Europe: Iceland “Internationalized Islanders: Teaching IR Theory to Undergraduate Students in Iceland”

This chapter examines the experience of teaching IR theory to undergraduate students in Iceland. It addresses the complexities of adjusting the academic jargon to Icelandic, in order to transmit ideas in the language of the students, who nonetheless do most of their reading in English. In addition, it problematizes teaching at an “open” university, where students only have to complete secondary education to matriculate, and there are no limits on class size. While Icelandic students tend to have extensive international experiences before coming to the classroom, they are nonetheless insular in their thinking and in addition tend to be a very homogenous group and have, as a group, not experienced hunger, poverty, war or other major disasters. Bringing the international into the classroom can therefore be a challenge, but the most relatable examples tend to be Nordic and transatlantic issues, although students’ interests are increasingly focused on questions related to the environment, human rights, and feminist and LGBTQI+ issues. Rather than asking them to memorize facts and dates, the method found to be most effective in addressing these issues is to have them apply theories to real world examples, learning to understand how employing different theories can tell them different stories about the world.