Konference: Fremtidens udfordringer – unge, konflikt og potentiale

Time: Thursday 20. of January to Friday 21. of January 2011 from 09.00 (thur) to 17.30 (fri)

Venue: University of Copenhagen, Bispetorvet 1-3 (between Studiestræde and Nørregade), København K. (http://csc.ku.dk/bygninger_og_adresser/bispetorvet/)

Konferencen afvikles på engelsk – the conference will be conducted in English.

The conference is free of charge.

Time: Thursday 20. of January to Friday 21. of January 2011 from 09.00 (thur) to 17.30 (fri)

Venue: University of Copenhagen, Bispetorvet 1-3 (between Studiestræde and Nørregade), København K. (http://csc.ku.dk/bygninger_og_adresser/bispetorvet/)

Konferencen afvikles på engelsk – the conference will be conducted in English.

The conference is free of charge.

The conference explores the way young people approach the yet to come and imagine unfolding futures. It deals with issues of hope, fear, aspiration and anticipation and calls for ethnographic work that focuses on youth and the prospective dimensions of social life.

For the great number of young people around the world whose everyday lives are marked by boredom, uncertainty or a lack of possibilities, the future is as alluring as it is perilous.

Difficult situations create longings for futures that are different from the experienced present.

This search for potentially different horizons involves engagement in a range of different acts and innovative strategies designed to break away from negative, detrimental or violent societal conditions – often lodged in a single young person navigating difficult dilemmas and inherent contradictions between possibility and predicament.

The conference is a collaborative effort marking the conclusion of two research programs: ‘Youth, futurity and agency’, based at Aarhus University, and ‘The violent mobilization of political youth’, based at Rehabiliterings- og Forskningscentret for Torturofre (RCT) and the University of Copenhagen.

In addition to a series of invited keynote presentations, the conference will include two parallel workshops organized by the research programs:

*Youth between inertia and novelty

*Precarious prospects: youth, futures and potentials

Abstracts for papers are invited to be presented at the workshops. Deadline for submission: December 15, 2010 to Bjørn Jensen ([email protected]).

SPEAKERS & PRESENTERS

* Professor Ghassan Hage, University of Melbourne
* Professor Thomas Blom Hansen, Stanford University
* Dr. Craig Jeffrey, University of Oxford

More to be announced, please see www.aal.au.dk/fremtid and www.rct.org

WORKSHOPS

*”Precarious prospects” focuses on violent organizations and youth politics. It explores how organizations invite youth to participate in politics in particular ways and how youth seek to navigate organizations and events in order to enhance their life chances and secure their well-being in a potential future.

*“Youth between inertia and novelty” explores the interplay between boredom and waiting and examines the ways in which young people seek to break with detrimental social patterns. In doing so, the workshop aims to highlight the role of the future in everyday life and the social embeddedness of potentiality.

PROGRAMME

THURSDAY, January 20

9.00-10.00 Registration, tea and coffee
10.00 Welcome by organizers
10.15 Keynote
11.15 Keynote
12.30-13.30 Lunch
13.30-16.30 Workshops (4 presentations)
16.30 Keynote
17.30 Summing-up by organizers (and refreshments)
19.00 Conference dinner

FRIDAY, January 21

09.00 Keynote
10.00-10.15 Tea and coffee
10.15-12.30 Workshops (3 presentations)
12.30-13.30 Lunch
13.30-16.30 Workshops (4 presentations)
16.30 Keynote
17.30 Final comments by organizers

PRACTICAL INFORMATION

For registration please contact Bjørn Jensen at [email protected]

And do so no later than December 20.

Please write “Futures participation” in the subject line.

Conference dinner: If you wish to participate in the conference dinner (price 300 DKK), please sign up when registering.