CFAN3528: Exploring The New Nordic: Food Seasonality and Sustainability in Denmark and Sweden

This embedded study abroad course will explore aspects of agriculture, food, and culture in Scandinavia in comparison to each student’s experience in the United States. This course will first meet on-campus, before our departure for a two-week experience in May. In English usage, Scandinavia can refer to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, and sometimes used more broadly to include the Aland Islands, the Faroe Islands, Finland, and Iceland. The use of the term Nordic can also include the aforementioned countries along with Finland and Greenland.Throughout this course, we will embark on an experience through hands-on learning in Denmark and Sweden. Students will learn about, and reflect on, available food resources in Scandinavia, including how Scandinavian cuisine is intertwined with Scandinavian culture.CFANS has partnered with DIS for this course. DIS is a non-profit study abroad foundation established in Denmark in 1959, with locations in Copenhagen and Stockholm. DIS provides semester, academic year, and summer programs taught in English, and offers high-impact learning experiences for upper-division undergraduate students from distinguished North American colleges and universities. The intellectually challenging curriculum is broad, cutting edge, and enriched by experiential learning components, including faculty-led study tours across Europe. It provides students with opportunities for meaningful cultural engagement and personal growth, which is further enriched through housing and extracurricular offerings.Activities and learning will take place at numerous locations throughout Scandinavia. Students will attend lectures and presentations taught by faculty who are experts in the field, and will have the opportunity to learn about the culture and cuisine in Scandinavia. In their exploration of Scandinavia, students will be exposed to a breadth of diverse cultural experiences in which they will be challenged to reflect on their emotional responses and active participation within Scandinavian culture and integrate these into their personal and professional worldview. Students will also visit important archaeological, sacred, and natural sites throughout Scandinavia to better understand the history of the region and the culture of its people.Students will be encouraged early on to identify a particular interest they want to learn more about in Scandinavia (e.g. precision agriculture, dairy production, sustainability, agro-tourism, etc.) and find opportunities to integrate this interest into the questions they ask in their blog posts, their final project, and at site visits.

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