Appearances of the Political was active in Orivesi July 24-31 as a part of the Summer Session of the Nordic Summer University. There were again over 20 active participants in the sessions. This time Max Ryynänen was taking part in organizing the infrastructure for the whole Summer Session and Raine Vasques was the coordinator together with Carsten Friberg.
Below you find the CFP for July 2016.
CALL FOR Presentation 2016
Appearances of the Political
in 20th century culture
Appearances of the
Political
Summer Symposium: 24-31
July, Orivesi, Finland
Invitation We invite
scholars, students, artists and practitioners to take part in investigating the
many forms by which we experience the presences of political reality, and in
approaching these forms from social, artistic, aesthetic and cultural analysis.
We wish to articulate the ideological forces underlying today’s political
thinking. We also want to inaugurate a debate on the role of cultural
approaches in political analysis. We wish to break new paths in connecting the
cultural humanities and the political sciences and invite participants to
bravely explore new ways of studying the issue. We believe that experimentation
is crucial for rethinking the political.
Theme of the symposium:
In this summer session we
explore historical examples from the 20th century of how the political has
appeared, both intentionally and unintentionally. Examples can be movements
with explicit programs for forming the modern, or future, world such as Russian
Constructivism, Modernist architectural program and sub- or countercultural
movements. Examples can also be cultural forms that are unintentionally, or at
least without an explicit awareness, appearances of political ideologies, such
as urban planning, consumer culture and fashion.
Such historical examples
can take many forms, like the transformation of personal appearances in dress
and hair-style in the '60s and '70s displayed in the period’s fashion and
anti-fashion, including specific styles like punk and fetishized expressions of
the military forms of guerrilla soldiers and freedom fighters. Or, for
instance, the cold war had many forms of political expressions in both Soviet
ideas of political manifestations in ideological decorations as well as the
organisation of build environments.
The examples are numerous
in art, literature, design and fashion as well as in organisation of work,
culture, communication and entertainment, and include explicit political
actions in fights for rights (workers, women, and minorities), movements of
liberation across the world, and of political struggles, as well as the
implicit forms of oppression preserved through cultural exercised routines.
We encourage the participants to share analysis and criticism of concrete
examples and discussions hereof or to share texts throwing light on the topic
and offering platforms for critical discourses.
Format(s) of the presentation:
We are encouraging
traditional and non-traditional presentations, including:
1) Presentation of work:
We strongly encourage giving a free oral presentation rather than reading a
paper. We wish to facilitate open debates for sharing and ask for presentations
creating platforms for debate.
A presentation cannot exceed 20 min.
2) Presentation of a text:
You can offer to present a text, which can be either your own writing or the
examination and presentation of another’s published text. The text will be
distributed to all participants beforehand and should not exceed 25 pages. The
presentation should have the form of a short introduction of the argumentation,
facilitating participants to engage in discussion.
The presentation of the text cannot exceed 15 min followed by discussion
3) Performance, object or
alternative forms:
You can present ideas, examples or reflections through other formats including
inviting the participants to engage in experiments, situations, or individual
and group activities.
Please indicate the optimal time for this form of presentation.
Please submit via email to
the coordinators:
carsten.friberg@nsuweb.org
raine.vasquez@nsuweb.org
1. A written proposal (max.
350 words) with a title and descriptive subtitle. This text should include your
presentation proposal, its format, its duration, and technology and/or
facilities you may need.
2. A short bio (max. 100
words)
If you would like to attend the symposium without presenting, please email a
short bio. Participants with presentations will be given priority.
The study circle provides a
space for theoretical experimentation and the cross-fertilization of
methodologies. It aims at developing insights that can be used in further
research.
We invite you for a week of exchange and debates in an open environment of
people with different backgrounds. Presentations are meant to be rather short,
while space for discussions pursuing ideas are central for the circle and will
be given considerate space during the week.
The deadline to submit proposals is 8 May, 2016. The preliminary program will
be announced on May 15, 2016 on www.nordic.university where you can also find
more information about NSU and sign up for the newsletter.
Application process and
registration: The application process has two steps: (1) Application to
coordinators for acceptance. Application starts 1st of April and closes on 8th
of May.
(If you wish to participate without presentation you can apply until 25th of
May. Also, you can still apply late in case of vacant slots by contacting the
coordinators and submitting an abstract.)
(2) After you have been accepted, the next step is registration and payments,
which closes on 1st of June. All registration and payment will be done
electronically.
Note: if you apply late, the payment must still be completed by the 1st of
June.
Accomodation – the prices
include all meals during the entire seminar. All priaces in €: Single room: 550
Double room: 320 Family members (in double room): 380 Children over 12 years:
380 Children between 4-12 years: 250 Children between 2-4: 46 Children less
than 2 years: 0
NSU offers a number of grants and scholarships: Grants: 100 Sholarships: 80
Application for grant or scholarship must be send to the coordinators no later
than 15 April
Please cite motivation for the application for a grant (such as being freelance
or unemployed).
We favour participants from Baltic countries for grants.
Notification for applicants is given 1 May.
Arrival: 24 July
Departure: 31 July
For any questions about
presentation, registration and NSU, please contact:
carsten.friberg@nsuweb.org or raine.vasquez@nsuweb.org
About the Study Group The intention of Appearances of the Political is to
create a platform for future collaborations and applications, and to exchange
knowledge and share common interest. It is important for the group to consult a
variety of fields as broad as possible including political theory, philosophy,
communication, social sciences and cultural studies, and we hope that scholars
from all areas of interest would join us. Participating in this meeting of the
group does not imply any obligation for participating in future meetings. We
hope, however, that participants will be involved in building a strong
community on this topic for future activities reflecting the diversity of
interests in the community. Future seminars will focus on Material Culture,
Activism, Political Art and Aesthetics in the Everyday, and Communication. We
are open to any propositions concerning collaboration, partners and sites.
Please bookmark the study circle on NSU’s webpage:
http://nordic.university/study-circles/2-appearances-of-the-political/ and the
blog of the study circle: http://appearancesofthepolitical.blogspot.com
The Nordic Summer
University (NSU) summer session is a one-week seminar bringing all 8 NSU study
circles together. While each circle holds their seminar, the week also contains
common activities, including two Key-note’s each giving two presentations,
(this summer Professor Robert Pfaller and Professor Elizabeth Povinelli) as
well as a cultural program. There is an additional Children’s circle, where
caretakers look after the children while the parents are in their respective
seminars - it is thus possible to bring family to the summer session. The
summer session includes NSU’s political institutions and any participant is
eligible. Participants are a mix of university professors, academics in
different positions inside as well as outside institutions, PhD-, and
MA-students, artists, cultural producers and any others with a relation to
academic work.
The Nordic Summer University (NSU) is a Nordic network for research and interdisciplinary
studies.
NSU is a nomadic, academic
institution, which organises workshop-seminars across disciplinary and national
borders. Since it was established in 1950, Nordic Summer University has
organised forums for cultural and intellectual debate in the Nordic and Baltic
region, involving students, academics, politicians, and intellectuals from this
region and beyond.
Decisions about the content and the organisational form of the NSU lay with its
participants. The backbone of the activities in the NSU consists of its
thematic study circles. In the study circles researchers, students and
professionals from different backgrounds collaborate in scholarly
investigations distributed regularly in summer and winter symposia during a
three-year period.
