Author: Jennifer L De Paola

 

Researchers in the humanities and social sciences are often asked, whether their research is scientific and objective or just descriptive and speculative. This panel, featuring researchers from the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, sheds light on the actual research practices in these fields. How do the Collegium Fellows combine rigorous methodology and creativity in their work? What is curiosity-driven research in practice? What is the role of experimentality – including failed experiments? Which comes first: methodology, curiosity, or science policy? 

Speakers: 

Patricia Garcia’s field is comparative literary studies. Her research focuses on narrative spaces and their intersection with other fields such as the fantastic, feminisms, and urban history. In contrast to most literary scholars who study the unprecedented growth of Europe’s urban centres in the 19th century in relation to the realist novel, she examines how the same realist writers explored an alternative form of expression through their fantastic fictions. 

A Doctoral Program in the Social Sciences International Workshop

Organized in collaboration with Social and Cultural Anthropology

Organizers: Anni Kajanus, Suvi Rautio and Sarah Green Contact: anni.kajanus@helsinki.fi or sarah.green@helsinki.fi

April 1st, 2019 13:30-17:00,

Unioninkatu 37, Room 1055 (Faculty Meeting Room)

Secrecy can create distinctions and ambivalences; it can build trust and break down relationships, protect and endanger groups and individuals; give control and create vulnerabilities; provide a means to mediate between untrusting persons or groups. In this workshop we will discuss the kind of work secrets are made to do in various political and inter-personal contexts in contemporary China. In a nation marked by constraints in the transparency of government affairs and media; the lack of trust an individual confronts everyday gets projected from social relations to protective mechanisms, such as the rule of law and state welfare. To cope, people’s circles of trust are small and extend through networks of shared trust and often secrecy. To maintain secrecy, what is said and what is meant often carry two different meanings. The universality of these norms is exemplified in Chinese expressions that recognise the relevance of secrecy and things left unsaid. Phrases that exemplify distinctions between the ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ (内外有别); differences between intention and expression (表里不一); and contrasts in what the mouth says from what the heart means (口是心非). These sayings reveal gaps between official representation and private belief (Steinmuller and Brandstatder 2016). Our workshop expands on these discussions alongside earlier anthropological debates on the political and social implications of secrecy (within the Mediterranean region in particular). Rather than delving into the more ritual-related aspects of secrecy, our objective is to unpack the relationship between secrecy and power to reflect on the darker side of what binds social relations together, such as lies, deceit and bickering; and to look at secrecy as a proactive investment in relationships, and in individual and collective trajectories. Looking at how things left unsaid maintain secrecy and trust, as two connected attributes, we ask the following: what does secrecy mean in China today?

Presenters and timetable:

13:45–14:15 Harriet Evans University of Westminster “Invisible to ‘them up there‘(shangmian)’? Privation, precarity and the search for privacy in a marginalised neighbourhood of “old Beijing.”

14:15–14:45 Stephan Feuchtwang London School of Economics “Ostentation of invisible authority and evasion of responsibility in urban planning”

14:45–15:15 Sam Geall University of Sussex “A sheet of paper can become a knife”

15:15–15:45 Coffee break

15:45–16:15 Anni Kajanus University of Helsinki “Public blame and secret punishments in children’s groups”

16:15–16:45 Hans Steinmüller London School of Economics “Don’t pay attention! The pragmatics of secrecy in China today.”

16:45–17:00 Final discussion

Dear all,

We have the pleasure to invite you to our two-day conference titled “Emotions, Populism and Polarised Politics, Media, and Culture“, taking place at the University of Helsinki, August 19-20, 2019.

The conference is organized by two Academy of Finland funded projects, Mainstreaming Populism in the 21st Century (MaPo), and Whirl of Knowledge: Cultural Populism in European Polarised Politics and Societies (WhiKnow). It is also organized in connection with two Helsinki Summer School courses “Rhetoric-Performative and Post-Foundational Analysis” and “Populism on the Loose in Europe and Beyond”. Both draw on the political philosophy of Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, taking forward the discourse theoretical, hegemony-focused Essex school approach.

The conference seeks to address different issues from both theoretical and empirical perspectives, especially those exploring the intersection of different positionalities and challenging bounded national contexts. Some indicative themes are:

• Populism and social movements
• Radical democracy
• Subjectivity, affects and gender
• Politics, polarization, hybrid media
• Cultural populism and politics

Please submit your abstracts to: marina.vulovic@helsinki.fi by April 15, 2019.

All further details can be found in the attached CfA.

We look forward to your participation!

Kinds regards,

Marina Vulović

Doctoral Candidate
University of Helsinki

Call for contributors & participants

 

Workshop ‘Trade unions, democracy and political power in France, the UK and Europe’

 

Co-hosted by the Maison Française d’Oxford, and the European Studies Centre, University of Oxford, and supported by the Europaeum Network

 

Date & venue: 30^th May, Maison Française d’Oxford, 2-10 Norham Rd, Oxford, OX2 6SE, UK (tbc)

 

We are seeking papers and contributions on the nature of trade unionism, industrial democracy and trade union power in the UK, France and elsewhere in Europe. Special interest will be shown for papers relating to trade unionism in France, President Emmanuel Macron’s ongoing and proposed labour reforms, and the rise of the ‘gilets jaunes’ (yellow vest) movement since November 2018.

 

Trade Unions in Europe today

Labour unions in Europe face a range of cross-cutting challenges. including the near universal decline in membership, the collapse of traditionally highly unionised blue-collar industries, and the changes that have been wrought by the 4^th industrial revolution. On top of this, since the 1980s, established linkages between unions and especially social democratic parties have almost universally weakened, further depriving unions and workers of a traditionally key source of power and influence.

With this, the late-twentieth century has seen the virtual disappearance of the distinctive social formation termed ‘working class’ which formed the backbone of European trade unionism for the past century, and the growth of atypical, precarious and temporary forms of employment. This environment makes any collectivist vision of society, and the notion of solidarity upon which trade unionism is based, difficult to sustain.

Thus, this workshop invites papers and contributions that explore factors including (but not limited to):

 

• the nature of trade union power in Europe today

 

• the contribution of trade unions to government reform agendas through neo-corporatist arrangements and other forms of governance

 

• relations and alliances between trade unions and political parties and other civil society actors

 

• the regulation of new forms of employment, including precarious employment

 

• the emergence of new forms of collective action and organisation among workers, including via the use of digital technologies

 

• the coordination of transnational activities among workers

 

• campaigns and initiatives directed at consumers, new forms of training and research activities, social movement unionism, or other forms of collective action involving workers

 

The one-day workshop will run from 10.30am on 30 May and will be arranged around three panels with up to four speakers and a discussant, and a dinner and roundtable discussion on the future of workplace democracy in Europe. There will be the opportunity for participants to contribute to an edited volume based on the subject and output of the conference.

 

To express interest, please send a 300 word abstract and any queries to barry.colfer@sant.ox.ac.uk by 5pm (GMT) on Thursday 14^th April.
Students currently enrolled on a graduate course (master, PhD) at a Europaeum member university can apply for this event. Please cc euroinfo@europaeum.ox.ac.uk into your application email.

Welcome to the second session of the new STS Helsinki Seminar Series on Monday, March 18^th!

The STS Helsinki Seminar Series is a newly founded seminar series by the STS Helsinki research collective. Our aim is to create a space for in-depth conversations about current research in Science and Technology Studies (STS). The topics cover a wide range of contemporary issues, such as climate change, the role of experts, medicine, genetics, gender, robotics or organic food. The seminars function as a platform for strengthening the STS community in Finland and bringing STS to new audiences. All scholars, students and audiences interested in the interaction between science, society and technology are welcome! 

Seminar programme/Spring 2019

Venue: 3^rd floor seminar room, Helsinki Collegium of Advanced Studies (HCAS), Fabianinkatu 24 (except for April 26^th)

18 March, 12.15-13.45             

Andrea Butcher, postdoctoral researcher, University of Helsinki

Tackling antimicrobial resistance in biosocially demanding settings: the challenge for low-income regions

26 April, 12.15-13.45

Nik Brown, Professor of Sociology, York University

TBA

NB. Different location!

21 May, 12.15-13.45

Liina-Maija Quist, postdoctoral researcher, University of Helsinki

Epistemic practices of marine scientists examining climate change

NB. Change of date!

Abstracts and biographies will be made available on the STS Helsinki blog.

Follow our updates on Twitter @stshelsinki

There are still some places left at the upcoming optional Master’s level course in European and Nordic studies. The course is also suitable for, and may be of interest to, doctoral students in the fields of political science, history, philosophy or literature. The course provides an introduction to the study of concepts and metaphors in political, historical, and theoretical research settings. The first part of the course introduces the key methodological approaches and theoretical perspectives to the study of concepts and metaphors, offering analytical tools useful for various kinds of research settings. The second part applies this knowledge to cases from current European politics and European intellectual history, encouraging the students to present case analyses of their own.

 

Course page and more information: https://courses.helsinki.fi/en/ENS-338/126849595

 

Registration in Weboodi.