Challenging the stereotypes of Scandinavian design, these essays explore design in Denmark, Norway and Sweden and assess the different roles that Finland and the wider Nordic region had in forming an image of Scandinavian design throughout the world. By examining the legacy of Nordic design and its global impact, editors Astrid Skjerven and Rachel Gotlieb shed light on the development of national and regional design identities and their historical associations. Authors investigate the transnational circulation of ideas throughout the later 20th century and consider the influences on design practices, production and consumerism. They look at how different countries negotiated and promoted Nordic branding and ideology, and offer new perspectives on design in relation to sustainability, changing economies and indigenous traditions. A range of leading international scholars evaluate the popularity of Nordic style in Soviet material culture, the influence on jewellery design in post-war Britain, the impact of national design conferences, exhibitions, and education in Europe, the USA, Canada and Japan. Drawing from a wealth of archival material and interviews with designers, makers and other stakeholders, this book reveals a lesser-known history of cross-cultural collaborations, exhibition production and tensions between mainstream and indigenous design in Scandinavia. Transnational Discourses in Nordic Design also provides an insight into some of the authors' own design practices and reveals the challenges facing Nordic designers today.

The terms ‘Nordic’ and ‘Scandinavian’ are widely used to refer to the politics, society and culture of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. But why have people felt the need to frame things as Nordic and why has the adjective Nordic become so prominent? This book adopts a rhetorical approach, analysing the speech acts which have shaped the meanings of the term. What do the different terms Nordic and Scandinavian have in common, and how have the uses of these terms changed in different historical periods? What accounts for the apparent upsurge in uses of the rhetoric of Nordicness in the 2010s? Drawing on eight case studies of the uses of Nordic and Scandinavian from the nineteenth century to the present day, the book explores the appeal and the flexibility of the rhetoric of Nordicness, in relation to race, openness, gender equality, food, crime fiction, Nordic co-operation and the Nordic model. Arguing that ‘Nordic’ and ‘Scandinavian’ are flexible and contested concepts that have been used in different, often contradictory and inherently political ways, the book suggests that the usage of the term has evolved from a means of creating a cultural community, to forging political co-operation and further to marketing models in politics and popular culture. The rhetorical approach also shows how many of the hallmarks of Nordic political culture, such as the Nordic model, Nordic gender equality or Nordic openness are more recent conceptualisations than usually assumed. As such, the book argues for the need to turn attention away from analysing the different components of Nordicness into studying how, when, and for what purpose different features were made Nordic.

Covering the 1960s and 1970s, this volume explores new ways of investigating, comparing and interpreting the different domains of design culture across the Nordic countries. Challenging the traditional narrative, this volume argues that the roots of the most prominent features of Nordic design’s contemporary significance are not to be found amongst the objects for the home collectively branded as ‘Scandinavian Design’ to great acclaim in the 1950s, but in the discourses, institutions and practices formed in the aftermath of that oft-told success story, during the turbulent period between 1960 and 1980. This is achieved by employing multidisciplinary approaches to connect the domains of industrial production, marketing, consumption, public institutions, design educations, trade journals as well as public debates and civic initiatives forming a design culture. This book makes a significant contribution to current, international agendas of historiographical critique focusing on transnational relations and the deconstruction of national design histories. This book will be of interest to scholars in design, design history and Scandinavian studies.

This book explores to what extent transnational influences change national/local values and practices in the Nordic educational systems. It provides country cases and thematic chapters that give nuanced insights into the influence of transnational agencies on national governance and discourses. It describes how national discourses and regulation influences school leadership values, culture and practice, in competition with traditional values. The transnational and global discourse on educational leadership is mostly formed according to Anglo-American thinking and tradition. Pivotal foundations of this discourse are strong hierarchical societies/class societies with liberal democracies, and clearly streamed education systems. The Nordic discourse, however, builds on a more equal society and flat hierarchies with participatory democracy, and on comprehensive schooling with strong local community roots. Leadership thinking and practices are formed by the culture and context they are part of: they are primarily shaped by the national/local values, traditions and practices, and only partially shaped by politics, discourses and literature. Due to the fact that a great deal of the literature that is being used in the Nordic contexts is of Anglo-American origin and many of the research projects have Anglo-American foundations, it is difficult to distinguish the sources for leadership thinking and practice. This book distinguishes the Nordic from the Anglo-American thinking and presents important findings and arguments for leadership practitioners inside as well as outside the Nordic countries.​

Focusing on the meaning of teaching, Transnational Curriculum Standards and Classroom Practices contributes to a deepened understanding of what it means to be a teacher in an institutional context ranked high on the policymakers’ agenda. While the policy literature emphasises efficiency in teaching, educational research demonstrates an awareness of the importance of alternative perspectives on what makes for successful teaching. This book critically examines the conditions and dimensions of teaching as framed in current policy discourse and situates school education in relation to wider societal issues. Based on a four-year research project financed by the Swedish Research Council and drawing on international policy discourse, as well as international research, the chapters in this book contribute to the knowledge of relations and influences between international educational reform movements, national curriculum reforms, and implications for teaching and learning practices at the classroom level. Offering results and reflections from comprehensive comparative classroom studies, the book makes a distinctive contribution to our knowledge of the implications of policy for teachers and students. This book should be essential reading for academics, researchers and postgraduate students interested in the relationship between the curriculum and teaching in a contemporary context, as well as those engaged in the study of education policy, curriculum theory, pedagogy and educational leadership. It should also be of great interest to policymakers and teachers.

The recent crises in global economy and in European integration have caused a considerable revival of interest in the Nordic Welfare Model. However, less attention has been given to the ways in which the nations that form Scandinavia or ‘Norden’ are connected through various forms of inter- and transnational cooperation. With contributions from a team of experts in the field, this volume analyses Nordic cooperation in a European perspective and argues that this special form of transnational cooperation has been crucial in the development of the Nordic Welfare Model. In addition, it also contends that the Nordic model of transnational cooperation is a relevant case study when pondering the present problems of European integration. This text will be of key interest to students, researchers and policy makers studying the Nordic Model and transnational cooperation and more generally to those interested in European studies, Scandinavian studies, welfare studies, international relations and regional integration.

The Cultural History of the Avant-Garde in the Nordic Countries Since 1975 brings the series of cultural histories of the avant-garde in the Nordic countries up to the present. It discusses revisions and continuations of historical practices since 1975.