Crossing North
Episodes
CN29 In the Gray Zone
27 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What constitutes an act of war? Finnish research fellow Minna Ålander considers the edge cases—damaged data cables, suspicious AirBnBs, and prank p...
CN28 Repatriation Is In The Air
26 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How did so many Indigenous Sámi artifacts end up in private collections and museums outside of Sápmi? And why were collectors only interested in cer...
CN27 She is Pretty She is Powerful
07 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Lithuanian actresses Marija Žemaitytė and Rugilė Latvėnaitė share songs from their performance “Graži ir ta galinga” (The Pretty and the Pow...
CN26 My Father's War
02 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What are the dangers of radicalization? Bjørn Westlie is a Norwegian historian and journalist best known for his reporting on Norway’s history of a...
CN25 The Family Clause
02 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
How to do you write a good story? Award-winning Swedish novelist & playwright Jonas Hassen Khemiri discusses his craft and his latest novel, The Famil...
CN24 The Gjellestad Viking Ship
17 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In 2018, a radar image of a buried Viking ship in Norway went viral online. Dr. Joakim Karlsen put together a team of archaeologists and 3D modelers t...
CN23 Woman, Captain, Rebel.
29 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Anthropologist Margaret Willson discusses the dramatic life of Icelandic Sea Captain Þuríður Einarsdóttir, who saved lives, solved crimes, and was...
CN22 The Baltic Hong Kong Way
13 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On August 23, 2019, over 210,000 Hongkongers joined hands in a 60 kilometer human chain to protest police violence and to demand democratic reforms. T...
CN21 The Swedish Theory of Love
19 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Are Swedes humans? What is the Swedish theory of love? Historians Henrik Berggren and Lars Trägårdh are perhaps best known as the co-authors of the ...
CN20 The Northpeople
07 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
While Robert Eggers’ 2022 film, The Northman, was still in theaters, Lauren Poyer, Assistant Teaching Professor in Scandinavian Studies here at the ...
CN19 Those Days Are Long Gone
02 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this 2018 interview, former visiting lecturer of Danish Kristian Næsby speaks with affiliate instructor and retired U.S. diplomat Jay Bruns about ...
CN18 Open Your Heart
18 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Accordionist Pasi Pasanen and fiddler Per-Thomas Eriksson discuss the joys of playing folk music from their home region of Värmland in Sweden and exp...
CN17 A Box in the Attic
17 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
How will we be remembered when we’re gone? Swedish cultural attaché and former curator Helene Larsson Pousette discusses the importance of archivin...
CN16 On Wednesdays, I'll Go Dance
08 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Why is Seattle the best place to learn Scandinavian folk dance outside of Scandinavia? And what's it all about, anyway? UW undergraduate students Blue...
CN15 In A World That's Ever-Changing
22 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The coronavirus pandemic has many people worried about the future. Many people are eager for things to return to normal, but others are just as eager ...
CN14 Soviet Milk
15 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
When author Nora Ikstena published her novel Soviet Milk in 2015, it became so popular that libraries had to create a special 24-hour loan policy for ...
CN13 Don't Just Leave Footprints
16 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How is global warming affecting Greenlanders and what responsibilities do climate-scientists have to the peoples of the Arctic? UW seniors Lela Cooper...
CN12 Searching for Utopia
14 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Why did so many African-Americans go to Denmark in the 20th century and what were their experiences while there? Professor Ethelene Whitmire answers t...
CN11 It's Illegal to Be Native
21 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What happens when sustaining a Nordic way of life disrupts sustaining a Sámi way of life? Assistant Professor Tim Frandy discusses the history and fu...
CN10 Myth & Fairytale in Frozen 2
21 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Director of Story Marc E. Smith discusses what it is like to work for Walt Disney Animation Studios and how a research trip to the Nordic countries in...
CN9 See The Woman
01 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Sámi music legend Mari Boine discusses the origins of her musical career as an Indigenous woman in Norway. *** This episode was written, edited, and ...
CN8 The Nordic Languages of Middle Earth (part 2)
15 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Continuing our interview in Episode 7 about The Lord of the Rings with linguist Dr. Matt Boutilier, we consider more broadly how we imagine the past i...
CN7 The Nordic Languages of Middle Earth (part 1)
01 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Linguist and co-host of The Tolkien Heads podcast Dr. Matt Boutilier discusses the Nordic languages of Tolkien’s Middle Earth, and the kinds of ling...
CN6 Sex and Skam
10 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In 2019, Assistant Professor Olivia Gunn was asked to redevelop a course on sexuality in Scandinavia. Kristian Næsby and I interview her about new di...
CN5 An Army Of One
06 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Russia's willingness to exploit national tensions in former Soviet-occupied states has caused the Baltic countries to revamp their national defense po...
CN4 Good Day, Axe Shaft
02 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Saskia Vogel is an American writer and translator of contemporary Swedish literature. We discuss the intricacies of translation, the #metoo movement i...
CN3 Bermuda Triangle Of Music
01 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
What does it mean to be a folk musician in a country with no folk instruments? Musician and folk music festival organizer Linus Orri Gunnarsson Cederb...
CN2 There's No PTA In Finland
26 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In 2008, Professor Andrew Nestingen went on sabbatical to Finland with his pregnant wife and two-year-old daughter. It wasn’t his first trip to Finl...
CN1 Werewolves On Campus
13 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Latvian folkband Vilkači (Werewolves) discuss their music and worldview while Professor Guntis Šmidchens discusses the role folk music played in en...