C e n t e r f o r
International
Academic ProgramsUMKC HONORS STUDY ABROAD IN
Uppsala, SWEDEN
July 1 – July 27, 2007
Sponsored by UMKC’s
Honors Program & the Center for International Academic Programs
Professor Lynda Payne, Program Director
Photograph by Jen Kramer
Summer 2006 ParticipantThis 6 unit interdisciplinary program course will fulfill the Cluster Course and Cultural Perspectives general education requirements for the BA in Arts & Sciences.
Earn 6 UMKC credits in Sweden over the summer in this month-long program!
All eligible students are invited to participate in the UMKC Honors Program Summer Study Abroad in Uppsala, Sweden. This four-week program will offer students the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of the interplay of history, nature, and culture in Sweden, using Uppsala and the surrounding area as a model. Please note that places on the program are limited and honors students have priority if we receive more than 15 applicants. Honors students do not have to write an essay or furnish letters of recommendation. All other students must do so to be considered for the program.
The university city of Uppsala lies in the heart of Sweden. The fourth largest city in the country with a population of 190,000, Uppsala is considered by many Swedes to be the historical and cultural capital of their country. It retains the charms of a small Scandinavian town while offering a big city’s selection of attractions. Lively cafes line the banks of the Fyris River and museums, shops, and art galleries are all within walking distance of the city center. Uppsala has the largest cathedral in Scandinavia, the oldest university, a sixteenth century castle that dominates the skyline, and beautiful botanic gardens and parks. Public transport is frequent, efficient, and cheap in Sweden. An easy bus, train, or boat ride away are the sea cliffs and sandy beaches of the Baltic Sea and the pristine forests and clear lakes that make up the region of Uppland. From Uppsala, Arlanda International Airport is only 25 minutes by train and the capital city of Stockholm is a mere 45 minutes.
On the outskirts of Uppsala are three huge Viking burial mounds, the remains of a pagan temple where human sacrifices were made to Thor, Odin and Frey, and the runic stone carvings of “Gamla” (Old ) Uppsala. A boat cruise away is the magnificent palace of Skokloster recognized as one of the greatest Baroque museums in the world. In the eighteenth century, Uppsala became famous as a science metropolis. Linnaeus, a professor of botany at the university, explored the flora and fauna of Sweden and sent his pupils out to describe and categorize the natural history of Siberia, Japan, and Canada. Today the city is still a center of education with 40,000 undergraduates attending Uppsala University.
Possible Activities and Excursions
Accommodations
--Day trips to Stockholm (there will be 3)
--Weekend trip to Värmland
--Numerous visits to Uppsala-area sites
--Students will be housed in single hostel-style rooms at the Hotel Uppsala, in the middle of the city, near cafes, shops, and museums.
--Students will be responsible for their own meals. A grocery store is located next door to the hotel.
--Each room has a bathroom, a hot plate, and a small refrigerator.
--It is only a five minute walk from the train and bus stations to the hotel.
Travel to Uppsala: Students travel independently to Sweden. Participating students can make travel arrangements together if they so wish as they may plan to travel around Scandinavia, Russia, or Europe before or after the program. Arlanda (Stockholm ) airport is 40 minutes from Uppsala by train; there is an airport bus into town every 30 minutes.Financial Aid: Participants of the Sweden Honors Study Abroad Program qualify for financial aid. Students should consult the Financial Aid Office. Scholarships are available through International Academic Programs (235-5759). Please contact that office for applications.
APPROXIMATE COSTS
(exchange rate dependent)OTHER ESTIMATED COSTS UMKC Tuition & Fees (6 units UG): $1500 Travel (r/t airfare KC-Uppsala): $1000 Lodging (27 days) & excursions: $1000 Meals: $600 Program Fee: $500 Mandatory study abroad insurance: $40 Spending Money (suggested) $750 Approximate total: $3,000 Other estimated costs total: $2,390 Insurance: The University of Missouri System requires each study abroad participant to enroll in the UM HTH Worldwide Health Insurance Plan for the period of their program. HTH specializes in study abroad. The UM System has worked with them to create a comprehensive plan fitting our specific needs. Insurance is approximately $40 per month with no deductible. More information is available on the Center for International Academic Programs website: www.umkc.edu/international
IMPORTANT DEADLINES
ALL application materials go to:
Center for IntERNATIONAl Academic ProgramS: 5325 Rockhill
Web: international@umkc.edu ☼ Email: www.umkc.edu/international
(Hours 8-5, or front door drop box)
Friday, February 16, 2007
The application, along with a $50 deposit.
If you are not accepted into the program we will refund this money.Friday, March 16, 2007
$500 deposit.Monday April 2, 2007
The balance ($2350)
Course offerings
History H400CC XCA: History, Nature, and Culture in Sweden (FL H480A)
History H497XCA: Project in Swedish History and Culture (FL H490B)
UMKC Study Abroad Program in Uppsala, Sweden, July 2007
Dr. Lynda Payne, Associate Professor of HistoryHistory H400CC XCA: History, Nature, and Culture in Sweden
(Crosslisted as FL H480A)
This three unit interdisciplinary cluster course explores the interplay of history, nature, and culture in Sweden from the 18th century to the present. Together, we will read literature, look at artwork, listen to music, visit urban and rural sites, and discuss how the portrayal of nature is both a reflection of, and a driving force in the history and culture of Sweden.
Located in a beautiful region of lakes and surrounded by fields and forests, no Swedish city has a history as long as that of Uppsala. From the 6th to the 14th centuries the Swedish kings were elected at Mora stenar just outside the city. Uppsala has the largest cathedral (consecrated 1435) and the oldest university (founded in 1477) in Scandinavia. The Old Library, or Carolina Rediviva, contains student notes from the first semester, the Codex Argentus or Silver Bible from the 6th century, and a wonderful collection of maps dating back five hundred years. We will tour the oldest preserved building on campus, the Museum Gustavianum, and its restored anatomical theater from the early 1600s. The might of Sweden during the 17th century will be seen in visits to Uppsala Castle where breathtaking views of the city can be enjoyed. We will also travel by boat down the Fyris River to the impressive Skokloster Castle, and by train to Stockholm – a journey of only 45 minutes – to experience the Vasa Museum, the Royal Palace, the Nordic Museum of History, and too many other places to mention
Spending July in Uppsala gives us the perfect opportunity to focus our discussions around two moments in Sweden’s past when the interplay of history, nature and culture is particularly intriguing. The first involves one of the most famous scientists of the 18th century and the second concerns a generation of freethinkers in the 20th. Carl von Linné, or Linnaeus (1707-1778) was a professor of medicine and botany at Uppsala University. He devoted his life to classifying plants, animals, and humans throughout Sweden and the world. Linnaeus was the first to group warm blooded creatures together as “mammals.” We will read some of his writings, visit his Botanical Gardens at the University, tour his home in the city, and discuss Linnaeus’s impact on re-defining the relationship of human society to the natural world.
In the early 20th century “Swedishness” was constructed for future generations by the National Romantics. In the face of industrialization, the goal of this movement of artists, writers, and composers was to promote a Swedish national identity by preserving the indigenous culture and creating a society based on simplicity, cleanliness, and social equality. We will spend a weekend in Värmland, a beautiful region of forests and the center of Swedish National Romanticism. There we will visit the home of Selma Lagerlöf at Mårbacka. Lagerlöf was the first female writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1909. Her stories combine Nordic myths with a love of nature and also address social problems of the day. In the latter part of the class we will explore what the legacies of Linnaeus and the National Romantics are in Sweden, and especially in Uppsala, today. The city is both a home to Sweden’s oldest national symbols and a center for immigrants and political refugees from all over the world. It provides the ideal venue to consider Swedish traditions, Swedish politics, and the Swedish Welfare State.
READINGS
Books to buy
Selma Lagerlöf, The Wonderful Adventures of Nils, Dover Publications for Children, 1995
Majgull Axelsson, April Witch, Random House, 2003
Hjalmar Soderberg, Doctor Glas, Random House: Anchor Books, 2002Readings Pack (Provided by UMKC)
1. Nature, dreams and realities: Ambiguities of visual imagery in seventeenth-century Sweden from Sight and Insight, Essays on art and culture in honour of E. H. Gombrich at 85, Phaidon Press, 1994
2. Selections from Fredman’s Epistles and Songs by Carl Michael Bellman, Reuter and Reuter
3. Bertil H. Van Boer Jr., “Guistavian Opera: An Overview” from Gustavian Opera, ed. Bertil H. Van Boer Jr., Royal Swedish Academy of Music, 1991
4. Birgitta Schyberg, “Gustaf Wasa As Theatre Propaganda” from Gustavian Opera, ed. Bertil H. Van Boer Jr., Royal Swedish Academy of Music, 1991
5. Bertil H. Van Boer Jr., Valkyries of the North, Women of Note Quarterly 2, 2, 1994
6. Gustaf HilllestrÅm, The Court Theatre at Drottningholm from Swedish Music Past and Present
7. Selections from Nordic Art Music: From the Middle Ages to the Third Millennium by Frederick Key Smith, Praeger, 2002
8. Hugo Alfvén, A Midsummer’s Vigil from Swedish Music Past and Present
9. Selections from Jonas Frykman and Orvar Löfgren, Culture Builders:An Historical Anthropology of Middle-Class Life, Rutgers University Press, 2000
10. Selections from GÅsta Berling’s Saga by Selma LagerlÅf
11. Jens L. Junggren, The Masculine Road through Modernity: Ling Gymnastics and Male Socialisation in Nineteenth-Century Sweden from Making European Masculinities, ed Mangan, London:Cass, 2002
12. Richard Tomasson, Scandinavian Review: Modern Sweden: The declining importance of marriage. 1998, 1-4ASSIGNMENT
Keep a daily experiential journal and turn it in weekly to me. Please reflect on the topics for this course and your reactions to being in Sweden.
You will be graded on the above and interest and participation in lectures, discussions, and tours.
PROGRAM LECTURES AND TOURS
***Please read the handout from Linnaeus’ Iter Lapponicum (The Journey to Lapland) by Wednesday
WEEK ONE Linnaeus and Nature
Monday: ORIENTATION to Uppsala: buses/shopping/atm/restaurants/cinemas/cathedral/castle/river/exchanging money
Drawing up a budget and sticking to itTuesday: We go to the great Baroque Castle of Skokloster by boat (11-4:30 p.m)
Reading Pack #1Wednesday: Linnaeus the Professor: We visit the University, Botanic Gardens, the Linné Garden and the Museum Gustavianum on foot
Reading Pack #2Thursday: Linnaeus the World’s Gardener: We visit his home in Hammarby by bus-taxi
Reading Pack # 3, 4, 5, 6Friday: STOCKHOLM DAY TOUR: We will tour The Vasa Museum and Drottningholm Palace. You will also have free time in Stockholm.
The Weekend is free
*** Please read The Wonderful Adventures of Nils AND Dr Glas by Wednesday
WEEK TWO National Romanticism
Monday: Music in Uppsala, Lecture by Dr. William Everett.
READING Pack, # 7,8Tuesday: What was National Romanticism?: Selma LagerlÅf, Hjalmar Soderberg and their worlds.
Reading Pack #9Wednesday: Visit to Skansen and the Nordiska Museet in Stockholm
Thursday: FREE DAYFriday: Värmland: We take the train to Karlstad (visit the Cathedral), then the train to Sunnë
Reading Pack #10Saturday: Värmland: Trip on the Steamship Freya in the morning and tour of Selma LagerlÅf’s home Mårbacka in the afternoon
Sunday: Return to Karlstad. Train to Uppsala
WEEK THREE Twentieth Century Sweden
Monday: The Swedish Welfare State
Tuesday: Swedish Traditions and Festivals by Dr Bibie Chronwall
Wednesday: Uppsala University Life and the Nobel Prizes by Dr Bibie Chronwall
Thursday: STOCKHOLM DAY TOUR:Thielska Galleriet led by Dr Bibie Chronwall
Friday - Sunday FREE
*** Please read April Witch by Monday
WEEK FOUR Contemporary Topics
Monday: Health, Sexuality and Nature in Sweden.
Reading Pack #11 and 12Tuesday: Swedish Design and Architecture: Visit to the City Hall and the National Museum’s Modern Swedish Design Collection in Stockholm
Wednesday: The Legacies of Linnaeus and LagerlÅf: We go by bus to the most visited historical site in Sweden and discuss how Gamla Uppsala is presented to the public. What does this tell us about history, culture and nature in Sweden?
PRESENTATION OF PROJECTS AT GAMLA UPPSALA from History 497XCAThursday: Visit to Sigtuna – the oldest town in Sweden.
PRESENTATION OF PROJECTS IN SIGTUNA from History 497XCA
UMKC Study Abroad Program in Uppsala, Sweden, July 2007
Dr. Lynda Payne, Associate Professor of History
History H497XCA: Project in Swedish History and Culture
(Crosslisted as FL H490B)This three-unit interdisciplinary hands-on course is designed to help you choose and create a project concerning some aspect of the history and culture of Sweden. All students must present their project on one of the last two days of the course. Projects can take the form of a poster, a historical paper, a scrapbook, or other creative activity, for example, a piece of visual art, a poem, a short story, or a performance. Please include the context of the piece.
Time will be devoted to discussing in small groups the places we have visited for what they reveal about that week’s topic — Linnaeus and Nature, National Romanticism, Modern Sweden, and Contemporary Issues. You will also have scheduled one-on-one meetings with the instructor(s) to discuss progress toward completion of the project.
WEEK ONE: Linnaeus and Nature
START THINKING ABOUT A POSSIBLE PROJECT!
This week we visit sites that would have been familiar to Linnaeus in the eighteenth century, such as the cathedral, the university, and the anatomy theatre, along with sites he helped create, such as the botanic gardens, the Linné garden, and his summer home at Hammarby. We also travel by boat to Skokloster and to Stockholm to see the Vasa ship and Drottningholm Palace.TOPICS for discussion in small groups: What impression do you have of Linnaeus and his work based on these tours? Linnaeus stated that one of his goals was to try and restore Sweden’s former greatness. What was he referring to? Can you use the trips to Skokloster and Stockholm as evidence of the power and wealth Sweden once possessed? How does the music Dr. Everett played and discussed reflect the rise and decline of the state? What was King Gustav III trying to do?
WEEK TWO: National Romanticism
MONDAY: TURN IN A ONE-PARAGRAPH DESCRIPTION OF YOUR TOPIC TO DR PAYNE. PLEASE SIGN UP FOR AN APPOINTMENT TO MEET WITH DR PAYNE TO DISCUSS YOUR PROGRESS ON THE PROJECT WHILE WE ARE IN VARMLAND.
This week we visit Skansen and the Nordiska Museet. Both were founded by the National Romanticist Artur Havelius in the 1880s. He collected houses, churches, palaces, and animals from all over Sweden and had them moved to the capital so Swedes would not lose touch with their past as the country rapidly industrialized.
TOPICS for discussion in small groups: From your trip to Skansen and the Nordiska Museet, what do you think the goals of Hazelius were? Can you relate them to some of the themes in the readings for this week by Selma LagerlÅf and Hjalmar Soderberg? What exactly was National Romanticism in Sweden and how was it both created and reflected in art and music?
WEEK THREE: Twentieth Century Sweden
PLEASE SIGN UP FOR A TIME TO MEET WITH DR PAYNE THIS WEEK TO DISCUSS YOUR PROGRESS ON THE PROJECT.
This week we focus on life in twentieth century Sweden – within families and at university — and two things that Sweden is famous for – the Nobel Prizes and the country’s high standard of living. Dr. Chronwall also leads a tour to the home of a 19th century banker that he turned into an intimate art gallery.
TOPICS for discussion in small groups: What did the tours to Selma LagerlÅf’s home in Varmland and to the Thielska Galleriet reveal about the lives and interests of upper middle class Swedish families? Why were the Nobel Prizes set up and how do the winners get chosen today? Why does Sweden have such a strong Welfare State? What do you think of the idea of cradle to grave welfare for all citizens regardless of income?
WEEK FOUR: Contemporary issues in Sweden
PLEASE SIGN UP FOR A SLOT TO PRESENT YOUR PROJECT ON WEDNESDAY OR THURSDAY.
This week we discuss the connection of health and sexuality to nature in Sweden and visit the magnificent art nouveau City Hall and the National Museum’s Modern Swedish Design Collection in Stockholm. By contrast we travel to two early Viking settlements, Gamla Uppsala and Sigtuna to examine how Sweden preserves and presents its’ past.
TOPICS for discussion in small groups: What message were the architects trying to give to the public in their choice of design for the City Hall? How is the building used today? What message were you meant to take away from the tour? The National Museum, Gamla Uppsala and Sigtuna all proclaim that they represent Swedish history and culture. How do they do that? At the end of your month, what do you think the best and the worst things are about Sweden? What did the author of April Witch think they are? Did you agree with her?
PROJECTS WILL BE PRESENTED AT GAMLA UPPSALA AND SIGTUNA. PLEASE PREPARE FOR A 15 MINUTE PRESENTATION AND SEE DR PAYNE IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS.
Some of the 2006 Sweden Program students with Professor Chronwall
(one of 3 UMKC faculty members involved in this interdisciplinary course)
University of Missouri-Kansas City
Center for International Academic Programs
5325 Rockhill Road
Kansas City, MO 64110-2499 USA
Phone: 816.235.5759 Fax: 816.235.5610
Email: international@umkc.edu
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