Dean Krouk, who has his B.A. from the University of Chicago with a concentration in Comparative Literature, brings to Scandinavian at Berkeley what his recommenders call a formidable background in cultural theory (Marx, Freud, and contemporary theorists such as Zizek).  Dean Krouk plans to continue his study of Kierkegaard, with particular attention to how postmodern theorists like Zizek set a stage for new assessments of the philosopher’s relation to politics, ethics, and psychoanalysis.  He has written that he would like to bring Kierkegaard’s work into dialogue with today’s culture of global irony and the irony industry.  He plans also to interrogate the dissolution of agency in postmodernity, and the status of Scandinavian quasi-liberalism and insularity in a globalized society.  Dean Krouk’s Discovery mentor will be Jen Sokolove, from Environmental Science, Policy, and Management.