POWERS

The world today has set itself the goal of improved adaptation, preparedness and alertness in the face of global change. Rapid and drastic global changes have prompted the political and social scientific use of ‘resilience’. In social scientific scholarship to date, resilience is presented as an answer to and a necessity in dealing with the current unpredictability. By developing resilience, it is claimed, individuals and communities can avoid the worst-case scenarios deriving from uncertainty and be prepared to cope with the unknown.

In the midst of the upsurge of resilience, its fundamental premises have remained understudied: How does resilience order society? The project Politics and Power of Resilience sets out to explore this question. As a series of exploratory workshops funded by The Joint Committee for Nordic research councils in the Humanities and Social Sciences (NOS-HS) for 2023-2024, it specifically aims at developing multidisciplinary critical discussion on resilience and its power effects in the Nordic context.

The project partners include Marjo Lindroth, Julian Reid and Heidi Sinevaara-Niskanen from the University of Lapland, Claes Tängh Wrangel from Uppsala University and Frank Sejersen from the University of Copenhagen. Altogether, three workshops will be organized, one in each partner institution. The project’s workshops will invite researchers from different career stages to debate resilience and its emergence in Nordic discussions on politics, security, economy and, for example, welfare.

NOS-HS is a collaboration between the research councils in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden responsible for research within the Humanities and Social Sciences. One of its funding mechanisms is to support Nordic research cooperation through exploratory workshops. The main aim of the workshops “is to fund the development of new curiosity-driven research areas and programmes within the humanities and social sciences”. Altogether, 33 projects received funding in 2022.

Marjo Lindroth

University Researcher
marjo.lindroth[at]ulapland.fi

Heidi Sinevaara-Niskanen

University Lecturer

heidi.sinevaara-niskanen[at]ulapland.fi