2024
The Gold Medal Lecture 2024: Worth the Wait? On Attention and Time in Anne Carson’s Poetry
Can art change our relation to time? Literary scholar Emma Helene Heggdal gives the first Gold Medal Lecture at the Faculty of Humanities.
Time and place: Dec. 5, 2024 3:30 PM – 4:00 PM, Sophus Bugges hus i Auditorium 3
Every year, a young researcher is awarded His Majesty the King of Norway's Gold Medal for an outstanding scientific work assessed at the University of Oslo. In 2024, Emma Helene Heggdal received this distinction for her dissertation “Poetic Endurance: Waiting and Poetic Time in Three Long Poems by Anne Carson.”
This year, the Faculty of Humanities invites you to an open lecture by the gold medal recipient. Welcome to an afternoon with mulled wine, gingerbread, and outstanding literary research!
Welcome by Vice Dean for research Mathilde Skoie.
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The event is free and open to everyone, but you must register to participate.
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About the lecture
Waiting is something that most of us endure reluctantly, perhaps impatiently tapping our feet or trying to distract ourselves with our phones, eager for the rush of ordinary time to return. Culturally, we seem to be fundamentally opposed to waiting, as we seek to maximize economization of all aspects of our lives; faster, and for a greater profit, could be the motto of our times. What then, is the value of considering waiting as a temporal experience? What are the relations between waiting and attention, and how can our aesthetic experiences reveal to us existential, and even ethical, implications of attentive waiting?
Building on her dissertation Poetic Endurance: Waiting and Poetic Time in Three Long Poems by Anne Carson (2022), Heggdal explores waiting and attention as concepts with vital philosophical and aesthetic importance, in relation to thinkers and researchers such as Henri Bergson, Simone Weil, Maurice Blanchot, Lisa Baraitser, and Lucy Alford.
To illustrate the potential value of attentive waiting and its relation to the aesthetic, she uses the experimental long poem Nox (2010) by the contemporary author and scholar Anne Carson as an example. It is a complex work of art that demands sustained and repeated attention in a slow process of reading, through its short and enigmatic pieces of story strewn across its singular, folded page that the reader must lift and pull out of its grey, box-shaped cover. Through exploring how Nox presents us with acts of attentive waiting while also creating such acts, she argues that works of art can critically engage with and challenge our relationship to time, by training our attention and teaching us the necessity of being present in our waiting.
Honorary doctoral degree lectures at the Faculty of Humanities
Welcome to Honorary doctoral degree lectures with philosopher Sally Haslanger from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and media scholar José van Dijck from the University of Utrecht.
Time and place: Sep. 3, 2024 2:15 PM–4:00 PM, Auditorium 3, Sophus Bugges hus
Programme
2.15 pm: Sally Haslanger: Addressing Structural Injustice, Changing Social Systems: What Can We Do?
3-3.15 pm: Break
3.15 pm: José Van Dijck: Governing Platform Societies: A geopolitical perspective on digital infrastructures and democracy
The lectures are open to all and are given in English.
About the Honorary doctors and the Honorary doctoral degrees
Sally Haslanger
Sally Haslanger is Ford Professor of Philosophy and Women's and Gender Studies at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Haslanger has contributed greatly to expanding our knowledge about how identity is constructed, and about what makes us perceive the world as consisting of, for example, men and women, or of different races.
She encourages us to think about how we use terms and concepts, whether they are correct and useful, or just expressions of ideology. She has helped found a new and influential direction in philosophy – conceptual engineering – which looks at how we can improve our concepts.
Haslanger is internationally recognized through her extensive philosophical work, and is a member of the editorial board of a number of professional journals. She has given a large number of guest lectures, and was last year's Tanner Lecturer at the University of Michigan.
She holds a Guggenheim Fellowship, is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and she delivered the Annual Examen Philosophicum Lecture in 2019. One of her texts is on the Exphil syllabus.
José van Dijck
José van Dijck is Professor of Media and Digital Society the University of Utrecht.
Van Dijck is an internationally renowned researcher into how digital media and platforms affect society and individuals. She combines humanistic and social science approaches and emphasizes critical theory development.
She addresses the question of what a digital society is, what power global platforms have, and how they should be regulated. She explores and challenges our understanding of the digital society's consequences for key values such as privacy, security, tolerance, justice, equality and autonomy.
Van Dijck is an editorial board member of some of the most important international journals in her field, and her many visiting professorships include universities such as MIT, Cambridge, Georgia Tech, Concordia Montreal, the University of Technology in Sydney, and Stockholm University.
She has been awarded the NWO's (Dutch Research Council) Spinoza Prize, and was appointed honorary doctor at the University of Lund in 2019.
Honorary doctoral degrees of UiO (Doctor Honoris Causa) are given to prominent, often foreign, academics. UiO has been entitled to appoint honorary doctorates since1824. The degrees are awarded without a thesis defence/disputation. They are usually appointed every three years at UiO's Annual Celebration in September.
About the lectures
Sally Haslanger: Addressing Structural Injustice, Changing Social Systems: What Can We Do?
“An important feature of theoretical projects that aim to promote social justice is their commitment to empowering those in oppressive circumstances so that they can solve their own problems.
There are two reasons to take this approach. First, the oppressed have situated knowledge of the circumstances that others lack. But situated knowledge may not be enough to prompt critique.
The second is that because both knowledge and values are shaped by social practices, a collective engagement with historically and materially grounded practices can provide a new frame for agency that enables a creative and potentially emancipatory restructuring of social relations.
I argue that such path dependency of values is compatible with social justice being objective, but not to be discovered by theory alone.”
José van Dijck: Governing Platform Societies: A geopolitical perspective on digital infrastructures and democracy
“The growing pains of digitization involve intense struggles between two platform ecosystems fighting for information control: a Chinese-based and an American-based ecosystem. A handful of American Big Tech platforms have disrupted markets and labour relations, transforming social and civic practices, and affecting democracies.
At the heart of the online media’s industry’s surge is the battle over information control: who owns the data generated by online social activities? While two large ecosystems fight for information control in the global online world, the European perspective on digital infrastructures is focused on regulation rather than building its own alternatives. With emerging technologies such as generative AI (ChatGPT, Bard), this infrastructural perspective becomes more poignant.
This lecture takes up two questions. First, how can we identify public values in platform societies across the globe? Values such as privacy, security, transparency, equality, public trust, and institutional sovereignty are important principles upon which the design of platform architectures should be based. Democratic principles and the common good are the very stakes in the struggle over platformisation of societies around the globe. Second, the lecture focuses on what responsibilities companies, governments and citizens have in building such a sustainable platform ecosystem. Who is responsible for anchoring public values in an online world? Governments and civil society organizations try to negotiate public values on behalf of citizens and consumers.”
Organiser
Faculty of Humanities
2023
Japan: No longer a peace nation?
Militarisation and Grassroots Activism in Present-Day Japan.
Time and place: Dec. 7, 2023 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM, Domus Bibliotheca
Short summary
After its surrender in 1945, Japan reinvented itself as a peace nation. According to its Constitution, the nation forever renounces war as a sovereign right.
Today, however, Japan is one of the strongest military powers in Asia, defence spending is increasing, and new military bases are under construction.
In this panel debate, four scholars of Japan discuss the question: is Japan still a peace nation?
Panelists
Wrenn Yennie Lindgren (NUPI)
Wrenn Yennie Lindgren will discuss the wider politics of Japan’s ongoing militarisation.
The longstanding debate about how to understand Japan’s role in promoting global peace has recently been sparked at a heightened level, as a new generation of Japanese security policy documents suggest that the pacifist nation will undergo ambitious and unprecedented defence reforms.
This will make it one of the most modern forces in the Asia-Pacific and potentially the world’s third largest defence spender.
As the United States’ primary defence ally in the East Asian region, and an increasingly active partner in multinational security and defence cooperation with regional and global powers, the importance of Japan’s role in global peace and security is considered to be paramount.
What objectives is Japan pursuing and how do these relate to Japan’s promotion of proactive pacifism? And how has the Japanese public, with a strong antimilitarist tradition, reacted to these developments?
Aike P. Rots (UiO)
Aike P. Rots introduces some influential nationalist-conservative and religious organisations.
The issue of pacifism engages grassroots movements on both sides of the spectrum. The most prominent group on the anti-pacifist wing of this debate is the so-called Japan Conference (Nippon Kaigi), an umbrella organisation that includes powerful politicians, religious leaders, businesspersons, and conservative citizens.
In terms of organisation and ideology, there is some overlap between Nippon Kaigi and religious institutions that have been active in political lobbying, including the Association of Shinto Shrines, the lay Buddhist movement Sōka Gakkai, and the Unification Church, which has been subject to much controversy recently.
What role do these organisations play in present-day Japan? How do they envision the future?
Marius Palz (UiO)
Marius Palz discusses groups on the other side of the political spectrum.
Peace activists advocate for a continuity of Japan’s pacifist tradition, including harsh critiques of rising security expenditures and of the increasing rhetoric of a “China threat” employed by conservative politicians, right-wing groups, and parts of the Japanese public.
These anti-militarist groups stress the importance of protecting Article 9 of the Constitution. Especially during the years of Abe Shinzō’s government and its attempts to abolish Article 9 as well as its proclamation of “collective self-defence”, people protested in front of the National Parliament.
Other examples of peace movements come from Japan’s southernmost prefecture, Okinawa, where parts of the local population and supporters from throughout Japan protest against the current fortification of the island chain, which is located in vicinity of Taiwan.
What alternatives to militarisation do these activists envision for Japan’s future? What other motives do they have for protesting against the central government?
Rebecca Suter (UiO)
Rebecca Suter discusses the significance of popular culture for these developments.
Popular culture always has ideological connotations and is often used to manipulate public opinion in many parts of the world.
In Japan, in the past fifty years or so some specific popular media, manga (comics) and anime (animated cartoons), have come to play a particularly significant role in the public debate.
The themes of militarism and pacifism are no exception; governmental bodies as well as activist groups use manga to disseminate their views on topics like reforming Article 9 of the Constitution.
Commercially published manga with large audiences, both pacifist and militarist ones, are also frequently at the centre of major public controversies, such as the attempt by historical revisionist associations to have Nakazawa Keiji’s anti-war children classic Barefoot Gen (1973-1987) removed from school libraries in 2012, or the constantly renewed debates surrounding Kobayashi Yoshinori’s far-right comic series Arrogance Manifesto (1992-present).
Can we read these manga and anime as an expression of public sentiment on these issues? And how do Japanese popular media contribute to the public debate on pacifism and militarism?
Registration
The event is free and open to all, and we appreciate if you register.
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Welcome!
The event will be held at Domus Bibliotheca, UiO's new arena for dialogue and dissemination. If you need an elevator or any other form of accommodation when visiting us, please call this number: 90 13 17 55.
About Oslo Peace Days
Oslo municipality, the Nobel Peace Center, the Norwegian Nobel Institute, PRIO, and the University of Oslo work for peace and human rights in various ways.
Every December, we come together and organize Oslo Peace Days, an arena where everyone is invited to discuss and learn more about these important themes.
Closing conference for the Erasmus+-project Growth4SMEs
The conference will present the results of the project and discuss current topics related to academia, future skills and competences.
Time and place: Apr. 27, 2023 10:00 AM–2:30 PM, HF:Studio
About the conference
The Faculty of Humanities at the University of Oslo invites you to the closing conference for the strategic partnership project Growth4SMEs.
We will look at the academic landscape, the possibilities and challenges that has shaped this project and the results.
Employability and the connection to the academic skillset will be highlighted, and we will hear from students who have participated in the project's case competitions.
Speakers
Heidrun Reisæter, Director of technology at The Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV).
Vidar Pedersen og Benedikte Fjellanger Vardøy, The Norwegian Directorate for Higher Education and Skills.
Niels Overgaard Lehmann (au.dk), Pro-dean of education at Faculty of Arts, University of Aarhus.
Gunn Enli, Pro-dean of studies and education at the Faculty of Humanities, University of Oslo.
Arnt Maasø, Associate professor at the Department of Media and Communication, University of Oslo. Maasø and Trine Syvertsen, professor at the Department of Media and Communication will chair the conference.
Program
10:00: Welcome, Gunn Enli.
10:10: The academic force field – When transferrable competences of the humanist are put to use in non-humanistic enterprises, Niels Overgaard Lehmann.
10:40: Student-active learning and assesment strategies, Arnt Maasø.
11:00: Student panel dialogue – what have students learned from the case competitions?, participating students; Amalie Narjord Bloch Helmers (BA History), Sunna Maria Simma (MA Media and Communication) and Truls de Lange (BA German).
11:45: BIP (Blended Intensive Learning) and other opportunities for international cooperation in education, Vidar Pedersen og Benedikte Fjellanger Vardøy.
12:15: Lunch
13:00: «Utsynsmeldingen» – The Norwegian Ministery of Education White paper on future skills and competences, panel dialog with Bjørn Stensaker, Vice-Rector for Education at The University of Oslo, Ane Ohrvik, Head of Teaching at the Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages at the Faculty of Humanities and Gunn Enli.
13:30: Building skills for a sustainable future, Heidrun Reisæter.
13:45: Panel dialog with business employers, Heidrun Reisæter (Director of technology NAV), Andreas Forfang (Sustainability and Public Policy Manager Vianode), Klaus Mikkelsen (Partner / Architect i AART).
14:15: Closing remarks, Gunn Enli and Niels Overgaard Lehmann.
About the project
Growth4SMEs (Graduate Ongoing Workqualification Towards offering Highly qualified skills for SMEs), is a collaborative project between UC Leuven-Limburg in Belgium, Aarhus Municipality and Faculty of Arts at Aarhus University in Denmark and The Faculty of Humanities at The University of Oslo.
The purpose has been to establish contact between businesses and students and to create connections between studies and work life.
In addition, the project has aimed to make the students aware of the competence they possess. Another goal has been to help graduating students get jobs in small and medium-sized businesses.
The project has arranged nine case competitions where students have solved real-life business cases and challenges for various companies.
You can read more about Growth4SMEs on the projects website (growth4sme.eu).
Registration
Sign up for digital attendance
Registration deadline is April 24th.
Questions about the conference? Please contact Torunn Nyland in the Studies section at the Faculty of Humanities.
Organiser
The Faculty of Humanities