The Arts for Justice,  Indigenous Coalition Building and Artistic Activism

The Arts for Justice,

Indigenous Coalition Building and Artistic Activism

April 15that 9:15–17:00

University of Helsinki, lecture room 5 (Fabianinkatu 33)

Seminar organized by Indigenous Studies and Environmental Humanities/ University of Helsinki and University of Arts Helsinki

This seminar discusses the contemporary engagements with artistic forms of evidencing, communicating, and resisting, such as visual arts, performance, theatre, writing, film, video, eco-media and social media that address environmental and social justice and Indigenous rights. How are various constituencies showcasing Indigenous ways of knowing and being, as well as calling for actions and approaches that challenge dominant practices, such as extractivism, pipelines, land grabbing, and other threats to Indigenous values and homelands? How might artistic activism contribute to building coalitions across nations and differences? What techniques are used to reach audiences and what possible changes can result? What can be evidenced by the arts? The participants are both artists and researchers, sharing their works and ideas, and then we encourage the participants to take part in the conversation in which we will learn from each other.

Preliminary schedule:

9:15 Opening words by the organisers

9:30–10:30 Keynote by Marja Helander (Sámi visual and video artist)

10:30–10:45 Coffee

10:45–12:15 Panel discussion 1:

Sasha Huber (artist and University of Arts Helsinki)

Eeva-Kristiina Harlin (University of Oulu)

Pirjo K. Virtanen (University of Helsinki)

Cheryl J. Fish (City University of New York)

(facilitator Lea Kantonen)

12:15–13:30 Lunch

13:30–14:15 Keynote by May-Brit Öhman (University of Uppsala):

14:15–14:30 Coffee

14:30–16:00 Panel discussion 2:

Stina Roos (Sámi artist)

Klisala Harrison (University of Helsinki)

Lea Kantonen (University of Arts Helsinki)

Hanna Guttorm (University of Helsinki)

(facilitator Cheryl J. Fish)

16:00–16:45 Student works’ presentation

16:45–17:00 End circle

17:00 Wine reception & Poster Exhibition by the students in the course Biocultural approaches to the environment and conservation (IND-512)

Registration by April 5 : https://elomake.helsinki.fi/lomakkeet/97035/lomake.html

Next HUH EH Forum, on March 25 (Monday!!), at 14.15-15.45, Ekatherina Zhukova, University of Copenhagen on Chernobyl Children and Social Implications

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

we kindly invite you to the next Helsinki University Environmental Humanities Forum

March 25 (Monday!!), at 14.15-15.45

Ekatherina Zhukova

University of Copenhagen, Denmark

“The Recuperation of the Chernobyl Children and Social Implications”

Porthania P724 (Yliopistonkatu 3)

Please kindly see Abstract and short Bio of Speaker below.

Looking forward to meeting/seeing you soon!

Twitter @helsinkienvhum

Facebook @helsinkienvhum

Blog: https://blogs.helsinki.fi/environment

With kind wishes, Viktor Pál and Mikko Saikku

Bio

Dr. Zhukiva is a postdoctoral researcher (2018-2020) in a research project “Images of Conflict, Conflicting Images” (2017-2021, Velux Foundation). Her subproject looks at how images from historical events shape visual representation of contemporary conflicts and how, in turn, digital images produced today change our knowledge about the past. She focuses on the current conflict in Ukraine and how images of two historical events – the Soviet famine and the World War II – shape and are shaped by the visuals produced during the current crisis.

She hold PhD in Political Science (specialization Political Sociology) from Aarhus University (2012-2015) where she focused on media representations of responsibility for managing the aftermath of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Belarus and Ukraine since 1990s. She was also a postdoctoral researcher in Gender Studies at Lund University (2017-2018) where she investigated the role of gender in humanitarian programmes for disaster survivors.

The link to her academic profile:

https://mcc.ku.dk/staff/?pure=en%2Fpersons%2Fekatherina-zhukova(87009728-9da6-4f42-b9c8-b3a942cedcde).htm

HUH Environmental Humanities Forum, March 19 (Tuesday), Marcy Rockman, ICOMOS, Washington, DC

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

we kindly invite you to the next Helsinki University Environmental Humanities Forum

March 19 (Tuesday), at 14.15-15.45

Marcy Rockman

IPCC lead, Climate Change and Heritage Working Group

Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), Washington, DC

“Cultural Heritage as a Source of Creativity for Climate Change”

Kielikeskus (Language Center) sh.204 (Fabianinkatu 26)

Please kindly see Abstract and short Bio of Speaker below.

Looking forward to meeting/seeing you soon!

Twitter @helsinkienvhum

Facebook @helsinkienvhum

Blog: https://blogs.helsinki.fi/environment

With kind wishes, Viktor Pál and Mikko Saikku

Abstract

“Cultural Heritage as a Source of Creativity for Climate Change”

Archaeological heritage is founded in the material remains of the past. And climate change is now putting many of these material remains around the world at risk for damage or destruction. But the strongest connection of archaeological cultural heritage to climate change may lie in the creativity it allows in finding meaningful responses to climate challenges. Drawing on nine years of experience in the US federal government, this presentation outlines three areas of heritage based creativity, including research question matching, climate stories, and community engagement with what matters most.

Bio

Marcy Rockman is an archaeologist who studies how humans gather, remember, and transmit environmental information, particularly during colonization. She’s used this research to address situations as diverse as cultural resource management in the American Southwest and homeland security risk communication in Washington, DC. From 2011-2018 she served as the US National Park Service (NPS) Climate Change Adaptation Coordinator for Cultural Resources. She is now working under the auspices of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) Climate Change and Heritage Working Group to improve incorporation of heritage in reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Dr. Rockman holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Arizona, and B.Sc. in Geology from the College of William and Mary. Her major publications include Colonization of Unfamiliar Landscapes: The Archaeology of Adaptation and the NPS Cultural Resources Climate Change Strategy.

HUH Environmental Humanities Forum, March 12 (Tuesday), Dmitry Arzyutov, KTH Stockholm

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

we kindly invite you to the next Helsinki University Environmental Humanities Forum

March 12 (Tuesday) at 14.15-15.45

Dmitry Arzyutov, KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden

“Environmental Encounters: Woolly Mammoth, Indigenous Communities, and Metropolitan Scientists in the Soviet Arctic”

at Kielikeskus (Language Center) sh.204 (Fabianinkatu 26)

Please kindly see Abstract and short Bio of Speaker below.

Looking forward to meeting/seeing you soon!

Twitter @helsinkienvhum

Facebook @helsinkienvhum

Blog: https://blogs.helsinki.fi/environment

With kind wishes, Viktor Pál and Mikko Saikku

Abstract

Environmental Encounters: Woolly Mammoth, Indigenous Communities, and Metropolitan Scientists in the Soviet Arctic

The article deals with the history of mammoth (re)search and perceptions in the Soviet Arctic. Based on published and unpublished sources as well as interviews with scholars and reindeer hunters and herders the author argues that the mammoth as a material paleontological find embodies indigenous sense of belonging to the land, various scholarly models and (academic) geopolitics which encounter each other in different times as well as social, political and natural environments. These encounters shape the temporal stabilisations of knowledge which enable the mammoth to live its post-extinct life. The article combines the approaches of environmental history, history of science and indigenous studies showing the social vitality of a ‘fossil object’. The text is organised around the narratives which crystalize the argument of the article, namely (a) indigenous concepts of the mammoth in the context of mammoth tusk trade and the Arctic exploration, (b) the search of the mammoth as a political project supporting the national building in pre-war Soviet Union, and (c) the mammoth ‘diplomacy’ during the Cold War and its role in shaping transnational networks of collaborations the threads of which go to the modern concepts of the mammoth as a symbol of “Arcticness”. Following the mammoth through all these narratives a reader can see how this ‘fossil object’ has been used and is able to be part of multiple negotiations at various levels.

Key words: mammoth, encounters, environment, stabilisation, indigeneity, palaeontology, Soviet Union, Arctic

Bio

Dmitry V. Arzyutov is a doctoral candidate at KTH Royal Institute of Technology (Stockholm, Sweden) and Honorary Research Fellow at the Department of Anthropology, University of Aberdeen (UK). He holds PhD in Anthropology (St Petersburg) and is working on his second doctorate in the History of Science and Environment. He has published extensively in Russian, English and French on indigenous religions in South Siberia, environmental anthropology and history of the Russian Arctic, history of Russian/Soviet anthropology in a transnational context, and visual anthropology.

Division of History of Science, Technology and Environment

KTH Royal Institute for Technology

100 44 Stockholm, Sweden

arzyutov@kth.se

Shut up and write! :-)

Helsinki University Environmental Humanities Forum now has a “Shut up and write group” that focuses on project development as well as speeding up producing publication output.