The minority research profile of Åbo Akademi University organises a number of cyclical and standalone events on topical issues relating to minority positions and identities, including a yearly Minority Seminar and monthly Lunch Seminars.

Past Lunch Seminars

September 25th 2024

Samira Saramo, Migration Institue of Finland: Mapping Entangled Finnish Migrant-Settler Histories in Ontario, Åbo Akademi University.

April 17th 2024

Natan Elgabsi, Åbo Akademi University: On the Ethics and Responsibility of Being the Afterlife

February 7th 2024

Camilla Kronqvist, Åbo Akademi University: Ethical Explorations: Rethinking Our Sexual Relations.

January 24th 2024

Anna Avdeeva, Åbo Akademi University: Caring minorities: the case of post-Soviet immigrants in Finnish elderly care services provided in Swedish.

December 13th 2023

Marietta van der Tol, University of Oxford: Marginalisation of minorities by means of European constitutions. 

November 22nd 2023

Eveliina Lyytinen & Erna Bodström, Migration Institute of Finland & University of Helsinki: The end of refuge as a legal status – How and why people end up losing their residence permit based on international protection? 

October 25th, 2023

Otso Kortekangas, Åbo Akademi University: Sámi History and Truth and Reconciliation Processes in the Nordic Countries. 

September 27th, 2023

Lovisa Andén, The Arctic University of Norway: Siberia as a “Cemetery of Nations”: Memoirs written by ethnical Minorities in Soviet Deportation.

May 24th, 2023

Peter Ehrström, Åbo Akademi University: Place, Society and Popular Culture

April 26th 2023

Magdalena Zolkos, University of Jyväskylä: Oneiric seismographies of war: A reading of Ukrainian dream-diaries.

March 29th, 2023

Fredrik Nilsson, Åbo Akademi University:The medical barrier. Biopolitical borderwork and humanitarian aid in Swedish refugee camps, 1943-1948.

February 22nd 2023

Karin Creutz, University of Helsinki: The Dynamics of Polarization.

December 7th, 2022

Helga West, University of Helsinki: Sámi Contextual Theology as a part of Indigenous Theologies.

November 16th, 2022

Kim Strandberg, Åbo Akademi University: How polarized is the Swedish-speaking population in Finland?

October 26th, 2022

Taru Leppänen, Åbo Akademi University: Babies in the middle of intersectional and feminist new materialist politics

September 14th, 2022

Holger Weiss, Åbo Akademi University: Moving Mountains: Expansion and activities of Muslim NGOs in Ghana during the ‘internet age’’

May 11th, 2022

Xiao Lan Curdt-Christiansen, University of Bath: Pride, Profit and Prejudice: Keeping up with Multilingualism in Families.

April 27th, 2022

Salla Aldrin Salskov, Åbo Akademi University: On homonationalism, intersectionality and anti-racistist and queeractivisms in academic spaces

February 16th, 2022

Tanja Kohvakka, Åbo Akademi University: The Inclusion of Minorities in History Education in Finland

January 26th, 2022

Annika Koskelainen, Åbo Akademi University: Sweden Finns – the largest national minority in the Nordic countries 

December 1st, 2021

Sandra Waller, Åbo Akademi University: Minorities and exotic images – Finland-Swedish theatre and press 1870–1939

November 10th, 2021

Reetta Humalajoki, John Morton Center for North American Studies: “We Cannot Go Without a National Organization Any Longer”: Indigenous Political Organizing in Canada, 1961-1972

October 6th, 2021

Marina Lindell, Åbo Akademi University: Analysing trends and opinions among the Swedish-speaking Finns. Results from the Barometer and the Language Barometer 2016-2021

September 8th, 2021

Marika Kivinen & Maren Jonasson, Åbo Akademi University: Untold Stories – using creative writing and music to tell stories about Finland and colonialism

May 12th, 2021

Laura Hollsten, Åbo Akademi University: Utopian pacifists under dictatorship: The Finnish utopian community Viljavakka in the Dominican Republic

April 28th, 2021

Camilla Nordberg & Hanna Kara, Åbo Akademi University: Power and temporality in migrant family encounters with the street-level welfare state 

March 17th, 2021

Anna Sell, Åbo Akademi University: Ageing and digital exclusion

February 17th, 2021

Katri Gadd, Åbo Akademi University: Combining theory and qualitative methods in research with irregular migrants

January 20th, 2021

Marcus Moberg, Åbo Akademi University: The YARG project: Religion and Young Adults around the World

December 9th, 2020

Aleksi Huhta, University of Helsinki: Finnish-American Radicalism in a World of Empires: Connections, Borders and Memory

October 21th, 2020

Fredrica Nyqvist, Åbo Akademi University: Social inclusion among older adults – focus on linguistic minorities in a national and international context (AgeMin)

September 16th, 2020

Leonardo Custodio, Åbo Akademi University: Marginalized Voices, media activism and change(s)

May 20th, 2020

Anaïs Duong-Pedica, Åbo Akademi University: Impure bodies in the settler colonial space: contemporary experiences of mixed-race kanak in Kanaky/New-Caledonia

April 15th, 2020

Heidi Katz, Åbo Akademi University: Examining American teachers’ adherence to color-blind racism

February 12th, 2020

Mats Wickström, Åbo Akademi University: Keep Swedish Finland Swedish: Postwar Finland-Swedish Minority Nationalism

January 15th, 2020

Rosa Salmela, Åbo Akademi University: Morphological and Lexical Processing in Finnish as a Second Language

December 11th, 2019

Johannes Brusila, Åbo Akademi University: The Impact of Digitalisation on Minority Music: Finland-Swedish Music Culture as Case Study

November 20th, 2019

Siv Björklund, Linda Storås and Mari Bergroth, Åbo Akademi University:
“Linguistically sensitive teaching for all classrooms”, a European policy experiment Project, co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme

October 23rd, 2019

Ruth Illman, Åbo Akademi: Researching Jewish Everyday Life Today: the Minhag Finland Project

September 18th, 2019

Jan-Eerik Leppänen, Åbo Akademi: Being Deaf in Hong Kong

May 15th, 2019

Mikaela Björklund, Åbo Akademi: DivEd – Diversity in Education

March 20th, 2019

Kalypso Filippou, University of Turku: International Master’s Degree Programmes in Finland: Expectations, experiences and the thesis supervision process

February 20th, 2019

Hanna Lindberg, University of Tampere: Minority citizenship in the Finnish welfare state. Finnish-Swedish deaf persons ca 1950-2000.

January 23rd, 2019

Marja Tiilikainen, Abdirashid Ismail and Johanna Hiitola, Migration Institute of Finland: Family Separation, Migration Status and Everyday Security: Experiences and Strategies of Vulnerable Migrants

December 12th, 2018

Yunus Dumbe, Lecturer in Islamic Studies, Religious Studies Department, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, visiting fellow at Åbo Akademi University: Neglected Youth, Vulnerability and Islamic Radicalisation in Ghana

November 21st, 2018

Waheeda Amien, Associate Professor and Deputy-Dean of Internationalisation and Outreach, Faculty of Law, University of Cape Town, visiting fellow at Åbo Akademi University: Incorporating Muslim Family Law into Secular Legal Frameworks

October 24th, 2018

Mikaela Heikkilä and Maija Mustaniemi-Laakso, RELAY Project, Åbo Akademi University: Who is in and who is out? On the different understandings of vulnerability.

September 19th, 2018

Hasan Habes, Åbo Akademi University: The Attitudes toward Sexual Minorities (homosexuals) in Swedish-speaking Ostrobothnia

Heidi Katz, Åbo Akademi University: Exploring opportunity and wellbeing of minorities in American and Finnish school systems

Michel Rouleau-Dick, Åbo Akademi University: Safeguarding the rights of environmentally displaced persons: a worst-case scenario approach

May 16th, 2018

Hilda Ruokolainen, Åbo Akademi University: Misinformation as a barrier to social inclusion in the context of asylum seekers in Finland

April 18th, 2018

Wilhelm Barner-Rasmussen, Åbo Akademi University: Minority and Diversity in International Business

March 28th, 2018

Maïmouna Jagne-Soreau, University of Helsinki: Postmigration literature in the Nordic countries

March 21st, 2018

Emmanuel Acquah, Åbo Akademi University: Increasing Diversity in Finnish Classrooms: Are Teachers Prepared for the Task Ahead?

January 17th, 2018

Erna Bodström, University of Helsinki: “General and unspecified”: Argumentation and intertextuality in asylum decisions 

November 15th, 2017

Maria Hokkinen, Åbo Akademi University: Rebuilding a life from zero – consumer identity and vulnerability in the context of refugees living in Finland

Linda Hyökki, Ibn Haldun University, Istanbul: Finnish Convert Muslim Experiences on (Mis-)recognition and Islamophobia

October 18th, 2017

Johan Bastubacka, University of Helsinki and Åbo Akademi University: Tolerance, oppression and misunderstandings: An Orthodox perspective on ecclesiastical law and -administration in Karelia during the Swedish Great Power Era

September 20th, 2017

Rusi Jaspal, De Montfort University and Åbo Akademi University: Managing and reconciling minority identities: insights from social psychology

May 16th, 2017

Karen Fisher, University of Washington and Åbo Akademi University: The Za’atari Refugee Camp Cookbook: How space, gender and time affect information behavior

April 19th, 2017

Aminkeng Atabong Alemanji, University of Helsinki/University of Turku: Antiracism education in and out of school in Finland

TEMREN-network meeting, the three assistant/associate professors in minority studies at ÅAU presented their ongoing projects

March 15th, 2017

Johannes Heikkonen, University of Turku: Religious freedom – a right for minorities?

February 15th, 2017

Ahmed Al-Nawas, Pauline Hortelano, Katarina Jungar, Faith Mkwesha and Christopher Wessels, Åbo Akademi University: The Children’s Library Project 

January 18th, 2017 

Minja Westerlund, Åbo Akademi University: The role of emotion regulation strategies on intolerant attitudes toward minorities

Marlijn Meijer, Åbo Akademi University: Young Adults and Their Experience of Multiple Discrimination in Relation to Sexuality, Religion and Gender: Identity Configurations and Intersectionality

Emma Audas, Åbo Akademi University: Re-thinking Marriage Ideals and Authority in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland

Other Past Minority Profile Events

Public Talk Series “Unpacking the Nordic Model”

Finland often justifies its policy or legal decisions based on developments in other Nordic countries, in particular in Sweden. In the Public Lecture series organised by the Minority Research Profile at Åbo Akademi University  this approach has been and will be scrutinized in relation to diverse policies including on border, economy and education. In focus also stands how Finland, and other Nordic countries respect or stray away from their international and Human Rights obligations while implementing these policies.

The first lecture in the series titled “Deportation dreams and racist imaginaries: Shifts and continuities in Denmark and Sweden’s migration control regimes” on October 3rd 2024 was given by dr Annika Lindberg from the University of Gothenburg. Professor Elina Pirjatanniemi from the Åbo Akademi University served as a commentator.

Keynote talk “Feminism and Class: where we have been and where we are heading”, September 16th 2024

The keynote talk was delivered by Beverley Skeggs,  Emeritus Professor of Sociology at Lancaster University. Previously Director of the Atlantic Fellows Programme at the LSE, Professor of Sociology at Goldsmiths, University of London and Manchester University. The event was co-organised by gender studies research seminar at Åbo Akademi University & University of Turku, in collaboration with the Minority Research Profile at ÅAU.

Workplace integration of professional migrants in Finland: The role of language, April 22nd 2024

The symposium will focus on how the linguistic landscape and prevalent language ideologies in Finland shape professional migrants’ opportunities to integrate into the Finnish workplace. Invited international guests will help find new angles on the local context, while workshops will shed light on key actors’ needs and affordances. The symposium is co-hosted by the COSMO project (funded by the Research Council of Finland), the Beyond Language Ideologies project (funded by the Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland), and the Minority Profile at ÅAU.

Symposium on philosophy and the problem of otherness, April 12th 2024

The aim of the symposium was to explore the challenges that issues of diversity, exclusion and inclusion pose for philosophy in particular, and academia in general. It discussed issues of inclusion, exclusion and diversity in philosophy, addressing questions relevant to other disciplines, for example, minority- and gender studies

The symposium was arranged by the department of Philosophy at Åbo Akademi and by Minority studies at Åbo Akademi.

Ph.D. Workshop- Method, Minorities and Law- April 12th 2024

This workshop provides a platform for Ph.D. students to consider the evolving challenges and complexities surrounding minority interactions with legal systems, acknowledging that these issues are dynamic and require ongoing exploration. The workshop encourages interdisciplinary engagement, enabling participants to draw from diverse perspectives to help enrich the discourse on minority encounters with the law, ensuring that research in this vital area continues to evolve and make meaningful contributions to scholarship, methodology, social justice and equity.

Convenors: Ph.D researchers Isabell Junkkari & Karla Schröter, Institute for Human Rights, Åbo Akademi University

Ph.D. Workshop- Applying for funding- November 22nd 2023

Held by Johnny Långstedt, grant writer and research specialist at Åbo Akademi University.

Ph.D. Workshop: Open Science – Risks and Possibilities in the Field of Minority Studies- October 5th 2023

Speakers:

• Senior researcher, docent Eveliina Lyytinen (Migration Institute)
• Research data management expert, docent Lise Eriksson (Åbo Akademi University)
• Leading Coordinator for Open Science Malin Fredriksson (Åbo Akademi University)

Minority research public talks in education

Vanessa de Oliveira Andreotti: Beyond Inclusion: Gesturing Towards Decolonial Futures (17 May 2021)

Pigga Keskitalo: What Can We Learn From Sámi Education? (9 April 2021)

Greg Wiggan: Nurturing Minority Student Success: Disrupting Curricula and Pedagogical Violence While Promoting High Achievement (1 March 2021)

Mariana Souto-Manning: On the Abolition of Belonging as Property and its Politics of Exclusion: Toward Justice for Immigrant Children and Children of Immigrants of Color (1 February 2021)

Kara Mitchell Viesca and Nancy Commins: Humanizing Pedagogies with Multilingual Learners (14 December 2020)

Webinar: Deterrence of immigrants – the case of Poland 29 April 2021 (co-organized with the Migration Law Research Centre at the Institute of Law Studies Polish Academy of Sciences)

Speakers: Stephen Phillips (Åbo Akademi University), Witold Klaus ( Migration Law Research Centre at the Institute of Law Studies Polish Academy of Sciences), Marcin Princ (Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań and Migration Law Research Centre ILS PAS), Chair: Magdalena Kmak (Åbo Akademi University)

Afternoon Seminar on Societal Impact and Living Lab 28 October 2020

Speakers: Siv Björklund, Johanna Liinamaa, Magnus Hellström, Sanna Heittola, Lauri Rapeli, Anette Bengs, Linda Storås, Mari Bergroth, Henny Haagensen, Leonardo da Costa Custodio, Marina Bendtsen. Event organised by the Steering Group for Minority Research.

Symposium and Workshop: Ethics of Studying Forced Mobilities 7-8 October 2020.

Keynote speakers: Associate Professor Christina Clark-Kazak (University of Ottawa, Canada) and Professor Anna Lundberg (Linköping University, Sweden). The event was co-organized by the University of Oulu, the Migration Institute of Finland (MIF), Åbo Akademi University and the Centre of Excellence in Law, Identity and the European Narratives, University of Helsinki.

Research seminar 23 October 2019

Speaker: Visiting Professor Julia Shaw (De Montfort University Leicester). The event was organized by the Institute for Human Rights, Åbo Akademi.

Marginality and Centrality in Contradictory Discourses of Religious and National Belonging 18-19 October 2019

The conference formed part of the Bremen-Turku-Warsaw-Stockholm Series on Studies in Discourse and Contradiction. It focused on declarations of marginal and central belonging with a particular focus on religion and nationality.

Public Lectures in Minority Studies September 11 and 12, 2019

Research seminar: ”Towards Linguistic Inclusion in International Business” 6 February 2019

Speaker: Visiting Professor Martyna Sliwa (University of Essex). The event was organized by the ÅAU School of Business and Economics (International Marketing) with support by the Minority Profile.

Seminar: Future research on sexual and gender minorities in Finland? 11-12 January 2019

At the seminar, researchers, students, activists and people engaged in NGOs from across Europe explored the issue ‘what are relevant and urgent questions for future research on LGBTiQA+’ from their respective perspectives and horizons, with the goal to nurture thoughts and ideas on new research projects. Main keynote speakers were Dr. Erika Alm, University of Gothenburg, Dr. Rusi Jaspal, De Montfort University, Dr. Tuula Juvonen, University of Turku, Dr. Ruth Pearce, University of Leeds, and Dr. Luca Trappolin, University of Padova.

Conference: ETMU-Days 2018: Vulnerability, Resilience and Resistance in Diverse Societies 15-16 November 2018

The conference’s goal was to reflect on the meanings, effects and resistances towards vulnerability in the context of mobility, migration and minoritization. Vulnerability, understood as both a universal and constant aspect of everyday life and a particular predicament of differently resilient individuals, having recently become an important concept within migration and minority studies. The keynote speakers were Dr. Jenny Phillimore (University of Birmingham, UK), Dr. Julian Reid (University of Lapland, Finland), and Dr. Rebecca Stern (Uppsala University, Sweden).

The conference was organised by the Minority Research Profile and the Institute for Human Rights at the Åbo Akademi University and the Society for the Study of Ethnic Relations and International Migration (ETMU), in cooperation with the Migration Institute of Finland, the Turku Network for Research on Multiculturalism and Societal Interaction (Turku McNet) at the University of Turku, and the Donner Institute. http://blogs2.abo.fi/etmublog2018/

Guest lecture: Quelle démarche ethnographique dans la recherche en contexte de minorisation? 13 September 2018

Speaker: Dr. Samuel Vernet, Université Grenoble-Alpes. The event was organized together with the subject French language and literature at the Faculty of Arts, Psychology and Theology, Åbo Akademi.

Workshop: Ethnographic research methods, 30 August 2018

The minority profile workshop for doctoral students was led by Karen Fisher, Professor at Information School at University of Washington, Consultant for UNHCR Jordan, Visiting Professor at the Open Lab, Newcastle University, U.K., and Adjunct Professor at Åbo Akademi University.

Open lecture: Ethnographic research among minority groups and positions, 30 August 2018

Speaker: Karen Fisher, Professor at Information School at University of Washington, Consultant for UNHCR Jordan, Visiting Professor at the Open Lab, Newcastle University, U.K., and Adjunct Professor at Åbo Akademi University.

Seminar: Language-group differences in health and social services, 15 May 2018
Seminar organized at Åbo Akademi in Vaasa. Speakers included: Professor Jan Saarela, Language-group differences in health in Finland, Professor Louise Bouchard, French-speaking minority in Canada, and Executive Director Jennifer Johnson, Health and social services for the English-speaking minority in Quebec.

Seminar: Institutional Vulnerability and Legal Frictions: Exploring Gender Identity, Reproductive Technology, and the Children’s Act in Denmark, 2 May 2018

Speaker: Dr. Stu Marvel, Distinguished Scholar in Residence, Emory University School of Law & Lecturer in Law at University of Leeds School of Law. The seminar was organized in collaboration with the Institute for Human Rights at Åbo Akademi University.

Minority Profile Public Lecture 5 April 2018

Niko Pyrhönen, University of Helsinki: Kansallismielisten tarinoiden kaaret uudesta vanhaan mediaan. The lecture, which took place at the Turku City Library, formed part of the ÅA100 celebration events.

Open lectures in Minority Research 19 January 2018

Prof. Karim Murji, University of West London: A theorist-activist: some lessons of Stuart Hall

Docent Nazar Akrami, Uppsala University: On the psychological approaches to prejudice and discrimination

Prof. Mary McClintock Fulkerson, Duke Divinity School: Bodies Matter: Habituation at Odds With Faithful Belief

Prof. Yvette Taylor, University of Strathclyde: The Queer Map, Academia and Me

Minority Profile Public Lecture 13 November 2017

Nazila Ghanea, associate professor of international human rights law at the University of Oxford, lectured on the topic of “Women and Religion: Bridging the Divides?” on the basis of her recent report   Women and Religious Freedom: Synergies and Opportunities (July 2017)

Organised in collaboration with the University of Helsinki, Finnish Ecumenical Council and Felm

Nordic seminar Integration in Cooperation, at Åbo Akademi University 15–16 May 2017

Information studies at Åbo Akademi University arranged a Nordic seminar on Integration in Cooperation, 15–16 May 2017. Seminar presentations and discussions focused on research being conducted on refugee information practices, seeking and use, and on information services for refugees and immigrants.

Key scholars, Professor Nadia Caidi, University of Toronto, Professor Karen Fisher, University of Washington and Professor Annemaree Lloyd, University of Borås, presented their work during the seminar.

The Concept of Tolerance and its Implications in the Humanities and Social Sciences, at Åbo Akademi University 18 May 2017

The departments of French and Russian Languages and Literatures organised a seminar on the concept of tolerance on 18 May, 11-15 o’clock in auditorium Saussure M128, Arken. The call for papers focused on proposals which dealt with a variety of aspects of tolerance/intolerance (tolerance over time, tolerance and gender issue, tolerance in literature, tolerance and its linguistic implications, tolerance in national, cultural and religious conflicts, etc).

Seminar and lecture by Andrzej Rzepliński in collaboration with the Turku University and the University of Helsinki

25 April 2017, 14-16 ‘Murder and its perpetrators in the Polish penitentiary system’ (Faculty of Law, Univeristy of Turku, DataCity, lecture room DC2101)

26 April 2017, 17-19 ‘The Crisis of Constitutionalism’. (Faculty of Law, University of Helsinki, room P545, Yliopistonkatu 3, Helsinki).

Seminar: Criminality of Migrants in Poland in history and in the present, 25 April 2017

Irena Rzeplińska, professor at the Department of Criminology of the Polish Academy of Sciences presented the forthcoming book ‘Criminality of Foreigners: Legal, Criminological and Practical Aspects’.

The seminar took place on 25 April from 10-12 at the Åbo Akademi, Room A309 Agnes Lundell, Fänriksgatan 3, ASA.

Minority Profile Public Lecture 24 April 2017

Andrzej Rzepliński, professor at Warsaw University, President of the Constitutional Tribunal of Poland from 2010-2016, lectured on the topic of ‘Constitution and Minorities’. Juha Lavapuro, professor of law at the University of Turku acted as respondent. The lecture took place on 24 April 2017, time: 15-17 (A 120 Stora Auditoriet, ASA).

Past Minority Profile Annual Seminars

The minority profile of Åbo Akademi University organises yearly seminars on topical issues, with a focus on complexities involved in the production and construction of minority positions and identities.

11 April 2024 Many Gazes of Law: Plurality and Ordering

Organised in collaboration with Åbo Akademi Law School, the seminar engaged critically with law manifesting itself in various forms and functions, and at various levels of social reality. Sources, subjects and practices of law were approached from five perspectives: Law as rights; Law as legal profession; Law as jurisprudence; Law as education; and Law as justice. The seminar questioned the gaze of contemporary law: whose is it, what does it see and how does it order legal practice? Whose voice is amplified and who is silenced? What happens when we turn the gaze back on law? What are the possibilities of seeing and therefore thinking and acting otherwise – should we and how so –  in order to include a plurality of voices and positionalities, including those who are differently minoritized? The seminar was followed by a PhD workshop on April 12th.

11 May 2023 Contesting the Collective Past: Exploring Testimony and Cultural Memory in Minority Research

This seminar was organised in collaboration with the departments of history and philosophy at Åbo Akademi University.

The seminar explored the role of testimony and cultural memory for knowledge and understanding of minority positions in the humanities and social sciences. During the past three decades, cultural memory and testimony have become key concepts in almost all forms of progressive social and historical research. This development has given researchers access to the counter stories of dispossessed minorities – stories that can be used to challenge the hegemony narratives of the majority by exposing experiences that were previously either avoided or downright silenced. At the same time, and in direct opposition to such emancipatory projects, cultural memory and testimony serves currently also as a central resource for the revival of nationalist myths all over Europe. This raises questions, on the one hand, about how to separate between uses and abuses of cultural memory and testimony, and on the other hand about the role of appeals to ‘experience’ for knowledge and understanding in the humanities and social sciences.

6-7 April 2022 Living with the Sea

The seminar was co-organised in collaboration with the ÅAU strategic profiling area The Sea. The seminar focused on coastal regions and climate change and will hereby explored water as a space: as a space of movement and life/living, as a shared and disputed space, and as a space for politics, governance and justice. It explored existing plurilegal regimes & governance, including critically in light of alternative visions and models, e.g. indigenous perspectives on human-water relations or the decentering of anthropocentric perspectives through object oriented ontologies, as well as climate justice.

14-16 May 2021 Minority Experiences and European Narratives: Contemporary and Historical Perspectives

The seminar was organised together with the Centre of Excellence in Law, Identity and the European Narratives (EuroStorie) at the University of Helsinki. The seminar explored the multifaceted links between minority experiences and European narratives, both in the past and in the present. It also discussed how the idea of Europe has developed with reference to minority experiences in the official narratives of the policy papers produced under the auspices of the Council of Europe and the European Union.

25 April 2019 Writing In, Writing Out – Historicizing Agency, Mobility and Positionality

The annual seminar explored histories and historiographies of minority positions. It traced practices of exclusion and inclusion, agency and mobility through archives and the materialities of class, race, body, gender and religion. How, what and whose stories are being told and untold – and by whom? How can they be told otherwise? The seminar was followed by a PhD-workshop on 26 April 2019.

8-9 March 2018 Interfacing Minorities: Creative Hybridity and Unexpected Environments

The Faculty of Arts, Psychology and Theology in conjunction with the Minority Research Profile hosted the interdisciplinary conference in collaboration with the Coimbra Group’s working group in Social Sciences and Humanities.

The emphasis was on positive outcomes, innovations, and solutions arising from the creative friction experienced by minority groups coming into contact with similarly positioned and larger communities. Themes included: ‘Minorities and New Narratives of Belonging’ and ‘Minorities and Commons’.

17 May 2017 What is minority? – Annual seminar in minority studies at Åbo Akademi

The aim of the seminar was to reflect on theoretical and methodological aspects of the concept of minority. It asked the following questions: what is minority? who defines minority? how are minorities constructed? should we define minority? how are minorities positioned?

20 May 2016 Seminar on Åbo Akademi University’s Minority Research