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St. Olaf students embrace “irreplaceable opportunity” of summer CURI research A recent article on the St. Olaf website covered the Responses to Thunberg CURI project, along with two other humanities projects directed by my colleagues Tim Rainey and Bridget Draxler. Since many students associate research with the natural and social sciences, it’s great to see these efforts to promote undergraduate research in the humanities. Directing an interdisciplinary project that drew on research in environmental studies, communication, media studies,  gender, and…

During the summer of 2022, I’m directing a project of undergraduate researchers through CURI (Collaborative Undergraduate Research Institute) here at St. Olaf. I was fortunate to be able to put together a passionate and inquisitive team with interests in Gender Studies, Psychology, and Race and Ethnic Studies, among other disciplines, to add more to the Responses to Thunberg database and conduct analyses of Greta’s reception in international media through various lenses chosen by the students. Since we’re working with news…

During the 2021-22 academic year, I received a Magnus the Good Collaborative Fellowship together with Cullen Hauck (’23). Cully wanted to continue the research he had started during a Directed Undergraduate Research course that I was able to run in January of 2021. Through the DUR, Cully had started collecting opinion journalism published in Sweden, but he wasn’t able to get access to many newspapers, and he was only able to get started on the project. Magnus the Good gave…

In January, I had the pleasure of talking with Laura Yuen of the Star Tribune about the Norwegian concept of “friluftsliv.” Although I examine Norwegian views of nature from a scholarly perspective in my research, in my personal life I have genuinely felt the benefits of this pragmatic attitude that emphasizes the benefits of incorporating outdoor experiences into your everyday life. Rather than being a practice for the ultra tough or well-resourced, “friluftsliv” emphasizes the small ways that frequent encounters…