Stefan Holander
I teach Cultural Studies at the English Department of Finnmark U.C. , where my ultimate aim is to offer a broad, inspiring and high-quality learning experience. While my background in literary studies will be evident to anyone studying with me, I also believe that Literary and Cultural Studies benefit from being closely connected. The Cultural Studies element of my courses draws on both literature and popular culture, and the literary readings we do are closely linked to historical and cultural context.
I was born in 1971 in Mölndal, Sweden. I studied Philosophy and Spanish at Lund University, specializing in Spanish and South American Literature, and took my M.A at Lund University in 1996, majoring in English. I have also spent three semesters at the Universidad Complutense of Madrid and the Fall semester of 1999 as a Special Student at New York University. In May 2005, I defended my doctoral dissertation, Trials of Device: Wallace Stevens and the Realities of Poetic Language at Lund University.
An essay of mine on Wallace Stevens and literary value, “Between Categories: Modernist and Postmodernist Appropriations of Wallace Stevens” was published in the an anthology called Rethinking Modernism (London: Palgrave McMillan) in March 2003, and in August, 2005 I participated in an international conference on Wallace Stevens at Oxford University with a paper on Wallace Stevens and urban modernity. I have recently signed a contract with Routledge to prepare my dissertation manuscript for publication in 2007-8.
My approach to literary theory is eclectic, aiming at a comprehension of how different theoretical and methodological “approaches” can be used in concrete instances of literary evaluation. While I am keenly interested in the area of literary form, my theoretical discussions so far can be seen as an attempt at a historical understanding formalist ideas and ideals (such as Russian Formalism, semiotics, rhythmic and metaphoric theory) in the light of different ethical, epistemological and political demands on literary art. Being convinced that an awareness of and sensitivity to the cultural power of language is crucial in today’s world, my teaching often stresses the rhetorical aspects of the languages of literary art and popular culture.
My literary interests (apart from Wallace Stevens) range from San Juan de La Cruz and Miguel Cervantes to William Faulkner, Fernando Pessoa, Emily Dickinson, Luis Cernuda, Robert Frost, Henry James, Halldor Laxness, Gunnar Ekelöf and Elizabeth Bishop, to contemporary forms of Spoken Word expression such as Hip Hop and Performance Poetry. I am also an avid listener to all forms of music from the Middle Ages and onwards.
At present, I am functioning as the head of the English Department, and carry the responsibility for HIF's courses in Spanish both here in Alta and in the Dominican Republic.
Tel. + 47 784 50147
Email: stefanh@hifm.no
Miroslaw Wiacek
This academic year I will be teaching English grammar as well as methodology of language teaching.
I received my Bachelor’s degree in (teaching) English from the Jagiellonian University, Krakow, in 1997. In the period from 1997 to 2000 I studied at the Institute of Applied Linguistics at the University of Warsaw, where I attended an extramural M.A. Programme in English with a specialization in teaching and translation/interpreting. Having completed five of the six semesters of the Programme I moved to Norway. In 2001 I took my master’s degree in English (Linguistics) at the University of Bergen.
I’m 31 years of age and I come from Poland. Polish is my mother tongue. I have learnt English and Russian as foreign languages, and Norwegian as a second language. Languages are my hobby and I have a special interest in translation and interpreting. At the moment, I am working on a B.A. degree in Russian.
Dagny Carolina Opsal
I was born in
In 2003 I finished my M.A. thesis in American Anti-War Literature as well as the Teacher’s Training programme at the
My literary interests include American literature from the 1950s to 70s, science fiction, postcolonial theory and literature, British Romantic and Victorian poetry, as well as folk songs, ballads and folk tales. I’m also interested in other cultural expressions like music, films and comics; I take particular interest in world cinema, as well as European, Bollywood and science fiction movies. I listen to most modern music, especially songs with good lyrics, and I use a lot of music in my teaching.
This school year, I will be teaching primary school teachers in Kirkenes, and part of the Culture Studies at the ’årsenhet’.
Philip Clover (information is forthcoming) Renee Waara
(information is forthcoming)