December 12th–13th 2019
Tampere University, Linna Building, Kalevantie 5, Ground Floor, Lecture Hall K103
Citizenship in 21st-century is marked by several simultaneous developments in civil society which change the conditions of participation: digitalization, polarization, and marginalization. These processes take place in public, local and online, digital and physical spaces, and give reason to expect that young people who grow up in today’s civil society will come to practice citizenship differently from previous generations.
The Centre for Sociology of Democracy (CSD) organizes a two-day seminar offering in-depth analyses of and new approaches to understanding young citizens’ participation in Finland and beyond from a pragmatist perspective. The seminar publishes the results of a research project ”Citizens in the Making”, painting an image of young Finns’ civic imaginations: of their different conceptions of what it means to be a citizen and to act as part of society. These conceptions are explored in everyday social action of young people in urban spaces, formal politics, activist engagements as well as online debates.
Keynote speakers:
Associate professor Eeva Luhtakallio (Tampere University) is a sociologist and an ethnographer interested in the practices and processes of democracy, politicization, political (dis)engagement and citizenship, drawing on pragmatic social theory. Luhtakallio leads the Centre for Sociology of Democracy (CSD) and the research project Citizens in the Making.
Professor Laurent Thévenot (EHESS), Director of Studies at EHESS, is a sociologist and economist noted for his grounding work on critical pragmatic sociology as a comparative, methodological and theoretical framework for studying how personal attachments and concerns become translated into public issues when taking part in a community and communicating disagreement or difference.
Associate Professor Isaac Reed (University of Virginia) is a historical and cultural sociologist noted for his work on the questions of interpretation and explanation in the social sciences and the social theory of power and transitions to modernity. He is particularly interested in how acts of power are interpreted, and the multiple ways in which authority can render itself legitimate.
Professor Gianpaolo Baiocchi´s (New York University) is a sociologist and an ethnographer interested in the questions of democracy, inequalities, politics and culture, critical social theory and cities. His work focuses particularly on the instances of actually existing civic life and participatory democracy.
The seminar is free of charge, but pre-registration is required by December 2. To read more and sign up, please visit: www.csd.fi.
Program
December 12, 2019
10.00 Welcome address – Kalle Korhonen, The Kone Foundation
10.15 –11.15 Professor Eeva Luhtakallio: 21st Century Citizens in the making: Towards a pluralism of engagements and projects?
11.15–12.45 Citizens in the Making: What we learned I
Veikko Eranti: Individualists in the making – Civic action, societal participation and the individualistic style of doing politics
Lotta Junnilainen: Place, Poverty and Political Participation – Imagining the future with young people living in disadvantaged neighborhoods
Georg Boldt: Citizens in Training – Notes on commitment and the resonance of style
12.45–14.00 Lunch
14.00–15.00 Keynote by Professor Laurent Thévenot (EHESS): The Trying Art of Taking Part
15.00–15.30 Coffee
15.30-16.30 Keynote by Professor Isaac Reed (University of Virginia): Pragmatics of Delegation: The King’s Two Bodies and its Afterlives
December 13, 2019
9.15 Coffee
9.30-11.30 Panel on Mixing methods: new innovations and insights into studying youth participation
Panelists: Veikko Eranti, Salla-Maaria Laaksonen, Minttu Tikka & Tuukka Ylä-Anttila
11.30-12.30 Citizens in the Making: What we learned II
Tuukka Ylä-Anttila: Going Overboard: Politicization in an anonymous online community
Maija Jokela: Social media affordances for activism: individual or collective action?
12.30-13.45 Lunch
13.45–14.45 Keynote: professor Gianpaolo Baiocchi (New York University): Imaginations Across Contexts; balancing ethnographic, comparative, and normative insights in our research
14.45-15.30 Discussion
Attachments
Organiser
Centre for Sociology of Democracy
Further information
Roosa Tuukkanen (roosa.tuukkanen@tuni.fi)