Monthly Archives: April 2023

24-25/8 Critical Perspectives on Precarious and Informal Work

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CALL FOR ABSTRACTS

Critical Perspectives on Precarious and Informal Work

24th-25th, August 2023

University of Helsinki, Finland

We are excited to invite you to submit individual paper proposals to the kick-off symposium of the project Tackling Precarious and Informal Work in the Nordic Countries (Future Challenges in the Nordics programme)

Deadline extended to May 15th, 2023

The two-day symposium brings together scholars across different disciplines studying precarious and informal work in the Nordics and beyond. The world of work is being transformed by globalisation, deregulation, digitalisation, robotization, and demographic changes due to population ageing and migration. In addition, frequent shocks such as financial crises, the pandemic, and the current energy crisis impact workers across the Nordics and beyond. The erosion of secure employment is a phenomenon that transcends nation-state borders. We are also witnessing the increase of precarious work especially in, but not limited to, sectors like cleaning, construction, and agriculture and in new modes of organising work such as the platform economy.

Especially the Nordic social model, characterized by high employment and taxes, low wage and income equality, and comprehensive welfare regimes, has relied on the prevalence of formal employment at reasonable pay. The symposium seeks to tackle the following questions, but not limited to these:  How do welfare states respond to these transformations? What are the effects of the erosion of secure employment on individual workers and communities? In which ways are different labour sectors, labour relations, and labour processes changing? How do intersecting inequalities based on gender, ‘race’, ethnicity, class, migrancy, and so forth structure the everyday of work?  In which novel ways do relations of production and social reproduction intermingle in the contemporary transformations of work? Do the concepts of precarious and informal work capture the changing world of work or should these be re-thought?

We encourage paper proposals coming from a range of disciplines and welcome submissions from scholars representing various approaches, backgrounds, and scholarly career stages.

Our keynote speakers include Professor Emeritus Nancy Folbre (University of Massachusetts Armherst, USA) presenting via Zoom, Professor Emeritus Karl Ove Moene (University of Oslo, Norway) and Professor Janine Leschke (Copenhagen Business School, Denmark).

The symposium is on site and a conference fee of 50 euros will cover lunch and refreshments. Please submit your 250-300 word abstract to precanord2023@helsinki.fi by May 15th, 2023.

For more information: PrecaNord website and PrecaNord at Future Nordics webpage

26/4 Navigating opportunities and risks on Social Networking SitesTime


IMER Lunch Seminar Online self-presentations of young migrant women in Norway: Navigating opportunities and risks on Social Networking Sites
Time: Wednesday 26th April 2023, 12.00 – 13.00
Place: Bergen Global, Jekteviksbakken 31
You can also follow through Zoom. 
It will be great to know if you plan to join us using the registration link here. A light lunch will be served. 
Social Networking Sites (SNS) represent important social arenas in young people’s everyday life. SNS give young people with migrant backgrounds opportunities to keep in touch with family and friends in transnational networks and create opportunities to establish “digital neighbourhoods” of youth in Norway and elsewhere. Activities on SNS, however, also involve risk in relation to visibility and exposure and may reproduce and even reinforce processes of marginalization.
About the Seminar
In this seminar, Ingrid Onarheim Spjeldnæs and Rita Agdal will present research findings where they group-interviewed 15 young women aged 16 to 26 years who have lived in Norway for several years and originate from the Greater Middle East or from the Horn of Africa.
Their analysis suggests that these young women present themselves in carefully tailored ways according to affordances of SNS, such as anonymity, visibility, and persistence. Self-presentations are managed towards several particular, yet large and diverse audiences, bearing in mind the constant risks of experiencing challenges, such as “context collapse.” Their analysis draws upon research from communication researcher Hollenbaugh (2021) as well as a broader framework of social psychology and symbolic interactions.
Spjeldnæs and Agdal’s presentation will also touch upon the topic of settings-based health promotion strategies that aim to enable people to increase control over their health and environments. In this case, it implies sharing strategies to navigate complex networks, like emphasizing the importance of anonymous chats, sharing health-related information with extended networks with lower e-literacy, and the cocreation of health promotion strategies. Ingrid Onarheim Spjeldnæs is an Associate Professor at the Department of Welfare and Participation at the Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Research group of Community Work.Rita Agdal is an Associate Professor at the Department of Welfare and Participation at the Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Research group of Community Work.
Publications
Agdal, R. & Spjeldnaes, I.O. (2023). Developing Public Health Promotion Strategies for Social Networking Sites: Perspectives of Young Immigrant Women in Norway. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20, 4033. https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/5/4033 Agdal, R., Zachariassen, H.& Spjeldnæs, I.O. (2022). Samfunnsarbeid i digitale nabolag: Tre perspektiver på unge kvinner med innvandrerbakgrunn sine vilkår for deltakelse på sosiale nettverkssider. I Ågotnes, G.& Larsen, A.K. (Red.), Kollektiv mobilisering: teori og praksis. Cappelen Damm Akademisk. https://press.nordicopenaccess.no/index.php/noasp/catalo
For questions about the event or if you experience problems registering, etc., please contact: Felicity.Okoth@uib.no