Normaldagen strives to create a university where all students feel welcome, but almost all of the functions are in Swedish.
With the exception of a film on Monday night and a party on Friday, all of
Normaldagen’s functions, such as a comedy night and a political discussion, are in Swedish.
The Student ombudsman at Lund University student unions, Maria Chowdhury said she thought it was a mistake not to hold some events in English. This is the third Normaldagen, and all have been held
in Swedish.
“We must think about that for next year,” Chowdhury said.
A week of Normaldagar
This year’s functions, held every weekday evening, include a theater production and a discussion of heteronomy and monogamy at the university. The theme of the week is to see how a different university is possible.
Students at Lund are largely homogeneous, Chowdhury said, and Normaldagen
strives to create a university where many different types of students feel welcome.
Normaldagen, as its name suggests, explores the boundaries of normality here at the university, rather than have people simply discuss what is abnormal.
“It’s important to see that we’re not categorizing people as normal or not normal,” Chowdhury said.
A developing tradition
Previous Normaldagens were held in 2008 and 2010. Last year’s theme was “Who is Welcome,” and included discussions of class and background. Chowdhury said one topic was people who came to Sweden who were not welcome in their home countries.
3 Comments
Marja
Well, as long it’s somewhat proportionate it makes sense, i.e. if the amount of foreign students in Lund are, say, 25 percent, it would make sense if the amount of English events were 25 percent. (That’s usually not the way things are handled though, we get carried away and strive for 50/50.)
Anonymous
Exactly. We have in Sweden after all and here swedish is the language.
But since most swedes speak english, it is not a catastrophe to have events in english. The question is just how many.
J
Apparently not everyone is welcome. You’re least welcome if you’re heterosexual, male and conservative to a certain degree.