All you need is development?

What: Discussion on the complex resource politics and its implications for the peace process in Myanmar. When: 15 August 2018, 10 am to 1:30 pm
Where: Think Corner (Tiedekulma), University of Helsinki, Yliopistonkatu 4
Confirm your participation: https://www.facebook.com/events/225937138001715/

Myanmar is experiencing a complicated process of transition towards a civilian government, multi-party democratic elections, and peace negotiations. At the same time, the recent opening of the country has resulted in an accelerating rush for the rich natural resources, including a boom in extractive industrial and agribusiness projects. Most of these resources are located in the ethnic states and many of the grievances of the various ethnic communities are entangled with the questions of access to and control over resources. In this event researchers, NGO representatives and social movement activists discuss the ways that land and other resource rights should be addressed as a part of conflict resolution towards sustainable peace in Myanmar.

The recent political changes in Myanmar has also meant a rush of different international development organisations to the country. Recently Finland too has decided to focus its support in Southeast Asia to Myanmar. The event includes a panel discussion on the Finland’s future role in Myanmar with perspectives from civil society, ministry officials and private sector. Continue reading “Conflicts and resource politics in Myanmar, 15 August 2018”

Friday, 8th of June from 9am – 15 pm at the Think Corner.

Many sessions will touch on sustainability & development issues in the Arctic, and this is also a great opportunity to get more familiar with the work of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). There will be three keynote speeches from prominent figures: Anne Nuorgam (Vice-Chair of the United Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues), Eduardo Brondizio (Co-Chair of the IPBES Global Assessment) and Fikret Berkes (one of the most distinguished ethnoecologists). There will also be two Panel Discussions with Indigenous Peoples representatives.

You can find the full program in the following link: https://www.helsinki.fi/en/helsinki-institute-of-sustainability-science/about/news-events/seminar-on-arctic-indigenous-and-local-knowledge-sustainability

Warmly welcome to the Seminar!

Mariela Castro Espín: Sex education in the processes of social transformation of the Cuban revolution (“La educación de la sexualidad en los procesos de transformación social de la Revolución Cubana”)

Mariela Castro is the leader of Cuba’s sexual education institute (CENESEX) and a worldwide known activist for promoting LGBTIQ rights, transgender issues and HIV/AIDS prevention. She is a member of the Cuban parliament and the daughter of Cuba’s ex-president Raúl Castro and revolutionary feminist leader Vilma Espín. Castro is visiting Finland, because she will be promoted as the doctor honoris causas by Åbo Akademi.

The lecture will be commented by President Tarja Halonen.

Language: Spanish, translation to Finnish. PowerPoint in English.
Date & Time: Monday 28.5. at 16.15-17.45
Place: Unioninkatu 35, Auditorio 116, 1. krs.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/2006235722961985/

Continue reading “Development Studies Lecture – 28.05.2018”

The new dynamics of de­for­est­a­tion in Brazil

Associate Professor Markus Kröger’s presentation is about the current dynamics of deforestation, forest degradation, and sustainability of forest and forestry policies in different parts of Brazil. The focus is at presenting the findings from fresh field research in 2017-2018 on the different causes of rising deforestation in different regions. The example of the iconic Chico Mendes Extractive Reserve in Acre illustrates the power of cattle-ranching as the key driver of deforestation, even inside conservation areas. The politics of the rapidly expanding “sustainable logging cooperatives” – which have serious impacts on forest degradation, and do not typically deliver their promises – in the multiple-use conservation areas of the Santarém region in Pará are discussed to illustrate how the powerful illegal loggers still operate and take over many developmental schemes. Finally, the role of Finnish and Brazilian forestry industry in continuing deforestation and expansion of eucalyptus plantations through practices that include illegal land grabbing and violence in Bahia are discussed based on field research in the area since 2004. The politics that aim to create sustainable forest policies, and offer alternatives, are also discussed.

Markus Kröger is an Associate Professor and Docent in Development Studies at the University of Helsinki, the focus area of the tenure track position being the study of the political economy of development and natural resource extraction. Most of his research has focused on investment politics around large-scale projects in the forestry and metal industries, including the study of state-corporate-civil society relations, particularly in South America and India. He is the author of Contentious Agency and Natural Resource Politics (2013), and has published several papers on the sustainability of forest and forestry policies in different countries.

Welcome on Friday 20 April at 11:30-12:30 at HELSUS Hub at Porthania (2nd floor), Yliopistonkatu 3.

Professor Lahcen Kabiri, University of Meknès-Errachidia: “Revitalizing the past: ecological knowledge and khettarat hydraulic systems in Morocco”.

Prof. Lahcen Kabiri works on groundwater and traditional management of water resources in arid lands, and on Indigenous Peoples’ and Community Conserved Territories and Areas (ICCAs) in Morocco. He has done research on climate/ecological and social changes in the Oases of the Tafilalet region, documented in several published articles, and carries out consultancy work for various international organizations, including FAO, UNDP, UNESCO/MAB and the EU. He is also the president of a local association based in Ferkla oasis (Association Oasis Ferkla pour l´environnement et le patrimoine), engaged in various types of community development project and in direct assistance to marginalized groups (including pastoralists). His current research-action project aims to restore and revitalize antique structures of groundwater irrigation (khettarat), which were abandoned during the last mechanization decades that have caused groundwater depletion and socio-ecological degradation. A few are still in function, such as the khattarats of the ICCA of Tighfert oasis. The problem goes beyond the technical operation, as it involves societal and ecological organizations mediating traditional structures with multiple changes.

Welcome on Friday 20 April at 12:30-13:00 at HELSUS Hub at Porthania (2nd floor), Yliopistonkatu 3.

Professor Sikata Banerjee, University of Victoria, Canada:  “Bollywood Makes Men: Globalization and Muscular Nationalism in India”.

Negotiating masculinity has been a critical dilemma of Indian nationalism since the colonial period, when British constructions of Indian men as effeminate served as part of their gendered justifications for colonial rule. The legacy of this negotiation has surfaced in the socio-political changes in the wake of globalization created by the 1991 economic reforms which have configured the male body as a signifier of India’s new self-confidence on the global stage. Ascendant Hindu nationalism and the emergence of a nationalist triumphalism linked to an assertive global middle class form the material context of this signification. Muscular nationalism, defined in my works as an intersection of armed masculinity with the political doctrine of nationalism, enables a theoretical frame to analyze this version of an imagined India. Culturally, this view of muscular nationalism is eloquently represented in Hindi popular films which are important vehicles for disseminating dominant imaginings of nation in India. I will draw scenes from several films to illustrate this muscular nationalism.

Sikata Banerjee is Professor of Gender Studies at the University of Victoria, Canada. Her work focuses on gender and nationalism in India.  She is the author of Warriors in Politics:  Hinduism, Nationalism, Violence, and the Shiv Sena in India (Westview 2000); Make Me a Man!  Masculinity, Hinduism, and Nationalism in India (SUNY 2005); Muscular Nationalism: Gender, Violence, and Empire in Ireland (NYU 2012); and Globalizing Muscular Nationalism: Gender, Nation and Popular Film in India (Routledge 2016).

Welcome on  Monday 23 April, 2-4 pm, Unioninkatu 35, lecture hall 114.