Onomastics (Master's Level)

About the course

The course offers an overview of the current research landscape in onomastics in Sweden and beyond. Its thematic curriculum follows major interests in the field including categorization of names in language, name use and identity building, name use and social history, etymological place-name research, indigenous names in post-colonial landscape, and commercial names. The general focus lies on training theoretical breadth and methodological and ethical awareness as well as on critical assessment of research results. As a highly interdisciplinary field, name research brings models and methods from other disciplines within the humanities and social sciences such as archaeology, sociology, history, sociolinguistics, media and communication, political science, geography and so on. The students will thus also have an opportunity to build on their prior expertise when delving deeper into onomastic materials through the curriculum assignments. The course offers an option to partake in excursions to major Swedish employers in the field such as Institute of Languages and Folklore as well as National Land-Survey to get acquainted with ongoing projects and relevant archive collections as well as to explore traineeship opportunities.