månadsarkiv: november 2023

Disputation: Förhandlingar på dansgolvet. En etnologisk studie av lindy hop och polska – två svenska dansscener (2023)

Disputationer, Doktorsavhandlingar, Publikationer, , , , , , ,

Linnea Helmersson disputerar i etnologi vid Umeå Universitet med avhandlingen Förhandlingar på dansgolvet. En etnologisk studie av lindy hop och polska – två svenska dansscener. Opponent är Oscar Pripp.

När? Fredag 17 november, 2023 kl. 13:00 – 15:00 UTC+1/CET
Var? Humanisthuset, HUM.D.230 (hörsal G)

Abstrakt på engelska:

In Sweden today, many different dances are practiced within distinct scenes, which all have their specific characteristics, norms and ideals. This thesis analyses two of these scenes, polska and lindy hop. They share a similar background of revitalisation and revival. The aim of the thesis is to describe and analyse meaning-making processes within the scenes formed around these dance forms. It includes descriptions of historical revival processes but above all analyses of practitioners’ understandings and practices.

The main research data consists of interviews with practitioners, and observations on dance events and courses. Theoretically, the study is based on a view of dance and dancing as cultural expressions whose meanings and forms are constantly being created and recreated. The analysis draws on a wide variety of theories and concepts within the humanities and performing arts research.

The findings show that beliefs about the past emerge as a framework for practice in the two scenes. In the data, tradition and authenticity are important themes, and there is a shared discourse of preservation. Nevertheless, how important history is for today’s practitioners, and how the past is enacted and what meanings are ascribed to it, differs between and within the scenes. Discourses about the past, as well as processes of authentication, are much more prominent within the lindy hop scene, as compared to the polska scene. This includes aspects such as clothing and the making of and expression of gender. A notable difference between the scenes is that learning to dance is formalised through workshops in the lindy hop scene, whereas it is more informal among polska dancers.

The thesis adds to the growing field of studies of revivals of music and dance, and shows how scenes formed around revived dances bear traces of the revival processes while at the same time creating something new in the present.

Avhandlingen kan hittas på diva portal.

Postdoktor i etnologi vid Uppsala universitet

Utlysningar
Postdokanställning i etnologi, Uppsala universitet. Anställningen är på heltid och tidsbegränsad till 2 år.
Sista ansökningsdag 30 november 2023.

Institutionen för kulturantropologi och etnologi bedriver utbildning och forskning om många av de komplexa sammanhang som präglar dagens globaliserade värld. Institutionen har ett fyrtiotal medarbetare. Verksamheten består till stor del av forskning och har två framstående forskarmiljöer som rymmer professorer, forskare, postdoktorer och flertalet doktorander. Vid institutionen ges undervisning på grundnivå, avancerad nivå och forskarnivå i etnologi och kulturantropologi på två campus (Uppsala och Visby). Mer om institutionen och den forskning som bedrivs där finns på http://antro.uu.se/.
Institutionen söker en postdoktor i etnologi, 100 %, från och med den 1 februari 2024 eller enligt överenskommelse med placering i Uppsala. Genom egen forskning och samarbete med övriga forskare förväntas innehavaren av tjänsten bidra till institutionens forskningsmiljö.
Läs mer på länken nedan:
https://www.antro.uu.se/lediga-jobb?positionId=671747

Postdoktor i genusvetenskap vid Umeå Univestitet

Utlysningar
Postdoc position in gender studies at Umeå Centre for Gender Studies

Tvåårig anställning för postdoktor i genusvetenskap vid Umeå centrum för genusstudier (UCGS) utlyses.

Sista ansökningsdag 5 december 2023.

Anställningen avser heltid under två år med placering vid Umeå centrum för genusstudier, Umeå universitet. I anställningen ingår egen forskning med minst 80% av heltid. Undervisning uppgår till max 20% av heltid.

Tillträde 1 februari 2024 eller enligt överenskommelse.

Den som anställs som postdoktor kommer bedriva egen forskning med genusvetenskaplig inriktning. Forskningen ska beskrivas av den sökande i en forskningsplan som bifogas ansökan av anställningen. Som postdoktor förväntas du även bidra till institutionens gemensamma forskningsmiljö samt vara en del i och bidra till en pedagogisk miljö.

Till denna anställning ska sökande ha doktorsexamen i genusvetenskap eller motsvarande vetenskaplig kompetens som bedöms relevant i förhållande till den forskning som bedrivs vid Umeå Centrum för genusstudier.

Läs mer här.

Read more in English.

CFP Ethnologia Fennica 2/2024: Sensing the urban

Call for papers - tidskrifter, , ,

Call for papers by Ethnologia Fennica:

Sensory ethnography described by Sarah Pink (2009) pays particular attention to the multisensoriality of experience, perception, knowing and practices. In addition to the present moment emphasized in the ethnographic research, senses as part of the urban life can be studied in different temporalities, in past, present and future. This can be done by using, for example, archives, documents for future urban planning, or participatory design processes as research materials.

In this call, we invite researchers who study the urban pasts, presents and futures, to consider with us what kinds of ontological, methodological, theoretical or empirical questions and consequences the sensorial turn brings into the study of urbanity.

People live in complex relationships and entanglements with their urban environment. They move through the city and spend they work and free time in urban settings. They live with other humans, but also with non-humans, and the materiality of their environment affects their lives in multiple ways. To study this complexity with sensory point of departure, like ethnography, means looking at the city by emphasizing people’s sensory experiences and narrations of it. However, we do not want to limit the research only to the present, but we are also curious of the past (and future) sense of the urban. It is, for example, interesting how different generations experience the urban in different times.

Urban environments, and consequently, lives lived in them, are often planned and designed according to the prevailing discourses, ideologies and ideas, while they are simultaneously formed in different layers of time. These in turn direct and contextualize the sensory experiences, knowing of the city and practices related to and in the city.

The method of sensory ethnography is currently well established. Ethnographers have paid attention to different senses, such as eyesight, sound, smell and touch as well as noticed that the experiences are often multisensorial. It has been suggested that there are even more ways of sensing the world than we acknowledge at the present.

For this special issue we invite articles that discuss different ways of doing sensory research in urban settings containing sensorial perception, knowing and practices related to city and urban environment in present and through time.

The special issue is edited within the research project “Designed, experienced and sensed socio-material wellbeing in Linnakaupunki, Turku” (Hyvinvoinnin suunniteltu, koettu ja aistittu sosio-materiaalisuus Turun Linnakaupungissa). The project combines perspectives of Ethnology, Cultural History, Museology and Futures Research, and is conducted at the University of Turku, Åbo Akademi University and University of Oulu.

Ethnologia Fennica is a peer-reviewed, international open access journal. The journal publishes original scholarly articles, review articles, conference reports and book reviews written in English. The articles undergo double-blind peer review. The Finnish Publication Forum classifies Ethnologia Fennica as a leading academic journal at Level 2 (on a scale of 0 to 3).

Please submit your abstract by 8 December 2023, and the article manuscript by 22 of March 2024. The deadline for reviews, reports and commentary texts is 31 August 2024. The issue will be published in December 2024.

Please submit your language revised article (which should not exceed 10.000 words) through the journal.fi submission system (https://journal.fi/ethnolfenn). Authors need to register with the journal prior to submitting their manuscript or, if already registered, they can simply log in and begin the submission process. For further information, please see our article guidelines at https://journal.fi/ethnolfenn/articlequidelines and our style guide at https://journal.fi/ethnolfenn/styleguide.

Please note that in every issue, we also publish articles outside the theme, and you can submit your manuscript at any time.

Dissertation Defence: Kun kunta lakkasi olemasta: Kylä- ja kotiseutuyhdistykset kuntarakenteen muutoksiin reagoivina toimijoina (2023)

Disputationer, Doktorsavhandlingar, Publikationer, ,

Niina Koskihaara is defending her thesis in ethnology at University of Turku on November 10, 12:00-16:00 at Arje Scheinin -sali, DENTALIA, Lemminkäisenkatu 2, 20520, TURKU. The defence can also be followed online.

Read more here

English abstract:

When the municipality ceased to exist. Village and local heritage associations as reactive actors to municipal mergers

The topic of this study is the restructuring of local government and services in the early 2000s (PARAS project) and its impacts on communities operating at the local level. The research project examines how the reform, initiated at the highest level of state administration, affected the activities and operational environment of village and local heritage associations as well as the cultural processes resulting from the municipal mergers at the local level. The actors involved with village and local heritage associations have most clearly focused their efforts on specific villages and local regions. During the municipal restructuring, concerns were expressed at the local level about the villages and home regions being left behind as neglected and remote villages, causing the sense of place and local identity to disappear.

The study focuses on nine village and local heritage associations that operate in municipalities where the reform was carried out in 2007 and 2009: Mynämäki (Mynämäki and Mietoinen in 2007), Pälkäne (Pälkäne and Luopioinen in 2007), Salo (Salo, Halikko, Kiikala, Kisko, Kuusjoki, Muurla, Perniö, Pertteli, Suomusjärvi and Särkisalo in 2009) and Hämeenlinna (Hauho, Hämeenlinna, Kalvola, Lammi, Renko and Tuulos in 2009). The main data for the research project consists of thematic interviews conducted with association actors. In addition, the interviews include discussions with the main actors in LEADER groups and cultural associations. The method employed for analysing the data is close reading. The theoretical framework guiding the research and shaping the close reading approach is based on Lefebvre’s triad of social space, which adopts the perspective of viewing the municipality as a conceptualised, perceived and lived space.

The study demonstrates that the restructuring of local government and services was not merely about administrative reorganisation but also concretely impacted community activities and the operational environment as a whole. Municipalities are important partners for village and local heritage associations. The municipal restructuring brought about alterations in the forms and prerequisites of such relationships. The operational methods of the new municipality required the associations to adapt, redirect their approaches and engage in advocacy with respect to the municipality. The municipal mergers also triggered processes whereby village and local heritage associations became subject to new expectations, leading them to reconsider the contents of their activities, their (geographical) scope and their inter-associational collaboration. The removal of municipal borders also revealed the ways in which the former ‘boundaries’ between communities had impacted municipal relations.

The characteristics of places, family and friendship ties, as well as involvement in associations, serve as factors emotionally connecting associational actors at the local level. The interviewees’ descriptions of their personal local identities appear more fluid and shifting in the study than their identities at the community level, whose modes and areas of operation are defined more narrowly. People are the most significant resource in association activities, but they also pose a threat to the continuation of operations if associations fail to attract new participants. Changes that impact residents’ everyday lives at the local level motivate people to participate in association activities.

The thesis can be found here.

Disputation: Ett tjejligt rum. Tidningen Starlet 1966-1996.

Disputationer, , ,

Kristina Öhman disputerar i etnologi vid Göteborgs Universitet med sin avhandling  Ett tjejligt rum. Tidningen Starlet 1966-1996. Disputationen äger rum 10 nov 2023, 13:00 – 16:00 i Hörsal J222, Humanisten, Renströmsgatan 6, Göteborg. Opponent är Blanka Henriksson, docent vid Åbo Akademi.

”Min avhandling Ett tjejligt rum. Tidningen Starlet 1966-1996 handlar om Starlet, en svensk tjejtidning som har kommit att bli en del av svenska tjejers kulturhistoria och -arv, men som inte har behandlats vetenskapligt tidigare. Starlet riktade sig framför allt till tjejer i 10-14-årsåldern och innehöll serier, redaktionellt material samt texter inskickade av läsare.

Redan från Starlets lansering fick konsumenterna stort utrymme att själva medverka och producera material för publikation. Tidningen talade därför till unga tjejer samtidigt som läsarna hade möjlighet att kommunicera sinsemellan, vilket gjorde Starlet till ett socialt medium innan internets genomslag på 1990-talet. Starlet-tidningen blev en förlängning av flickrummet, med och i vilken läsarna kunde förströ och roa sig, men också efterfråga och erbjuda stöd, försöka hantera nya ämnen och situationer, och vända sig till varandra med högt och lågt, glädje och problem.

Avhandlingens primära syfte är att utforska tidningen Starlet som en tjejlig produkt och erfarenhet, för att förstå vilka praktiker och vilket rumslighetsgörande som synliggörs i tidningen samt medarbetares och läsares minnen av den. En övergripande forskningsfråga handlar således om hur man kan tala om ett tjejligt rum i relation till tidningen Starlet. Populärkulturella produkter är en resurs, inte minst för ungdomar som hade en begränsad tillgång till publika forum och kontexter innan internet, och min ambition är att visa och diskutera vad som gjordes i samt med det här materialet som producerades till, av och med tjejer i trettio år.”

Läs mer här

CFP till Kulturella Perspektiv. Tema: Kreativt etnografiskt skrivande

Call for papers - tidskrifter,
Call for papers (English version below)
Kulturella Perspektiv – Svensk etnologisk tidskrift

Tema: Kreativt etnografiskt skrivande

Etnologi har beskrivits som en ”litterär vetenskap” (Ehn 1996; Beckman 2011) då etnologiska texter bär ofta drag av skönlitteratur i form av rika miljöbeskrivningar och ett metaforiskt språk. Den etnografiska skrivakten och ett gott författarskap har länge varit prioriterad som en viktig del av forskningsprocessen, och det finns flera exempel på etnologiska studier som nått en bred läsekrets även utanför akademiska sammanhang. Under senare år har intresset för etnografiskt skrivande uppmärksammats (se t.ex. KP 2017 nr. 2 Silow Kallenberg & Ingridsdotter red.; Lykke m.fl. 2014; Richardson & St. Pierre 2005).
Till detta tema av Kulturella Perspektiv efterlyser vi bidrag som på olika sätt tillämpar ett kreativt etnografiskt skrivande och/eller resonerar metodologiskt om betydelsen av sådant skrivande inom etnologi och närliggande discipliner. Vi ser gärna bidrag som adresserar teman som autoetnografi, sensory ethnography, poetic inquiry, självreflexivt skrivande, skrivande som metod eller andra teman som bidrar till att höja kunskapen samt bidra till en kritisk vetenskaplig diskussion om kreativt etnografiskt skrivande.
Ladda upp artikelförslag (6000-8000 ord) senast 1 april 2024 på tidskriftens plattform (https://publicera.kb.se/kp). Vi accepterar bidrag skrivna på svenska, engelska, danska och norska. Artiklarna kommer att genomgå double blind peer review av två granskare. Publicering av de accepterade tematiska artiklarna sker sedan fortlöpande under 2024.
Kom ihåg att det också alltid går att skicka icke-tematiska artiklar till Kulturella Perspektiv!
Call for papers
Kulturella Perspektiv – Svensk etnologisk tidskrift

Theme: Creative Ethnographic Writing

Ethnology has been described as a ”literary science” (Ehn 1996; Beckman 2011) as ethnological texts often bear features of fiction in the form of rich descriptions of the environment and a metaphorical language. The ethnographic act of writing and good authorship has long been prioritized as an important part of the research process, and there are several examples of ethnological studies that have reached a wide readership even outside academic contexts. In recent years, attention has been drawn to the interest in ethnographic writing (see, for example, KP 2017 no. 2, Silow Kallenberg & Ingridsdotter, eds.; Lykke et al. 2014; Richardson & St. Pierre 2005).
For this theme of Kulturella Perspektiv, we are looking for contributions that in various ways apply creative ethnographic writing and/or reason methodologically about the importance of such writing in ethnology and related disciplines. We welcome contributions that address themes such as autoethnography, sensory ethnography, poetic inquiry, self-reflexive writing, writing as a method or other themes that contribute to raising knowledge and contributing to a critical scholarly discussion about creative ethnographic writing.
Upload article proposals (6000-8000 words) no later than April 1, 2024 on the journal’s platform (https://publicera.kb.se/kp). We accept entries written in Swedish, English, Danish and Norwegian. The articles will undergo double blind peer review by two reviewers. The accepted thematic articles will then be published continuously in 2024.
Remember that it is also always possible to send non-thematic articles to Kulturella Perspektiv!

Enabling sustainable visits (2023)

Antologier, Publikationer, ,

Enabling sustainable visits in an anthology edited by Mathias Cöster, Sabine Gebert Persson and Owe Ronström.

About the book:

A large number of destinations around the world are struggling with the delicate balance of developing tourism and the hospitality industry in a sustainable way. The challenge for many destinations is to find a way forward, for existing and new jobs, to contribute to economic growth and for the preservation of the cultural heritage. At the same time, with more visitors there are increased risks of negative impact on society, the environment, and, not least, on the cultural heritage that for many visitors is a reason to travel.

This anthology approaches the challenges facing tourism and the hospitality industry by emphasizing insights that can enable the necessary transition to sustainable visits. Through twelve chapters, experienced researchers from different disciplines discuss empirical studies of visits in the broad sense. Their analyses cover central themes in tourism and hospitality studies, i.e. tourism, destinations and destination management, host-guest relations, imageries, representation, and sustainability.

The book can be found here.