Since September 2007 the Resistance Studies Network is having seminars which brings up various aspects of “resistance studies”. The Seminar is the main meeting point for researchers, students and activists interested in critical resistance studies. All seminars are open for interested participants.
In an attempt to remedy the lack of academic study in the field of resistance to power and its social transformation the School of Global Studies at Göteborg University has launched this Resistance Studies Network.
With the help of networking, collaborative conferences, research and publication projects and thematic educational events, this network hopes to deepen the cooperation between researchers interested in understanding practices of resistance, and its connections to power and social change.
To get an understanding of the state of “resistance studies”, existing research questions, suggested activities and plans in the network as well as suggested relevant literature, see the Resistance Studies Network Missionstatement.
We therefore invite interested researchers to participate in the Research Network on Power, Resistance & Social Change.
The network is open for all interested in a scientific approach to resistance studies. You don’t have to have a job at the university to join. Since the network is not accepting uncritical propaganda of any sort it facilitate all participants interested in a critical and self-reflective discussion and study of all forms of resistance.
We currently have a working group in Gothenburg which meets regularly and a steering group of five people based at School of Global Studies. An international advisory board is on the way being formed. We are looking for more active participants in the network and hope that new working groups might form in other parts of the world, supporting each other in the research of resistance (activity is already started in the UK and we will see what comes next…).
Stina Hansson, Mathias Klang, Christopher Kullenberg, Mona Lilja & Stellan Vinhagen (the steering group of RSN).
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The program for the first part of 2009 is now public
After the seminar there is a post-seminar gathering at restaurant Gyllene Prag from 17:00 and onwards. We eat, drink and continue the discussions from the seminar in a more informal way. You are welcome to attend even if you wasn’t at the seminar!
Before the seminar we have a working group meeting of the network (14:00-15:00) in the same room. Anyone who wants to contribute to the development of the network is welcome.
Then we discuss research projects, articles, development of the website, conferences, etc. Since the network is not having any funding for administration all activities depends on the voluntary contribution of members of the network. Come with your ideas and discuss with others how to develop the network!
Schedule for the first semester 2009
Resistance Studies Seminar,
Gothenburg University
Jan-June 20094th Semester of RSN Seminar,
29 Jan Camilla Orjuela , PhD and Researcher in Peace and Development research, School of Global Studies, Gothenburg University.
On Identities of resistance: A note about street gangs, globalised violent conflict and Sri Lanka’s war zones in London and Toronto (Mail to Camilla for paper: camilla.orjuela@globalstudies.gu.se ) (In English) Room 403.
12 Feb Balder Lingegård and Rikard Fröberg from the Pirate Party. On file-sharing, copyright and resistance. (In English) Room 403.
26 Feb Anton Törnberg och Patrik Palm. Om motstånd och rörelser i Latinamerika (OBS: 13-15 föreläsning, 15-17 seminarium) (In Swedish) Rum 403.
12 March Niklas Hansson, PhD. “Network Politics and the Gothenburg Social Forum-process“. A seminar about local social forum-organization within the World Social Forum-process. The session will take as its starting point an ethnological study [Ph.D dissertation] based on fieldwork in Gothenburg, Sweden, between 2003 and 2005. The study’s main theoretical influence is Manuel DeLanda’s neo-materialist Assemblage Theory, but draws from a range of theoretical sources (social movement theory, actor network theory, information theory, systems theory, globalization theory). (In English) Note: Room 303.
26 March Linnea Svensk baserat på sitt examensarbete i psykologi; Om Freud och motstånd i behandlingssituationer av patienter (OBS: 13-15 föreläsning, 15-17 seminarium) (In Swedish) Rum 403.
9 April Leif Eriksson, Senior Lecturer in Peace and Development research, School of Global Studies, Gothenburg University. Reflections on economy, everyday, norms and resistance. (In English) Room 403.
23 April Katrin Uba, Anti-privatisation struggles in India (13-15 motståndskursen, 15-17 motståndsseminariet). (In English) Room 403.
7 May Suzanne Hammad, PhD Candidate, School of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work, Queens University- Belfast, Northern Ireland. On Palestinian ”emplaced” resistance in the village Bilin, West Bank. (In English) Room 403.
28 May Erik Andersson, Senior Lecturer in Peace and Development research, School of Global Studies, Gothenburg University. On Economy and resistance (discoursive strategies against neoliberal hegemony). (In English) Room 403. (Note that the date is not the normal one due to a holiday).
4 June Vera Häggblom, former student School of Global Studies. On ETA and the Basque Resistance. (In English) Room 403.
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OLD PROGRAMMES (Sept 2007 -)
Schedule for the second semester 2008
Sep 11 2008 Peace Researcher Jörgen Johansen; Seminar on 9-11 and terrorism. “Osama Bin Laden should be thanked for the awakening!” The resistance is growing globally as a result of 9-11 and the ”War on Terror”. Which possible roads are probable, likely, wise and/or catastrophic? (see http://www.transnational.org/SAJT/tff/people/j_johansen.html) ROOM 303.
Sep 25 Visual Artist and former prof of Fine Arts Cecilia Parsberg; Seminar on Art, Culture and Resistance. About how art or our aesthetic expressions can be used as resistance, with examples from Sweden, Palestine and other places in the world. Film: “A Heart from Jenin”. Before the seminar, please read the paper (downloadable here), see previous projects at http://this.is/parsberg/) and view the film “A Heart from Jenin” at the Museum of World Culture, exhibition “Take Action!” (then other films by Parsberg is possible to show at the seminar if all have seen the film before!). See also the film poster, one visual art photo from the Wall in Palestine and a (Swedish) description of the film. ROOM 419.
Oct 9 Seminar with Movies on Resistance (Stellan Vinthagen). One or several shorter movies on resistance relevant themes will be shown and discussed. If you have suggestions, contact Stellan; stellan. vinthagen @ resistancestudies. org (type without spaces in the address). ROOM 325.
Oct 23 Riff-Raff Co-Editor Per Ström; Seminarium om klasskamp och det “ansiktslösa motståndet” (Seminar is in Swedish, and about hidden work-place resistance). Per inleder diskussionen utifrån sin specialskrivna artikel för seminariet; ”Den politiska ekonomins väktare och desertörer: kapital, vänstern och det ansiktslösa motståndet.” Statistiken visar att fackligt motstånd och arbetarplatskamp minskat på senare decennier men stämmer det med verkligheten? Kan det vara så att kampen ändrat form under kapitalismens förändring och nya villkor? (Per is part of the editing team of http://www.riff-raff.se/). ROOM 325.
Nov 6 Dr Karl Palmås and Resistance Magazine Editor Christopher Kullenberg; Seminar on Surveillance, Power and Resistance. In late-modern societies in the West, as well as dictatorships, like Burma or China, surveillance is increasing and is developed into new forms. That changes the power structure, but also the articulation and expressions of resistance. Palmås and Kullenberg talks from their ongoing “Panspec-project”. (See http://panspectrocism.org, http://rsmag.org/ and http://www.isk-gbg.org/99our68/). ROOM 325.
Nov 20 Assistant Prof. Bengt Brülde; Seminar on the Ethical Obligation to Resist. In some situations resistance is arguably an ethical obligation. Before the seminar, read the the blog entry by Bengt Brülde on this seminar posted by Stellan Vinthagen on 13 Nov). (See http://maya.phil.gu.se/bengt/). ROOM 325.
Dec 4 PhD-Student Gunilla Priebe; Seminar on Resistance within the Science Discourse. Priebe talks about “Who is the expert? Re-defining scientific quality standards as a source of resistance towards colonially ascribed identities”. The theme is drawn from ongoing research (PhD project, dissertation June 2009). The seminar text is downloadable here. ROOM 325.
Dec 18 Post-Doc Fellow Patricia Lorenzoni; Stories of resistance – race, ethnicity and the right to land in Brazil. The seminar discusses histories of resistance and the right to land from the cases of indigenous minorities and maroon communities in Brazil. Although these two groups in many cases may be hard to distinguish from one another on the field, different legislations apply. While maroon rights are based on the constructing of genealogies of resistance, indigenous rights are tied to notions of ethnic authenticity. Lorenzoni will present ongoing research on the relation between (sometimes self)ascribed identities, the law and the precarious legitimacy of the State. (See http://hum.gu.se/institutioner/idehistoria-och-vetenskapsteori/personal/andra/patricia). ROOM 407.
Schedule for the first semester 2008
31/1 Everyday Resistance (Safaa Daoud). Building on Scott Daoud discusses Everyday Resistance. The paper you find here.
28/2 Discussion on the attempt to conceptualize “Resistance” by Hollander (2004). (The seminar on ”Negotiating Histories of Resistance and the Right to Land – the Case of Maroon Decsendants in Brazil” (Gunilla Priebe & Patricia Lorenzoni) is cancelled ).
13/3 Presentation and discussion of the first Resistance Studies Magazine (follow the link above “Magazine” and download the first issue). (Christopher Kullenberg).
27/3 Varumärkesmotstånd (Ekonomi och motstånd) (Hans Sinclair). Seminariet som denna gång sker på svenska handlar om Hans avhandlingsämne: hur grupper och rörelser idag på olika sätt attackerar företagens varumärken (”logo”) och därmed utövar ett ekonomiskt och kulturellt/ideologiskt motstånd mot den hypermoderna informationskapitalismen. Ett underlag kan laddas ned här.
10/4 Women and Resistance (Edmé Dominguez). Assitant Professor Edmé Dominguez gives a preliminary final report from her research of women workers in Mexico and their resistance to “global capital at the local level”. The paper can be downloaded here.
24/4 The Ethical Obligation to Resist (Bengt Brülde) CANCELLED!! (That means there is no meeting at 14, no seminar at 15 and no post-seminar at 17!)
8/5 Power Theory (Lennart Bergfeldt). Short introduction can be downloaded here. OH-copies will be handed out on the seminar.
22/5 Juridiskt motstånd (Mikael Baaz). Om hur juridik kan vara både ett uttryck för makt och för motstånd. Texten kan laddas ned här (pdf-version). Seminariet sker på svenska.
5/6 Motståndskonferens (Världskulturmuseet, 10.00-17.00).
First semester 2007
13/9 ”Motståndsnätverkets Missionstatement” (Mona Lilja +Stellan Vinthagen)
Nätverket initierades med ett s k Missionstatement som kan laddas ned i rubriken ovan och som utgör underlag för seminariet tillsammans med den uppdaterade och teorietiskt utvecklade versionen som presenteras som konferenspapper på Europeiska sociologkonferensen i Glasgow den 3-6 september: Vinthagen & Lilja (2007) “The State of Resistance Studies”. Frågor som förslagsvis kan diskuteras är dels definitionen av motstånd (även om nästa tillfälle helt vigts till det delikata problemet…), beskrivningen av existerande ”motståndsstudier” inom olika teoretiska fält, dels kopplingen motstånd och makt, dels kopplingen motstånd och social förändring, dels forskningsfrågorna och de föreslagna aktiviteterna för nätverket. Eller något annat…. Känn dig välkommen! Ingen föranmälan behövs.
Inför varje seminarium skickas ett mail ut med mer information. Här är dock de tider som kommer att gälla under hösten. Vårens schema kommer i god tid under hösten.
27/9 Vad är motstånd? (Defining ”Resistance”) (ML + SV) Room 303, Annedalsseminariet. The text by Stellan Vinthagen and Mona Lilja on “Resistance” in Anderson, Gary L. & Kathryn G. Herr (2007) Encyklopedia of Activism and Social Justice, Sage: California, p. 1215-1217, will be discussed. But the discussion will not only be on the text but mainly on the difficult task of defining “resistance” (and its different forms/expressions/aspects…).
11/10 “Critical Resistance” (Text by David Hoy), Room 129, Annedalsseminariet. This seminar is a continuation of the last two in the sense that we try to make one more attempt to understand what “resistance” is before moving into the texts which deals with forms/aspects of resistance. The text is the Introduction to the acclaimed book “Critical Resistance: From Poststructuralism to Post-Critique” by “A leading authority of Continental philosophy” David Couzens Hoy, professor in Philosophy at University of California, Santa Cruz. We have also included (for those of you who wants more to read…) two reviews of the book (Review 1, Review 2). Mona Lilja will lead the seminar. (Mathias Klang could not make it to this seminar and will present his text during next semester in 2008).
25/10 “Abstract Hacktivism and Resistance” (Dr Karl Palmås), Room 204, Annedalsseminariet. Dr Karl Palmås from the Department of Economics (Handels) at Gothenburg University, will present a very interesting reflection on contemporary resistance, built on his (and Otto von Busch) book “Abstract hacktivism” (download book here). The seminar will focus on how “hacktivism” can be understood as a form of reconstruction, reuse and manipulation of computors/machines/systems, and as such a kind of (re)constructive resistance (More info on the book you will find in the blog-entry by Stellan Vinthagen, dated 19th of Oct). Welcome!
8/11 ”Resistance in the digital age” (Swedish text can be downloaded here) ( Christopher Kullenberg), Room 325, Annedalsseminariet. This seminar will focus on the question concerning the conditions for resistance in the digital era of information technologies and surveillance. The seminar will discuss the shift from disciplinary societies to societies of control, and explore the relationships between power and resistance.
22/11 Nonviolent Revolutions ( Jörgen Johansen), Room 325, Annedalsseminariet. During recent years, mainly from the 1980s, we have seen a growing and impressive trend of “nonviolent revolutions”, revolutions in which non-armed popular movements make authoritarian regimes fall through major demonstrations, strikes, occupations and wide non-cooperation. Jörgen Johansen has studied this phenomenon in detail, published widely on the subject and visited as well as cooperated with several of these revolutionary organizers. The paper for the seminar mainly focus on describing the cases which, from the Iranian revolution 1979 up to the present struggle in e.g. Burma, makes up the empirical foundation for the much needed “theory of nonviolent revolutions”. During the seminar Johansen will give some of the elements of such a theory, a theory which doesn’t exist yet.
6/12 ”Understanding Resistance” About definitions, typologies and a “genealogy” of resistance” & The History of Nonviolent action (SV), Room 325, Annedalsseminariet. The seminar text is written by Stellan Vinthagen and deals with definitions of resistance, different typologies, a genealogy of resistance and illustrate that kind of historical analysis by a look on nonviolent action, and is possible to download here Understanding Resistance
20/12 “The ethics of resistance” ( Bengt Brülde), Room 325, Annedalsseminariet. Ass. Prof. Bengt Brülde discusses the possibilities and difficulties of making an ethical justification of resistance. The paper for the seminar introduces the discussion.
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