Contents
President's
Greeting
Welcome to the fall edition of the Norwegian Teachers
Newsletter. In this issue you will find information on
everything from position openings, to educational
opportunities for you and your students, to notices of new
publications and web sites of use in the teaching and
learning of Norwegian-related subjects.
NorTANA is a robust, active organization, which has been
in existence for 13 years. As with any organization, it is
necessary to take stock from time to time and examine the
founding documents to see whether they still function as
intended at the time they were written, and whether they
still reflect the will of the membership. It is the opinion
of the Executive Board that NorTANA has always been a
democratic, inclusive organization. Accordingly, as you will
read below, the board voted unanimously to divest itself of
the unilateral power to make changes to the by-laws and
grant this power to the membership.
At the membership meeting at this year's Norway Seminar a
lengthy discussion was held about various issues,
particularly focusing on both the name of the organization
and the purpose of NorTANA. It was decided to appoint a
committee of members to examine the by-laws and make
recommendations for further changes to be brought before the
membership in a mail ballot. The first results of the
committee's deliberations appear in a ballot in this
newsletter. The change proposed is a technical one, simply
adding language to enable changes to the charter.
I expect that this committee will bring additional
proposals in future newsletters. Now is the time for us all
to think about the purpose and function of NorTANA, and
whether changes are necessary. I will not take any more
space at this time, but the discussion will continue, both
in the newsletter and at membership meetings, as well as by
e-mail. As you may or may not be aware, I have created a
NorTANA e-mail list: nortana@stolaf.edu.
If you are not on the list and would like to be, please send
your e-mail address to me at oleary@stolaf.edu
and I will add your name to the address list.
A report on the nynorsk seminar in Volda and the
Norgesseminar held this summer in Bergen and Oslo can
be found on the www at <http://www.stolaf.edu/people/oleary/UDrapport.html>
Also included with this issue of the NorTANA Newsletter
is the most recent edition of "Minifacts about Norway", a
gift to NorTANA members from the Norwegian Information
Service.
I hope to see you all at the NorTANA lunch at SASS in
Chicago, April 26 - 28, 2001.
&emdash; Margaret Hayford O'Leary
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Position
Announcements
Assistant Professor of Scandinavian,
University of Oregon, Eugene
RANK: Tenure-track, Assistant Professor of
Scandinavian
BEGINNING: September 16, 2001 (Subject to budgetary
approval)
SALARY: $39,000-45,000
QUALIFICATIONS: Preference will be given to a scholar in
Scandinavian literature and intellectual culture of the 19th
to the 20th Century with a strong interdisciplinary
emphasis. Evidence of outstanding research potential and
excellence in teaching. Ph.D. from a Scandinavian Department
or a comparable program. Near native fluency in a
Scandinavian language, preferably Norwegian.
RESPONSIBILITIES: Active engagement in research, teach
undergraduate literature and language courses with a strong
appeal to general university population; advise within the
context of departmental programs.
APPLICATION PROCEDURES: Send letter of application,
dossier including three recent letters of recommendation,
and a sample of scholarly writing by to: Virpi Zuck, Head,
Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures, 1250
University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403-1250. Review of
complete dossiers will begin December 1, 2000 and continue
until position is filled.
The University of Oregon is an EO/AA/AD employer
committed to cultural diversity.
Assistant Professor of Norwegian Language and
Literature, St. Olaf College
Beginning September 2001
St. Olaf College is seeking candidates to fill a
tenure-track appointment as Assistant Professor in the
Norwegian Department.
Responsibilities: The Norwegian Department offers a
collaborative teaching environment. All faculty carry a
teaching load of 6 courses per year. This position includes
the possibility of teaching Norwegian language courses at
all levels, Norwegian literature courses (taught in
Norwegian or in English translation), with occasional
opportunities to teach a specialized course. In addition to
teaching, job duties include frequent contact with students
outside the classroom in advising, recruiting, and
mentoring. Faculty members are expected to participate fully
in the activities of the department and the college,
including serving on committees, being available to meet
with students, and assisting in college and department
functions. Faculty members are expected to continue to grow
professionally and to demonstrate professional excellence
through significant and regular scholarly activity. St. Olaf
provides opportunity for faculty development.
Qualifications: The candidate should have a Ph.D. in
Scandinavian Languages and Literature with a focus on
Norwegian literature. Native or near-native competence in
Norwegian (Bokmål), demonstrated superior teaching
skills in language, literature, and culture, and scholarly
promise. Familiarity with proficiency-based language
instruction and use of technology in the classroom is
helpful.
Application procedure: Candidates should send by February
1, 2001, a letter of application, including a statement of
educational philosophy, c.v., a 2-minute audio tape speaking
unrehearsed standard bokmål, and names and telephone
numbers of three current references to:
Solveig Zempel, Chair, Norwegian Department
St. Olaf College
1520 St. Olaf Avenue
Northfield, MN 55057-1098
A liberal arts college of the Lutheran Church (ELCA), St.
Olaf College is an affirmative action/equal opportunity
employer and actively seeks diversity in students, faculty,
and staff.
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Oslo Year Program
Dear Colleagues,
Greetings from Oslo! As the OYP program leader this
semester, I want to give you a short report on how things
are going. There are seven OYP participants this term, a
smaller group than usual, and they are a creative and
pleasant group. Two of the students are from the University
of Wisconsin-Madison, and the others are from Concordia,
Luther, St. Olaf, Andrews University and the University of
Colorado-Boulder. Several of the students will be continuing
on OYP next term, so there will be some continuity in the
program.
All of the students are taking Norwegian as a Foreign
Language&emdash;most are in Trinn 3&emdash;and meet 3-4 days
a week. Most seem to be enjoying these work intensive
classes, and they have allowed the students the opportunity
to connect with young people from many parts of the world.
In addition, some of the students are taking a Norwegian
Life and Society course, and several are working on directed
readings and special projects.
Finally, everyone is taking the topics course I am
teaching &emdash; Cross-Cultural Issues across the
Centuries:Migration to and from Norway&emdash;which is
taught in Norwegian. We meet two days a week and have been
looking at commonalities and differences in the migration
experience among Norwegians who emigrated to North America
during the 19th and early 20th
centuries and various groups who have immigrated to Norway
in the past few decades. Topics covered include
"identitet og tilpasning",
"bindestreksidentitet", "kulturmøter i
skolen", "generasjonskløften",
"innvandrerlitteratur",
"invandrerorganisasjoner",
"verdimøter/konflikter" and "eldre
omsorg". In addition to our regular class meetings and
discussions, we have taken a number of class-related field
trips in Oslo (Antirasistisk Senter, Oslo
Bymuseum, Nordmanns-Forbundet and Nasjonal
Biblioteket/norsk-amerikansk samling), had guest
speakers in class, and taken a class trip to Stavanger.
While in Stavanger we visited Det norske
utvandrersenteret, Norsk Oljemuseum and the
International School of Stavanger. The students stayed at a
beautiful apartment at the youth hostel, and a number were
able to take a boat trip on Lysefjord and attended the final
evening of the Stavanger Literary Festival with readings by
Herbjørg Wassmo and Kjartan Fløgstad.
One of the things I have been most pleased about this
term is the willingness of the OYP students to take
advantage of extracurricular activities at Blindern and in
Oslo. A number regularly attend an international coffee hour
on Fridays, two students are part of the cast of a student
production of "A Midsummer Night´s Dream", and the fall
book readings are also popular among the students. OYP
social activities include bi-monthly potlucks (extremely
popular) and field trips in Oslo (Stortinget,
Rådhuset, and Freialand). At our
orientation meeting in early August, the students chose to
use Norwegian as our social language, and they are very
disciplined about using Norwegian when we are
together&emdash;formally and informally&emdash;as a group.
Now we are looking forward to celebrating Thanksgiving with
the SUST (Scandinavian Urban Studies Term) students.
The challenge right now is dealing with the rain and the
darkness. Oslo has received much more rain than usual this
fall, though it has been the mildest fall in 150 years, and
it continues to rain. We were very fortunate that we had
good weather in Stavanger. Twelve hours after we left, the
region was hit by a terrible wind and rain storm, and
downtown Kristiansand--where we spent a couple of hours on a
layover--was underwater.
On a personal note, I am enjoying working with the
students and the people at the International Summer School.
I am trying to take advantage of the concerts, plays,
lectures and book readings in Oslo, and the new library at
Blindern is a very pleasant place to do research. (I am
doing some background research on polar literature which I
will be pursuing full time in Tromsø during the
spring semester). The OYP experience is a valuable one for
the students and the program leader, and I would be happy to
discuss my experience with anyone that would like more
information.
Beste hilsener fra Oslo
&emdash; Ingrid
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Upcoming Event
Midwest Scandinavian Retreat
In 2001, Concordia College, Moorhead, MN is hosting the
annual Midwest Scandinavian Retreat at Beaver Creek Reserve
near Fall Creek, WI. Reserve the weekend of February 9 - 11,
2001 on your calendars! A group of enthusiastic retreat
veterans is already hard at work on planning the program!
The 2001 retreat will feature more (but shorter)
presentations, two Nordic films (titles to be announced),
and a Saturday evening program starring folklorist Jim Leary
from UW-Madison followed by a dance with a live band. If
your school has attended the retreat in the past, look for
more information on the schedule and cost in your email
in-boxes before Thanksgiving. If your students are
interested in attending for the first time, send email to
Dawn Tommerdahl (tommerda@cord.edu). To volunteer to give a
presentation, send email to Dawn.
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Study Opportunities for Students &
Teachers
Now is the time to remind your students about various
opportunities to study in Norway, as well as to think about
participating in programs for teachers. In addition to
undergraduate and graduate courses for students, there are
generally one or two stipends for North American teachers of
Norwegian(depending on funding) to participate in the
three-week course, Seminar i norsk språk
(C-16). Contact the ISS office for more information on this
course and the availability of stipends.
International Summer School, University of
Oslo
June 23-August 3, 2001
A center for learning in an international context with
the aim of promoting understanding and good will among
people around the world.
Oslo Year Program, University of Oslo (OYP)
Fall, Spring or Full Year Program
Norwegian Language, Literature & Culture
(minimum 3 semesters of Norwegian prerequisite)
For information on the two programs above contact:
Oslo International Summer School
North American Branch Office
c/o St. Olaf College
1520 St. Olaf Ave.
Northfield, MN 55057-1098
1-800-639-0058
ss@stolaf.edu|
http://www.uio.no/iss/iss.html
Scandinavia Urban Studies Term (SUST),
University of Oslo
Fall Semester
Based in Oslo, with field study in Stockholm, Sweden,
Tallin, Estonia, and selected regions of Norway, students
gain a greater understanding of Scandinavia's global
leadership in social policy, women's issues, environmental
concerns, and peace-keeping efforts. No language
prerequisite.
Higher Education Consortium for Urban Affairs
Mail #36
1536 Hewitt Ave.
St. Paul, MN 55104-1284
1-800-554-1089
info@hecua.org
Scandinavian Studies in Telemark,
Telemark University College, Bø, Telemark
Fall Semester
For undergraduates interested in Scandinavia, who wish to
spend one semester in an academic program taught in English.
Telemark University College faculty offer courses in
cultural studies, environmental studies, and Norwegian
language. No language prerequisite.
Oyvind.Gulliksen@hit.no
Judith.Torvik@hit.no
Norwegian for Reading Knowledge: on-line pilot
course
Louis Janus will offer a pilot course on Norwegian for
reading knowledge as a distance ed, on-line course. The
projected dates are the 12 weeks: January 8- March 26, 2001.
This course will be a no-fee, no-credit course, not
affiliated with any college or university. Please advise any
students who would be potential course-members to contact me
at: <janus005@umn.edu>.
I will send more complete details within a few weeks.
This pilot course will assist serious students in gaining
a reading knowledge of Modern Norwegian. It is primarily
aimed at advanced undergraduates, grad students, and or
others who want to be able to understand authentic texts
written in Norwegian. For example, students of political
science would benefit if they need access to primary
resource material in Norwegian and cannot or do not want to
rely on English versions for their research.
Most assigned readings will be available free on the
world wide web. During the second half of the course,
students will select a passage to spend considerable time
understanding.
I expect only serious students to sign up for this pilot
on-line course. 'Lurkers' or curiosity seekers will be
discouraged from signing up. To ensure personal attention,
the number of students will be limited to 15. Class
discussions (via email or chat room sessions) will follow
general 'lectures' on approaches to reading, problems with
specific texts or types of texts. Individual assignments (to
be turned in via email) generally will be responses to texts
with general restatements in English of what a text means,
and occasional checks on comprehension of specific text
portions. Word-for-word translations are neither required or
desirable. Since it is a course on reading knowledge, there
will be no requirements to understand spoken Norwegian or to
produce Norwegian either orally or in writing. A short guide
to pronunciation will be provided, but merely as an aid to
recognizing cognates and allowing better mnemonic devices
for learning senses of individual words and phrases.
&emdash; Louis Janus
THE EUROPEAN STUDIES CONSORTIUM & INSTITUTE OF
GLOBAL STUDIES
(Both at the University of Minnesota) through a Title VI
Grant of the US Department of Education are pleased to
announceTEACHER STIPENDS of $650 for teachers of Less
Commonly Taught Languages (on any level: K-12 or
post-secondary) to participate in 2001 SUMMER INSTITUTES FOR
LANGUAGE TEACHERS offered by the Center for Advanced
Research on Language Acquisition
(CARLA) at the
University of Minnesota. Offerings during 2001 at CARLA's
annual series of summer institutes for teachers include the
following:
* Meeting the Challenges of
Immersion Education, June 18-22
* A Practical Course in Strategies-Based
Instruction, June 18-22
* Developing Classroom Materials for Less Commonly
Taught Languages, June 25-29
* Integrating Culture into the Second Language
Classroom, July 9-13
* Developing Proficiency-Oriented Assessments, July
19-20
* Proficiency-Oriented Language Assessment and
Instruction, July 23-27
* Using Technology in the Second Language
Classroom, August 6-10
More information on the institutes is available at:
<http://carla.acad.umn.edu/summerinst.html>
More details about applying for the stipends are
available at the European Studies Consortium's web site:
<http://esc.cla.umn.edu/stipends.html>
The deadline for application is April 27, 2001.
For more information on the Teacher Stipends,
contact:
Klaas van der Sanden
European Studies Consortium/Institute of Global Studies
University of Minnesota
214 Social Sciences Building
267-19th Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55455
Tel. 612/625-1856
Fax 612/626-2242
E-mail:esc@tc.umn.edu
LCTL Summer Course Info Requested
Every year the LCTL project creates a database of less
commonly taught language courses offered during the summer.
Many students find that the summer affords an excellent
chance to travel to a different university or study abroad.
The first 21 courses for summer 2001.include the following
languages: Burmese, Chinese, Filipino, Hmong, Icelandic
(Modern), Indonesian, Italian, Javanese, Khmer, Lao, Latin,
Macedonian, Russian, Serbian/Croatian, Tagalog, Tatar, Thai,
Tibetan and Vietnamese.
It would be appreciated it if you would inform us of
summer courses you know about. Perhaps the simplest way is
to look first at the database <http://carla.acad.umn.edu/LCTL/access.html>
and then fill out a web correction form at <http://carla.acad.umn.edu:591/corrections.html>
or just email us at: LCTL@umn.edu.
As in past years, we will list courses abroad if American
college/ university students can get credit.
Please pass this request on to the offices at your
institution that are involved in summer school courses.
Thanks!
REMINDER: all our lctl databases (normal school year,
summer 2001, distance ed, and k12) are accessible at:
<http://carla.acad.umn.edu/LCTL/access.html>.
Summer Course in Modern Icelandic
The University of Minnesota and the Sigurdur Nordal
Institute of the University of Iceland are offering a joint
course in modern Icelandic for undergraduate and graduate
students in North America. The six-week course begins at the
University of Minnesota for three weeks and then continues
at the University of Iceland. Students who successfully
complete the course have the option of continuing
instruction in modern Icelandic at a higher level at the
Univeristy of Iceland's Summer Course in Icelandic. Language
classes include instruction in grammar, conversation, and
the reading of modern Icelandic texts. Lectures on Icelandic
culture and society from the Middle Ages to the present
supplement language instruction at both locations. In
Iceland, there will also be excursions to museums and sties
of historical and contemporary importance.
Location: University of Minnesota-Twin Cities; Reykjavik,
Iceland
Dates: 21 May-8 June (Minnesota); 9 June-30
June(Iceland)
Eligibility: Undergraduates with junior status or higher
and a GPA of 3.0. Graduate students with a minimum GPA of
3.5. No previous knowledge of Icelandic is required.
Credit: 6 undergraduate semester credits; 3 graduate
semester credits
Housing: Dormitories in Minnesota; Private homes in
Iceland
Costs: Undergraduate: $3,500; graduate: $3,800 Includes
tuition, instructional materials, round-trip airfare from
Minneapolis to Reykjavik, room in Iceland. Reduced fee for
students not requiring room and board in Minnesota.
Non-refundable application fee of $50.
Financial Aid: Scholarships of $500 or $800 are
available, based on student need. Graduate students are also
encouraged to apply for Foreign Language and Area Studies
(FLAS) grants from their home institutions.
Deadline: 15 February, 2001
For information, contact:
Summer Course in Icelandic
Center for Scandinavian Studies
University of Minnesota, Dept of German, Scandinavian &
Dutch
205 Folwell Hall, Minneapolis, MN 55455-0124
email: Scan@umn.edu
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Contents
NorTana Business
Minutes of the Extraordinary NorTANA meeting
Madison, WI; May 4, 2000
The meeting was called to order at 4:07 p.m. immediately
following the workshop on the use of literature in the
language classroom. The minutes were approved and Treasurer
Tanya Thresher reported a current total membership of
159.
Discussion of future seminars and workshops included the
solicitation of suggestions for guest lecturers at
Norgesseminar 2000 to be forwarded to Kjellaug Myhre. The
topic will be Norge i møte med det nye
årtusen: tilbake til framtiden med (ide) historie.
Torild Homstad gave an update on leaders for the Oslo Year
(Ingrid Urberg and Gregg Bucken-Knapp for 2000-02) and
encouraged interested persons to place their names on the
list for future years. Discussion of the proposed name shift
was tabled until the lunch meeting on May 5 when more of the
members would be present.
Summary of lunch meeting discussion
May 5, 2000
Margaret O'Leary introduced the board members and
reviewed upcoming seminars (Kurs for nord-amerikanske
norsklærarar in Ørsta/Volda, Norgesseminar
in Bergen and Oslo, August 2000, and Norgesseminar at
St. Olaf College, October 2000, at Weber State 2001, PLU
2002, and possibly at Alberta 2003). Jerry Coffey reported
the death of Dr. Michael Malone, our host in Montana, and
the U. of Wisconsin-Madison announced a deadline of May 12
for applications for a 2/3 position as lecturer in
Norwegian.
Any name change will require an amendment to the by-laws,
which requires a 2/3 vote of the Executive Committee. The
consensus of the group is that the by-laws need serious
revision in the direction of greater democracy. They should
at least reflect actual practice. Terje Leiren suggested
that the membership should be officially open to
non-teachers in order to be inclusive of all interested
academics. The current practice of officers being selected
by the Executive Committee could be revised to include a
direct vote by the membership. Issues relating to the
original purpose of the organization need to be reviewed and
profound changes may need to be made. It was suggested that
a constitutional committee be set up to begin work on
revision of the by-laws at Norgesseminar in
Northfield.
&emdash; Frankie Shackelford,
Secretary
Minutes of NorTANA meeting
Norgesseminar
St.Olaf College
October 28, 2000
REPORTS:Minutes of the spring meeting, held at the SASS
meeting in Madison in April. were distributed and approved.
Treasurer Tanya Thresher reported a balance of $10,053.51
and encouraged membership renewal for those who have not
paid dues beyond 2000.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Torild Homstad invited everyone to send in news items for
the Fall newsletter and to spread information to students on
study abroad. In addition to the Oslo International Summer
School (ISS), the Oslo Year Program, and the Scandinavian
Urban Studies Term (SUST), a new program is being launched
in Scandinavian Studies in Telemark. Teachers of Norwegian
are especially encouraged to attend the special Seminar i
norsk språk course at the ISS.
Several positions were announced, including openings at
St. Olaf in Norwegian and history, University of
Colorado-Boulder in Swedish, University of Oregon in
Scandinavian (preference for Norwegian). A number of new
publications are available or in press, including Kathy
Stokker's Keeping Christmas, Roger Greenwald's
translations of Vesaas's Through Naked Branches, the
Scandinavian volume of Who's Who in Women Writers, edited
by Monika Zagar, Frankie Shackelford's translation of Edvard
Hoem's AVE EVA and the paperback edition of Christine
Ingebritsen's The Nordic States and European
Unity.
Margaret O'Leary announced the sad news of Scandinavian
art historian and former Vesterheim curator Marion Nelson's
sudden death in September.
Lars Fure encouraged applications for travel stipends as
there was more money than applications in 2000.
Requests for travel grants should be sent to the
Information Service (no special application form is
necessary). The Info Service would also like to reduce the
amount of printed materials being mailed out since much of
it is available on the internet. Some standard mailings
(such as Bindestreken and other publishing news) will
be discontinued. New brochures on Norway-US ties were
distributed. (Free subscriptions to Nordisk
Litteratur are available directly from Nordisk
Råd.)
Lars also called attention to the updated website
<www.norway.org>
and announced the construction of an enlarged data base.
Elisabeth Middelthon was unable to attend but MUNIN's
website should be consulted<www.boknett.munin.no>
for updated information on Norwegian non-fiction titles.
Forms for ordering books were distributed and should be
faxed to Kjellaug Myhre (limit of kr. 3000 per institution).
Kjellaug's prospectus on utvidet
universitetssamarbeid was distributed.
UPCOMING NORGESSEMINARER
Weber State University in Ogden, Utah will host
Norgesseminar 2001 (October 18-20)on the topic of Sport
som en del av norsk kultur. They will try to procure a
top athlete such as Johan Olav Koss or Grete Waitz. In 2002
Pacific Lutheran University will be the site of
Barnelitteratur og musikk.
WORKSHOP ON LITERATURE IN THE LANGUAGE
CLASSROOM
Members interested in organizing a workshop for June 2002
should contact Torild Homstad before the SASS meeting in
Chicago in May 2001.
DISCUSSION OF BY-LAWS AND NAME CHANGE
The executive committee met on October 27 and voted to
change the by-laws to allow future amendments to be proposed
by the membership. Copies of the amended by-laws were
distributed. The charter itself will need to be amended to
accommodate a name change; thus a change in the new Article
IV of the by-laws to allow for amendments to the charter
must be a first step toward a potential name change.
The original proposal by Terje Leiren to change the name
to something more inclusive of all academics interested in
Norwegian studies(Norwegian Studies Association of North
America, for example) was the subject of a prolonged
discussion including comments by 18 persons. Main points
included: 1) the perceived need to make clear that all
interested persons could be members; this includes many
non-teachers; 2) the desire to emphasize the importance of
the teaching focus in the mandate of the organization; 3)the
potential effect of the change to diminish the current
name-recognition both at home and abroad (with respect to
the Akademika Prize, for instance); 4)the need to
distinguish NorTANA from SASS, rather than becoming a
mini-version of it; 5) the desire of
Utenriksdepartementet to have a single blanket
organization for ease of contact and promotional
effectiveness; 6)the failure of the name to reflect the
current inclusive practice regarding membership; 7) the need
to distinguish between NorTANA and Norgesseminar; 8)
the inherent lack of fairness in an organization whose
meetings are not open to all members due to the invitational
nature of Norgesseminar; 9) the intention of the
Information Service to invite only NorTANA members to
Norgesseminar and to reserve travel stipends for
NorTANA members; 10) the possibility of changing the name,
but keeping the acronym; 11) the need for a committee to
carefully consider the issues and propose amendments to the
by-laws.
A committee of Chris Hale, Troy Storfjell, Terje Leiren,
and Katherine Hanson was established to proceed with all
haste to make formal recommendations to the membership.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:36 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
&emdash; Frankie Shackelford, secretary
Results of Special Committee Meeting
Fellow NorTANA members:
At the NorTANA Meeting held in conjunction with the
Norway Seminar at St. Olaf College recently a special
committee was appointed to work on issues surrounding our
year-long discussion of possibly changing our
name.
At that meeting the Executive Committee also announced
that they had amended Article IV of the by-laws to divest
themselves of the unilateral power to make changes in the
By-laws. It was their intention to make NorTANA a more
democratic organization, and to pass this decision-making
power on to the membership. The result of their change is
that it is now the voting membership that has the power to
amend the by-laws.
In order for the special committee to get to work on a
possible name change, however, Article IV must be further
amended. It must be changed to grant the voting membership
the power to change the Charter of the organization as well,
since the name is established in Article I of the Charter.
Therefore we are proposing a change to the
by-laws.
Article IV of the by-laws currently reads as
follows:
Article IV (Changes in By-laws)
Changes in the by-laws may be proposed by members in good
standing to the executive committee, which will in turn
submit them to the membership by a mail ballot. Changes in
by-laws take effect if two-thirds of the voting membership
approve them. The voting membership includes all people who
return ballots by the specified date to the specified
ballot-counters.
We would like to propose the following
changes:
1. That the sub-heading of Article IV be amended to read
"(Changes in Charter and By-laws)"; and
2. That the body of Article IV be amended so that where
it currently reads "changes in the by-laws" and "changes in
by-laws" it will read "changes in the charter and
by-laws."
3. That the body of Article IV be amended so that where
it currently reads "people" it will read "members."
Thus the amended Article would read as
follows:
Article IV (Changes in Charter and By-laws)
Changes in the charter and by-laws may be proposed by
members in good standing to the executive committee, which
will in turn submit them to the membership by a mail ballot.
Changes in the charter and by-laws take effect if two-thirds
of the voting membership approve them. The voting membership
includes all members who return ballots by the specified
date to the specified ballot-counters.
In order for NorTANA to change its name, someone has to
be empowered to change the Charter. Thus this change is a
necessary precursor to the special committee's being able to
carry out the work assigned to it at the last NorTANA
meeting.
Furthermore, it seems right, as a pure matter of
principle, that someone be empowered to change the Charter.
In keeping with the democratic spirit of the new Article IV,
it seems appropriate that the membership of the organization
be invested with this power.
&emdash; Special Committee
(Katherine Hanson, Terje Leiren, Chris Hale, Troy
Storfjell)
Vote Now!
A mail ballot was included in the paper version of this
newsletter asking members with voting franchise to vote Yes
or No to the proposal to amend Article IV. concerning
changes in Charter and By-laws.
Changes in the charter and by-laws take effect if two
thirds of the voting membership approve them. The voting
membership includes all people who return ballots by the
specified date to the specified ballot-counters.
Ballots will be counted by Lars Fure and should be sent
to him at:
Lars Fure
Norwegian Information Service
825 Third Ave. 38th Floor
New York, NY 10022
The deadline for mailing ballots was December 20,
2000
Back to
Contents
New Initiatives from UD
At Norgesseminar in October Kjellaug Myhre
presented plans for new initiatives on the part of UD. Those
of us within Scandinavian Studies can help create
opportunities for colleagues in other fields who could
benefit from Norway's expertise. Below is an excerpt from
the memo describing these new initiatives. For further
information, contact Kjellaug Myhre. Fax number:
47-22-24-27-81 or e-mail <kjellaug.myhre@mfa.no>
Utvidet universitetssamarbeid
Utenriksdepartementet har de siste par år avsatt
midler til utvidet universitetssamarbeid. Tanken bak er
å nå større grupper innenfor
universitets- og høyskolemiljøene i utlandet,
enn de som tilegner seg Norges-kunnskap ved først
å lære seg å beherske det norske
språket.
En slik innfallsvinkel betinger for det første at
man benytter englesk som kommunikasjonsspråk. Videre
må det satses på prosjekter innen felter der
Norge har "noe å tilby". Fredsmekling,
håndvåpen, miljø, likestilling/barne- og
familiepolitikk er eksempler på slike emner.
En har funnet det hensiktsmessig å ta utgangspunkt
i nordistikk-skandinavistikk-miljøene, for gjennom
disse å nå ut til studenter og
universitetsansatte hvis Norges-interesse vil kunne vekkes
på andre fagfelter enn språk og litteratur.
Dette innebærer tverrfaglig samarbeid på tvers
av fakultets- og instituttgrenser.. Arrangementene er tenkt
utformet slik at man med utgangspunkt i de høyere
lærestedene også kan nå grupper utenfor de
akademiske miljøer.
&emdash; Kjellaug Myhre
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Reviews, Projects &
Publications
Klar for Norge, modul 1. Aud Jahren, Helga
Solstad & Eva Høgberg. Oslo: Forlaget Fag og
Kultur, 1999. Textbook with CD. ISBN 82-11-00421-6. 173 pp.
NOK 198. Workbook. ISBN 82-11-00422-4. 124 pp. NOK 119.
Teacher's Guide. ISBN 82-11-00423-2. 135 pp. NOK 350.
Norwegian/English/French/Vietnamese wordlist ISBN
82-11-00462-3. NOK 98. CD-ROM ISBN 82-11-00435-6.
This fall I started using Klar for Norge in my
first-semester Norwegian classes. Its target audience is
adult immigrants to Norway. Unlike Ny i Norge, its
main characters are Norwegians. Only passing reference is
made to immigrants. The book contains a wealth of
information about Norwegian culture and geography. Chapters
cover standard topics: jobs, families, school, shopping,
weather, illness, using public libraries, banks, post
offices, transportation, holidays, media. Each chapter
consists of prose texts that set up contexts for the
dialogs. These texts are all recorded on the CD that
accompanies the book. In the recordings, the main characters
and narrators of the texts speak bokmål, but
the local people featured in the dialogs speak dialects from
the area where the conversation takes place. The Ord
og uttrykk section of each chapter is as close to
a glossary as this book comes, although it includes only a
few of the most important words in the chapter. The word
list (published separately) includes all vocabulary. Jobb
med språket is the grammar section. Grammar is
introduced in a logical fashion, but students struggled with
the amount of grammar presented in the first four chapters.
After chapter 4, the grammar load lightens. One downfall of
the text is that past tense is not introduced until book 2.
Interspersed throughout the chapter are gorgeous colored
pictures and photographs rich in cultural content. Each
chapter highlights a geographic area. Related historical
information or statistics appear in infobokser. In
addition, each chapter features a painting or sculpture by a
famous artist and a poem or song by a famous author. This
supplementary text is also included on the CD. A couple of
examples illustrate the up-to-date cultural content in the
textbook. In chapter 6, one of the characters buys a
snowboard instead of skis and the clothing in the photos is
what people really wear.
The workbook exercises resemble those in the Ny i
Norge workbook but without the pair work. The Fag og
Kultur website (http://www.fagogkultur.no/)
features a downloadable chart showing where Klar for
Norge material was introduced in Ny i Norge. This
chart makes it easy to find supplementary material or get
ideas for pair work.
The teacher's guide is divided into three parts. The
first is a general introduction with tips for language
learners, outline of the book, and tips for creating
in-class communicative activities. The second section
consists of specific suggestions for each of the chapters.
This section supplies helpful planning information including
suggestions for teaching the texts and extensive grammar
explanations. Depth of coverage varies from chapter to
chapter. The final part of the guide contains originals for
making transparencies or worksheets. Tests and workbook key
are not included in the teacher's guide.
Because the CD-ROM is unimaginative, I have decided not
to ask students to buy it nor have I ordered multiple copies
for students to use in our media lab. Most exercises fall
into two categories: simple drag and drop exercises for
matching articles to nouns or dictations of texts in the
textbook. Pictures are the same as those in the textbook and
usually have no connection to the exercises they accompany.
On the positive side, students can practice their
pronunciation by recording their speech and comparing it to
recorded texts.
Although I think Klar for Norge is a big
improvement over Ny i Norge in many ways, it is not
the perfect text for American students learning Norwegian.
-Tommerdahl
Powderhouse. Jens Bjørneboe. Esther
Greenleaf Mürer, trans. Chester Springs, PA: Dufour
Editions, 2000. ISBN 0-8023-1331-0. 202 pp. $15.95
In her biography of Jens Bjørneboe, Janet Garton
observes that throughout his authorship, Bjørneboe
has served as Norway's conscience. In
Kruttårnet (1969), his second novel in the
"History of Beastiality" trilogy, Bjørneboe functions
as the conscience of the world, and thanks to Esther
Greenleaf Mürer's superb translation
(Powderhouse, Dufour, 2000) a larger portion of the
world can now squirm under Bjørneboe's unrelenting
and unforgiving gaze.
In her introduction, Mürer relates that
Powderhouse was the first of Bjørneboe's works
she read and that she knew immediately that she must
translate it. It's easy to see why this novel would so
captivate a reader that she would make introducing the
author to the world her life's work. In Powderhouse,
Bjørneboe takes his readers to the border on many
levels as he examine the dark side of the human soul and of
human history. The novel is set on of the grounds of an
insane asylum in the Alsace region of France. The narrator,
Jean (also known as Ivan, Giovanni, and Jochanaan), admits
to being a "jack of all trades" and refers to himself as the
asylum's "chief ideologist and father-confessor." Among the
motley group of residents (inmates/patients) are the wife of
the Russian ambassador who howls like a wolf and has a nasty
habit of attempting to rape the Algerian assistant doctor,
al Assadun; a general from Texas who, after witnessing
atrocities in Vietnam, has been convicted of raping and then
murdering his family's Asian maid; Fontaine, a Belgian sex
murderer, convicted of killing and dismembering two teenage
boys; Báthory, Doctor of Engineering, a Hungarian
fascist who, as a member of the French Foreign Legion,
perfected the "telephone" method of torture under
interrogation; and Lacroix a former public executioner who
attempts suicide by trying to saw his head off. These
residents and the employees alike have checkered pasts and
are all social misfits who have come to feel at home and
accepted at this insane asylum.
The narrative style of the novel is a mix of lyrical
descriptions of passionate encounters, past and present,
convoluted confessions of past misdeeds that seem at times
like Karen Blixen's tales, and detailed lectures on the
history of persecution of witches and heretics, the history
of torture and execution and their effects on the
executioner, and finally, "the culture of the stake," the
proposed difference between Christianity and other world
religions. While the most recent historical example in the
first of these lectures, napalmed children, dates the novel,
readers can easily come up with a list of methods of torture
which have been in the news more recently, thus bringing the
lectures up to date. The topic of the second lecture is also
timely, given the recent story which aired on National
Public Radio's "All Things Considered." In it, employees of
the Texas death house reported in their own words the
psychological effects of administering lethal injections
with increased frequency. The topic of the final lecture is
timeless. The problem of defining freedom is the thread that
runs through the entire novel.
In her introduction, Mürer quotes a letter from
Bjørneboe in which he admits that Powderhouse
is the one of his novels he keeps returning to. He writes:
"I am still in love with this particular book, but also a
little confused, I don't completely see through it." As
other of Bjørneboe's novels, this is a difficult read
because of the detailed descriptions of cruelty inflicted on
human beings by other human beings, but it is also
satisfying because it challenges the reader to take a stand,
to try to define freedom for him/herself.
Mürer's translation would be a welcome addition to a
Twentieth Century Scandinavian Literature in Translation
course. I believe it is best suited, however, to upper
division ethics, philosophy and religion courses. I
recommend buying a couple of copies of this novel &endash;
keep one and pass the other on to a colleague!
&emdash;Dawn Tommerdahl
The Silence, Esther Greenleaf Murer's translation
of the final novel of Jens Bjorneboe's History of
Bestiality trilogy, is out at last. It should be
available from U.S. distributors soon, and in the U.K. in a
couple of months.
Visit Esther Greenleaf Murer's website:"Jens Bjorneboe in
English" at http://emurer.home.att.net/
Keeping Christmas:Yuletide Traditions in Norway and
the New Land., Kathleen Stokker. St. Paul, MN:
Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2000. ISBN
0-87351-389-4. 355 pp. $34.95.
In her newest book, Kathleen Stokker first examines the
development of Christmas celebrations from its roots in folk
belief to how it is observed in modern Norway. She then
considers how the Norwegian Christmas customs of the late
19th and early 20th centuries evolved
into a Norwegian American Christmas &emdash; a celebration
that Stokker maintains, rather than fading away, appears to
be growing increasingly vital. According to the author,
"Christmas reveals better than any other aspect of Norwegian
American culture the forces of evolution, preservation, and
assimilation that faced the Norwegians as they made their
new home on American soil. Certain Norwegian Christmas
traditions remain not only the most stable of the folkways
Norwegians brought to America, but also the ones through
which the immigrants revealed their deepest feelings about
adjusting to American culture." This very readable volume
also contains extensive notes, bibliography and an index.
&emdash;Torild Homstad
Edvard Hoem's award-winning novel, AVE EVA: A
Norwegian Tragedy, translated by Frankie Shackelford
(Riverside, CA: Xenos Books, 2000). Available in soft cover
after December 1 from <amazon.com>
for $15.
Island Soul: A Memoir of Norway, Patti
Jones Morgan, Double SS Press, P.O. Box 843,Wimberley,
Texas. 78676
Determined to fit into life on the Norwegian island of
Karmøy, Texas freelance writer, Patti Jones Morgan,
struggles to learn the language and cope with a different
culture while her husband works long hours helping to build
a North Sea oil platform. The area's great natural beauty
and the joys of a simpler, safe and slow-paced community beg
comparison with her former Houston suburban life and provoke
questions about where she, and her soul, truly belong.
344 pp, including Norwegian poems & songs in
translation, and author illustrations.
ISBN 0-945199-19-8 $18.95; ISBN 0-945199-20-1 $24.95
IslandSoulBooks@cswebmail.com
Norsk Litteraturvitenskapelig Tidsskrift
(NLvT) is a new journal from 1998, which focuses on general
literary theory. NLvT aims to lay the foundation for better
communication and discussion between literary researchers.
The journal welcomes all contributors utilizing Scandinavian
languages. Two issues yearly.
Editors: Erik Bjerk Hagen (University of Bergen), Kjersti
Bale and Jon Haarberg (University of Oslo) and Tone Selboe
(University of Tromsø)
Price: full USD 58/private USD 39/student USD 33
Contact: Universitetsforlaget,
Att: Hege Ramseng
Pb. 2959 Tøyen
N-0608 OSLO
NORWAY
Fax: 47-22-57-53-53
The CAPLEX lexicon from Cappelen Forlag is
available free on the worl wide web at http://ww.caplex.net/
The Swedish NATIONALENCYKLOPEDIN from Bra Bocker
Forlag is also available over the web for an annual fee of
SEK 400 at http://ne.se
LINGUA Engelsk- norsk, norsk- engelsk
skoleordbok $29.95
This dictionary, which has not previously been widely
available for sale in the U.S. is a wonderful resource for
Norwegian language learners. Not only does this dictionary
go from English to Norwegian and Norwegian to English, it
also includes articles of nouns and an emneordliste. For a
complete review written by Louis Janus, see the Fall 1999
issue of NORTANA or the Kari Norsk website listed
below.
Norwegian Verbs and Essentials of Grammar: A
Practical Guide to the Mastery of Norwegian by Louis
Janus $16.95
This book divides all of the major verbal &
grammatical concepts of the Norwegian language into 25
units. Each unit is devoted to one particular language
concept, so that the user will be able to locate specific
information quickly and easily. It is written in a manner
that is easily understood, even if you have not studied
languages before; it does not assume English grammar
knowledge. Also includes a short introduction to Norwegian
language history and current situation, the appendixes list
10 particularly common pitfalls for English speakers
learning Norwegian, and the top 100 Norwegian male and
female names.
For more information or to order either of these texts
please contact:
Kari Norsk: www.karinorsk.com.
kari@karinorsk.com
(952) 942- 6081
JUST RELEASED
Smakebiter av norsk og Norge: an 8- lesson
Norwegian language course for adult learners written by Kari
Lie. ISBN: 0-9702065-0-X (57 pages) inc. 3 CDs
$32.95.
Smakebiter av norsk og Norge is an
instructional language text designed for individuals not
having prior Norwegian language instruction. The text begins
with simple greetings & classroom basics and then
progresses to communication of topics that are meaningful to
the adult learner in everyday life. This text is designed in
a contextualized manner. Each lesson features a topic and
elements of grammar and vocabulary are introduced through
this topic. This text is ideal for instructors wanting to
teach in a communicative & strategy based approach.
Activities are specifically designed for small groups and/or
pairs to maximize speaking time in class. In addition,
emphasis is placed on students taking the concepts and being
able to apply them to real-life‚ situations (visiting
relatives, reading old letters, etc.)
Activities include: crosswords, word finds, pair &
small group activities, songs, guided speaking, listening,
writing, and reading exercises. Students are encouraged to
access authentic materials on- line (web sites and
trackstack activities accessed through the Kari Norsk
website). The CDs include over 3 hours of native Norwegian
speaking and listening exercises to supplement the text;
some narration in English.
There are 8 lessons, covering following topics: Identity,
alphabet, numbers, questions and answers, classroom basics,
family, time (telling time, days of the week, months,
seasons, etc., activities, food (likes and dislikes),
occupations, Norway in a nutshell (map w/ focus on fylker,
national anthem), visiting the relatives (how to carry on a
conversation), dictionary use.
The lessons cover the following grammatical concepts:
Basic word order, formulating questions, nouns (indefinite
and definite (singular and plural)), verbs (infinitive and
present tenses), pronouns, short answers.
Find out more information: www.karinorsk.com
email: kari@karinorsk.com
(952) 942- 6081
Back to
Contents
In Memoriam
Dr. Marion J. Nelson,
former director of Vesterheim,
Norwegian-American Museum,
Professor of Art History, University of Minnesota
September 6, 2000
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