Global News - May 2012

Contents

From the management (by Rita Cancino)

News from the administration

More clarity in the distribution of tasks in the secretariat (by Rita Cancino)

News from the School of Culture and Global Studies

Workshop in Intercultural Communication (by Malene Gram)
Career day for Development Studies and European Studie (by Malene Gram)
Pia Tafdrup at the Danish Studies programme (by Peter Stein Larsen)
From Bellman and Nordic art to Twilight and popular culture (by Anker Gemzøe and Louise Mønster)

News from research, research groups and centres

International conference: Community and the Sea in the Age of Sail (by Johan Heinsen and Torben K. Nielsen)
Fringe benefits of being a visiting academic (by Tim Shaw)
New journal : "Ideas in History" (by Ben Dorfman)
DR Academy: The Muslim Veil
Guest PhD student at FREIA (by Vanna Nordling)
Building Stronger Universities (BSU) conference in Kisumu, Kenya 29 – 30 marts 2012 (by Diana Højlund Madsen and Inger Lassen)
Future Scenarios on Greenland. The exhibition Possible Greenland (by Carina Ren)
Key note speach on 'The Integration of Science, Technology and Innovation in re-modeling the African Development Agenda' (by Mammo Muchie)

News on names

Ashley Kim Stewart
New professor with special responsibilities: Søren Dosenrode
Successful PhD defence!: Zeleke Bekele Worku
25-Year Anniversary: Henrik Halkier

Upcoming events

'Community and the Sea in the Age of Sail'. Conference Excursion on 26 May
Open research seminar: "Engendering (In)Security and Conflict"
Workshop in "Discourse Analysis Theory and Method"
 

From the management

Dear all,

With this issue of Global News we are already five months into the year, which means that another semester and an academic year are far advanced and drawing to a close. Soon it will be time for examinations, which were planned a long time ago. And no doubt some of you have already made plans for the holidays, which is one of the characteristics of May. Summer holidays are coming up – the time of year which we are probably all looking forward to - with its many wonderful hours of daylight for outdoor activities – before and after a working day – in the garden and elsewhere. A time to enjoy that there are more hours of daylight at our disposal. 

At our department a number of events are scheduled to take place in May and June. The first of these is the department’s research afternoon, which will take place on 8 May under the theme “Interdisciplinary Synergy”. At this event academic staff will continue their work to develop specific possibilities for establishing new inter-disciplinary work relations across the department.

The next major event is our housewarming party, which will take place on 15 June. This will be our chance to celebrate – at long last – that nearly all department staff in Aalborg are now – after a two-year period of moving activity – able to make direct contact without having to go outside, only separated by a bridge.

The lunch room is being established. Meetings are being held with firms about the supply of the furniture which the user group considered to be ideal to make the lunch room an attractive room to be in, not only during lunch breaks but possibly also for informal meetings and receptions. You will receive more information about the housewarming party and the lunch room later (Rita Cancino)

News from the administration

More clarity in the distribution of tasks in the secretariat

A fairly large number of academic staff have been wondering which tasks are attended to by whom in the project, research and department secretariats. The issue was mentioned and addressed in the Communication Committee, and to solve the problem, it was decided to prepare lists of the areas of responsibility and work of individual staff in the secretariat. This will save time with emails that need to be forwarded to correct addressees etc. 

On the department website you will now find a complete list of information as to which tasks are attended to by whom in the department, research and project secretariats. We hope this will result in the necessary and requested clarity for the benefit of all parties involved.

Please see here (at the bottom of the page) (Rita Cancino)

News from the School of Culture and Global Studies

Workshop in Intercultural Communication

Wednesday 18 April 2012 the School and the Board of Studies for International Relations held a workshop on intercultural competencies for the 18 Danish and Chinese students who are enrolled in the China and International Relations (CIR) programme. Ten Chinese students from the University of International Relations (UIR) arrived at AAU on 1 September 2011 and have attended 7th and 8th semester studies at DIR. Together with six Danish, one American, one Polish and one Icelandic student, they will travel to Beijing for studies at UIR in their 9th and 10th semesters. These students will obtain a double degree with certificates from both AAU and UIR.

Susan Vonsild was in charge of the workshop, and she challenged the students with both theoretical input and practical collaboration tasks. The students reflected on their experiences as a cross-cultural group with different cultures of study, party and food. The day was very profitable, and we hope to be able to repeat the event with the next group of double degree students, who are scheduled to arrive on 1 September 2012. (Malene Gram)

Career day for Development Studies and European Studies

On 20 April 2012 a career day was held for students at Development Studies and European Studies. As a representative for Development Studies, Lasse Frimann came to visit. Lasse graduated in the summer of 2011 and is already in his second job. After a short period of working as a consultant, Lasse now works at Access2Innovation, which is a private enterprise in Støvring collaborating with both universities and NGOs. The business of the company idea is to create innovative solutions to various problems in developing countries; these must be so cheap to produce and sell that even very poor people and communities will be able to buy them. One example of this is the clearing of mines, where Access2Innovatin has developed cheap remote controlled helicopters for the detection of mines. Lasse told the students how he is drawing on both general and specific competencies from Development Studies in his work.

Isabella Leang attended the event as a representative of European Studies. Originally, Isabella comes from France, but enrolled at AAU as a student at European Studies. Today she lives in Arden and works in Viborg at the Interret IVB North Sea Region Programme, where she is involved in EU fundraising and contact to Danish enterprises. Both Lasse and Isabella were able to offer internships in their two organisations. Many questions were asked by the students who were curious to hear how the two graduates had succeeded in getting internships and jobs.

Finally, Annika Jørgensen and Lotte Pedersen from the Careers Centre came and presented statistics of workplaces where DIR and ES students end up getting jobs. They introduced the services offered by the Careers Centre: assistance with the preparation of CVs and applications, competence development courses, contacts to enterprises which are ready to welcome trainees or have vacant student jobs. (Malene Gram)

Pia Tafdrup at the Danish Studies programme

Under a collaboration agreement with the poetry festival 9000 ORD (WORDS) Friday 20 April, The Board of Studies for Danish had invited Denmark’s leading and internationally best known poet. During the morning of “A day about and with Pia Tafdrup”, two lectures were offered on her works, i.e. Peter Stein Larsen: “The works of Pia Tafdrup – an overview” and Anker Gemzøe: “Place, memory and language in Pia Tafdrup’s Territorial Song”. In the afternoon, the poet herself read some of her poems and, not least, sparked a lively discussion on the nature of poetry, how it is written, where it comes from, what we need it for, why and how it works, and many other topics. The number of questions from the 54 people who had turned up was overwhelming, and both the audience and the poet herself enjoyed and benefitted greatly from the day. (Peter Stein Larsen)

From Bellman and Nordic art to Twilight and popular culture

Danish Studies on study trip to Gothenburg

From 16 to 18 April we visited Gothenburg together with 20 students from the second semester. The trip offered a three-day intensive programme with a good mix of academic, cultural and social activities. At the University of Gothenburg we were generously welcomed by our colleagues at Litteraturvetenskap (Literature Studies) who gave lectures on “The Twilight phenomenon, media culture and research” and “Popular Literature with reference to Jens Lapidus’ Snabba Cash (2006)”, and had arranged a tremendous Bellman night for us. Here, professor emeritus Lars Lönnroth gave an introduction to Bellman and was supplemented by the singer and guitarist Martin Bagge, whose vivid performance of Bellman’s music – in addition to wine and crisps – made the entire audience burst into song. We also had time for a visit to the Gothenburg City Theatre, where we were enthralled by a strong theatre performance called Min Mormor Gladys [My Grandma Gladys], and continued to Gothenburg Museum of Art where we saw the world’s largest collection of Nordic art. On our last day we went on a tour of the town and surrounding area before heading back to Aalborg.

This was the fourth time a study trip was arranged in Gothenburg, and it was a rewarding experience in every way. The trip was inspiring academically and culturally, and it also provided space for students to become more closely acquainted. Gothenburg has turned out to be an ideal destination, since both cultural and educational institutions are located centrally and within a short distance from each other. So both of us are hoping for and looking forward to a fifth study trip next year. (Anker Gemzøe og Louise Mønster)

News from research, research groups and centres

International conference: Community and the Sea in the Age of Sail

The interdisciplinary conference on 'Community and the Sea in the Age of Sail' will explore the part played by community in the history of ships, port cities, oceangoing and empire. What part did community play in the complex world of the seas and their ships, and what did it mean to be a 'part' – or not – of these communities as such?

The two-day international conference boasts a very impressive program and keynotes. The conference is organised by Johan Heinsen and Torben Kjersgaard Nielsen under the auspices of CEPS and CGS.

The conference will bring together different perspectives on the histories of the sea and the many different communities of people traversing the sea or otherwise dealing with the ocean. The conference will explore and discuss different forms of agency involving issues of race, class, gender, cultural identity and performance.

The organisers are proud to offer an intriguing and thought-provoking program. Keynotes will be delivered by internationally famed scholars: Opening speech will be by Professor Marcus Rediker, University of Pittsburgh, author of the immensely popular and award winning books The Many-headed Hydra (with Peter Linebaugh, 2001) and Villains of All Nations (2004) and many more. Keynote speaker for the second day of the conference is Professor Clare Anderson, University of Leicester, who had her new book, Subaltern Lives, released by Cambridge University Press only earlier this year.

Contributors in the conference include among other Nicole Ulrich of Witwatersrand in South Africa, Titas Chakraborty of Pittsburgh, USA, Yevan Terrien of Delft, Holland, David Chappell of Hawa’i, USA, Aaron Jaffer of Warwick, UK, Hamish Maxwell-Stuart of Northern Australia, Jennifer Gaynor of Buffalo, USA, Bo Poulsen and Johan Heinsen of CGS and many more.

The conference will take place in the Utzon Centre on May 24-25 – an appropriate venue for a conference on maritime history, since the auditorium gives a wonderful view of the waters of the Limfjord! To complete the two-days of discussion, we have arranged for an excursion on Saturday, May 26. And what is more appropriate than to go sailing? The excursion will take the participants on board the wooden schooner Saga of Struer and traverse the waves of the Limfjord. We might even hoist the Jolly Roger!

The conference web site will inform you on the specific program, details for registration etc. Please note, that registration is nearing deadline and there are still a few seats left.

Check it all out at: http://www.community-sea.aau.dk/

Ahoy!

(Johan Heinsen & Torben Kjersgaard Nielsen, part time pirates/scholars)
 

Fringe benefits of being a visiting academic

One of the welcome fringe benefits of being a visiting academic in North Jutland is that one can more readily access European social science gatherings such as the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) & European Association of Development Institutes (EADI) on political science & development studies, respectively. In mid-April, I was "locked up" in Antwerp for a week, not by the Flemish police but at the University of Antwerp for an ECPR workshop: one of some 25 in the consortium's annual ''joint sessions''!

With 20 other, mainly young, colleagues, several of whom I've published, we were all "detained" to present/discuss/debate on the global financial crisis & reform. I met an impressive set of political economists from the EU, including a new PhD by publication from AAU in PS, Dr. Martin Carstensen, now going to teach at CBS & another from Amsterdam, Dr. Jasper Blom, now at the ECB in Frankfurt who I hope to publish in the IPE Series, which I continue to edit for Palgrave Macmillan in the UK.

This is having a bumper year of 25 titles in 2012: the continuing crisis, especially around the EU is good for something! The latest title, on development policy, comes from the African Capacity-Building Foundation (ACBF) in Harare, edited by Drs Kobena Hanson & George Kararach & myself. Several major publishers such as CUP, OUP, Palgrave Macmillan & Routledge, as well as the Consortium's own press, were at this year's ECPR joint session & our Belgian hosts treated us well every evening.

I "escaped" on "parole" for just an hour to dip into one parallel session, on private security, being animated by Anna Leander from the CBS. These & similar post-grad (PG) sessions happen every year & AAU is a member of ECPR so there are no registration fees. I'd encourage all colleagues in political/social sciences, especially new ones, to apply for a short, enlightening 'sentence''! The ECPR also offers an annual PG student conference, book series, journals etc. Meanwhile, around supervisions/examinations/PhD seminar/regional research workshop etc in CGS, I go onto the special BISA/ISA conference in Edinburgh in late-June & biennial IPSA in Madrid in mid-July before heading back across the pond, where I am to help animate a new PhD in "Global Governance & Human Security" at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, informed by my week's "incarceration" in Belgium. (Tim Shaw)

New journal : "Ideas in History"

 

 

 

 

Journal for the Nordic Society of the History of Ideas is pleased to launch its new website. "Ideas in History" addresses intellectual history writ-large, and is open to a wide range of themes in the history of political thought, history of philosophy, cultural history, literary history, art history and methodology in intellectual history. Guidelines for submission may be found on the journal's website. The journal is published by Museum Tusculanum. Ben Dorfman is editor in chief, and Johan Heinsen the editorial assistant. "Ideas in History" is registered in the Danish bibliometrical system; the journal is the only English-language journal for intellectual history in Scandinavia. (Ben Dorfman)

The DR Academy: The Muslim Veil

Professor Birte Siim gave a lecture on the Muslim veil in the DR Academy on 12 April 2012 at 15:00. Discussions on the Muslim veils in public or private workplaces raise a democratic dilemma between freedom of religion and gender equality. Birte Siim gave an account of the way in which European countries have tackled the veil issue, and how it has become a symbol of struggle for liberal principles and values linked to democracy.

View Birte Siim's lecture on the DR website [in Danish only]

Guest PhD student at FREIA

My name is Vanna Nordling, and I was a guest PhD student at FREIA from 1 February to 15 April 2012.

I come from Lund University in Sweden, and the research work for my thesis deals with negotiations on citizenship on the basis of the example of social work with paperless migrants. I had the chance to present my project in FREIA’s seminar series, which was most rewarding. I also participated in courses and workshops arranged by FREIA and in other activities at Aalborg University, together with Nira Yuval-Davis and Ann Phoenix, among others. Because of the warm welcome I received and the large number of wise and relevant comments on my work, my stay provided a great deal of positive experience for me. I also had the opportunity of supervision, which was very valuable for me. Unfortunately, I had to move to a different room half way through my stay, which meant that it was quite messy and sometimes difficult to find my colleagues. However, I then got a new room close to the other people at FREIA, with a fine view (and very little furniture). By and large, I am very pleased with my visit and hope to be able to stay in contact with FREIA. (Guest PhD student Vanna Nordling, Lund University)

Building Stronger Universities (BSU) conference in Kisumu, Kenya 29 – 30 marts 2012

At the end of March, Diana Højlund Madsen and Inger Lassen participated in a conference in Kisumo, Kenya, under the title ‘Unpacking the concepts of Stability, Democracy and Rights: Theoretical investigations’. The conference was arranged jointly by Maseno University, Kenya, and the Danish universities as part of the BSU initiative. Parallel to this, similar conferences are held in the other cooperation countries under the platform Stability, Democracy and Rights, i.e. Nepal and Uganda. The objective of the conference was to deconstruct a number of concepts which are often used in development discourses. The programme focused on three themes: Stability and Fragility, Gender and Inequality, and Democracy and Rights, and Diana and Inger each presented a paper within the theme Gender Inequality.

Among the other presentations, focus was particularly on development in rural areas, breakup of family structures after the end of the civil war in Uganda, HIV/AIDS issues, the impact of social media on the democratic process, and a general theme was the impact of ethnicity prior to the upcoming elections in Kenya. To conclude a successful conference, the organisers had prepared a surprise for the Danish participants, and on the Saturday we were taken on a bike ride through Kisumu’s many neighbourhoods, sitting on the rear rack of one of the many eco-bicycle taxis of the city.(Diana Højlund Madsen and Inger Lassen) 

Future Scenarios on Greenland. The exhibition Possible Greenland

At the end of August, the Venice Biennale will open its doors to the 13th architecture exhibition. This year's Danish contribution is a number of Greenlandic future scenarios, presented under the title Possible Greenland. At the exhibition visitors will be able to follow a number of Danish and Greenlandic architects’ best suggestions as to Greenland’s future development under the themes Greenland Cultivating, Greenland Inhabiting, Greenland Connecting and Greenland Migrating.

Two assistant professors from our department, Lill Rastad Bjørst and Carina Ren, have been invited to contribute to the exhibition catalogue, which will be published as a special issue of the Nordic architecture magazine Conditions. In her contribution, Lill, who was employed in April as assistant professor at the newly established Center for Innovation and Research in Culture and Learning in the Arctic (CIRCLA), writes about climate changes and climate policy in Greenland. Her point of departure is the rhetorical question as to whether Greenland must be seen as a winner or a loser in this regard. The analytical and empirical material presented in the article are founded on detailed studies from Lill’s PhD thesis from November 2011 entitled Arctic discourses and climate changes in Greenland. Four (post)humanistic climate studies.

Carina, who is normally based in the Tourism Research Unit, describes in her contribution how climate changes, industrial development and the increase in oil and mineral extraction in Greenland, among other factors, are challenging the idea of Greenland as ‘cool’. The idea of the pristine, empty ice desert is increasingly being challenged in for instance political discourses, climate negotiations and the tourist industry by a ‘hot‘ version of Greenland. In this version, Greenland is portrayed as a ‘hot potato’ which is moving geostrategically and financially from periphery to centre. It is being argued that the exhibition must also be seen as a contribution in the ongoing negotiation on Greenland in the future. The question is how these competing versions and visions of society emerge and who is given voice and space in the phrasing of them. (Carina Ren)

Key note speach on on 'The Integration of Science, Technology and Innovation in re-modeling the African Development Agenda'

I gave a paper and key note on 'The Integration of Science, Technology and Innovation in re-modeling the African Development Agenda', where 57 ministers from Africa and others from the rest of the world participated. The Ministerial Conference part where I was selected to makea presenation was opened by the Kenyan President and involved ministries of Higher Education and also Science and Technology Ministers. It was received positively with curioisity and interest from the feedback from experts, ministers and the media.

Please see the conference program here (Mammo Muchie)

News on names

Ashley Kim Stewart

My name is Ashley Kim Stewart and, although born in Johannesburg, South Africa, I lived in Malawi for much of my childhood. I moved back to Joburg and, after completing my B.Ed. in English and Psychology at the then-Rand Afrikaans University (now the University of Johannesburg), I had three fantastic years teaching high school (mainly English language and literature, but also life orientation and drama), before moving to Denmark to do my MSc in Development and International Relations at Aalborg University.

I have been teaching English as a Second Language and Business English courses in Denmark since I graduated, and since 1 April 2012 I have been enrolled at AAU again as a PhD scholar. My project is entitled China’s Aid and Trade in Africa. It will examine the relations between China and Africa, and, in particular, seek to focus on the impact of this developing association on Africa and, by extension, the international world order. It will concentrate on the interconnected subjects of aid and trade, looking specifically at the actualities and attempting to separate these from the various opinions on the subject.

I live in Aalborg with my husband (who is in the Engineering Faculty here at AAU) and our two cats. I have abiding passions for feline genetics and the science fiction genre, and I am really looking forward to getting involved in researching and teaching at the University.

New professor with special responsibilities

Søren von Dosenrode has been appointed professor in International Politics as of 1 may 2012. Many congratulations to the new professor.

 

 

 

Successful PhD defence!

On 30 April, Zeleke Bekele Worku defended his PhD thesis entitled “Factors that affect adverse outcomes of pregnancy among women with ages 15 to 49 in Pretoria, South Africa”. Many congratulations to Zeleke Bekele Worku on his newly acquired PhD degree.

 

Henrik Halkier: 25-Year Anniversary

Henrik Halkier, Head of Department and Professor at the Department of Culture and Global Studies, Aalborg University, celebrated his 25th anniversary as a civil servant on 1 May 2012.

We will mark the occasion with a reception Friday 1 June 2012 at 14:00 at 3, Kroghstræde, in the area outside room 3.115.

Everyone is welcome.

For planning reasons we kindly ask you to register your attendance with Susanne Calstrup no later than 25 May 2012.

The invitation may be downloaded as a pdf-file

Upcoming events

'Community and the Sea in the Age of Sail'. Conference Excursion on 26 May

The conference programme is almost ready on the conference homepage. The conference will include participants from USA, UK, Australia, South Africa, Holland, Sweden, Finland and Denmark. The conference is still open for registration.

Registration deadline: 10 May 2012.

The conference has organized an exciting sailing trip with the schooner Saga on the Limfjord from 10.00 to 14.00. Saga was originally built in 1935 in Finland as a wooden schooner using larch, oak and pine. She measures 81 feet (24.8 m and has a gross tonnage of 39.06 GT). Saga is equipped with two masts and offers a sail area of 280 m2. Saga was originally designed to transport mainly wood and sand in Scandinavia. Over the years Saga has sailed worldwide, especially in the Caribbean as a school ship and occasionally as a charter ship. The excursion with Saga will take us onto the Limfjord, one of the most important Danish water sways. The excursion lasts about 4 hours and includes a lunch menu (drinks will be on your own expense. (Torben K. Nielsen)

For more information about the conference please visit the conference website

Open research seminar

Thursday 24 May from 10:00 – 17:00 FRIEA and DIR invite participants to an open research seminar under the title: "Engendering (In)Security and Conflict".

Please see the programme here

Workshop

A workshop in “Discourse Analysis Theory and Method” will be held from Tuesday 22 May 2012 at 9:00 till Friday 25 May at 15:30. The workshop theme is "Intertextuality in text and talk – different approaches".

The workshop is organised by ASBSS (Aarhus School of Business and Social Sciences), SDU (University of Southern Denmark), AAU (Aalborg University, the Doctoral programme for Human Centered Communication and Informatics (HCCI), and the Doctoral Programme for Discourse and Contemporary Culture).

For further information please see here    

	This was the news we decided to bring in this May issue of Global News.
	Rita Cancino & Cirkeline Kappel