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Pre-conference in Oslo 2023

Act 

iv 

ism as post-approach – what difference does it make, and what do we do with what it does? 

Dear network 22 participant, 

We are thrilled to welcome you to the pre-conference for Network 22, Post-Approaches to Education, to be held on March 14th at OsloMet in Oslo, Norway. The pre-conference aims to strengthen research networks around post-approaches to education in Nordic countries and provide opportunities for academic discussions between PhD/ doctoral students and seniors. The pre-conference is free of charge; the attendee pays for coffee/tea, lunch and dinner. This year the topic will be Activism as a post-approach – what difference does it make, and what do we do with what it does? The pre-conference will begin with a workshop with Hillevi Lens Taguchi, Anna Palmer and Teresa Elkin Postila, followed by afternoon ‘post-poster’ presentations by participants. You can find the program and practical information below. 

Warmest welcome, Camilla Johansson Bäcklund, Teresa Katherine Aslanian, Nina Odegard and Charlotta Hilli 

Preliminary program March 14th, 2023 

Venue at OsloMet, address and room: (will be updated) 

10.00–12.00 Workshop with Hillevi Lenz Taguchi, Anna Palmer & Teresa Elkin Postila 

12.00–13.00 Lunch break 

13.00–16.00 Post-poster session 

19.00 Dinner at IndiSpice 

Questions about the pre-conference can be addressed to Charlotta Hilli, chilli@abo.fi 

Please register for the pre-conference in this form (deadline February 24th 2023). 

Link to the registration form: https://survey.abo.fi/lomakkeet/14982/lomake.html 

At our last pre-conference in Reykjavik, Malou Juelskjær created engagement and discussion with her current project, which combines practical and academic work and feminist materialist activism. Malou shared her work with the organization Skovgro, 

in which she collaborates with drinking water utility companies about buying agricultural land to plant trees. The work combines ‘thinking with agential realism’ and ‘doing with agential realism’, spurring new questions concerning how we conceptualize activism within post-approaches. How can we do activism in post-approaches and what do we do with what it does? What else can activism mean from a post-approaches perspective? 

“putting the active back into activism” (Braidotti 2013) 

Activism is described as “efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good”. Within post-approaches, ‘ecofeminism’ was introduced by French feminist Francoise d’Eaubonne in 1974, aiming to bring attention to how women could participate in the ecological revolution. The notion of “ecofeminism” has enjoyed a recent resurgence of interest as gender and the environment re-emerge on the cultural agenda. 

Post-posters as activism 

Activism in post-approaches can mean different things – minor or major activities that make a difference in situations or settings. Activism can be constantly ongoing, situational, and relational. 

For the second session of the pre-conference, we want to investigate the following questions: 

How do we do activism in post-approaches and what do we do with what it does? 

How can we spread activism in different directions? 

Post-approaches ask how things are and how things can be, always seeking to nurture possibilities. Braidotti (2013) proposes not to let critical studies stop at pointing out problems but rather to move towards a “posthuman humanity” with creativity and “putting the active back into activism” (Braidotti, 2013). Posthuman theories have implied that all our doings have ethical implications and thus are always already ethical actions and political engagements (Alaimo 2014). To search for the activistic aspects in the small implicit acts as well as the bigger, louder and explicit ones. Posters can become active and creative practices to express and generate thoughts, relations, and movements in science and art. 

We kindly ask participants to prepare a poster or a post-poster that relates to one or both questions above. You may want to create a post-poster of your research or teaching, or other forms of activism you do. We will hang the post-posters around the venue to “spread” the activisms. During the session, we will visit each post-poster and senior researchers and participants will respond to it. You do not need to prepare a presentation besides the post-poster. We encourage you to include, for example, pictures, dance, links to videos, or other forms of expression or materials. The post-poster does not need to be text-based at all but can be. 

Workshop (information will be updated) 

Hillevi Lenz Taguchi, Anna Palmer & Teresa Elkin Postila 

Suggested inspirations: 

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