Daily Reporter: September 4th & 5th

DAILY REPORTER

Sep 4, 2023

Reporting LIVE from Aarhus, Denmark, this is Allison Baldridge covering September 4th and 5th for Honors Denmark 2023. For those who may not be up to date for our program, our studies have been consumed with Culture, Colonialism, and Public Art Activism. During this report, our readers will have the opportunity to get a brief overview of our students' insightful conversations and the wonderful lectures we were provided. 

Hanging Out in the Lobby!

Walking to Class

8 of Our Wonderful, Incredible Students

Mads Anders Baggesgaard:

To begin our lectures for Monday, we had the opportunity to hear from Mads Anders Baggesgaard a professor of Comparative Literature at Aarhus University. He provided us with an introduction to his works that focus on the history of literature in the context of slavery. He emphasized the ways in which literature is incredibly Eurocentric and mainly focuses on European perspectives when discussing the Transatlantic Slave Trade. The work that Baggesgaard is currently conducting focuses on “getting as many perspectives as we are able to” and broadening the perspectives in which we analyze colonial histories. 

Dr. Karen Sivertsen:

Immediately following our lecture from Baggesgaard, we had the pleasure of hearing from Dr. Karen Siversten for the second time since our arrival. Karen focused on the challenges that she and other researchers have faced in conducting research of colonial histories, and more specifically in colonial archives. 

Advocacy v. Activism

When discussing her role as a historian, Karen ensured to make one distinction to us before fully diving into her lecture. She highlights that her main priority is to bring a voice to those who have not had one, and to share the truth of their experiences. She explained that her primary goal is sharing and uncovering the truth. Karen emphasized that her work focuses on advocacy not activism. While change can be a wonderful outcome to her research, making this the goal would be removing the center from the people and the stories of which she focuses on. It is vital that we make this distinction for the why of what we are participating in. 

Accessibility

The discussion of accessibility in terms of research of colonial histories was so interesting as we have been constantly questioning access and the idea of “public” within our program. For example, a museum may be open to the “public” but if you have to pay to enter, who really has access? Karen discussed this concept in research through her experiences at the Bodleian Oxford Library. She explained how even as a PhD holder and as someone conducting research, she found immense difficulty getting access to the colonial archives. Due to not having a current address in the US the first time around, she actually had to wait a year before she was able to get the proper documentation to enter. This arose a discussion amongst our group as to who has the right to limit access to the public? Who gets to decide how access is obtained to the colonial archives? How can access be maximized while still respecting privacy and consent?

Class Time

Sep 5, 2023

For the final day of this report, we said goodbye to CabInn in Aarhus and traveled back to what the students like to refer to as our home, the Saga Hotel in Copenhagen. We traveled by bus for a beautiful four drive which included reading, music, movies, and sleeping. In case you're curious what the students of the program were watching, the selection includes but is not limited to: Miss Americana, Taylor Swift Reputation Stadium Tour, and In The Loop. Sadly, this day is most likely not as entertaining to our loyal readers as our previous days. However, it was a much needed day of rest for all!

Inside Look at the Flixbus

Also Important Note of September 4th

Please enjoy this poem:

We had a wonderful class pet.

He was a snail.

We would keep him

If he could survive in the mail.

With tearful eyes 

We said goodbye.

May he eat lots of grapes

And smell Danish crepes.

Farewell our good friend,

We hope to see you again. 

Click Here to View the Goodbye of Our Snail Friend