This workshop is part of activities of a Nordic researcher network collaborating with Russian experts to study political, economic and social development in the Barents region. The network is a multidisciplinary collaboration between senior researchers and doctoral students from sociology, law, political science, economics, international relations, history, technology, gender studies and anthropology. Three workshops have been organized before, in Rovaniemi, Kirovsk and Kirkenes in 2010-2011. The researcher network is funded by Nordforsk (2010-2012). The partners are Barents Institute, University of Tromsø, Norway; Universities of Umeå and Luleå, Sweden; Luzin Institute of Economic Studies, Kola Science Centre, Russia; Centre for Independent Social Research, St. Petersburg, Russia; and Arctic Centre, University of Lapland, Finland. The workshop is organised in collaboration with the ARKTIS doctoral program.
The final workshop of BIPE will cover two related topics: Politics of development in the Barents Region (Wednesday, August 29, 2012) and Biopolitics of regionalism (Thursday, August 30, 2012). The program in the first day includes presentation and discussion of a new book “Politics of Development in the Barents Region” (2012) and related presentations. The second day is dedicated to a new project with BIPE partners on neoliberal governance, sustainable development and local communities in the Barents Region (NEO-BEAR). The day is started with a keynote speech by Professor Wendy Larner, who is Professor of Human Geography and Sociology, and Research Director for the Faculty of Social Sciences and Law, at Bristol University, UK. Her research program is situated in the interdisciplinary fields of globalisation, governance and gender, and links insights from critical social theory with a strong commitment to empirical research. Her aim is to challenge conventional understandings of globalisation as an inevitable ‘new reality’ by showing that it is a contested and contradictory process in the making. Relatedly, she has a long standing research interest in theorising neo-liberalism and ‘post-welfarist’ governance.
The program draft 3.8.2012
Wednesday, August 29, 2012 Politics of Development in the Barents Region
Session 1
- Opening words and presentation of the book, Monica Tennberg
- Aileen Espiritu, Barents Institute: The political economy of speculation: the Shtokman development in the Barents Region
- Larissa Riabova, Kola Science Centre: Social development in the Murmansk region: key trends and challenges
Coffee
Session 2
- Vladimir Didyk, Kola Science Centre: Twenty years of market reforms in the Murmansk region: a way towards or away from sustainable development?
- Nils-Gustav Lundgren & Mats-Olov, Olsson, Umeå University: Structural change in the Russian forest sector
Lunch
Session 3
- Henri Wallen, University of Lapland: Complex systems theory as a model of transdisciplinarity for social sciences: Case of bioenergy
- Hanna Lempinen, University of Lapland: Actors in/and the Barents energyscape – Introducing the Nonhuman
Coffee
Session 4
- Ludmila Ivanova, Kola Science Centre: Some issues of natural resource management in the Murmansk region
- Ilona Mettiäinen, University of Lapland: Knowledge-to-action question in strategic planning, case regional climate change strategy of Lapland, Finland
Dinner
Thursday, August 30, 2012 Biopolitics of regionalism
Session 1
- Key note speech by Professor Wendy Larner, University of Bristol: The Coexist project - Resistance or resilience?
Coffee
Session 2
- Lovisa Solbär, Lund University: Where and why is forest in the way? Recent forest clearance in Northern Sweden from the perspective of the land users
- Maria Tysiachniouk, Centre for Independent Social Research: Local communities and resource extraction
Lunch
Session 3
- Shahnaj Begum, University of Lapland: Climate change and human rights of the elderly women in the Barents Region: The role of BEAC
- Heidi Sinevaara-Niskanen, University of Lapland: Gender, development and economy in the North
- Monica Tennberg, University of Lapland: Future of BIPE cooperation – some concluding words
Coffee
Session 4 NEO-BEAR planning meeting; for project partners only
Excursion and dinner
The workshop is open to staff and students from partner institutes interested in the topics. Please register your participation to Raija Kivilahti, event coordinator, by August 15, 2012 (raija.kivilahti(at)ulapland.fi).
More information: BIPE network coordinator Monica Tennberg (monica.tennberg(at)ulapland.fi)