Episode #50: Lene Rachel Andersen - The Nordic Secret for Cultivating Beauty, Freedom, Democracy, and Prosperity

MICROCOLLEGE: The Thoreau College Podcast

For the 50th Episode of the Microcollege Podcast, we checked back in with one of our favorite guests from the first few months of the show. Lene Rachel Andersen is one of the stimulating and ambitious thinkers we have met during this remarkable journey. A native of Denmark, Lene is an economist, futurist, Bildung activist, and author of many books in Danish and English. The occasion for this conversation is the upcoming release of a significantly revised new edition of Lene's landmark book The Nordic Secret: A European Story of Beauty and Freedom. Originally published in 2017 with the collaboration of Swedish author Tomas Björkman, the new edition of The Nordic Secret will be available in late January 2024. Lene will be traveling to the West and East Coasts of the US in January and February as well, with plans for a visit to the Midwest (including Thoreau College) in late summer or early fall in the works as well.

The Nordic Secret is an important text for anyone seeking hopeful inspiration and practical advice about what could be done with regards to the collapse of civic engagement, social cohesion, and personal sense of meaning in our time in the United States and elsewhere. The book tells the remarkable story of how Denmark and the other Nordic countries made the transition from being among the poorest, most socially stratified, and authoritarian countries in Europe in the early 19th century to being the most wealthy, egalitarian, and democratic counties in the early 20th century. The "secret" in Lene's title turns out to be a revolutionary new model of education for young adults - the Danish folk high schools - grounded in a deeply humanistic conception of the human being and of human development. Lene labels this conception "Bildung," a term with deep roots in the thought and practice of key early modern German thinkers including Herder, Goethe, and Schiller, who in turn inspired the creators of the folk high school movement in Denmark (and also the Transcendentalists in America, including Emerson and Thoreau).

Testing the hypothesis that what worked in Scandinavia may work elsewhere, Lene has spent the last several years working to instigate and support a global Bildung movement. In addition to her writing and speaking, Lene is the co-founder of the Global Bildung Network, a worldwide network of educators, thinkers, and activists collaborating online and in person to share ideas and promote the idea of Bildung in ways appropriate to diverse cultures and contexts. The Global Bildung Network organizes twice-yearly virtual "Global Bildung Days" on the March and September equinoxes, as well as regional gatherings in Europe and now in North America. So if this conversation is inspiring to you, check out the Global Bildung Network and find out how to get involved.

Nordic Bildung: www.nordicbildung.org

Global Bildung Network: www.globalbildung.net

The Nordic Secret: www.nordicsecret.org/