March 2024, Oulu, Finland | Winter Symposium | Reading Ibn Khaldun
Our CFP in Brief
Is your research or artistic work related to North Africa or the Middle East? Are you a student or researcher in sociology, political sciences or cultural studies? Would you simultaneously want to be part of a community of students, researchers, artists and activists that want to learn from and with each other how the past and present effect each other? Have you ever thought that many of the current day challenges of sustainability, democracy, racism and economy need a transdisciplinary pool of people to be addressed, but wondered how and when you would have the possibility to meet such teams? This might be the community you are looking for!
This Nordic Summer University study circle Praxis of Social Imaginaries: Cosmologies, Othering and Liminality, sets out to foster a platform for trans- and inter-disciplinary research rooted in the practices of reading, listening, and telling stories. Recognising that such research requires time and in-depth work in order to become truly fruitful, this study circle aims to provide room for these kinds of processes. The reading material at the center of our work is filled with depictions of cultures, peoples, lands and religious, artistic, culinary and sacred practices from times and places different from our own, while the people present in our circle come from different cultures and divergent relationships to research, artistic practice, and institutional structures.
In each symposium of our study circle, we think between the medieval past and present struggles, addressing cosmological differences in history and exploring futurity. The reading material central to our study circle is a series of medieval travel accounts, but our ethical and trans/inter-disciplinary approaches as informed by Indigenous research ethics guidelines. During this Winter Symposium, we will explore the Muqaddimah (1377) of historian and sociologist Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406). Khaldun was one of the early influential authors who picked up Aristotle’s thinking around climate zone theories with descriptions of character and intelligence. In Khaldun's Muqaddimah (1377), the author posits that Africans are prone to excitability, emotionalism and to dance.
In this symposium, we investigate Khaldun as possible source material for physiognomy, which later began to dominate the European social imaginary. The texts of Ibn Khaldun, while they are classic for scholars in sociology and cultural studies, also carry potential to raise critical inquiry from researchers of human genetics and medical engineering.
We welcome applications from researchers, scientists, and artists, as well as students at bachelor, master, or doctoral levels. As a community investigating historical and living cosmologies, we are welcoming to Indigenous as well as artistic researchers (and others) who engage with spiritual practices. Our study circle is open to people of all faiths.
About our Study Circle
The Nordic Summer University study circle Praxis of Social Imaginaries: Cosmologies, Othering and Liminality invite all who are interested in joining our group to investigate the praxis of reading together, the praxis of listening and the praxis of telling stories. Welcome to join our cosmological artistic intervention!
This study circle sets out to foster a platform for trans- and inter-disciplinary research. By bringing people together from various different disciplines and fields into shared laboratories of praxis, we aim to create a transformational learning environment. In transdisciplinary research scholars create collaborations with artists and activists in ways in which all are equal partners in a joint endeavor to study and change complex problems. In interdisciplinary research, scholars come together with researchers from other fields than their own, in order to establish collaborations where complex phenomena can be approached from various angles at the same time. Both trans- and inter-disciplinary research requires time and in-depth work in order to become truly fruitful. This study circle wants to provide room for these kinds of processes. The central method toward that end is the reading of medieval traveling accounts. We follow European theological elites as they and their learned scholarly communities encounter “Others” on their borders as well as within their lands. We will also be studying the Indigenous epistemologies, relationships to lands, nature and cultures, and social change.
In alliance with the ethical guidelines of Indigenous research this study circle is guided by the principals of Respect, Responsibility, Reciprocity and Consent that are formulated in the imagineNATIVE document ON-SCREEN PROTOCOLS & PATHWAYS: A Media Production Guide to Working with First Nations, Métis and Inuit Communities, Cultures, Concepts and Stories (2019) as well as the OFELAS - The Pathfinder Guidelines for Responsible Filmmaking with Sámi Culture and People (2021) by The Sámi Film & Culture Advisory Board. In the latter it is specifically articulated that culture, aesthetics, music, language, stories, histories and traditional cultural expressions are not things that can be the personal property of individual people nor given away as open resources. Rather, stories, languages, people, connection to space and place as well as specific crafts or arts are all interconnected and belong to a community which also includes ancestors and non-human kin (both spirits and animals). One of the aims of this study circle is thus to explore how we can approach historical documents and transdisciplinary research that respects Indigenous epistemological practices and wherein traditional forms of seeking knowledge are given space, time and resources.
The reading material at the center of our work is filled with depictions of cultures, peoples, lands and religious, artistic, culinary and sacred practices from times and places different from our own. Questions we envision will come up during the sessions are: What happens when we practice standing, sensing and listening with another in our explorations?
What can we learn from encountering worldviews and scientific perspectives different from our own? What are the various media through which we can engage with texts and stories written hundreds of years before our time? What do we do if and when we find passages that are disturbing to us? How do we remain ethically grounded in practices that open for dialogue and critical scrutiny yet do not shut down or close off the possibilities of learning from what is uncomfortable? And how do we do all of this together with people from various different fields of study and cultural backgrounds that also have their own perspectives and contributions to how we can learn and explore together? These are some of the thematic questions we will pursue through-out this study cycle.
Ongoing research
In parallel with the different symposia of this study circle ethnographic fieldwork is happening. The aim of that study is to follow and examinate the processes of inter- and trans-disciplinary research that arise from the circle meetings. Participation in the events of the study circle does not require participation in the ongoing research. However, due to GDPR regulations we want all the participants to be aware that research is conducted in collaboration with these events. We will thus also ask all participants to sign agreements on data collection. For those that are further interested in being collaborators in the ongoing investigation on inter- and trans-disciplinary research processes, informed consent agreements will be offered.
About Winter Symposium 2024: Universalising Sciences, Cultural encounters, Empire and Slave trade
“Civilization and its well-being, as well as business prosperity, depend on productivity and people’s efforts in all directions in their own interest and profit”
Ibn Khadun is often described as a forerunner in presenting evolutionary thinking as a pattern for human development. He is praised for his progressive theories on social cohesion, taxation and division of labour in a well functioning society. Simultaneously, both Geraldine Heng and Ibrahim X Kendi have identified the traveller and sociologist Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406), as one of the early influential authors who picks up Aristotle’s thinking around climate zone theories with descriptions of character and intelligence. In Khaldun's Muqaddimah (1377), the author posits that sub-Saharan Africans are prone to excitability, emotionalism and to dance whenever they hear a melody.
Religious scholar David M. Goldenberg further argues in The Curse of Ham: Race and Slavery in Early Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (2005), that the association between enslavement and blackness which in later scholarship has been called the curse of Ham, was not a theologically rooted idea before the times of Empire. One of the questions we thus ask in this symposium is, how the language of climate zone theories as scientific thought structures, sociological idea of cultural dominion, and the rise and fall of empires link to the development of a racialised social imaginary in medieval Europe? Did “scientific” concepts of races enter into the European continent before the texts and works of Aristotle were re-introduced into European scholarly teaching in 13th century? (Leunissen 2017; Goldenberg, 2009) In this symposium, we investigate Khaldun as possible source material for cultural expressions and physiognomy, which later began to dominate the European social imaginary.
Preliminary Program
Wednesday 13th of March
16:00 Welcome reception at Oulu Art Museum
18:30 Leaving for Nallikari with buss 15
19:30 Welcoming Dinner Finnish style in Nallikari
Accommodation in shared cabins at Nallikari Holiday Village
Thursday 14th of March
10:00 Sessions at Oulu Art Museum start
12:00 Lunch at Pekuri
13:30 Sessions outside
15:00 Fika
15:30 Sessions at Oulu Art Museum
17:50 Leaving for Nallikari
19:00 Dinnerkeynote in Nallikari
Friday 15th of March
10:00 Sessions at Oulu Art Museum
12:00 Lunch at Pekuri
13:30 Sessions outside
15:00 Fika
15:30 Sessions at Oulu Art Museum
17:50 Leaving for Nallikari
19:00 Dinnerkeynote in Nallikari
Saturday 16th of March
10:00 Sessions outside
11:00 Leaving from Nallikari
12:00 Lunch at Pekuri
13:30 Sessions at Oulu Art Museum
15:00 Fika
16:15 Leaving for Nallikari
18:00 Dinner + Sauna
Sunday 17th of March
09:30 Brunch in Nallikari
11:00 Check-out from the cottages in Nallikari
11-12 Outside time in Nallikari
12:30 Sessions at Oulu Art Museum
15:00 Fika
17:00 Celebratory ending at the Museum
18:00 Celebratory Dinner in Oulu
Who can participate?
The Nordic Summer University (NSU) is open to all who want to engage in transdisciplinary and mutual learning under the values of equality and openness. You can be a student at bachelor's, master's, or doctoral level, and you can be a researcher, a scientist, an artist or work in a cultural or other third sector organisation. Our study circle is explicitly open to people of all faiths. As a community investigating historical and living cosmologies, we are welcoming to Indigenous and artistic research with spiritual dimensions.
What do we offer?
First and foremost, we offer a platform for learning and collaboration.
For students, we can also offer study credits for active participation. These can be gained in two different ways. Either the Nordic Summer University offers you a certificate for ECTS points upon active participation in the whole event. With this option you will have to negotiate with your home institution how these points are brought into your study plan. The other option is that you enrol to the course at Åbo Akademi which is linked to these symposia. As a student at Åbo Akademi University (or Turku University or any other university under the JOO sopimus) this event will be accounted for as the following course (TE00CL12 Medieval Cosmologies and the Art of Sustainability for the Future, 5 sp) in the minor-subject Social Justice and Sustainability which can be taken through Åbo Akademi University. In order to be eligible for this course you need to be a MA or PhD student and sign up in Peppi and at the Moodle platform where further instructions are given.
For scholars, we plan for joint publications in open-access peer reviewed journals. The next publication is planned as a MDPI Open Access special issue with the following schedule:
Article submission 05.04.2024
Feedback from reviewers by 05.06.2024
Resubmission 05.07.2024
Publishing 05.09.2024
And for artists and academics who want to collaborate, we will organise events to disseminate your works to the public. We have partnered up with forums like aboagora for presenting arts and science collaborations.
We further offer the chance to learn Digital Humanities methods of working with and annotating historical texts, as well as the opportunity to connect with the vibrant Nordic Summer University; a one-of-a-kind, radically non-hierarchical, democratic, and community oriented institution of education and research. Finally, we endeavour to make the study circle accessible to all, including financially. We can provide some financial aid and continue to pursue avenues through which to offer as much financial aid as needed to those who reach out to us to request it.
How can I participate?
Send us a short bio with your name, information about yourself, your home institution/organisation, your artform or area of research and a short motivational letter as to why you want to participate.
As a student or doctoral researcher at Åbo Akademi, sign up for the course!
Please also let us know if you will have institutional support for participation, accommodation and traveling costs or if you would want to be granted a scholarship. The earlier you send in your request, the better the chances will be able to work with you to secure scholarships! People in the Nordic/Baltic region are given priority in scholarships as we partner with Nordplus for this event.
Our final call for applications is November 30th 2023.
Please reach out and express your interest earlier if at all possible. We grant scholarships upon the arrival of applications. By December 6th we will be able to confirm your participation and securing your spot happens by paying the participation fee no later than 12th of January 2024. Payments are arranged through the web shop: https://www.nsuweb.org/shop/
Costs
Participation and accommodation costs are greatly reduced by support from the Otto A. Malm foundation, Nordplus and Åbo Akademi University Foundation.
Participation fee 155€ (includs membership in NSU 40€) The fee covers the Symposium programs, accommodation in shared rooms in cabins and breakfast, lunch, dinner and coffees (each day).
Reduced price for people without institutional support 85€ (includs membership in NSU 25€)
Please secure your participation by making your payment in the webshop by January 15th 2024!
Scholarship and Grant programs
Participants are welcome to apply for a scholarship or a grant to cover all or most of the participation fee and travel expenses. There is a variety of different options offered:
- Full Scholarship: exclusively for participants enrolled to the course (TE00CL12 Medieval Cosmologies and the Art of Sustainability for the Future, 5 sp) at Åbo Akademi University. This will include support with travelling costs to and from the venue and reduced participation fees. Students will travel by train from Åbo to Oulu and back.
- Scholarship: exclusively for Nordic/Baltic participant (including artists and activists). This will include support with travelling costs to and from the venue and a reduced fee for the accommodation.
For those who wish to be considered for scholarships to cover travel, eco-friendly options such as long-distance trains, boats and busses over airfares are preferred. The relevant documents (receipts and forms) will need to be sent to coordinators after the completed journey.
- Grants: we are continuously working towards gaining grants that would include support for participants from abroad. Please contact us at an early stage of the process so that we can work together with you to enable your participation.
If you are interested in any of these scholarships please send us your bio and an estimate for the costs of your participation (where you will travel from and on which dates). Please know that the Nordic Summer University mainly supports public transports and environmentally
We want to Thank Otto A. Malm foundation, Nordplus and Åbo Akademi University Foundation for supporting the research and events of this study circle. Additionally, the Swedish-Finnish Cultural Foundation has granted travel allowances.
Background to the choice of texts.
During each of the Symposiums and Summer Sessions, we want to explore the problematics of racialisation in the medieval period. Our choice of texts are informed by the works of historians and theologians like Mary Louise Pratt, Geraldine Heng and Willie James Jennings. They have identified that these particular stories were at the core of what created and spread the racialised social imaginary that later became a racialised gaze of white Christian Europeans. Jennings further argues that this inverted, distorted vision of creation reduced theological anthropology to commodified bodies at the same time as it disrupted the relationship to land, place and creatureliness of Christian white westerners. By following this formation in the texts spanning from the period of the 11th to the 16th century, we hope that the participants in the circle will gain deep insights into how questions of race and relationship to creation are intertwined. Simultaneously, our practices are informed by both black feminist approaches and indigenous epistemologies which means that we want to include embodied, poetic and praxis based investigations to this journey.