Graduate student and Swedish TA Karin Filipsson was awarded the 2021 Aurora Borealis Prize from the Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study for her paper "'Welcome to my Body': Construction of Racialized Identity through the Transgressing of Boundaries in Jonas Hassen Khemiri's work". The selection committee commented that:
"This is a skillfully argued and well-supported look at several works by Khemiri and scholars considering the question of Swedishness in apostcolonial and postmodern Europe. Fillipsson does a fine job ofdemonstrating the ways Khemiri dismantles boundaries and limitations through his process of creative creolization of language and genre. Throughout her paper, Filipsson shows how the twin forces of knocking down conventions and building up models of creative possibility in Khemiri’s work demand empathy from readers and makes space for more and diverse voices to de-homogenize notions of Swedish identity."
Congratulations to Karin on a job well done!