Læringsutbytte

Knowledge

Students shall acquire knowledge about:

• The significance of both structural aspects of society, such as the welfare regime, and individual aspects such as identity
• The different ways in which socialization is affected on the structural and individual levels in different countries
• Contemporary challenges in the field such as migration and the negotiation of inter-cultural encounters

Skills

Students:

• can use social scientific terminology, modes of explanation and theories in their professional work
• can reflect on different national backgrounds, global interactions, and make connections to contemporary social change
• can use and evaluate different tools that can be employed to bring social scientific subjects closer to students

General competences

Students:

• can keep themselves up to date on the subject matter and reflect their own professional practice
• can critically reflect on social scientific questions

Innhold

Participants in this course will gain competence with regard to the dynamics that shape contemporary societies. We will explore how different aspects of national identity are formed – both in their historical roots and in its current forms.

Why are some nations more enthusiastic about their national heritage than others? What are the reasons for Norway not joining the European Union? What makes the Scandinavian welfare model so special, and how does it deal with a world on the move, where people grow up in many different countries, sometimes only visiting as tourists, or – in times of crisis and austerity such as now – coming as work migrants or their children? We will try to answer these questions together, with the help of the up-to-date research on these topics, by visiting and talking to experts “in the field”, for example in local adult education programs for migrants, and through group work on selected questions.

We will use the full spectrum of social scientific knowledge to shed light on how these problems can be dealt with. We will also build connections to school life and inform ourselves for example about local school-based peace projects. After completing the course, you will be able to better understand how mobility, welfare in a changing European Union, and socialization interact and how they together shape the societies of the 21st century.

Arbeids- og læringsformer

The course will be split into three parts:

• Socialization, mobility and national identity
• Changing societies & welfare
• Qualitative field work project and/or in-school practice.

We will use a variety of activities to achieve the study goals of this course, among them excursions and discussions with experts, use of different kinds of source material (from text to geographical informations systems) and in-class discussions.

Designated parts of the program are mandatory, as will be stated in the syllabus.

Vurderingsformer

The assessment of the course is tied to its three distictive parts (see above). Each part will be accompanied by student essays (no grades, just pass / non-pass) and an exam (1/3 of the final grade for each):

• written exam
• oral exam
• research / practice report

These three exams will result in a single grade. The grade scale is from A-F.

Det tas forbehold om mindre justeringer i planen.