We are extending the deadline for application to our first Helsinki Conference on Emotions, Populism and Polarisation!
All information (CfA, keynotes etc.) can be found on our new conference website: www.helsinki.fi/en/HEPP
Please send your abstracts to marina.vulovic@helsinki.fi by April 26, 2019.
We hope to see you there.
Kind regards,
Marina, Emilia and Virpi
Call for Papers (PhD Workshop & Conference)
University of Helsinki, 26 and 27-28 August, 2019
Conference keynotes by
Nelson Maldonado-Torres (Rutgers University)
Suvi Keskinen (University of Helsinki)
Anne-Marie Fortier (Lancaster University
PhD Workshop keynote by
Kristín Loftsdóttir (University of Iceland)
Race is a thorny issue in the global north. It cannot be addressed comfortably in environments that understand themselves to be ‘colourblind’ but are, in fact, overwhelmingly white. This seems to apply particularly to the Nordics, where notions of equality and fairness are so central to a collective sense of identity, and where the prohibition of racial discrimination dominates discourses about race. However, recent publications have tackled the issue of ‘Nordic whiteness’, taking up the perspectives and methodologies of post-colonial studies to critically engage with the seemingly non-colonial, colourblind (or even colourless?) societies of the North (e.g. Lundström & Teitelbaum, 2017; Loftsdottir & Jensen, 2012; Garner, 2014; Hübinette, 2017). This conference invites researchers to build on that work, and particularly welcomes contributions from a cultural and humanities driven perspective.
The conference-organizers are committed to examining post- and de-colonial perspectives on Whiteness that do not take ‘modern’ nations and regions as their point of departure, and can therefore accommodate different practices of migration, different understandings of indigeneity, and different ‘Nordic’ ethnicities. As Sarah Ahmed has noted, whiteness is an inherited history (and thus culturally specific and malleable) that shapes bodies, affecting how they take up space and what they can do. This opens up perspectives for research on the languages and practices of ‘belonging’ that we aim to explore during the course of the conference. The conference aims to tackle two main sets of questions:
1) Questions of linguistic/cultural difference in the expression and representation of Whiteness. How are issues of race, colonization, whiteness and belonging expressed in the different languages (either ‘national’ or different indigenous languages) used in the region, and how do linguistic and cultural differences inflect the experience of racialized bodies? What kind of ‘language ideologies’ are at work in the construction and expression of Nordic Whiteness?
2) Questions of belonging and their change over time. Where can a chronologically as well as geographically ‘blurred’ perspective take us, how can we look for (imagined) continuities and changes in the meaning of Whiteness and Otherness (rather than contrasting ‘historical’ and ‘contemporary’ views). This could include, e.g., questions about the current ‘use’ of history by white supremacist groups, but also the transitory meaning of ‘Whiteness’ as a category.
The conference aims toward a diverse, multi-disciplinary field and welcomes contributions mobilizing methods in fields such as anthropology, linguistics, history, cultural studies, sociology etc. We are keen to open up a conversation regarding ‘the Nordics’ in a broad sense, showing its diversity in modes of belonging as well as its different (indigenous) languages across Scandinavia, Finland, Iceland, Greenland, Lapland and (Western) Russia.
Submission of proposals
Proposals for twenty-minute papers should include: a title, an abstract of up to 300 words, contact details and institutional affiliation, and a note of any particular requirements.
The deadline for submission of proposals is 30 April 2019
Proposals should be uploaded to our website: https://www.helsinki.fi/en/conferences/the-great-white-north
The conference will be preceded by a workshop for graduate students. To find out more, or to send in an abstract for the workshop by 30 April, 2019, check out our website: https://www.helsinki.fi/en/conferences/the-great-white-north/call-for-papers-doctoral-student-workshop
Contact Email: jana.lainto@helsinki.fi
We welcome paper proposals for the Gender Studies 2019 Conference: On Violence. We warmly invite scholars from a variety of locations in the Global North and South to participate in the discussions on violence.
We welcome paper proposals for the wide range of workshops featured on the program. We have 40 workshops that approach multiple aspects of violence and widely represent the multidisciplinary field of gender, sexuality, queer, trans, disability, postcolonial, and critical race studies:
You’ll find the workshop descriptions here: https://www.helsinki.fi/en/conferences/gender-studies-2019-conference/call-for-papers
We open submissions for paper proposals from the 21st of March until the 30th of April. We invite you to submit paper abstracts in English or Finnish.
After selecting the appropriate workshop, proceed to submit your an abstract of your paper (max 2000 characters with spaces) using this e-form: https://elomake.helsinki.fi/lomakkeet/97441/lomake.html
For further information, see conference web page: https://www.helsinki.fi/en/conferences/gender-studies-2019-conference
You can follow us also on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/437706756966023/
To contact the conference team, please email us at genderstudies2019[at]helsinki.fi.
The conference is organized and hosted by the Gender Studies Discipline of The University of Helsinki together with the Association for Gender Studies in Finland (SUNS).
Please circulate widely to your networks and all persons interested!
Do you like to connect distinct ideas in your research? Have you struggled in your efforts to cross bridges between disciplinary fields?
Are you eager to overcome persistent boundaries between different learning communities?
Do you want to foster new forms of research and teaching collaboration?
We look forward to learning from your experiences at the
GENERAL MEETING AND NETWORKING EVENT of FINTERDIS – The Finnish Interdisciplinary Society (Suomen Tieteidenvälinen Seura ry.)
on Tuesday, May 7, 2019:
6:00-7:45pm: General Meeting at Svenska Social- och kommunalhögskolan (Snellmaninkatu 12, Helsinki)
8:00-10:00pm: Networking Event at Roster Bar Lounge (Pohjoisesplanadi 17, Helsinki)
The General Meeting will examine developments of FINTERDIS since the Society’s establishment in October 2018, elect a new Board of Directors, and determine the plan for activities for the academic year 2019-2020. FINTERDIS aims to support the interdisciplinary efforts of early-career scholars in particular, while also committed to promoting dialogue across fields and generations.
The Networking event is meant to promote informal engagement between participants from different fields and scholars at different career stages. Both events are open to all scholars regardless of university affiliation, career stage, or field(s) of specialty.
More detailed information about these interconnected events can be found in the attachment. More information about FINTERDIS is available on our website.
Please register by Friday,May 3 by sending us an email to info@finterdis.fi. Registration is expected so we can make sure we have enough space. In your email, please let us know whether you will be attending the General Meeting, the Networking Event, or both. In case you are interested in becoming a FINTERDIS Board member, please tell us a little about yourself and your interdisciplinary background. In case of any thoughts, questions, or concerns, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us! Please feel free to redistribute this email!
Warm regards,
Kirsi Cheas, president
Anna-Leena Riitaoja, vice president
FINTERDIS – The Finnish Interdisciplinary Society
Please find attached an invitation to guest lecture on Friday 26th April by James Liu, Massey University, New Zealand:
Title: “Generational and Intergenerational Collective Remembering: Evidence for Global Narratives, Region-Culture Influences, and National Political Cultures across 42 Societies”
– abstract Liu Generational and Intergenerational Collective Remembering,
Venue: U35, room 114
Time: 2 – 4 pm
Contact: anna-maija.pirttila-backman@helsinki.fi
Please note these courses, UH students can make it for a significantly reduced price. (Also for students who have been on my Ideology and Discourse Analysis methods course, this is not the same one.) There will also be a conference on “Emotions, Populism and Polarised Politics, Media, and Culture”, 19-20 August, CfP open until 15 April. Useful for those who cannot take the courses. Best, Emilia
**Welcome to pass around, apologies for cross postings**
Call for Applications
Helsinki Summer School, University of Helsinki, 6–22 August 2019
“Rhetoric-Performative and Post-Foundational Analysis” and “Populism on the Loose in Europe and Beyond”
The two courses draw on the political philosophy of Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, taking forward the discourse theoretical, hegemony-focused Essex school approach. The courses include also a two-day conference “Emotions, Populism and Polarised Politics, Media, and Culture” (https://blogs.helsinki.fi/populismi/emotions-populism-and-polarised-politics-media-and-culture-conference-august-2019/ ) organized by two Academy of Finland funded projects, “Mainstreaming Populism in the 21st Century” (MaPo)(https://blogs.helsinki.fi/populismi/), and “Whirl of Knowledge: Cultural Populism in European Polarised Politics and Societies” (WhiKnow) (https://blogs.helsinki.fi/whi-know/). The conference looks at cases of politics, media, and culture, and explores the link between emotions and populism, polarizing politics that spills over to media and culture.
Teaching will be composed of lectures, workshops and excursions. It also offers great possibilities for academic networking during and outside teaching hours. We designed the courses as a special opportunity to learn the underpinnings of post-foundationalism and populism in a friendly environment and in a collaborative way. The course organizers are Senior Lecturer Emilia Palonen from Political Science and Postdoctoral Researcher Virpi Salojärvi from Media and Communication Studies at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki.
Descriptions of the courses:
Rhetoric-performative post-foundational analysis (https://www.helsinki.fi/en/admissions/helsinki-summer-school/courses/rhetoric-performative-and-post-foundational-analysis)
This course focuses on post-foundational political thought and the related perspectives of conceptual analysis, post-structuralist discourse theory, interpretive political analysis, and discourse theory. The broader aim is to learn how to make use of theory in research in social sciences and humanities. With emphasis on rhetoric and performativity, the course investigates how meaning-making takes place through contingent concepts, discourses and structures we inhabit. These theoretical approaches will be discussed in relation to themes such as democracy, economy, populism, gender, climate change, identity politics, and the notion of ‘post-truth’. The students will learn about different forms of post-foundational thinking and get to explore the ways in which it can be combined with various research methods. As central to the post-foundational framework, the course will introduce the works of authors such as Jacques Derrida, Judith Butler, Chantal Mouffe and Ernesto Laclau.
Confirmed teachers: Tomas Marttila (Vienna University of Economics and Business), Emmy Eklundh (King’s College London), Mark Devenney (University of Brighton), Tuija Saresma (University of Jyväskylä) and Niko Hatakka (University of Turku)
Target Students: Master’s/PhD level students. Bachelor’s degree or previous knowledge of research methods and research practice required.
***
Populism on the Loose in Europe and Beyond (https://www.helsinki.fi/en/admissions/helsinki-summer-school/courses/populism-on-the-loose-in-europe-and-beyond)
While much of the study of present-day populism has focused on identifying features shared by populist movements or on populism as a social logic, this course looks at the variability and intersectionality of populism in a perspective inspired by the political philosopher Ernesto Laclau. During the course are examined such topics as distinct aspects of social media and mainstream media in relation to populist politics; role of affect, gender and ethnicity in populist movements; anti-populism and the relation between democracy and populism. The geographical areas studied during the course include the emergence of Donald Trump in the US, the rising tide of radical parties in Europe (including e.g. France, Spain, Poland, Hungary, Romania and Nordic countries), Islamic populism in Turkey, and the rise and fall of Chavismo in Venezuela. Thus, covering both left- and right-wing populism in different continents.
Confirmed teachers: Emmy Eklundh (King’s College London), Mark Devenney (University of Brighton), Tuija Saresma (University of Jyväskylä), Tuula Vaarakallio (University of Jyväskylä), Rūta Kazlauskaitė (University of Helsinki), Laura Sibinescu (University of Helsinki), Niko Hatakka (University of Turku), Halil Gürhanli (University of Helsinki)
Target Students: Advanced Bachelor’s level, Master’s or PHD students of social sciences are warmly invited to take this course.
***
Important information:
Organiser: Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki
Credits: 5 ECTS
Price: HSS course fees are 900–1490 EUR (UH students with local rates)
Preliminary course schedules may be found in the course pages.
The application deadline is June 17th, 2019. However, the students of the University of Helsinki may apply until July 19th, 2019. If you need a visa, please apply 31st of May the latest.
Apply for the course:
Rhetoric-performative post-foundational analysis https://apply.helsinkisummerschool.fi/courses/course/221-rhetoricperformative-and-postfoundational-analysis
Populism on the Loose in Europe and Beyond https://apply.helsinkisummerschool.fi/courses/course/220-populism-loose-europe-and-beyond
More info on the Helsinki Summer School:
http://www.helsinkisummerschool.fi
The students participating the courses are invited to present their work in the conference “Emotions, Populism and Polarised Politics, Media, and Culture” organised 19-20 August. However, it is also possible to participate only the conference. To apply, please, send your abstract (200-300 words) with heading to: marina.vulovic@helsinki.fi by April 15, 2019. Selected participants will be notified by April 30, 2019. Participants are encouraged to submit written papers by August 5, 2019.
The modest conference fee 50/80 euros includes tea, coffee, and lunches, as well as the conference dinner on Monday. The summer school course students do not pay extra for participating at the conference.
The summer school is a joint venture of the Collaborative Research Center (CRC1342) “Global Dynamics of Social Policy”, Bremen International Graduate School for Social Sciences (BIGSSS), Danish Centre of Welfare Studies (University of Southern Denmark) and the Faculty of Social Sciences (University of Helsinki)
Welfare states can be studied with a number of theoretical and methodological approaches, from various chronological perspectives and with a focus on different empirical phenomena and localities. The Nordwel summer school aims to stimulate discussions across disciplines and foster innovative cross-disciplinary research on the development of welfare states over time and in a global context. The summer school brings together PhD students and well-established international scholars in scientific exchange.
We invite PhD students from different disciplinary backgrounds to participate in the discussion on the development of welfare states, their preconditions, present status, and how we ought to study them. PhD Students present their papers in parallel sessions and get feedback from senior scholars and junior colleagues.
Teachers include Daniel Béland (McGill University), Stephen Devereux (Institute of Development Studies), Patrick Emmenegger (University of St. Gallen), Lorraine Frisina Doetter (University of Bremen), Pauli Kettunen (University of Helsinki), Åsa Lundqvist (Lund University), Julia Moses (Sheffield University), Frank Nullmeier (University of Bremen), Herbert Obinger (University of Bremen), Klaus Petersen (University of Southern Denmark), Carina Schmitt (University of Bremen), and Reimut Zohlnhöfer (Heidelberg University). More teachers to be announced soon.
We welcome applications by PhD students by 15 April 2019. The approved proposals will be selected on the basis of their quality. Papers can be written from a broad historical or contemporary perspective and come from different disciplines such as history, social policy, sociology, political science, and political philosophy. Guidelines for papers will be sent in connection with the letters of approval by 30 April 2019. Participants who complete the summer school successfully are credited with 5 ECTS credits.
The course fee is 300 euros. Participants are expected to cover their own travel costs (a limited number of travel grants will be available – please state in the application), accommodation (4 nights, single room in a hostel) as well as most meals are covered.
Applicants are to submit an abstract (max 400 words) for a paper and a short biography (including a list of publications) by e-mail to Dörthe Hauschild, socialpolicydynamics@uni-bremen.de, no later than 15 April 2019.
Further information about the teachers, the conference venue and accomodation as well as travel information will be available soon, see https://www.socialpolicydynamics.de/nordwel-crc-summer-school.
Herbert Obinger (University of Bremen), Pauli Kettunen (University of Helsinki), Christian Peters (BIGSSS), Klaus Petersen (University of Southern Denmark)
Target group:
The course is targeted at doctoral candidates in humanities and social sciences.
Sign up for the event on Thursday, April 4, 2019 at the latest!
https://elomake.helsinki.fi/lomakkeet/97082/lomake.html
The workshop is held by Pertti Simula, Anja Nygren and Markus Kröger.
Pertti Simula, MS, psychoanalyst, author of five books on human relations and cooperation, stress and psychosomatics
Experience in Finland, Sweden, Brazil and USA
Consultant and educator at the Landless Landworkers´ Movement in Brazil
Anja Nygren is Professor of Development Studies and Director of ”Political, Societal and Regional Changes” – Doctoral Programme at the University of Helsinki. She has carried out long-term ethnographic field research under politically volatile and socially delicate conditions in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Mexico.
Markus Kröger is Associate professor in Development Studies. He has done field research in challenging circumstances in South America and India.
Race is a thorny issue in the global north. It cannot be addressed comfortably in environments that understand themselves to be ‘colourblind’ but are, in fact, overwhelmingly white. This seems to apply particularly to the Nordics, where notions of equality and fairness are so central to a collective sense of identity, and where the prohibition of racial discrimination dominates discourses about race. However, recent publications have tackled the issue of ‘Nordic whiteness’, taking up the perspectives and methodologies of post-colonial studies to critically engage with the seemingly non-colonial, colourblind (or even colourless?) societies of the North (e.g. Lundström & Teitelbaum, 2017; Loftsdottir & Jensen, 2012; Garner, 2014; Hübinette, 2017). This conference invites researchers to build on that work, and particularly welcomes contributions from a cultural and humanities driven perspective.
The conference-organizers are committed to examining post- and de-colonial perspectives on Whiteness that do not take ‘modern’ nations and regions as their point of departure, and can therefore accommodate different practices of migration, different understandings of indigeneity, and different ‘Nordic’ ethnicities. As Sarah Ahmed has noted, whiteness is an inherited history (and thus culturally specific and malleable) that shapes bodies, affecting how they take up space and what they can do. This opens up perspectives for research on the languages and practices of ‘belonging’ that we aim to explore during the course of the conference. The conference aims to tackle two main sets of questions:
1) Questions of linguistic/cultural difference in the expression and representation of Whiteness. How are issues of race, colonization, whiteness and belonging expressed in the different languages (either ‘national’ or different indigenous languages) used in the region, and how do linguistic and cultural differences inflect the experience of racialized bodies? What kind of ‘language ideologies’ are at work in the construction and expression of Nordic Whiteness?
2) Questions of belonging and their change over time. Where can a chronologically as well as geographically ‘blurred’ perspective take us, how can we look for (imagined) continuities and changes in the meaning of Whiteness and Otherness (rather than contrasting ‘historical’ and ‘contemporary’ views). This could include, e.g., questions about the current ‘use’ of history by white supremacist groups, but also the transitory meaning of ‘Whiteness’ as a category.
The conference aims toward a diverse, multi-disciplinary field and welcomes contributions mobilizing methods in fields such as anthropology, linguistics, history, cultural studies, sociology etc. We are keen to open up a conversation regarding ‘the Nordics’ in a broad sense, showing its diversity in modes of belonging as well as its different (indigenous) languages across Scandinavia, Finland, Iceland, Greenland, Lapland and (Western) Russia.
Submission of proposals
Proposals for twenty-minute papers should include: a title, an abstract of up to 300 words, contact details and institutional affiliation, and a note of any particular requirements.
The deadline for submission of proposals is 30 April 2019
Proposals should be uploaded to our website: https://www.helsinki.fi/en/conferences/the-great-white-north
The conference will be preceded by a workshop for graduate students. To find out more, or to send in an abstract for the workshop by 30 April, 2019, check out our website: https://www.helsinki.fi/en/conferences/the-great-white-north/call-for-papers-doctoral-student-workshop
Contact Email: jana.lainto@helsinki.fi
University of Helsinki