Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2019
Publication Title
Norwegian-American Studies
Volume
37
Abstract
This article considers student resistance to course content that challenged the dominant narrative of Scandinavian heritage on the Northern Plains. The course viewed the Scandinavian-American immigration to the Upper Midwest through the lens of literary giants such as Drude Krog Jansen, Vilhelm Moberg, and Ole Edvart Rølvaag, but the course also questioned the relative scholarly silence devoted to encounters between Scandinavian Americans and Native Americans during periods of land-taking, settlement, and conflict, including the U.S.–Dakota War. Nonfiction books by Jon Gjerde and Carlton C. Qualey, Karen V. Hansen, and Karl Jakob Skarstein, among others, complicate and inform the realities of life in North Dakota and Minnesota during these years. The article discusses strategies for students’ reflective writing assignments and lessons learned from formative and summative assessment during the semester. It concludes with possible revisions and plans for subsequent offerings of the course, including intentional work to incorporate best practices within diversity, inclusion, and equity to ensure student success.
First Page
37
Last Page
46
DOI
10.1353/nor.2019.a799237
ISSN
2643-8437
Rights
This is the accepted manuscript for the article published as:
Gjellstad, Melissa. “Reflections on Teaching the Convergence of Scandinavian Settlement and Native American Removal in the Upper Midwest.” Norwegian-American Studies, vol. 37, no. 1, 2019, pp. 37–46.No part of this article may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or distributed, in any form, by any means, electronic, mechanical, photographic, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the University of Minnesota Press.
Recommended Citation
Melissa Gjellstad. "Reflections on Teaching the Convergence of Scandinavian Settlement and Native American Removal in the Upper Midwest" (2019). Languages & Global Studies Faculty Publications. 10.
https://commons.und.edu/ll-fac/10
