So here's my first blog. What is it about? I'm not sure yet. You'll have to keep reading to find out. I'm taking a course this semester in concerns with Northern Environments. What is a Northern Environment? My first guess is anything North of your own current location. I had a few days in New Zealand this past summer, we went up North to the Kingdom of Tonga.... maybe that shouldn't count as a Northern Environment in respects to what I'm studying this semester. I'm planning to define my Northern Environments very vaguely anyways, maybe my description will change, but at the moment I'm thinking anywhere that has to deal with cold winter weather, and close to the arctic circle (I'll also include Antarctica when it makes sense).
The first week in the course we look at the International North. I don't really understand why we named this week the International North. The first two presentations were about storytelling in Scandinavia (and someone decided to show a Canadian Inuit film, after our one guideline was to avoid Canada this week), and about the snow, our second day of presentations discussed seals and penguins. Maybe we should have thought about renaming our class topic for the week, and just made it an introduction to the North week, as we talked about some culture, science and biology that occurs in the North(... and the South).
I was fortunate to present my topic in our first class. Before doing any research, I decided to study the art of storytelling specifically in historical Scandinavia. I wanted to find stories about braving the cold, surviving long winters, and vikings sailing through snow storms. Instead I found stories about trolls in the wilderness and fairy tales that I grew up with. When I started to think about the North in Canada one of the first things to hit me was that the use of storytelling among First Nations people was important in their culture. I had known of very few stories being told in this culture, but decided that it would be fun to look at someone else's culture before looking at my own. I've had a huge connection with Scandinavia in my life and thought it would be interesting to apply my travels and life to my studies. I still hope that someone else brings up Native American storytelling in our class....
---Aside ---- How appropriate is it to just put in a random thought as I go along?? I guess its my blog, so I will choose to do as I wish. My class is going camping next weekend, and we intend to build igloos to sleep in. I can see this as a good opportunity to do some storytelling. Maybe I'll attempt to find a book on traditional Inuit stories. -----
What I found most interesting in my own research was the Icelandic Sagas. Iceland's history was actually most accurately recorded using stories. The stories are regarded as one of Europe's most important pieces of literature, and I never even know about it before a few days ago. An article from the UK's guardian online also described how women hold strong roles in the stories as well. After looking a little more into the topic of women's issues in Iceland, I found that the country is one of the most gender equal nations. The World Economic Forum named Iceland the best country for gender equality in 2010 for the second year in a row, followed by Norway in second, Finland in third, Sweden in fourth and Denmark lagging a little behind in 7th (BBC News. Oct, 2010). They say that the low gender gaps are related to high economic competitiveness, I'm curious if their history and development of a country could also help mold these accomplishments. Another possibility for the gender equality could be the Scandinavians belief in the Jante laws. The Jante laws were created in a factitious novel written by Aksel Sandemose about the Danish town of Jante, where the people live by their own ten commandments. (Lee, K. Nov. 2011) These ten commandments are:
- Don’t think you’re anything special.
- Don’t think you’re as good as us.
- Don’t think you’re smarter than us.
- Don’t convince yourself that you’re better than us.
- Don’t think you know more than us.
- Don’t think you are more important than us.
- Don’t think you are good at anything.
- Don’t laugh at us.
- Don’t think anyone cares about you.
- Don’t think you can teach us anything.
Living in Denmark my self I've been able to see how these laws still function in most society. People in Copenhagen do not show off their money. They live in modest housing, very often everyone bikes to work, the wages are more equal. As I worked in a restaurant in Copenhagen, I was never talked down to by a guest. The customer is always right - does not really apply in this area. I believe these Laws of Jante should be taught more often, and can help in developing more equality and acceptance in the world today.
BBC News (Oct, 12, 2010). Iceland 'best country for gender equality'. BBC News buisness. Retrieved on Jan 19, 2013 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11517459
Lee, K. (Nov. 9, 2011). Jante law (or 10 rules for dealing with people). Associates mind. Retrieved on Jan 19, 2013 from http://associatesmind.com/2011/11/09/jante-law-or-10-rules-for-dealing-with-people/
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