GER-E 371 SPECIAL TOPICS IN GERMANIC STUDIES (1-3 CR.)
Topics dealing with Germanic languages, literatures, and cultures. Conducted in English.
1 classes found
Spring 2024
Component | Credits | Class | Status | Time | Day | Facility | Instructor |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
LEC | 3 | 14658 | Open | 4:45 p.m.–6:00 p.m. | MW | BH 331 | Goldfinch S |
Regular Academic Session / In Person
LEC 14658: Total Seats: 24 / Available: 16 / Waitlisted: 0
Lecture (LEC)
- COLL (CASE) A&H Breadth of Inq
- Topic: Language and Power in Viking Society
- COLL (CASE) A&H Breadth of Inquiry credit
Topic: Language power viking society
Topic: Language and Power in Viking Society This course explores the relationships between language and power in Medieval Scandinavian society. We will approach from two sides of the equation: the language of power and the power of language. From the language of gender, age, and slavery to the language of spells, curses, and dialogues with the dead, we will explore questions like: how did the Vikings talk about power? Who does the talking, and who doesn't? What words were considered to carry inherent power? Students will gain first-hand exposure to primary sources alongside a three-week crash course in reading, glossing, and translating Old Norse, as well as experience with the practical methods of historical sociolinguistics and critical discourse analysis. By the end of the course, students will have a working knowledge of Old Norse literary genres and Medieval Scandinavial culture. In addition, students will gain familiarity with the methods and challenges of studying past societies and be able to critically assess scholarly, popular, and cultural ways of imagining past societies in general and Medieval Scandinavian society in particular. Most importantly, students will gain an appreciation for the invisible topography of social, political, and structural power that underwrites all of these areas ¿ language and society, text and talk, historiography, scholarship, and the ways we imagine and talk about the past. Zoëga, Gier. (1910). A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic. Benediction Classics. Oxford. Barnes, Michael P., and Faulks, (2008). A New Introduction to Old Norse. 4th Ed., Viking Society for Northern Research, University College London. (Available through instructor.)