The third COREvent will explore civic action and collaborative governance in the context of environmental and other social movements. The keynote lecture will be given by Donatella Della Porta, professor and social movement expert from the Institute for Humanities and the Social Sciences and the Center on Social Movement Studies at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Florence. Welcome!  

Date: 24 May, 2019, 10:00-12:00

Place: University of Jyväskylä, Mattilanniemi 2, Jyväskylä, Agora building, hall Agora Alfa

Programme

10:00 Welcome! Tapio Litmanen, University of Jyväskylä

10:05 Donatella della Porta: Deconstructing generations in movements: evidences from anti-austerity protests in Europe (see introduction below)

Discussion

11:30 Maija Faehnle, Finnish Environment Institute SYKE and Tampere University: Civic action in the digital era – opportunities and challenges for collaborative governance

11:40 Discussion

12:00 End of the event

The event can also be followed online at: https://m3.jyu.fi/jyumv/ohjelmat/hum/yfi/prof-donatella-della-porta/live

No registration is needed. If you are on Facebook, you can pick the event to your Facebook calendar.

During the event you can post comments and questions for the lecturers in Twitter with hashtag #corestn.

Donatella della Porta’s lecture “Deconstructing generations in movements: evidences from anti-austerity protests in Europe” addresses the self-understanding of young activists in anti-austerity protests in European countries. Building on a theoretical framework that aims at bridging youth studies and social movement studies, it first introduces some main research questions such as: What leads a significant number of young people in times of more or less severe crisis to engage in collective initiatives, rather than to remain passive? What are the forms of social commitment that critical young people choose to use, in particular during periods of crisis? Which meanings are attached to these forms of social engagement? What kinds of resources are available to young people for social mobilization? And to what extent do they vary across different degrees of socioeconomic crisis, governmental constellation, and type of conflict, thereby shaping individual-level forms and levels of social participation? To what extent do differences in the impact of the crisis on national contexts, and related political transformations, result in differences in young people’s social engagement in terms of motivations and forms?

After presenting the theoretical model and the research design, the lecture summarizes some results across three main aspects: the meaning of generations in social movements, the self-definition of Millennials, as well as some characteristics of their mobilizations in terms of organizational structures, repertories of action, and collective framing. Using the concept of generations in a critical way, the lecture will deconstruct it by looking at the meaning given to generations by movement activists, to their self-perception in terms of generational identification, as well as their taste in terms of contentious frames and practices. Read more here.

Donatella Della Porta  is professor of political science, dean of the Department of Political and Social Sciences and director of the PhD program in Political Science and Sociology at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Florence, where she also leads the Center on Social Movement Studies (Cosmos).

Among the main topics of her research are social movements, political violence, terrorism, corruption, the police and protest policing. She has directed a major ERC project, Mobilizing for Democracy, on civil society participation in democratization processes in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America. In 2011, she was the recipient of the Mattei Dogan Prize for distinguished achievements in the field of political sociology. She is Honorary Doctor of the universities of Lausanne, Bucharest and Goteborg.

She is the author or editor of 90 books, 135 journal articles and 135 contributions in edited volumes. Among her recent publications are: Legacies and Memories in Movements (Oxford University Press, 2018); Sessantotto. Passato e presente dell’anno ribelle (Fertrinelli, 2018); Contentious moves (Palgrave 2017), Global Diffusion of Protest (Amsterdam University Press, 2017), Late Neoliberalism and its Discontents (Palgrave, 2017); Movement Parties in Times of Austerity (Polity 2017), Where did the Revolution go? (Cambridge University Press, 2016); Social Movements in Times of Austerity (Polity 2015).

Donatella della Porta will be conferred as the University of Jyväskylä’s Honorary Doctor in the conferment of degrees ceremony on 25th of May 2019.

Maija Faehnle is a senior researcher at the Finnish Environment Institute SYKE. She is the communication manager of the CORE project and studies aspects of civil society, activism and collaboration especially in urban contexts.

Tapio Litmanen is professor on sociology at the University of Jyväskylä. He leads the work on civil society in the CORE project.

See COREvents #1 and #2 on video here.

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When activism is understood as described above – open acts – the relationship between science and activism is rather straightforward: Some scientists are activists. This may be true even if they are not called such or if they do not identify themselves as an activist. The arenas of activism may or may not be intertwined with the research they do.

The demand of having societal impacts by research is getting ever stronger. Ways to have an impact are various, however. Researchers are sometimes involved in creating practical solutions to societal or environmental problems but more often they seek discursive ways of introducing change or having an impact in societal transitions. This includes information and knowledge production, creating arenas for discussion or revealing inequalities.

Expert knowledge is not a “neutral” way to see the world, and research has never been detached from social and political life. There are many choices that affect researchers’ potential for having societal impact, e.g. the choices made in formulating research questions, choosing research methods and arenas for publishing the results.

Researcher-activist faces pros and cons

Being called an activist is not always something the researcher may like or strive for. It may be a negative label which can also be used in attempts to downgrade the expertise of a researcher in conflicting situations. Activism is situated, socially constructed, and not about the message a researcher delivers. It is about the relation between the messenger and the audience.

As an invited speaker in a parliamentary committee a researcher is usually regarded as an expert, but if she enters the arena uninvited she may be labelled as an activist.

Being heavily involved in activism on the field one is doing research, for example, as a community member, has pros and cons. Involvement guarantees, or at least eases, the access to internal information. A researcher as activist can also be a great resource for individuals and communities and essential for empowerment. Moreover, in particular cases, some groups are interested to attract and engage with science and work with allied researchers.

However, for an activist researcher it might be more challenging to maintain objectivity compared to researches with more distant engagement (i.e participatory observations). It might also be that the presence and involvement of an activist researcher might work against the communities. Communities might be heavily criticized for involving an activist or the published research results of an activist researcher might be used against the interests of the community by external parties. Security risks for the community members can be greater, if an activist researcher is involved.

Do no harm!

One important principle in combining science and activism especially when working with vulnerable groups and small communities is a Do no harm -principle. The risks and potentials should be discussed transparently with parties involved and people involved should have a real possibility to use veto rights, if something that the researcher is planning to do, is likely to risk the life, health, ownership or social relations in the community.

In particular with the vulnerable groups it should be ensured that there are no harmful stereotypes or stigmas that the researcher creates or maintains.

Science and activism have to do with power. Activists often fight existing power relations — or are deemed to do so. Activism differs from those attempts to change the society that leave asymmetrical social relations intact, for example, research promoting transitions that strengthen the interest of powerful elites or businesses. Power can be reshaped or renegotiated, with unpredictable and often contradictory outcomes. Power is not legitimated only by hegemonic expert knowledge represented by for example state institutions, corporate interests, or law, because its legitimacy is co-created by communities confronting institutions representing power.

Science is also a powerful tool – how do we use it? To maintain power relations and status quo or to empower transformation? Is passivism a form of activism if it has societal impact? Inaction can maintain status quo and dominant power relations and thus support some views about society and how its problems should be resolved and by whom. Inaction can also actively prevent transformation.

Activism against and for science

The role of science or scientists can take many, also more subtle forms in its relations to activism. While the word activist carries a risk of being questioned as an expert or labelled otherwise negatively, other, more subtle types of active engagement in the society are not identified as activism. If activism is understood more broadly, for example as ‘attendance in or contribution to societal transitions’, the relationship between science and activism becomes more difficult to detect. Although not called as activism, same kind of questions about objectivity or the impact of academic work on communities apply to these forms of academic activism.

Activism against science has posed these questions openly. Examples include the long-tradition of protesting against risky technologies that science helps to develop or advocating against the use of animal experimentations in scientific research. These disputes can take place inside or outside the academia, and they question the hegemony of particular kinds of sciences and scientists determining societal development and practices.

The goals promoted by academic activists, such as climate change policies or ban on neonicotinoids, can also be opposed by powerful lobby groups. They too target the power of science and expertise to formulate societal goals, albeit from a different angle, resisting attempts to change the hegemony of economic interests. On the other hand, there is science activism aiming to improve science itself. Open science activism, for example, aims at giving access to knowledge and expertise to wider groups in the society.

Academics need to reflect on the impacts of their work

The relationship between science and activism can also take the form of scientists helping activists. Scientists can collaborate with activists in various ways: organizing seminars, workshops, help with writing statements, complaints or other reporting, offering microsupport, e.g. tweeting and using other social media. Researchers can also help to reach international visibility, for example to help activists build networks or get support. Researchers can help make activism research-based and activists can utilize scientific practices in their activism. For example, many community science projects aim at evidence-based activism and social transformations to fight environmental impacts.

These questions challenge the understanding of activism and raise discussion about its role in the society. While societies are facing need to respond to global challenges it may not be enough to contribute scientifically to technocratic, top-down driven transition processes where changes take place within existing societal structures and frames. Also more diverse and emergent transformation processes challenging incumbent structures are needed. Academics might have a role in promoting such bottom-up transformation. However, it is also ok to refuse to be an activist. Regardless of the type of societal engagement, academics need to be more open about and ready to reflect on their societal role and the impact of their work on the society.

Outi Ratamäki, Maija Faehnle, Heta Heiskanen, Taru Peltola & Germán A. Quimbayo Ruiz

Photo: Ville Tahvanainen

This blog is based on the discussions during Science and Activism seminar held at the University of Eastern Finland (UEF) in January 2019. The seminar was organized by UEF’s LYY Institute and two Strategical Research Council funded research projects CORE and ALL-YOUTH.

Outi Ratamäki works as a senior lecturer at the Law School, University of Eastern Finland. She studies natural resources governance at the crossroads of law and policy.

Maija Faehnle is a senior researcher at the Finnish Environment Institute SYKE. She is the communication manager of the CORE project and studies aspects of activism, civil society and collaboration especially in urban contexts.  

Heta Heiskanen is a Post-Doc in ALL-YOUTH -project funded by the Strategic Research Council. She has specialized in human rights law and the environment. She has been actively cooperating with NGOs. Currently she is a board member of the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation.

Taru Peltola works as a Senior Research Scientist at the Finnish Environment Institute SYKE and leads the CORE-project’s case study work package.

Germán A. Quimbayo Ruiz is an Ecologist and Geography MSc. Researcher and Ph.D. student in Environmental Policy, Department of Geographical and Historical Studies, University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu. External researcher, Natural Resources Institute Finland, LUKE (Turku). I have worked with environmental state-agencies and social organizations in Colombia.

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UPDATE: the presentations of the seminar are collected here. 

Aim of the event is to share ideas and discuss the role of activism, in its various forms, in transformation towards sustainability. Our perspective to activism is broad. Within the context of sustainability transition, we invite papers which approach the challenges and benefits of combining activism and science, the role of environmental movements, citizen engagement in policy processes and scientific research, co-production of knowledge, analyses of the driving forces behind resistance and conflicts (e.g. environmental justice issues) etc.   

Organizers: LYY Institute & CORE project & ALL-YOUTH project

Venue: University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu, Natura Building, Room N113

On the first seminar day we will hear participant presentations after a thematic plenary:  

A key note by Maija Faehnle (CORE -project): Solving complex problems togehter – activism as challenge and opportunity for collaborative governance.  

On the second day we will continue with the participant presentations but also enjoy plenaries given by our invited guest speakers from Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona:

A keynote by Mariana Walter: A perspective on radical transformations to sustainability: resistances, movements and alternatives 

A keynote by Marta Conde: Counter-expertise and co-production of knowledge: interface between science and activism

We will finalize the seminar by round table discussions with World Café methodology organized by the ALL-YOUTH project. World Café methodology will be used to facilitate the discussion on youth participation in activism related to environmental conflicts.

We welcome presentations from various disciplines and multiple scales, from global analyses to local case studies. We invite you to one or both days by just taking part or by presenting your research related to the themes described above.   

You are also welcome to join the open lectures given by our guests from Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and a trip to Koli national park on Thursday (see the programme and titles of the lectures below).  

About practicalities:  

If interested in presenting, please submit your abstract (max. 250 words. Include a title, name and affiliation of the presenter) to LYY coordinator Outi Ratamäki (at outi.ratamaki(at)uef.fi) by 15 December 2018 the latest. Call for papers is open for all researchers and PhD students.    

Deadline for registering to the event is 15 January 2019. You should register here: https://elomake.uef.fi/lomakkeet/21213/lomake.html. 

Seminar is free of charge and open for all. 

On Tuesday evening we will have dinner at a local restaurant; everyone is welcome to join but should cover their own expenses. Travel costs of the shared ride to Koli will be covered. Preliminary programme for the Koli trip can be found in the registration form. About Koli: http://www.koli.fi/en 

Further information from: outi.ratamaki(at)uef.fi 

PROGRAMME 

Tue 29 January: 1^st day of the seminar 

12.15-12.30 Welcoming words: prof. Rauno Sairinen, scientific leader of the LYY Institute 

12.30-13.30 A keynote: Solving complex problems together – activism as challenge and opportunity for collaborative governance: Maija Faehnle 

13.30-14.30 Seminar presentations (approximately 30 minutes each) 

14.30-14.45 Coffee break 

14.45-16.15 Seminar presentations  

16.15-16.30 General discussion 

Dinner  

Wed 30 January: 2^nd seminar day  

10.15-10.30 Welcoming words: LYY co-ordinator Outi Ratamäki  

10.30-11.30 A key note: A perspective on radical transformations to sustainability: resistances, movements and alternatives: Mariana Walter  

11.30-12.30 A key note: Counter-expertise and co-production of knowledge: interface between science and activism: Marta Conde  

12.30-13.30 Lunch  

13.30-14.30 Presentations 

14.30-14.45 A coffee break 

14.45-16.45  World Café by ALL-YOUTH

16.45-17.00  Closing of the seminar

Additional programme:  

Thu 31 January: Open lectures on the Mining, environment and society -course: 

9.15-10.15 Mariana Walter: The Environmental Justice Atlas. A tool for activism and research. 

10.15-11.00 Marta Conde: Resistance to mining 

11.15-12.00 Lunch  

12.15- 18.30 A trip to Koli  

Invited guests’ biographies: 

PhD Maija Faehnle is senior researcher in the Programme for Sustainable Urbanisation at Finnish Environment Institute SYKE. She has worked at the interface between science and practice in the context of the changing civil society and collaboration for sustainability. Currently she coordinates communication and societal interaction of two research consortiums, one of which is the CORE project (SRC, Academy of Finland) that studies new collaborative governance practices for solving contested societal challenges such as energy transition. Her research has addressed urban civic activism as resource for cities in the digital age, integration of ecological and experimental knowledge in planning, and multicultural aspects of collaborative practices. In her PhD on Regional Science, she developed methods for design and evaluation of collaborative urban planning. Her research interests include collaborative governance, collaborative economy, action research, self-organisation and citizen energy. 

PhD Mariana Walter is a postdoctoral researcher at ICTA-UAB.  Walter’s research addresses extractive conflicts (mainly in Latin America), social metabolism, expert-lay knowledge interplay, social transformations and scales. She holds a Masters diploma in Environmental Studies (focusing on Ecological Economics) and has participated in research projects in Argentina (UNGS) and Europe (ALARM, CEECEC, ENGOV). Currently she is the scientific coordinator of the ACKnowl-EJ Project (Academic-Activist Co-Produced Knowledge for Environmental Justice. www.acknowlej.org) a 3 year international project funded by the ISSC. She has published her work in books and journals such as Global Environmental Change, Ecological Economics, Geoforum, Land Use Policy and Local Environment. 

ICTA-UAB: The Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA) is a multidisciplinary centre that promotes academic research and postgraduate education in the environmental sciences. It aims to improve our understanding of global environmental change, and the nature and causes of environmental problems. In addition, it studies policies, strategies and technologies to foster a transition to a sustainable economy.  

ICTA hosts the Environmental Justice Atlas (EJ Atlas). The main leaders involved are Leah Temper, Joan Martinez Alier and Daniela Del Bene. The EJ Atlas documents and catalogues social conflict around environmental issues. The EJ Atlas collects these stories of communities struggling for environmental justice from around the world. It is supported by the ENVJUST project (ERC Advanced Grant 2016-2021), and the ACKnowl-EJ (Academic-Activist Co-Production of Knowledge for Environmental Justice, 2015-2018) funded by the Transformations to Sustainability Programme. 

A post-graduate Research Associate Marta Conde at Universitat Pompeu Fabra and Associate Researcher in UAB. Conde holds a degree in Agricultural Engineering (UPC), masters in Environmental Science (Birkbeck College, London) and Ecological Economics (UAB). Her research looks at social reactions to the expansion of extractive industries at the commodity frontiers. The ‘extractive conflicts’ endured by developing countries are caused by the ‘cost shifting successes’ of material and energy consumption in developed economies. Using political ecology, ecological economics and political economy she analyses the drivers, strategies and discourses of resistance movements to mining. She is particularly interested in uranium mining conflicts and the socio-economic and health implications of nuclear and uranium expansion. 

Her latest research explores one of the strategies used by resistance movements in socio-environmental conflicts; the alliance between science and activism.  Drawing from political ecology and STS, Conde proposes that scientific and local knowledge co-production can empower and give visibility to local groups and activists.  Conde links her research with the fields of degrowth and environmental justice, showing how these groups are contesting successfully the imperative of endless economic growth. 

UAB: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, https://www.uab.cat/web/about-the-uab-1345666325480.html    

Organizers:  

The Institute for Natural Resources, Environment and Society (LYY) is a network organization based at the University of Eastern Finland (UEF).  Our network combines social and cultural research expertise for application in the analysis of the environment and natural resource uses. 

The project Collaborative remedies for fragmented societies – facilitating the collaborative turn in environmental decision-making (CORE) is funded by Strategic Research Council at the Academy of Finland. CORE studies and develops collaborative action in environmental planning and decision-making.  

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