In this seminar, Jenna M. Coughlin will provide a brief overview of key concepts from her ongoing book project on Nordic representations of hydropower development, including water imaginaries, hybrid energy culture, and critical energy literacy. The circulated chapter will focus on the Mardøla dam protest that took place in Norway in 1970 and can be understood as a forerunner to the notorious Alta/Kautokeino dam controversy. She analyzes the water imaginaries expressed in various media surrounding the protest, including political cartoons, songs, poetry, posters, and film, with particular focus on the documentary The Struggle for Mardøla (1972).
Jenna Coughlin is an associate professor of Norwegian at St. Olaf College in Minnesota (Environmental Studies, affiliate faculty) and holds a PhD in Scandinavian Languages and Literatures from the University of California, Berkeley. Her publications have focused on perceptions of nature and the climate crisis in Norwegian poetry, the international reception of Greta Thunberg, and literature as activism during the Alta/Kautokeino dam protest. She is currently one of the coordinators for the Ecocritical Network of Scandinavia (ENSCAN).
If you are interested in reading the chapter and participating at the seminar, please contact project leader Stefka G. Eriksen.