Culture & Movement
Move and Be Moved.
  • Culture & Movement
  • The Blog
  • The Professor
    • The Cultural Critic
    • Fulbright in Denmark
    • Feminist Fitness
    • YA Dystopia
    • C.V. (resume)
  • The Spiral Goddess Collective

New Developments via Fulbright: American Studies Research in Denmark

8/29/2018

2 Comments

 
Picture
One of my favorite things about Denmark are the cobblestone streets, especially the patterns and the colors. You might also note that I am wearing my signature tank top. Everyone is wearing jackets, some are even wearing scarves. But I am in a tank top and still hot!
When I wrote my applications for a sabbatical (spring 2018) and a Fulbright (Fall 18 and Spring 19), I expected to get neither. Instead, I got both. My proposed sabbatical project(s) ended up being very different, in part because I was not quite ready to dive into that particular project. And project directions always change. This is the case for my Fulbright as well.

My proposed Fulbright project resulted from my attempts to imagine this place I had not been and what I might like to learn. It was ultimately not one cohesive project, but reflections on the ways in which my Fulbright experience would complement and extend my work in three general areas: girls’ cultures, fitness cultures, and educational systems. My title: Consciousness and Movement in Girls’ Cultures and Fitness Cultures.

Teaching in a foreign educational system will certainly be a challenge and will, I hope, help me to develop my pedagogies and programs for American studies and interdisciplinary studies. I will also be co-teaching an American studies theory and methods course with one of my Danish colleagues; we started working on the syllabus when I was on sabbatical. Perhaps most exciting, I will also have the opportunity to work with graduate students for the first time, and I am already advising a B.A. student's thesis project about black feminism and Beyoncé’s Lemonade.
*
When I had more time to really start doing some pre-Fulbright research about Denmark (again, during my sabbatical), the part of my project surrounding girls’ cultures and fitness cultures evolved into a more specific project that considers the Danish concept and practice of hygge (hoo-gah) and the concept and practice I have taught and studied (and preached and tried to practice) in the U.S.—self-care. I am interested in how Danes understand and practice hygge and how these practices and understandings can help me understand, develop, and extend the concept of self-care. My new working title is: Understanding Self-Care through Hygge (hoo-gah): An Interdisciplinary Exploration of Danish and American Culture.

Hyyge has no one-word translation in English, but is often understood as “cozy.” This simplification stems, at least in part, from the fact that hygge is not just a concept or a style or something you adopt for certain occasions or certain spaces, it is a foundational aspect of Danish culture and identity. In the U.S. and the U.K., we look to the concept of hygge to help explain why the Danes are cited as some of the happiest people in the world as well as to give advice on how to find this concept in, for instance, the design of classroom spaces and having a cozy lifestyle to survive winter. But this is, I think, a shallow understanding of a much deeper concept.

I’m excited to learn more about hygge and Denmark, and I plan to learn many other things along the way… I have already learned so much in just a few days!
2 Comments
buy essays uk link
9/23/2018 03:36:28 am

I love your desire to end racism in a way you know. I believe in your advocacy; but I don't think it's going to end anytime soon. People are so closed with so many thoughts that putting equality as the top of their priorities is not an option. Of course, this is not a good thing, but that is what is happening right now. I am hoping that racism will end anytime soon so that we can live in a better place. We need to provide ourselves the better place that we deserve.

Reply
papersowl link
11/7/2018 07:59:56 am

It's been long since I visited any help site like papersowl. I still remember the struggle we had to do during papers, juggling from one site to another. Those were the days I will never forget.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Sarah Hentges

    I am a professor and a fitness instructor. I work too much, eat too much, and love too much. To borrow from Octavia Butler, I am "an oil and water combination of ambition, laziness, insecurity, certainty, and drive." Because my work is eclectic, so are the topics I write about.

    Archives

    November 2022
    May 2022
    October 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    October 2019
    September 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    June 2016
    April 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    May 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    November 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    July 2013

    Categories

    All
    Academia
    American
    Comedy
    Denmark
    Dystopia
    Epic Road Trip
    Exercise
    Feminism
    Feminist Fitness
    Food
    Fulbright
    Girls
    Girls On Fire
    Hip Hop
    Interdisciplinarity
    Intersectionality
    JourneyDance
    Love
    Mind/body Fitness
    PCT
    Pictures Of Girlhood
    Race
    Sabbatical
    Self Care
    Self-care
    Sexuality
    Speculative Fiction
    Teaching
    Teen Films
    Transformation
    Women & Fitness
    Women & Fitness
    Women Of Color Feminisms
    Yoga

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.