Transregional Resonances

“The Home Born Anew: The Concept of ‘Heim’ in Nynorsk Poetics and Poetry.”

The word heim (the Nynorsk word for home) appears constantly in the poetry written by Nynorsk (New Norwegian, one of Norway’s official language forms) writers, from the 18th century to the middle of the 20th century. Its poetic meaning is ambiguous; sometimes topographical, religious, metaphysical, mythological or abstract, the motif of heim has become an important symbol in Nynorsk poetics. This thesis is concerned with the history of this symbol; how it has been shaped, its discursive meaning and the possibilities of meaning in poetic forms.

In Search of Lost Homes: Post-Holocaust Restitution in Norway 1945–1950s

In my PhD thesis, I research the post-Holocaust restitution of homes and businesses in Norway, focusing on the greater human significance of property and return. Through this lens, I examine the larger topics of Jewish Norwegians’ rebuilding of their post-Holocaust lives and the post-war Norwegian government’s response to the genocide.

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.

Negotiating a New Take on History. Narrations of the Soviet Past in Lithuanian Museums

In light of Russia’s war against Ukraine, Soviet memory culture in Lithuania appears to be in motion. This momentum of re-consideration and change is manifested for instance by interventions in public space, such as the renewed wave of dismantling of statues, removing of plaques or changing names of public institutions.