/Viewing
- Articles, short stories, and more will be available on Canvas
- Film and television will be screened in class or made available for streaming online
- Two books (available to purchase at the UW bookstore or online)
- Dependency by Tove Ditlevsen (FSG Originals, 2021, 978-0374539412)
- I Talk about It All the Time by Camara Lundestad Joof (U of Wisconsin Press, 2024, 978-0299348540)
Course Objectives
- To begin developing an understanding of the histories, representations, and perceptions of sexuality, gender, and family in the Nordic region after 1850
- To promote critical thinking on the role of conventions and mythmaking in society
- To consider the lengths and limits of the common story of sexual liberation
- To provide an opportunity to encounter the models on which you base your opinions and beliefs about sexuality
- To practice critical reading and analysis of written and visual sources
Assignments
See detailed prompts and rubrics on Canvas.
With the exception of discussion posts, all assignments will be due on Friday before midnight.
Weekly Team Discussions: 20% (credit/no credit)
Every week, you will engage in online team discussions. You will post a response to a prompt or set of questions (35 points) and respond to at least one team member (15 points). I use these discussions to evaluate your engagement with our sources. They can also serve as pre-writing/idea development for micro-papers and A&A projects. Initial posts for team discussions will be due every Monday before midnight (with the exception of Memorial Day); responses are due before the following Friday.
Three micro-papers: 45%
You will hand in three short essays (400-600 words) that explore some aspect of our central theme—"sexuality"—in conversation with one or two of our primary sources. These essays might pursue answers to a question or make an argument. They must cite from both readings and viewings and include accurate representation of ideas and facts from course lectures and discussion. Because the papers are short, you'll need to be very precise when it comes to organization, rhetoric, and use of evidence.
Two Image Annotation & Analysis Projects: 25%
In teams (of up to four people), you will produce two image annotation & analysis assignments. After selecting an image or image pair (options provided by me), you will
- annotate the image(s) with a high level of detail (collecting analysis and informational notes around the image)
- write a 3-5 paragraph (double-spaced) written commentary that tells the story of your annotations by contextualizing the image(s) historically and in terms of class content/questions, associated it with other written and/or visual sources, and sharing what you have learned from the annotation process
If you have a compelling reason to NOT do this assignment in a team, please come and talk to me. Although I prefer that most students work in a team, it is possible to work alone.
In-class activities: 10% (credit/no credit)
Once per week, starting in week two, you will have the opportunity to work with your teams, engage in prompt-based discussions, or write during class. These activities will be relevant to your out-of-class assignments, and your participation will be recorded. In order to earn 100% in this category, you must be present in class on 7 out of 9 opportunities.
Policies and Procedures
Academic Style and format
Citations used in course work should follow either the MLA style (http://guides.lib.uw.edu/research/citations/mla-style), or The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th edition. Be consistent! Choose one style and stick with it. Some bibliographic information might not be available, but the following questions must always be answered for the reader: Who said it (author’s name), and how/where can one find the source (title and page number, date and publisher, URL)?
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: Cheating and plagiarism include, but are not limited to:
- Copying the work of others or allowing others to do your work for you
- Directly quoting the words of others without using quotation marks, indented format, and in-text citations to identify them
- Using sources (published or unpublished) without identifying them
- Paraphrasing materials or borrowing the ideas of others without identifying the sources
Plagiarizing, or copying and/or using the words or ideas of others without proper acknowledgement, undermines your learning and devalues the degree that you are seeking. Acknowledge and/or cite every single source that you consider when producing assignments. Over-citing is better than under-citing! If you need help understanding and avoiding plagiarism, come talk to me. Consequences for plagiarizing will be determined on a case-by-case basis but can include failing the assignment and failing the course. Please see the following information on Student Academic Responsibility (https://www.washington.edu/cssc/for-students/academic-misconduct/)
AI and LLMs
If you choose to use GenAI when producing your assignments, be sure to revise your papers significantly so that they fulfill the requirements of the assignment. In particular, you should remove overly general claims, truisms, and clichés from your papers. You should always check citations and claims against the sources that you are representing in your work. If your assignments contain hallucinations, invented quotations, fake bibliographic citations, or fails to cite from sources assigned in class, you will earn an automatic zero with no opportunity for revision.
Grading scale
Grades for this course are calculated on a 100-point (percent) scale and converted to the University of Washington 4.0-scale prior to final submission. Percentage ranges for this course for each numerical grade are as follows:
98-100%=4.0; 95-97%=3.9; 94%=3.8; 93%=3.7; 92%=3.6; 91%=3.5; 90%=3.4; 89%=3.3; 88%=3.2; 86-87%=3.1; 82-85%=3.0; 81%=2.9; 80%=2.8; 79%=2.7; 78%=2.8; 77%=2.4; 76%=2.3; 75%=2.2; 74%=2.1; 73%=2.0; 72%=1.9; 71%=1.8; 70%=1.7; 69%=1.6; 68%=1.5; 67%=1.4; 66%=1.3; 65%=1.2; 64%=1.1; 63%=1.0; 62%=0.9; 61%=0.8; 60%=0.7
I accept late work when an alternative due date is negotiated before the original due date and in cases of emergency, illness, and other relevant contexts.
Please respect yourself and others.
- EMAIL: You are more than welcome to email me and to make an appointment to meet to discuss your work and the class. I do not always check email after 5:00pm or on the weekends, so please plan accordingly
- My office is an LGBTQAI+ friendly place
- The classroom, whether in-person or online, is a community in which we learn from one another, so please be present, kind, and focused
- If you plan to use your laptop to do things unrelated to the class, please sit behind other students