UBC Nordic Studies Lærerlivet Series: An Interview with Ann-Kathrine Havemose



Recently, UBC Nordic Studies sat down with Danish language lecturer and Nordic Studies instructor, Ann-Kathrine Havemose for UBC Nordic Studies Lærerlivet (Teacher Life), a series that allows you to get to know instructors from outside of the classroom. Read more below to learn about Ann-Kathrine, how she came about her job, her hidden gems in Vancouver, and why Irish people are stranger than the Danish.

UNS: What exactly is your position here in the CENES department?

A-KH: My official title is Lecturer in Danish and Nordic Studies. Because I’m hired by the Danish Lecturer Agreement, or the Lektoratsordningen, I’m called sendelektor in Danish, which translates directly to ‘sending lector.’

UNS: How many of you do you think there are in the world?

A-KH: I think with my exact position there are about 26 currently, something like that. I’m one of the chosen ones. I’m the only one in Canada anyway.

UNS: How did you come about this job?

A-KH: That was a little bit of an accident or a coincidence. So, in Denmark, when you finish your degree – typically your master’s degree, you get money from the state to help you find a job that is relevant to your education. Part of getting that money requires you to search [for a job] a certain amount, like to apply to a certain amount of jobs per week. After a while, you get to the point where you’re like, “I’m just applying for anything,”  to fulfill that quota, basically. So, whenever I found a job that I thought, “This is mildly interesting,” or “This is somewhat related to my degree,” or “This could be really interesting, but I’m probably not going to get it,” I applied for it. That’s how I got this job. It popped up on a Danish job search site and I thought, “Sure, sounds cool, 
I’ll apply for it.” I also applied for a similar job down in Berkeley, California, but I just so happened to be called in for an interview for the one in Vancouver.

UNS: Did you think you were going to get the job?

A-KH: No, actually. The job centre person, or the advisor on my case was like, “You’re not gonna get it, but you know, it’s a good application, but you don’t have the required experience.”

 

UNS: How did you feel about moving to Vancouver?

A-KH: To Vancouver? I was quite excited about moving in general. Vancouver, Canada is the what, fourth country that I’ve lived in besides Denmark?

UNS: Care to elaborate?

A-KH: Sure. I worked as a ski instructor at a ski resort in France after high school and then I did an exchange in Ireland at University College Cork, so I lived in Cork for a bit. I then had an internship at the Swedish Folklore Archives during my Masters in Gothenburg. When I was applying for jobs, I was like “I’ll just apply anywhere.” I applied to jobs in Greenland and almost ended up there before I ended up here. I was strongly considering going to Finland, but didn’t find any jobs there before I found this one. I was just ready to get anywhere.

UNS: Exchange in Ireland? How was it?

A-KH: It was great. My exchange happened during the last year of my Bachelor’s degree. In Denmark, degrees are built so that you have 2-3 years of your major and then you have a year for your minor. To go on exchange was part of my minor. 
I had a major in Linguistics and a minor in Celtic Civilization.

UNS: That’s…. kind of niche, no?

A-KH: Yeah, it totally is. I wanted to do Folklore but Folklore Studies does not exist per se in Denmark. It’s been out of fashion for a while. There is Ethnology but that’s not what I wanted to do.

UNS: What was Ireland like?

A-KH: Wet. Also it’s weird because the Irish university students don’t talk to you at all. Irish people are just weird man. I lived with a bunch of them in a house 15 kilometres outside of town and it was really hard getting to know them. They were just a weird bunch.

UNS: They kinda sound like… Danish people?

A-KH: Hah, true. Being in Ireland, I thought to myself, “This is what exchange students must feel in Denmark.” They [Irish]  just have their habits and they don’t stray from them. So, I made really good friends with the other exchange students.

UNS: Sorry this is off-topic but I have to know, how was public transit in Ireland?

A-KH: Oh my God, horrible. The buses would lock up every time it was raining too hard, which is every second day. They don’t even have winter tires on that island. 
They can’t do snow either. There was a snowstorm in the year I was there and the infrastructure just fell apart to the point where there was an Aldi in the outskirts of Dublin that was being robbed on live TV. A digger went down through the roof to take the safe out of the store and the police couldn’t get there because they didn’t have winter tires. It was live streamed on SKY News for 2 or 3 hours. It was ridiculous. Great entertainment though. I also tried sledding in a canoe for the first time in Ireland because why the hell not?

 

UNS: How do you think your academic background and previous experiences in school and work have helped you in this position?

A-KH: Well, I studied Comparative Literature as my major during my Masters and I teach literature now, so there’s definitely a direct link there. Linguistics obviously helps with Danish, teaching Danish, and especially phonology, which is the hardest part of it, right? But, there’s also a lot of new things that you have to learn in this kind of job because no one teaches you how to teach at a university. When you study Comparative Literature in Denmark, there’s a requirement for you to do presentations in class with the intention of teaching you how to speak in front of people and how to organize and disseminate knowledge. So every year, and every class I had, I’d have to do one presentation, if not more. And through that, I think you learn how to speak to people. And that’s probably one of the biggest focuses of that degree. And that’s also a big part of teaching, learning how to speak to people.

UNS: Now I know why you love assigning group projects in your courses…

A-KH: Exactly. Otherwise, I’ve asked a lot of my colleagues here, like, what do you do? How do you do it? So, yeah, Lena [Swedish lecturer], Jason Lieblang [German Studies professor], and Geoffrey Winthrop-Young [Nordic & German Studies professor] have definitely been a big help. I also had a chat with Kim West, the previous instructor who was in my position here at UBC and he schooled me in how to put together reading plans and syllabi and stuff like that. But it’s a process, and I’m still learning everyday. Everyone does it differently.

UNS: Was there any initiation once you got here to UBC? Pranks or something else?

A-KH: No pranks, no hazing. I got a little welcome box with chocolate and, you know, Canadian breakfast tea and maple flavoured things and a UBC t-shirt. So now I’m marked for life, you know?

UNS: Right.

A-KH: Lena was actually really good at trying to invite me to things and getting me on board, so that was really nice too.

 

UNS: Nordic Studies is a niche enclave here at UBC. Is there anything specific you do to teach those who have a limited background in Nordic-related things?

A-KH: My approach is always historical.

UNS: I gotta say, I feel like your classes could be cross coded with the History department or something…

A-KH: There you are. You should tell them that. When you come from a background of literary history, everything sort of ties to the historical foundation of whatever it is [you’re teaching] and the Nordic countries, having history that is so intertwined, is a starting point. Most students don’t even know that the Nordic countries are plural and not just one, and you have to make that a grander introduction to and be like, “We have five different countries, this is why they all seem very similar.” Beyond that, I think I try to be very Danish about my teaching. 
For example, I do try to ask the students to call me by my first name and not call me professor, or a doctor, because I’m neither. And that sort of levels out the playing field a little bit between us. I try to introduce them to the persnicketiness of Nordic academia. Nordic academia is very rigid in that it wants to be correct and that it has a focus on following the rules. A lot of academics are uptight and not really open to change, I guess? Yeah, so there is that, and I’m trying not to be that. In my classes, we’re using examples from the texts. We are being objective rather than subjective. We are working with the materials and not with ourselves, which is, I think, a very Nordic thing.

 

UNS: How receptive are your students to topics you teach about, like death, anxiety, Danish drill rap, and more? You go over a lot of unique things.

A-KH:  I typically get inspired by some kind of work. It can be a book or a poem or, you know, certain types of music or something like that. Then the ball just starts rolling from there on. For instance, with the module about death and literature that I have in NORD 334, Contemporary Nordic Fiction, I got inspired by the title of this book (When Death Takes Something from You Give It Back: Carl’s Book) because I’d seen the seen it in one of the Danish song books because it also appears as a song. I was like, ‘okay, so this song is really interesting, is there anything I can do with that?’ Then when I found out it was written by a very big Danish author, I thought, ‘there’s gotta be something else more to this.’ I found the book and started reading it and thought it was extremely interesting, just the way the structure worked. I decided that the best way to introduce this would be to go for structure, and discuss different expectations versus what could and couldn’t be in relation to this book. The same things that have happened with Shooter Gang. I stumbled on an Instagram post about Shooter Gang, and I was like, ‘what is this? I need to know more about this.’ And then I somehow ended up in Drill rap on my Spotify. Now my Spotify is very confused about who and what I am for a person, which is fair.

UNS: Do you know the Spotify daylist? One time I got ‘Danish Hygge Julbord Dinner.’

A-KH: Yeah? Mine is really, really specific too. I once got ‘Ethiopian afternoon jazz’, and I was like, “How does that know what this is?” So, you know, it is what it is. Yeah, but with Shooter Gang, there’s just something interesting about rap and the rhythm of it. I know I don’t seem like that kind of person, but my favourite artist when I was like 6 was 50 Cent. There’s just something about rhythm that takes me away.

 

UNS: So you’re the Danish lecturer here. How does it feel when you see people sign-up for Danish language classes?

A-KH: It’s niche for sure. There’s only 5.8 million native Danish speakers. Compared to other languages that people can take, like German or Swedish, Danish, I want to say it has a bigger learning curve just because of its unique speaking style. The phonology of it all is very strange. I will say that there is definitely an element of confusion. Like, “Why are you here and why is this interesting to you?” But I also think there’s a lot of things about Danish culture that students find interesting. I mean, that’s why you can find all these books about hygge and raising Viking children and stuff like that. So there’s definitely things in Danish and Nordic culture that people are drawn to which is typically how people get into learning things, like language. I remember that was how I started learning French, because I was interested in French music and like French film. But, overall, I’m excited when I see people want to learn Danish.

UNS: I’m glad to hear that. How’s your French?

A-KH:
Oh, not that good. I can order coffee and then be spat at by a Parisian, so like, that’s where we’re at.

 

UNS: Got any hidden gems or favourite spots in Vancouver?

A-KH: One of the places I always end up is Wet Coast Wools on 4th and Bayswater. It’s just a tiny little shop and there’s hardly anything in there anymore because they moved everything online, but I needed three buttons yesterday and I went down there. It was like a Hail Mary and they found them for me. That’s definitely one. Ça Croustille has the best croissants and these jalapeno cheddar pastries. The best thing in the world. I don’t even care. There’s also a really nice park on 11th and Vine. I love that little place. In the summer, there are so many dogs and a gazebo that gets covered in inaudible.

UNS: Listeria????

A-KH: Wisteria, the plant, not the sickness.

UNS: Rightttt. That makes more sense.

 

UNS: Alright, one thing that Denmark has that you wish Vancouver did? And vice-versa?

A-KH: Compound nouns? No, hah. Denmark has really nice bread. I really miss a good loaf of Fransk brød, and eating it with butter and Nutella. I miss any type of bread, to be honest. For what Vancouver has, I want to say Asian food. Sorry, my answers are all food related. Like I’d never had a baklava before I came to Vancouver. If I’d wanted to get some in Denmark, I’d have to go all the way to City Vest, which is like a mall, I wanna say Middle-Eastern style. It looks like a bazaar, or open-air market. It’s called a Bruuns Bazaar in Danish. Getting there would take hours on the bus and when you live in a small town, everything seems so far away. Danes don’t travel far. If it takes more than an hour to get somewhere, you’re staying for a weekend. I’ve outgrown that attitude now but, yeah, in Vancouver it’s just easily available.

UNS: I understand that.

A-KH: So, there actually is something that Canadians do that really rubs me the wrong way. There’s this fake insistence and sincerity with a lot of things. For example, like a situation where people are like, “Oh, we should go grab coffee!”

UNS: Coming from someone who’s done that before… it’s a way to get out of a conversation.

A-KH: Exactly. And I’m at a point where if I don’t want to talk to someone anymore, I’ll just finish the conversation and say, “Okay, I gotta go.” There doesn’t have to be a soft blow or anything, like, I’m just gonna leave. This reminds me, I also miss the phrase ‘tak for mad,’ which means ‘thanks for the food,’ but it’s also a good expression of gratitude. I feel like that sort of gratitude or expression does not exist here. That’s something, I think.

 

UNS: Alright, we’re almost done! If you could describe your classes in 3 words…

A-KH: I’d say challenging, engaging, and if I could take a risk here and say fun?

 

UNS: I agree with those words. Okay, last one, I promise. You’re a popular instructor here in this department and you have good relationships with your colleagues and students. There’s a lot of trust between you and your students too, why do you think that is?

A-KH: I do know that some find me intimidating…. I guess one thing that I try to be is…I won’t say lenient, but I’m trying to be understanding. I understand that my classes are all electives. And so one thing that I really want people to leave with is some kind of skill set that they can use outside of the class. And with that, one of the skills that I find to be somewhat lacking sometimes with students or others’ teaching is instilling a sense of responsibility in the students. And I think probably one of the reasons that people find me intimidating is that I tell them that I don’t care what they do in my classes. As long as they follow the rules and they don’t disturb anyone else, you know, they are as such responsible for themselves. And so when they are sick, just let me know, just like you would let an employer know. When you need an extension, just ask for it, because better ask for it and and get it than to not ask for it and hand in late and get docked points, because you seem lazy or not wanting to do the work, or something like that.  I’d rather they show up and give 50% than not show up at all. Typically when the students figure that out and that makes them show up with 70% percent instead of 50, that’s kind of cool. And I do enjoy that. And I don’t wanna say close relationships, but there seems to be ones with certain  people, like the SNSA for example. But you people… You’re here all the time. There’s no getting away from you. Of course I won’t talk about my personal life with you guys, but that doesn’t mean I can’t crack jokes with you all and stuff.

UNS: So you tolerate us…

A-KH: Yeah. Hah. I mean, at certain times my social battery can be really small. During fika for example, sometimes I think I could honestly just go home and just stare at a wall for a couple hours instead. And that’s funny because in Danish culture if you’re leaving, you gotta shake everyone’s hand and say ‘bye’ and ‘thanks.’

UNS: I thought Danes didn’t like interacting much with others?

A-KH: I feel like social anxiety exists and doesn’t exist in Denmark at about the same time, you have to pretend. The culture just does not allow any less than conformity. You have to follow the rules and if you follow the rules, there is no social anxiety. because we all sort of agree no one wants to do this, we’re gonna do it anyway, because that’s what tradition does.

UNS: Huh. That’s interesting. Concluding pleasantries follow. Well, Ann-Kathrine, tak for i dag! I appreciate it.

A-KH: Yeah, no worries. See you.


Ann-Kathrine Havemose is the lecturer of Danish and Nordic studies. She is a native Danish speaker, and has an MA in comparative literature and general linguistics from Aarhus University, Denmark, while also having studied Celtic Civilization and Irish folklore at University College Cork, Ireland.

Ann-Kathrine specialises in the performative use of folktales in contemporary Scandinavian picture books – her most recent work focusing on the practical use of The Three Billy Goats Gruff in Danish kindergartens. Her research interests include folklore, performativity studies, play theory, perception theory, literary history, and children’s literature, but she has also studied topics such as the works of Tolkien, trolls in Scandinavian folklore, racism and censorship in Northern European children’s books, and mythology.

For the 2024/25 school year, Ann-Kathrine has taught, and is teaching Elementary and Intermediate Danish (DANI 100, 110, 200, 210) Contemporary Nordic Fiction (NORD 334), Nordic Cinema (NORD 337), and she will teach Major Topics in Nordic Literature (NORD 333) in the upcoming Summer Term 1.