Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Biography

Dr. Mark Safstrom is Lecturer of Swedish & Scandinavian Studies in the Germanic Languages & Literatures Department at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.  His primary research interests are in the area of 19th and early 20th century Scandinavian history, with emphasis on the so called "folk movements" (the temperance movement, labor movement, and the religious revivals), as well as the history of Scandinavian immigration to North America.  Travel accounts written by Scandinavians during this period have often featured in his research, which includes the age of polar exploration and cross-cultural descriptions between Scandinavians and various communities in North America. 

Dr. Safstrom completed his PhD degree in Scandinavian Languages & Literatures at the University of Washington, Seattle in 2010. The title of his dissertation is “Religious Origins of Democratic Pluralism: Paul Peter Waldenström and the Politics of the Swedish Awakening 1868-1917.”  He has written articles and conference papers on various aspects of Scandinavian travel literature, Scandinavian-American history, and Scandinavian Lutheran Pietism, two of which have recently been published in books collections:

“The ‘Waldenström Party’ in Swedish Politics 1868-1917; Interpreting the Political Activism of the Swedish Awakening” in “The Pietist Impulse in Christianity” (Wipf & Stock 2011).

“Writing History Together; Norwegian- and Swedish-American Historians in Dialogue” in “Friends and Neighbors? Swedes and Norwegians in the United States” (Minnesota Historical Society Press 2011).

Dr. Safstrom currently teaches courses in beginning and intermediate Swedish language at the University of Illinois, having previously taught Swedish for three years at the University of Washington. He also teaches topics courses on Scandinavian literature in translation and Scandinavian culture and history.  He has also taught Swedish language at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm, Sweden as part of the INSPIRE exchange initiative.  Together with Professors Dag Avango and Bruce Fouke and several other collaborating partners at the U of I and KTH, Dr. Safstrom is launching a new joint course between the two universities in Summer 2012 called “Environment and Society in a Changing Arctic.”   

Courses

• SCAN 101, Beginning Scandinavian I
• SCAN 102, Beginning Scandinavian II
• SCAN 103, Intermediate Scandinavian I
• SCAN 104, Intermediate Scandinavian II
• SCAN 215, Madness, Myth & Murder (Scandinavian Immigrant Literature)
• SCAN 225, Vikings & Volvos: Scandinavian Culture
• SCAN 496, Kierkegaard & Company: Existentialism, Pietism & the Discovery of Self
• Swedish I, at KTH (Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan) in Stockholm