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Shifting Expectations

The perception of political representation in times of demographic change

The research project examines Shifting Expectations regarding political representation due to societal ageing by asking whether and how age groups differ in the perception and evaluation of political representation in ageing societies. Based on a comparative mixed-methods approach, it analyses which dimensions of representation are particularly relevant for younger and older citizens and how these perceptions are linked to interpretations and narratives of demographic change.

- Maybritt Adolphi, 22.04.2026

Narratives of Finnish Neutrality: Discourse Linguistic Perspectives on Language Use, Semantic Change and Discursive Breaking Points

The concept of neutrality in Finnish foreign policy has taken different shapes since the declaration of the country’s independence in 1917, including such disparate stances as passive conflict avoidance in times of war and freedom from alliances in times of peace on the one hand and an active mediating role in international conflicts on the other. My project analyses how meanings and narratives around neutrality as a foreign policy have been constructed in the Finnish public discourse, how these narratives have conceptualized Finland’s place within the Nordic and Baltic Sea regions and how they integrate into the overarching narratives of Finnish national identity.

- Olga Syrova, 17.03.2026

Bodies, Violence, Gender Roles: Shifting Expectations of Clerical Behaviour in Medieval Scandinavia

My doctoral project focuses on the expectations of clerical behaviour, largely dictated by canon law and ecclesiastical discourse of the time. While certain desirable behaviours and lifestyles for members of the clergy were known and promoted by the Scandinavian church from its beginnings, there are numerous accounts of clerical misconduct, regular breaches of canon law and even long-term disregard for certain conventions. The reaction of the papacy and papal legates to these incidents varied from time to time, and at times there was even tolerance of clerical behaviour that was explicitly contrary to canon law.

- Olga Syrova, 22.11.2025

The Coastal Town as a Topos in the Norwegian Novel of the Late 19th Century

A significant proportion of the authors we associate with the Modern Breakthrough in Norway (Bjørnson, Ibsen, Kielland, Lie, Skram, Garborg), seem to make use of the coast town, and other communities along the Norwegian coast, as literary settings. Few literary scholars have commented on why this particular spatial object gains influence. This leads me to ask: Who took part and helped shape the literary-geographical imaginary of the coast-town? Was it shaped also by non-canonized, ‘forgotten’ authors? Is there a special connection between ideology and form on the one hand, and the figure of the coast-town on the other?

- Olga Syrova, 22.11.2025

Shattered Expectations: The construction of narrative meaning in a shared reading group for informal caregivers

Informal caregivers often experience expectancy violations when caring for loved ones. The experience of becoming an informal caregiver may for example challenge their expectations of themselves as caregivers and expectations regarding their own future. This thesis aims to investigate these schema violations as prominent themes in contemporary Scandinavian caregiving fiction.

- Olga Syrova, 21.11.2025

Pandemic Role Models, Negative Pioneers and World Champions. The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Journalistic Spatial Narratives for the Cases of Sweden and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania

This project focused on the corona pandemic as a turning point for public narratives about the Baltic Sea Region. Based on a corpus of German newspaper articles covering the pandemic, it investigated how the public perception of Sweden and the federal state Mecklenburg-Vorpommern has changed under the influence of the current crisis.

- Olga Syrova, 21.11.2025

From Pariah to Partner? Shifting Narratives about Swedish Right-wing Populists

This project examines how the way established parties in Sweden referred to the right-wing populist party Sverigedemokraterna (Sweden Democrats) has changed between 2010 and 2024, thereby highlighting the agency of mainstream political actors in determining what ideas and discourses are deemed acceptable.

- Olga Syrova, 21.11.2025

Health as a Happy Ending? Potentials of a Narratological Interpretation of the Concept of Disease Using the Example of the Conceptions of Disease and Health before and after the Accession of the GDR to the Federal Republic of Germany

The project contributes to the philosophical research on the concepts of health and disease systematically as well as historically. The application of the narratological concept of peripety to the interpretation of ‘disease’ aims at extending and clarifying the complex medico-philosophical debate. Viewing definitions of disease as instances of peripeties enables me to craft a heuristic that is adequate to analyse these definitions with regard to their underlying narrativity. That way recently developed narratological approaches that are gaining popularity within the field of medical humanities are put in relation with the broader philosophical debate.

- Olga Syrova, 21.11.2025