Challenging Ideas? Theory and Empirical Research in the Social Sciences and Humanities

29 - 30 April, 2013

The growing number and complexity of theoretical, philosophical and political concepts in the social sciences and humanities have without doubt helped us develop different and varied modes of social, philosophical and political inquiry. However, it is also the case that the result of the growing number of ‘schools’ and appeals to fusing different research methodologies pose significant challenges to researchers across the board. This conference seeks to address this issue and explore the various ways in which political philosophy and critical theory might be engaged in empirical research in the social sciences and humanities by way of thematic sessions.

We strongly encourage new and experimental ideas and want to give as much room as possible for participants to try out even those ideas they think are too crazy for an academic forum. We encourage submissions from all fields, and believe that the most fruitful discussion and development of ideas happen between junior, early career and established researchers from a variety of disciplines.

Programme

Day 1
8.30 - 9.30	Registration and coffee
9.30	Keynote 1: Patrick Joyce
10.30	Coffee break
11.00	Panel 1: Cosmopolitanism, Humanitarianism, Citizenship and Empire Pauline Stoltz, "Children, Post-Conflict Processes and Situated Cosmopolitanism" Mie Vestergaard, "Humanitarian Representations of Victims in Conflict" Christian Ydesen, "Applying Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri’s Political Philosophy in Empirical Research: The Case of Basic Income"
12.30	Lunch
13.30	Panel 2: Space, Place and Belonging in (Cultural) Memory and History Lars Östman, "Biopolitics and Cultural Memory in Holocaust Monuments" Henrik Gjøde Nielsen, "How to Remember What we Don’t Want to Know: Om the Necessity if War in historical Research, the Agency of the Bunker and How to Commemorate a History that No One Wants to Be a Part of" Stine Thideman Faber, Karina Torp Møller, Helene Pristed Nielsen, ”'Images of the Global Periphery' –Applying Visual Methods in the Study of Place Affiliation, Mobility and Belonging"
15.00	Coffee break
15.30	Panel 3: Governmentality, Economy and Discourse Nicolai von Egger, "Economy as Governmentality" Laura Bang, "Studying Counter-Conduct at the Intersection of Discourse and Governmentality"
16.30	Plenary discussion
19.00	Conference dinner
Day 2
9.00 -9.30	Coffee
9.30	Keynote 2: Berber Bevernage
10.30	Coffee break
11.00	Panel 1: Representing Politics and Culture in Mass Media and Art Ehab Galal, "Staying in Power: Media Strategies of the Islamists after the Arab Spring" Cesar Octavio Moreno Zayas, "Opera House as a Research Project" Maren Lytje, "War, Technique and Artificial, Mediated Memory"
12.30	Lunch
13.30	Panel 2: Tourism and Travel Robert Gross, "How Tourism Transformed an Alpine Socio-Natural Site: An Environmental History" Martin Ottoway Jørgensen, "UN Soldiers as Tourists: Performativity and Using History in Places with Imperial and Contested Pasts" Johan Lund Heinsen, "X Marks the Spot"
15.00	Coffee break
15.30	Final discussion

Convenors

The conference is held under the auspices of the two history research groups, Cultural Encounters in Pre-Modern Societies (CEPS) and Contemporary History (CHI), both part of the Department of Culture and Global Studies (CGS) which spans the Faculty of Humanities and the Faculty of Social Science.

CEPS - Cultural Encounters in Pre-Modern Societies

CHI - Contemporary History of Democracy and Democratization

CGS - Department of Culture and Global Studies