Department of German, Nordic, and Slavic+

08/17/2026

Graduate students: still looking for a course this Fall semester?

This class is designed as a kind of research colloquium aimed at graduate students conducting ethnographic research in various disciplines and fieldwork across all fields of anthropology. The goal is to think through the relationship between conducting research and talking about our research within structured formats like conference and workshop papers. Attending conferences is a big component of academic life and they often provide us opportunities to share our work, collaborate with other scholars and exchange feedback. But how do we move from the field to the conference? How do we talk about our research within neat frameworks and across different genres? How do we talk about our work in interdisciplinary contexts and to different audiences?

This three-credit course is light on assigned reading and primarily focused on providing graduate students a space to talk about their research in a workshop format. Talks will be followed by group discussions and feedback exercises and paired with weekly readings about fieldwork, graduate school and writing and presenting in different venues. While the course is geared mainly towards students who have already conducted research (including preliminary research), it also welcomes students who are just beginning graduate school and would like to develop research proposals. Assigned readings are largely written by cultural anthropologists, pushing us to critically unpack the processes of conducting fieldwork, producing knowledge, translating and explaining our findings. We reflect on our role as researchers and the decisions we make as we turn our research into texts.

Though the course is rooted primarily in cultural anthropological scholarship, it is open to students across disciplines (as long as it is ethnographic or involves qualitative field research) and across the fields of anthropology.

06/24/2026

"Whether cities or villages, many communities across Europe spend the day and night of June 24 celebrating Midsummer. Congregating around bonfires, or sometimes maypoles, sporting handwoven wreaths of wildflowers or oak leaves, they’ll sing, jump, dance, eat, drink, catch up and celebrate the arrival of the longest day of the year. As a scholar of folklore, I have been to Midsummer celebrations in Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Estonia and Lithuania, and I am endlessly in awe of people’s fervent commitment to the holiday and evident enjoyment of it."

Thomas DuBois recently published an article with The Conversation: "Bonfires, Maypoles and a saint's day: How Europe celebrates the longest day of the year". Read it at:

Midsummer celebrations throughout Europe coincide with the solstice. Many blend pre-Christian and Christian traditions.

05/08/2026

Congrats to all of our Spring 2026 grads! A full list of graduates as well as featured student profiles can be found on the GNS+ website at https://gns.wisc.edu/2026-gns-graduates/!

05/06/2026

Did you miss the German 372: Das Leben ist Theater performance of Bertolt Brecht's play "Die unwürdige Greisin"? Click through for a few pictures from the April 24th performance!

04/29/2026

On April 29, European Studies is partnering with Department of German, Nordic, and Slavic+ and UW-Madison Department of Anthropology to host
Niina Vuolajärvi for her talk, “Criminalizing the S*x Buying in the Name of Gender Equality: S*x Work, Migration and the Feminist Politics of Care.”
Link to more information in the comments.

04/22/2026

This Friday, Berlin-based director Jürgen Kuttner, theater specialist Helga Angarano, and students in the German Theater class will present a performance of Bertolt Brecht’s subversively funny short story “Die unwürdige Greisin” (“The Shameless Old Lady”). The performance will take place in German with explanations/subtitles in English. The event is free and open to the public, and students, staff, and friends are particularly welcome!

Play summary: When a widowed grandmother starts frequenting pubs, spending money on herself, and making new friends, her children are scandalized—and her grandchildren inspired. Written in exile in 1939, Brecht’s short piece, supposed by scholars to be his most autobiographical, is a provocative commentary on life and on living past one’s “usefulness.”

Sponsored by German, Nordic, and Slavic+ and the Glen W. Gadberry German Theatre Fund

04/14/2026

We invite you to celebrate the University of Wisconsin’s annual philanthropic Day of the Badger by supporting the Nordic Unit of the Department of German, Nordic, and Slavic+. Donations can be made to the Scandinavian Studies Centennial Fund ( #132731590) at the UW Foundation. In all the Nordic languages - thank you!

04/14/2026

Today's the day! The party to pay it forward starts now and runs through tomorrow! Donate to GNS+ at dayofthebadger.org!

The Department of German, Nordic, and Slavic+ offers undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to learn about the cultures of speakers of more than a dozen modern languages, large and small, from Danish to Yiddish. The diversity of our department is complemented by the interdisciplinary interests of our faculty and students, which connect us to multiple humanities and social sciences departments and research centers. As a relatively young department that brought together three well-established older departments in 2016, we would benefit from funds that support activities across the entire department. Funding remains crucial to the growth of our undergraduate and graduate programs.

Gifts will be contributed to the Department of German, Nordic, and Slavic Annual Fund.

04/08/2026

Are you interested in learning the language of the happiest country in the world? If so, Scandinavian Studies 131 is the class for you! This fall course is for beginning learners of Finnish with an emphasis on proficiency through speaking, listening, reading, and writing, and on communication in cultural context.

03/30/2026

Considering taking a Folklore class in the Fall? Try Folklore 390 or Folklore 430!

Folklore 490 is an immersive exploration of public and applied folklore practice. Course material and activities will focus on the cultural, political, and ethical dimensions underlying the documentation and public presentation of folklore through festivals, exhibitions, publications, audio-visual productions, and digital archival collections. Students will conduct fieldwork, produce media, and develop programming meant for public engagement.

Folklore 430 examines post-civil rights era urban African American folklife from across the United States. Each week, we will explore spaces and places of African American folk production, focusing on multiple genres of expression. Class discussions will interrogate the ways in which these selected folk practices build upon earlier forms, their complex relationships with each other, and their function within the communities of origin. We will also critically examine how these practices intersect with important societal phenomenon- namely issues of race, class, gender, power, and migration. In addition, students will conduct ethnographic fieldwork project and produce media related to African American folklife in Wisconsin. The goal of this course is to use the lens of African American folklife to gain a better understanding of the dynamic and multi-faceted nature of contemporary African American life in general.

Prerequisites: Sophomore standing.