Scandinavian Studies

For the past four decades or so, studies of Third Cinema have been restricted to the domain of niche, Third World films and non-mainstream cinematic movements. This work set out to examine the relevance of Third Cinema theory and practice in the contemporary times and secondly, to argue for the urgent need of anti-systemic and anti-capitalist platforms of film analysis and discussion. The thesis proposes an updated approach to the old theory of Third Cinema and it makes use of the case study design where Embrace of the Serpent by Ciro Guerra is analysed in-depth to explore the potential of the New Third Cinema as a resistance tool to the oppressive neoliberal policies. Looking at different themes, techniques and textual as well as visual content in the movie from a Third Cinema perspective, this research brings to light the power of cinema in highlighting and speaking about significant issues pertaining to neo-colonialism, racism, capitalism and even ecology. The utilisation of Third Cinema theory in this work can also contribute to its re-emergence from the academic oblivion and enhance further research and debate in this area of Film Studies.

Film researcher Izabella Wodzka is seeking to deconstruct contemporary cinematic representations of Gypsy, Roma, Travellers. She focuses on Papusza (2013), a film that departs from Bronisława Wajs' life—the first female Roma poet to be published—, and which represents an attempt to decolonise the knowledge that is unevenly spread with regards to such meta categories.

Patric Chiha’s film Brothers of the Night (2017) depicts a community of Bulgarian Roma sex workers in Vienna, all of them male and self-identifying as heterosexual although working in a gay establishment. Using queer theory and human geography, with particular emphasis on space and time, I analyse how the film shifts and contests the popular stereotyped cinematic representation of Romani people as well as homonormative and Western-centric notions of queerness. In its original aesthetic, narrative structure and hybrid genre it departs from a binary understanding of sexuality and identity, offering instead new ways of portraying queer and marginalised identities on screen.

Josep Borrell's infamous 13 October 2022 speech, where he described the European Union (EU) in terms of a 'garden' versus the 'jungle' outside, has received an unprecedented amount of scrutiny. Yet the metaphor used by the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and European Commission Vice-President in charge of 'a stronger Europe in the world' was not new, nor was its underlying logic a surprise. Various analysts have pointed out the colonial tropes in European policymakers' discourses over the past decades. In an influential essay that came out in 2000, Sir Robert Cooper, who would later also become an advisor to the Council of the EU, the European External Action Service, and the European Commission, pitched the 'postmodern' EU where the rule of law is reigning versus 'premodern' states where the 'law of the jungle' prevails. 1 This illustrates how mainstream EU political discourse has been, and remains, highly colonial in the way in which relations between the EU and its presumed 'others' in world politics are conceived. More notable is the intensity of the debate and condemnation that Borrell's speech has generated within policy and scholarly circles. This reflects a growing realization that the EU should be more modest about its so-called civilizational achievements and acknowledge the long and dark shadow of its colonial past. Against the background of clear challenges to (western) European dominance in the world system, critical observers are ardently questioning Europe's alleged moral and sociopolitical superiority. Issues of racism within Europe have been increasingly discussed in the wake of 'Black Lives Matter' protests. Recent research has revealed

'The name Ballvollen related to transnational transference of ideas'
This article deals with cultural transference of ideas, exemplified by the name Ballvollen (The Ball Ley), used in seventeenth-century court records of witchcraft trials from Vardø in Finnmark, Northern Norway. The village of Vardø was an important administrative centre in Finnmark, because Vardøhus Castle was located there. Norway and Denmark were in a union at the time, with the king living in Copenhagen. The District Governor in Finnmark, the king’s man, was placed at Vardøhus Castle.
The name Ballvollen appears for the first time in court records in 1621, and is mentioned several times until 1625. It always occurs in the same context, about a field where witches use to meet for gatherings, and where the devil is present. It is not documented used in Vardø neither before nor after this period of time. The article examines the name Ball Ley used in similar source material in Scotland, and in the same context, namely a witches’ gathering on a field. Using information from various sources, it is argued  that a direct transfer has taken place via a Scotsman, John Cunningham, who was installed as District Governor at Vardøhus Castle in 1619. He was active during interrogation of alleged witches who were brought before the court in Vardø. Cunnungham knew about the notion of witches meeting at a field together with the devil from the contents of Scottish witchcraft trials. He also knew Danish, having lived in Denmark since 1603. Due to his position, he was able to bring the name Ballvollen into the questioning of accused witches, and thereby into the court records.

Summary in English:
The article discusses how the motivation for naming places in the Medieval North Atlantic was very different to that found among the 19th century Norwegian settlers in the Midwest. While in the former setting a place name had to be semantically meaningful, this aspect was irrelevant in the latter. Instead, the connotative, symbolic aspect of the name became important; a development that was not unique to the Norwegian-American settlers but was paralleled in Norway with names of youth organisations and nationally minded societies. The article shows how the fact that there are relatively few names with a Norwegian origin on the modern map of the USA can be explained by the fact that the Norwegian-Americans at first had very little say in the naming of the new land. Over time, certain types of names came to win a function as symbols within the group of Norwegian-Americans.