Työryhmät

Huom! Työryhmäesitelmien deadline oli 15.8.2020.

Työryhmät

Affective Biopolitics in the Nordic Racial Welfare States

Chairs: Lene Myong, University of Stavanger (lene.myong@uis.no) & Ingvill Stuvøy, NTNU (ingvill.stuvoy@ntnu.no)

This panel aims to investigate different dimensions of the continued presence of race and racism in “the racial welfare state” as exemplified by the Nordic model (Schclarek Mulinari & Keskinen 2020). Of particular interest to the panel is to scrutinise the connection between affect and racism (Ahmed 2004, 2010) which allow for bio- and necropolitical calculations (Foucault 2003; Mbembé 2003) that fold populations into life while other populations are exposed to death or made to die. The panel welcomes theoretical and empirical analysis of affective biopolitics (Bissenbakker & Myong 2019), i.e. how affect is mobilised as governmentality in the racial welfare state. Investigations could focus on historical as well as contemporary forms of affective biopolitics and themes could be, but are not limited to, migration, the asylum system, social policy, public health, assimilation, gentrification, housing policies, social sustainability, pronatalism, and social reproduction. The language of the workshop is English.

AFFEKTI-KAHVILA: Miltä tutkimusstrategia tuntuu? 

Järjestäjät: Akateemisten affektien etnografia -tutkimushanke eli Johanna Hokka, Elisa Kurtti, Pia Olsson, Tiina Suopajärvi (tiina.suopajarvi@utu.fi) ja Oili-Helena Ylijoki

Tutkimusstrategioista, huippujen valikoimisesta ja kansainvälisestä kärjestä puhuminen on osa nykyisen akateemisen työn arkea. Tutkijoiden odotetaan muokkaavan tutkimusaiheitaan, menetelmiään ja näkökulmiaan sekä valikoivan tutkimuksensa julkaisumuodot ja -kanavat kulloistenkin tiedepoliittisten linjausten mukaisesti. Nämä jatkuvasti käynnissä olevat ja siten muuttuvat prosessit voivat herättää meissä tutkijoissa monenlaisia tunteita. Lisäksi ne vaikuttavat tutkijoiden arkeen niin sosiaalisesti kuin materiaalisestikin.

Tutkimusstrategiat eivät siis ole pelkästään rationaalisia tiedepoliittisia valintoja, vaan niitä tuotetaan erilaisissa affektiivisissa tiloissa ja liikkeissä (Ahmed 2014). Tunteiden liikettä ja sitä seuraavia liikutuksia tarkastelemalla pyrimme ymmärtämään, millaisissa affektiivisissa tiloissa ja niihin kietoutuvissa valtasuhteissa yliopistoissa työskennellään ja millaisia tulevaisuuksia niiden kautta pyritään tuottamaan. Onko yliopistoissa tilaa ja tarvetta toisenlaisille liikkeille, mitä nämä affektiiviset liikkeet voisivat olla ja millaisia toisia tulevaisuuksia niiden avulla voitaisiin tuottaa?

Näitä akateemisia affekteja ja niiden vaikutuksia tutkimme Koneen Säätiön rahoittamassa hankkeessa Akateemisten affektien etnografia (2020–2023). Sukupuolentutkimuksen päivillä haluamme kutsua tutkijoita keskustelemaan omista kokemuksistaan tutkimusstrategioiden liikkeelle panemista tunteista.

Työskentelymuotonamme on oppimiskahvila, jossa pienryhmissä jaamme kokemuksia ja näkemyksiä tutkijan arjesta. Keskustelut tallennetaan ja niitä hyödynnetään hankkeemme tutkimusaineistona. Kahvilaan ei tarvitse lähettää omaa abstraktia, pelkkä ilmoittautuminen ilmoittautumislomakkeella riittää. Yhteen kahvilaan mahtuu noin 18 osallistujaa.

Tervetuloa päästämään akateemiset tunteesi valloilleen!

Are we over the couple yet? Sketching out futures of relating

Organizers: Anna Avdeeva, University of Helsinki (anna.avdeeva@helsinki.fi), Anna Heinonen, University of Helsinki (anna.m.heinonen@helsinki.fi) & Hannareeta Seling, University of Helsinki (hannareeta.seling@helsinki.fi)

In the last few years, we have witnessed an increasing media exposure and interest in relationship practices questioning coupledom and its normativities such as polyamory, open relationships and communal households. The organization of domestic and relational intimacies is changing, and the selection of partner/s may not be informed by romantic and sexual expectations. Friendship has been claimed to have become increasingly important to people in Euro-American societies. However, for many the couple norm seems to hold ground as the most desired way of building personal and intimate futures. Queer critiques have argued, how gender-neutral marriage legislation reinforces hetero- and couple normative structures, and there are heated discussions on and around the declining birth rate, re-centering the couple as a key variable. At the same time, a Finnish production company introduced a tv-show, where experts help people become elective co-parents. Inspired by these and other timely conversations on organizations of personal relations we invite scholars, artists and activists of various fields to discuss futures of relating from the perspective of changing relationship practices. How are the core questions in Gender Studies, gender and sexuality re-formulated in the process of changing relationship forms? How can feminist perspectives benefit from or contribute to these debates; is there momentum e.g. for novel feminist politics of intimacy?

Art as feminist research, art as feminist activism

Chairs: Saara Särmä, Tampere University (saara.sarma@tuni.fi) & Susanna Hast, The University of the Arts Helsinki, Theatre Academy

Arts-based approaches have been gaining ground across social sciences and humanities recently. They have emerged both as research methodologies and research products – as ways of knowing and as ways of showing. As scholars, it is important to ask ourselves what we might be able to accomplish as artists, artisans, and crafters, or what we might encounter in doing and making, in opening up the conventional scholarly practices of discussing, reading, and writing and allowing for the emergence of new, experimental forms of academic production. What can an engagement with the material, visual, sensory, and creative elements of art and craft bring to feminist research? What stories, perspectives, voices, or insights can we share and express that we can’t through traditional forms of researching, teaching, writing, or knowing?

On the other hand, artists study, research and change the world through art-making. Furthermore, art is evocative of possible worlds, it has the possibility of enhancing understanding of social and political life. Artists can be activists through their art or outside of it, activists have engaged in art making as political action, and so on.

Together with the participants we seek to examine: what kind of power does art have in shaping and reclaiming feminist futures? As the roles of artist, activist, artivist, and researcher are often overlapping and coexistent, we invite presentations from anyone working in any form with art in relation to feminism. We welcome all types of artistic and academic presentations.

Creative methods for research, activism and change with young people on gender, sexuality and power

Chairs: Suvi Pihkala, University of Oulu (suvi.pihkala@oulu.fi), Tuija Huuki, University of Oulu (tuija.huuki@oulu.fi)

This workshop explores how feminist scholarship is informing ethically sustainable methodologies for researching and addressing sensitive issues with children and young people. In recent years, ‘PhEmaterialisms’ (Ringrose et al., 2015; Renold, 2018; Strom et al., 2019) has emerged as a scholarship that seeks generative ways of experimenting with feminist posthuman and new materialist concepts, ontologies and methods within the broad range of educational research to inventively explore and address gender and sexuality in young people’s complex everyday worlds. Drawing inspiration from this and other feminist frameworks, we invite contributions that explore the affordances of creative methods with children and young people in education and beyond. We welcome contributions in English and Finnish from scholars, students, activists and artists who are interested in exploring questions such as, but not limited to, the following: What kind of possibilities do creative, artistic, crafty and activist methods offer for exploring and addressing issues such as gender, sexuality and (abuse of) power with children and young people? How are such methods put to work and what do they do in encounters with the human and more/other-than-human participants of our research and activist engagements? How are feminist new materialist and posthuman ethico-onto-epistemologies and other innovative frameworks enabling and challenging us as scholars in developing response-able ways of doing research, activating change and making research with children and young people matter in the world?

Critical Feminist Approaches to Negotiation, Mediation and Conflict Resolution

Chairs: Élise Féron, Tampere University (elise.feron@tuni.fi), Catia Confortini, Wellesley College, US & Tarja Väyrynen, Tampere University

This panel aims at centering innovative ideas and intersectional practices of mediation, negotiation and conflict resolution developed by critical feminist peace scholars. Currently less than 2% of mediators in international negotiations are women. This underrepresentation has tremendous consequences, as various important decisions are made during, before, or after negotiation and mediation processes, such as who is allowed to  represent civil society groups during peace processes, or who holds the main positions of power in post-conflict societies. Efforts are being made transnationally to rectify these gender imbalances, and to recognize the expertise and experiences of existing local women mediators in areas of conflict.

But including women in peace negotiations falls short of tackling gender issues, and does not guarantee that intersectional factors will be taken into account. So what would negotiation, mediation, and conflict resolution practices look like if we centered the need not only for including more women in these activities, but also for paying attention to masculinities and femininities, as well as to intersectionality?

In this perspective the panel invites contributions:

• Reflecting on the gendered assumptions, scripts, or cultural expectations inherent in contemporary international conflict resolution theory and practice;
• Analyzing how critical feminist peace approaches and practices may challenge and reframe the narratives of these models;
• Exploring innovative and locally grounded feminist-informed practices of mediation, negotiation and conflict resolution.

Feminist Science and Technology Studies (STS) and the Politics of Futures

Chairs: Mianna Meskus (mianna.meskus@tuni.fi) & Venla Oikkonen (venla.oikkonen@tuni.fi), Tampere University

Biomedicine and biotechnologies are often portrayed as sites where futures are made. For example, biomedical manipulation of molecular and cellular material or increasingly intensive ways of monitoring bodies are seen as a source of future health and better lives. This panel asks what kinds of politics of futures underlie biomedical and biotechnological practices and societal visions built around them. What kinds of futures emerge as desirable and what futures are rendered impossible? What kinds of inequalities are reinforced, and who may benefit? What is at stake in developments around biomedicine and biotechnologies for feminist analysis of intersectional differences and power relations?

We invite papers that address any area of biomedicine or biotechnology. These could include (but are not limited to) technologies and practices related to pregnancy, self-tracking technologies, assisted reproductive technologies, vaccine development and vaccination campaigns, environmental technologies, population level public health interventions, personalized and precision medicine, stem cell therapies and genetic modification, managing of chronic conditions, as well as various technologies of weighing and controlling gendered and racialized bodies. We also invite papers that investigate the role of feminist STS in unpacking and theorizing these phenomena and their visions of future. The working language of the panel will be English.

Feminist, trans and queer perspectives on environmental emergencies and livable futures

Chairs: Pieta Hyvärinen, Tampere University (pieta.hyvarinen@tuni.fi) & Wibke Straube, University of Karlstad (wibke.straube@kau.se)

The current socioecological crises, climate emergency and biodiversity loss at the forefront, are effectively shaping questions of contemporary and future living conditions on the planet. Intersectional feminist research and activism are inseparably connected with these crises, not only by taking shape amidst their intensifying currencies but also by (re)directing intellectual and practical energies to alleviate their unequally distributed consequences for lives, livelihoods and livabilities around the world.

This panel seeks to bring together contributions that engage with feminist strategies and analysis of current and future livabilities in times of these crises. We would like to encourage discussions on the diverse ways in which intersectional feminist, queer, trans, indigenous, and anti-racist research and activism are confronted by and confront the planetary emergencies that emerge as degrading more-than-human nature, destabilising multispecies livelihoods, and disintegrating intimacies between kins of all kinds.

We especially invite proposals addressing the differentiated vulnerabilities and capacities of adaptation to the changing socioecological conditions, engendered for instance by racialisation, poverty and cisheteronormativity. We also strongly encourage artists and activists to present their work in addition to academic contributors in order to enable exchange of ideas between different ways of knowing.

Potential topics may include but are not limited to:

• Livability and vulnerability
• Crises, catastrophies and dystopias
• Utopias, imaginaries and hope
• Intersectional and queer ecologies
• Ecologies of affect and care
• Environmental destruction, extinction, and slow death
• Contamination, pollution, toxicity and illness
• Indigenous politics, postcolonialism and environmental justice
• Posthumanist, feminist new materialist and more-than-human perspectives

Gender+ Equality, Politics, and Institutions: Contemporary Changes and Challenges in Europe

Chairs: Petra Ahrens, Tampere University (petra.ahrens@tuni.fi) & Barbara Gaweda, Tampere University (barbara.gaweda@tuni.fi)

Gender equality and LGBT+ rights are core values across Europe, yet, they have become contested in several regards – on supranational, national, and local levels; in politics, civil society, and institutions; by old and new, as well as extreme and more mainstream actors. In some European countries, illiberal democracy is on the rise, and achievements in relation to gender and sexual equality have become challenged or even rolled back. Moreover, new populist, right-wing parties and movements and the re-emergence of ultra-religious opposition have led to a re-politicization of gender and sexual equality topics in Europe.

Against this background, the panel invites papers engaging with contemporary changes and challenges in gender equality+ across Europe, focusing on different levels of governance as well as different political, institutional, and societal actors. Core questions are: What are the current changes in European gender equality+ politics? When, how, and by whom are gender and sexuality rights challenged or promoted? What strategies do feminist and equality activists employ in dealing with threats to democracy and opposition to gender equality policies? How and to what extent do changes in the political context influence gendered norms and practices in politics and society?

The Panel is organized in the context of the ERC-funded research project ‘Gender, party politics and democracy in Europe: A study of European Parliament’s party groups’ (EUGenDem).

Gendering research in and outside academia

Chairs: Marja Vehviläinen, Tampere University (marja.vehvilainen@tuni.fi), Hilde G. Corneliussen, Western Norway Research Institute, Maria Pietilä, University of Helsinki (maria.pietila@helsinki.fi) & Minna Salminen Karlsson, Uppsala University

Research in and outside academia, notoriously far from gender equality in Nordic countries and elsewhere, is undergoing a number of changes that are thoroughly gendering, in an intersectional manner, such as digitalization, marketization and globalization. These further intertwine with increasingly blurry borders between academia, public sector and private sector, and civil society knowledge production. These changes shape the conditions under which knowledge, creativity, technology and innovation are produced and the ways in which agency, openings, opportunities and futures are formed, contributing to gendered and intersecting (in)justices.

The panel invites empirical, theoretical and methodological contributions and aims to examine and discuss the futures of gendering research in and outside academia by analyzing gender and intersectionality, and feminist engagement and actions for gendered justice, in knowledge, technology and innovation production, in different organizational settings (academia and other research institutions, enterprises, in-between organizations), in practices, cultures and networks, careers, work/life balance, and in different kinds of regions in research and innovation. The working language of the panel is English.

Kriittistä tutkimusta miehistä ja mieheyksistä

Puheenjohtajat: Timo Aho, Tampereen yliopisto (timo.a.aho@tuni.fi) & Henri Hyvönen, Helsingin yliopisto (henri.t.hyvonen@helsinki.fi)

Tässä työryhmässä kysymme, mitä kriittiselle miestutkimukselle kuuluu vuonna 2020. Kriittisen miestutkimuksen viimeaikaisessa kansainvälisessä keskustelussa on väitetty, että jälkiteollisessa ajassa hyväksytty ja kelpaava miehenä oleminen ei enää yksiselitteisesti perustu patriarkaattisten sukupuolisuhteiden, homofobian ja misogynian uusintamiselle. Sen sijaan esitetään, että miesten vallankäyttö ja muu toiminta yhteiskunnassa koostuu yhä enemmän ihmisten yhdenvertaisuutta ja sukupuolten tasa-arvoa tukevista elementeistä sekä sukupuolen ja seksuaalisuuden monimuotoisuutta ilmentävistä käytännöistä ja tyyleistä. Toinen keskustelussa esiintynyt väite koskee kriittisen miestutkimuksen teoreettista paradigmaa. Siinä missä muu sukupuolentutkimus hyödyntää ja kehittää erilaisia postmoderneja, poststrukturalistisia ja uusmaterialistisia teoretisointeja, nojaa kriittinen miestutkimus pääosin edelleen modernistisiin strukturalistisiin käsitteellistyksiin. Hieman kärjistäen kyse on siitä, että kriittisessä miestutkimuksessa ollaan kiinnostuneempia maskuliinisuuskategorioiden rakentamisesta kuin näiden kategorioiden purkamisesta.

Työryhmässä tarkastellaan miehiin ja mieheyksiin liittyvää sukupuolitietoista tutkimusta mahdollisimman laaja-alaisesti. Voit esitellä sekä alustavia tutkimuksellisia ajatuksia että pidemmälle kehiteltyjä väitteitä. Esitelmän näkökulma voi olla niin empiirinen, teoreettinen kuin metodologinenkin. Olemme erityisen kiinnostuneita muun muassa seuraavista kysymyksistä: Millaista vuoropuhelua käyvät sukupuolentutkimuksen ja kriittisen miestutkimuksen teoriat? Mitä annettavaa feministisessä tutkimuksessa laajasti hyödynnetyillä uusmaterialistisilla teorioilla voisi olla miesten ja mieheyksien tutkimisessa? Missä viipyvät intersektionaaliset ja affektiteoreettiset analyysit miehistä ja mieheyksistä? Entä onko feminiinisyys edelleen kriittisen miestutkimuksen suuri näkymätön? Millaisin tavoin miehiä tarkasteleva tutkija voi perustella tutkivansa vain maskuliinisuuksia tai maskuliinisuuden muotoutumisia?

Toivomme mukaan keskusteluun erityisesti niitä sukupuolentutkijoita, jotka eivät ensisijaisesti identifioidu miestutkijoiksi. Myös pro gradu -tutkielmia koskevat esitykset ovat lämpimästi tervetulleita. Työryhmän työskentelykieli on suomi/englanti.

Reclaiming the futures of popular music

Chairs: Inka Rantakallio (inka.rantakallio@helsinki.fi), Siboné Oroza (sibone.oroza@helsinki.fi) & Nina Öhman (nina.ohman@helsinki.fi), Helsingin yliopisto

Koordinaattorit: Emma Lamberg, Turun yliopisto (emmalam@utu.fi) & Hanna Ylöstalo, Turun yliopisto (hanna.ylostalo@utu.fi)

Feminismi on saanut populaarissa julkisuudessa uudenlaista kulttuurista näkyvyyttä viime vuosina. Tästä kielivät esimerkiksi seksuaalista vallankäyttöä ja väkivaltaa kritisoineen #MeToo-liikkeen suosio sekä se, miten maailmantähdet Beyoncésta Emma Watsoniin ovat näyttävästi julistautuneet feministeiksi. Sukupuolentutkimuksessa ei kuitenkaan ole suhtauduttu tähän feminismin renessanssiin varauksetta. Populaarin feminismin ansioihin on luettu esimerkiksi rodullistamisen ja sukupuolen kytkösten esille nostaminen (esim. Ruskeat tytöt). Samalla populaaria feminismiä on kritisoitu yksilökeskeisyydestä ja feminismiksi naamioidusta postfeminismistä. Tästä esimerkkeinä ovat erilaiset ”uranaisfeminismit”, jotka korostavat saavutettua tasa-arvoa ja yksilön vastuuta omasta menestyksestään. Samalla kun feminististen toimijoiden tietoa on hyödynnetty politiikassa (esim. ”tasa-arvo on fiksua talousajattelua”), tutkijat ovat kritisoineet feminististen artikulaatioiden valjastamista taloudellisen tuottavuuden välineeksi. Lisäksi kriittinen katse on kohdistunut populaarin feminismin lieveilmiöihin ja siihen, miten populaarin feminismin vanavedessä kulkee usein populaari misogynia.

Tässä työryhmässä suuntaamme katseemme feministisen liikkeen nykytilaan keskittyen etenkin sen populaareihin ilmenemismuotoihin. Onko feminismi epäpolitisoitunutta vai uudelleenpolitisoitunutta? Miltä näyttävät nykyfeminismin poliittinen kielioppi ja strategiat? Millaisia muotoja postfeminismi, populaari feminismi tai uusliberaali feminismi saavat pohjoismaisessa kontekstissa? Miten feminismien popularisoituminen vaikuttaa siihen, miten feminismiä merkityksellistetään, haastetaan tai neuvotellaan?

Toivomme työryhmään niin empiirisiä, metodologisia kuin teoreettisia esityksiä. Työryhmä kutsuu pohtimaan feminismien, julkisuuden ja politiikan suhteita nykyhetkessä ja tulevaisuudessa.

Queering the future for law?

Chairs: Juho Aalto, University of Turku (juho.j.aalto@utu.fi), Aleida Luján Pinelo, University of Turku & Marjo Rantala, University of Helsinki

In dominant legal thinking, modern legal systems are perceived neutral, both in terms of language and power. The modernist ideas of objectivity, neutrality, functionality, and formal equality have affected the formation of modern law in domestic legislation and in international law and governance. Feminist legal scholars, notwithstanding, have challenged these ideas pointing out how the individual as the rights-holder is based on male perceptions of the reality. On one hand, despite law itself is held partly responsible for oppression, law is often considered as a useful tool for social change. On the other hand, post-feminist movements in human sciences have demonstrated how heteronormativity and binary understanding of sex are so embedded in law that it seems impossible to strive for justice through litigation and legal reforms. Courts appear incapable of recognizing non-heterosexual human relations, and non-binary identities and bodies.

In this working group, we want to discuss the future of law both from the perspectives of “in law” and “about law” in addressing and dismantling power hierarchies and structural inequality related to sex/gender and sexuality. We encourage you to queer curiosity for asking questions about everything that “at odds with the normal” taken as granted by deploying indeterminate concepts as “normality”, “tradition”, “naturality” and “public opinion”. Thus, we call for papers that touch upon, for instance, intersectionality, identity politics, personal integrity, self-determination, reproduction, vulnerability, and harm. We wish to bring together different critical approaches to law including new materialism, contextual, socio-legal, and discourse analysis.

Reclaiming the future and the present through feminist speculation

Chairs: Aino-Kaisa Koistinen (aino-kaisa.koistinen@jyu.fi), Jani Ylönen & Sanna Karkulehto, University of Jyväskylä

One may argue that feminist theory has always believed in the power of imagination and speculation. At the time often called the Anthropocene, one may also claim that stories of sustainable futures are needed more than ever. Feminist storytelling practices have been emphasized especially by Donna Haraway, who nevertheless cautions against imagining stories of either (techno-)utopian or dystopian futures and advocates for staying with the trouble.  In a different vein, Claire Colebrook asks, if we could imagine a different past – a history that avoids the destruction caused by human domination. Recently, Patricia MacCormack has offered a radical abolitionist imagination of the future and suggested that for the good of other species, humans should willingly see their own extinction.

This panel asks, what kinds of feminist pasts, presents and futures need to be imagined in the current global condition. While feminist theory is one tool for tackling these issues, we also want to highlight other practices, such as activism and art. Futuristic speculations, including feminist utopias and dystopias, have been especially imagined within the science fiction genre. While these extremes still appear as part of the genre, more recent science fiction has also examined combinations of despair and hope. As such, they stay with the trouble and expose both the oppressive structures and the possibilities for change.

We invite papers that deal with the messy presents, pasts and futures of feminism both in the realms of fiction and theory, as well as in activist and artistic practices.

Reclaiming Reproductive Futures

Chairs: Riikka Homanen, Tampere University (riikka.homanen@tuni.fi), Mwenza Blell, Newcastle University and Tampere University (mwenza.blell@newcastle.ac.uk), Tiia Sudenkaarne University of Turku and Tampere University (tiijun@utu.fi) & Sanna Poelman, Tampere University (sanna.poelman@tuni.fi)

A trend toward delaying family formation and decreasing fertility rates has been noted across the whole of the Western world, generating much concern from different stakeholders. At the same time, however, from the point of view of global ecological sustainability and other living beings, human population growth is seen as a problem, instigating new discussions about future population control, family relations, and reproductive justice. The growing commercialization of reproductive care, emerging new reproductive biotechnologies and the expansion of pharmaceutical enterprise into sensitive health records data also mark the reproductive landscape of recent decades. These same decades have seen growing awareness of and the emergence of rights discourses about single people, same-sex couples, trans people and ethnic minorities, whose relationships to these technologies are complex and varying, sometimes marked by exclusion and discrimination.

This panel aims to examine the conceptualisation of, and relationships with, the future, focusing particularly on reproduction, family formation and enactment of kinship in shaping ideas about the future as well as the present. We invite empirical and theoretical papers which ask what future imaginaries of relationality are thinkable and possible in practices of healthcare, science, technology and policy in the historical contexts of climate change, (bio)capitalism and late modernity. How are global inequalities, colonial legacies and exclusions in terms of gender, “race” and economy reproduced? How are racism, homophobia, ableism, economic deprivation, social injustice, forced migration and toxic exposures affecting people’s ability to produce children, make kin, and sustain family relationships? What are the ways to resist and rethink norms and conceptions of reproduction and kinship, to achieve reproductive justice, environmental justice and queer justice? How can we reclaim reproductive futures? The working language of the panel is English.

Rethinking human-animal relations: imagining interspecies futures from feminist and intersectional perspectives

Chairs: Kadri Aavik (kadri.aavik@helsinki.fi), Kuura Irni & Saara Kupsala, University of Helsinki

This panel focuses on envisioning more sustainable, just and ethical futures for human-animal relations. Our current ways of interacting with other animals are in a deep crisis: violence against other animals is large-scale and institutionalised on a global scale and this is also reflected in individual practices. Rethinking ways in which we relate to other life is an urgent task, as the unsustainable and unethical ways in which human beings interact with other animals and ecosystems are among major drivers behind climate change and indeed behind the current coronavirus outbreak that has had devastating consequences for human societies.

We welcome papers from different disciplines that take feminist and intersectional perspectives (including ecofeminist, posthumanist, critical animal studies, postcolonial, queer ecological and other critical perspectives) to examine how we can rethink our relations to other forms of life on institutional as well as individual levels. What kinds of cultural, social and institutional changes are needed in creating a more just society, inclusive of the needs and perspectives of also other species? What kinds of sustainable interspecies futures can we imagine now, including those that may seem unattainable in the present situation? How can we strive towards a world where our interactions with other animals are mutually beneficial and non-exploitative? Papers can focus on representations, discourses or material practices (including food practices) in relation to changing human-animal relations.

The workshop is organised by the project Climate Sustainability in the Kitchen: Everyday Food Cultures in Transition at the University of Helsinki.

Sukupuolistuneen väkivallan kohtaaminen kouluissa: kouluammattilaiset uusia tulevaisuuksia luomassa ja tukemassa

Puheenjohtajat: Satu Lidman (satu.lidman@tuni.fi), Helena Päivinen (helena.paivinen@tuni.fi) & Marita Husso (marita.husso@tuni.fi), Tampereen yliopisto

Merkittävä määrä lapsista ja nuorista altistuu sukupuolistuneen väkivallan ja häirinnän eri muodoille kotona ja koulussa. Lapsiin ja nuoriin kohdistuva väkivalta on pysynyt pitkään piilossa ja poissa julkisesta, poliittisesta, lainsäädännöllisestä ja kasvatuksellisesta keskustelusta. Tarve väkivaltaan puuttumiselle on kuitenkin lisääntyvä, väkivallan tullessa enemmän esiin yleisen keskustelukulttuurin avautumisen kautta. Tähän tarpeeseen vastaaminen vaatii lapsia ja nuoria kohtaavilta aikuisilta ymmärrystä sukupuolistuneesta väkivallasta ilmiönä ja taitoa siihen puuttumiseen. Tässä työryhmässä keskitytään sukupuolistuneen väkivallan kohtaamisen institutionaalisiin ja affektiivisiin käytäntöihin koulukontekstissa. Sukupuolistuneella väkivallalla tarkoitamme vahingoittavaa vallankäyttöä, ahdistelua, häirintää, syrjintää, verkkoympäristössä tapahtuvaa väkivaltaa ja häirintää sekä henkistä ja fyysistä väkivaltaa, joka kytkeytyy seksuaalioikeuksiin ja/tai sukupuoleen. Erityisesti ollaan kiinnostuneita opettajien ja muiden kouluissa työskentelevien ammattilaisten valmiuksista ja välineistä sukupuolistuneen väkivallan havaitsemiseen ja siihen puuttumiseen. Työryhmässä tutkitaan esteitä ja mahdollisuuksia, sekä etsitään keinoja ja väyliä vahvistaa opettajien ja muun kouluhenkilökunnan valmiuksia toimia sukupuolistuneen väkivallan ehkäisemiseksi ja näin olla mukana rakentamassa turvallista ja tasavertaista tulevaisuutta lapsille ja nuorille. Työryhmän kieli on suomi.

The Future of Sexuality Studies

Chairs: Marjo Kolehmainen, Tampere University (marjo.kolehmainen@tuni.fi) & Annukka Lahti, University of Jyväskylä

In this working group, we welcome theoretical, methodological and empirical contributions from scholars who are inspired by, searching for or applying novel, alternative and creative ways to re-think sexuality and re-imagine the future of scholarly engagements with sexualities. For instance, this group brings together queer theoretical, feminist new materialist and non-humanist approaches to the study of sexuality, inviting participants to view sexuality and related networks of power through fresh eyes. As a point of departure, it is assumed that the emerging relational ontologies open new possibilities for—but also pose challenges to—the study of sexualities. If non-anthropocentric notions of agency are mobilised, or if intercorporeality and trans-subjectivity are fully acknowledged, many established research practices and the conventional vocabularies and lexicons that concern sexuality may appear limiting.

In recent years, new openings regarding the future directions of sexuality studies have been made across diverse fields. Those have, for instance, proposed a shift away from human-centred and identity-based notions of sexuality, and diverse conceptualisations of sexuality detached from the individualised human subject are now emerging. Particularly, scholars with different disciplinary backgrounds are suggesting a shift away from sexual identities. In this work, sexuality is being radically de-stabilised, re-imagined and re-conceptualised without reducing it to internal, individual and human-only matters. Rather, sexualities are seen on the move, (re)assembling and connecting in new ways and taking new forms on and across human and non-human bodies. In this working group, we invite discussion about the challenges that sexuality studies face today, and we also welcome ideas about how to transform the prevailing paradigms of sexuality studies. Particularly, we are interested in the kind of contributions the study of sexuality can make to gender studies, feminist politics and activism, and how these contributions might foster a more socially just future.

Toimijuus ja suhteet dataistuneessa kulttuurissa – tasa-arvoisemman tulevaisuuden vaihtoehdot

Puheenjohtajat: Julius Hokkanen, Tampereen yliopisto (julius.hokkanen@tuni.f), Anne Soronen, Tampereen yliopisto (anne.soronen@tuni.fi) & Karoliina Talvitie-Lamberg, Jyväskylän yliopisto (karoliina.talvitie-lamberg@tuni.fi)

Digitaaliset teknologiat ja sosiaalinen media ovat lisänneet tapoja, joilla luodaan suhteita itseemme, toisiimme ja ympäröivään maailmaan. Näissä suhteissa on kyse kiinnittymisistä, virittäytymisistä ja intensiteeteistä, jotka rakentuvat ihmisten, digitaalisten teknologioiden ja datakäytäntöjen vuorovaikutuksessa. Dataistunut kulttuuri mahdollistaa monenlaisia osallistumisen muotoja ja neuvotteluja intiimiydestä, mutta samalla datankeruu ja sen käytön tavat ovat mukana yksilöiden kokemassa haavoittuvuudessa ja eriarvoisuudessa. Datan on esimerkiksi nähty tuottavan kategorisia hierarkioita tai perustuvan niille. Näiden kautta luodaan sukupuolittavia ja rodullistavia käytäntöjä, jolloin tietyt ihmisryhmät asettuvat herkemmin tarkkailun kohteeksi. Algoritmien taas on arvioitu uusintavan näkemystä universaalista subjektista, mikä voi sivuuttaa marginalisoitujen ryhmien todellisuuden. Dataistuneen kulttuurin yhtenä keskeisenä käyttövoimana ovat ihmisten kokemukset, tunteet ja reaktiot, joita monitoroidaan, mitataan ja analysoidaan. Tietynlaisia tunteita ja affekteja pyritään myös herättämään ja tuottamaan. Samalla ihmisten ja koneiden suhde sekä kysymys näiden toimijuudesta ja merkityksistä määrittyy jatkuvasti uudelleen. Tämänkaltaisissa suhteissa ja suhtautumisissa toisiin tulevat esiin intiimiyden ja haavoittuvuuden eri ulottuvuudet, joista neuvotellaan digitaalisilla alustoilla, sosiaalisessa mediassa ja älykkäissä digitaalisissa ympäristöissä.

Työryhmään sopivat esimerkiksi seuraavat aiheet:
(i) dataistuneen kulttuurin valtasuhteet ja datan politiikat (kuka omistaa ja saa tulkita dataa, miten data muokkaa ymmärrystä sosiaalisista ryhmistä)
(ii) datafikaation aiheuttamat näkyvät tai piiloiset haavoittuvuudet
(iii) digitaalinen toimijuus datajättien, media-alustojen ja näiden mahdollistaman toiminnan kuten verkkoaktivismin tai verkkovihan kontekstissa
(iv) ihmisen ja koneen väliset suhteet sekä sukupuolten merkitys, esimerkiksi hoivan tai digitaalisen työn näkökulmasta
(v) eettiset kysymykset ja ratkaisut datan keräämisessä, analysoimisessa ja soveltamisessa
(vi) profilointiin ja automatisoituun päätöksentekoon liittyvä eriarvoisuus ja syrjintä

Toivomme mukaan ehdotuksia yhteiskunnan eri alojen toimijoilta (esim. tutkijoilta, opiskelijoilta, yrityselämän ja järjestöjen edustajilta sekä aktivisteilta). Tavoitteenamme on keskustella ja kuvitella yhdessä tasa-arvoisempia digitaalisia tulevaisuuksia. Työskentelykieli on suomi.

Visual politics and gender on social media

Chairs: Eeva Luhtakallio, University of Helsinki (eeva.luhtakallio@helsinki.fi), Heini Salminen, University of Helsinki (heini.salminen@helsinki.fi) & Taina Meriluoto, University of Helsinki (taina.meriluoto@helsinki.fi)

Today’s public sphere is increasingly visual. The combination of a multitude of social media platforms that prioritize visual content, and the ubiquity of smartphones with cameras has rendered our public life – communication, engagement, argumentation, and self-presentation – markedly visual. Public life, then, is gendered both in the sense of collectivity and in the sense of performing the self. Subsequently, while societal participation and politicization grows to take increasingly visual forms, and while the affordances of social media platforms affect and alter possibilities for self-expression and imagining oneself differently, both these developments carry important meanings and consequences in terms of gender. Social media visualities have been identified as a particularly central environment for practices of self-making and representations of the self. Yet, research on political participation has hitherto been slightly ill-equipped to grasp the visual dimensions of people’s everyday actions. To this vein, the panel welcomes papers that address the intersection of visual politics (in the broadest possible sense), gender and social media. The panel is open both for empirical investigations drawing on social media data, as well as to theoretical contributions discussing the intertwinement of visuality, gender, and politics. The panel invites participants to identify key challenges and tensions for future social technologies and platforms, and welcomes methodological papers that investigate potential avenues into studying the visual dimensions of gender performance. The panel convenes in English.