Events 2021-22


All seminars and other events are open to the public unless otherwise indicated.
The events are held in the Thunberg Lecture Hall unless otherwise indicated. Usually,
it is also possible to attend via Zoom Webinar. Please see below for detailed information
about each event.


14 September, 2:15 p.m. SEMINAR - WEB EVENT
Margaret R. Hunt, Fellow, SCAS.
Senior Professor of History, Uppsala University
People, Oceans and History:  A Preliminary Survey of the State of the Field with Special
Reference to the Indian Ocean

Zoom Webinar: https://uu-se.zoom.us/j/63073325548


ABSTRACT:
The early modern period (hereafter EMP), usually dated to roughly 1450-1800 CE, was a pivotal time for
oceans as well as for the people who fished them, travelled and traded across them, and fought over them.
Peoples, animals, plants and pathogens previously cut off from each other by oceans now converged, with
sometimes fatal consequences. New technologies, ideas, habits of consumption, and modes of exploitation,
including better techniques of map-making and navigation, novel religious movements, previously unfami-
liar foodstuffs and manufactures, and highly coercive labour regimes spread widely, and, to a large extent
globally. Innovative military and commercial relationships began to be forged between emergent states and
empires and the people who plied the oceans. And anthropogenic harms began to manifest themselves in
some of the world’s oceans, especially along the coastlines and in island habitats. Much of the scholarship
on these and other important changes associated with the EMP emphasizes elite actors, but this talk seeks
to explore how these and other big changes affected and were in turn affected by ordinary European, Afri-
can and Asian sailors and their relatives and connections on shore. The talk especially focuses on vernacular
beliefs about the nature and sustainability of the oceans and the animals and plants that lived there; on the
impact of literacy, science and mathematics on ordinary sailors; on the ways sailors and other travelers
made sense of epidemic diseases like typhus, the plague, and yellow fever (endemic to many port towns in
the early modern period); and on the way everyday religiosity fared in the face of a newly globalized ‘market-
place’ of spiritual ideas and practices.


16 September, 1:15 p.m.. SYMPOSIUM - WEB EVENT
Indo-European Language and Culture
Inaugural symposium to celebrate the opening of the Centre for Studies in Indo-European Language and
Culture
(Stockholm University), organized in collaboration with the LAMP project and SCAS.
Guus Kroonen, Jenny Larsson, Mikkel Johansen Nørtoft, Thomas Olander, Birgit Olsen, Simon Poulsen
Zoom Webinar: https://uu-se.zoom.us/j/66245652754
This is an event of the research programme LAMP – Languages and Myths of Prehistory.


PROGRAMME:
13:15–13:30
Welcome to SCAS
Christina Garsten

Introductory remarks
Jenny Larsson

13:30 - 14:00
Metal Names and Their Relevance to the Indo-European Dispersal
Guus Kroonen

14:00 - 14:30
Quantifying Grave Wealth: The Case of the Moravian Corded Ware Culture
Mikkel Johansen Nørtoft

14:30 - 15:00
Intriguing Trees: Indo-European Linguistic Subgrouping
Thomas Olander & Simon Poulsen

15:00 - 15:30
BREAK

15:30 - 16:00
The Indo-Europeans and the Second Sex
Birgit Olsen

16:00 - 16:15
Presentation of the Ancient Genome Map


21 September, 2:15 p.m. SEMINAR - WEB EVENT
Cris Shore, Senior Global Horizons Fellow, SCAS.
Professor of Social Anthropology, Goldsmiths, University of London
Unbundling, Market Making and University Futures: Audit Culture and the New Academic
Capitalism

Zoom Webinar: https://uu-se.zoom.us/j/63444461898


ABSTRACT:
In Britain and elsewhere the neoliberal assault on universities has shifted from austerity funding models
and New Public Management to the special status of the public university itself. This new phase aims to
complete work begun thirty years ago by more fully marketising and financialising universities, starting
with ‘unbundling’ and outsourcing, and culminating in new forms of privatisation, rent extraction and
re-bundling. In this seminar I will explore some of the agents behind these initiatives by analysing docu-
ments commissioned beyond government aimed at creating political momentum for this project. Michael
Barber’s (2013) Avalanche is Coming and Justin Bokor’s (2012) University of the Future are among
many ostensibly ‘independent’ reports that capture the spirit of these reform agendas while simultaneously
creating the university futures that they portend. One curious yet unexplored aspect of this process is the
extraordinarily expansion of external consultants, think tanks and international accountancy firms into the
field of higher education management and governance. Drawing on ethnographic examples, I will analyse
the market-making work that these consultants perform in reimagining universities ahead of policy reform
and in reinventing the public university as a site for rent seeking. I ask, how are these firms embedding
themselves in universities? What techniques are they using to cement their expertise, profitability and
power? What university futures are these market-making activities creating? And how are academics
and other university stakeholders responding to these challenges?


23 September. CEREMONY
An Event in Honour of the Newly Appointed Scholars of the Pro Futura Scientia Programme.
In collaboration with Riksbankens Jubileumsfond.
By invitation only.

28 September, 2:15 p.m. SEMINAR - WEB EVENT
Aryo Makko, Pro Futura Scientia Fellow, SCAS.
Professor of History, Stockholm University
From Trojan Horses to Bridge-Builders: Europe’s Neutral States and the Soviet Union in the
Global Cold War

Zoom Webinar: https://uu-se.zoom.us/j/67796597324


ABSTRACT:
In 1988, struggling with both his domestic reforms (perestroika and glasnost) and his country’s
position in international affairs, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev described neutrality as an essential
element of European politics of considerable importance: “If Europe lost the independent contribution
of the neutral states, this would make the potential of international détente much poorer”. This con-
cluded a long transition period in the Kremlin’s position towards neutrality and the neutral states –
from outright suspicion under Stalin to acceptance under Brezhnev and appreciation under Gorbachev.
Neutrality has been part of the European and World affairs for centuries. It has tended to become an
integral part of national identity – organically where it was employed for a long time and as invented
tradition or imagined myth where it was not. In the bipolar conflict known as the Cold War, neutrality
offered a third way between East and West. Despite the fact that Europe’s neutral states only feared
one superpower, the Soviet Union, their historiographies are framed in national and Western-centric
fashion. A thorough understanding of neutrality and the foreign policies of neutral states during the Cold
War must nonetheless include the Soviet factor. Drawing upon archival sources from several countries,
many of which have only recently been declassified, the seminar will address the theory, rhetoric and
conduct of European neutrality vis-à-vis the Soviet Union in the Global Cold War. 


1 October, 3:15 pm. BOOK SEMINAR - HYBRID EVENT
The Imposter as Social Theory
Claes-Fredrik Helgesson, Else Vogel and Steve Woolgar will present their new book.
Ulrika Dahl
will comment on the book.
The seminar will be followed by a reception. Pre-registration is required. The number of seats is limited,
and seats will be distributed on a first come, first served basis.
Please contact rsvp@swedishcollegium.se no later than 27 September to register for the event.
The event will also be available via Zoom Webinar: https://uu-se.zoom.us/j/61814193114 (no registration
required for the digital event).


ABOUT THE BOOK:
The Imposter as Social Theory: Thinking with Gatecrashers, Cheats and Charlatans
Claes-Fredrik Helgesson, David Moats, Else Vogel and Steve Woolgar (eds.)
(Bristol University Press, 2021)

“The figure of the imposter can stir complicated emotions, from intrigue to suspicion and fear. But what
insights can these troublesome figures provide into the social relations and cultural forms from which
they emerge?

Edited by leading scholars in the field, this volume explores the question through a diverse range of
empirical cases, including magicians, spirit possession, fake Instagram followers, fake art and fraudulent
scientists.

Proposing ‘thinking with imposters’ as a valuable new tool of analysis in the social sciences and humanities,
this revolutionary book shows how the figure of the imposter can help upend social theory.”


ABOUT THE SEMINAR PARTICIPANTS:
Claes-Fredrik Helgesson, Professor and Research Director, Centre for Integrated Research on Culture
and Society (CIRCUS), Uppsala University

Else Vogel, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, University of Amsterdam

Steve Woolgar, Professor of Science and Technology Studies, Linköping University, and Professor
Emeritus of Marketing, University of Oxford

~

Ulrika Dahl, Professor of Gender Studies, Uppsala University




5 October, 2:15 p.m. SEMINAR - HYBRID EVENT              
Jessica Abbott, Natural Sciences Fellow, SCAS.
Senior University Lecturer in Eukaryote Evolutionary Genetics, Lund University
How Repeatable is Evolution?
Zoom Webinar: https://uu-se.zoom.us/j/67786024710


ABSTRACT:
With recent discoveries of exoplanets outside of our solar system, the question of whether life could
evolve on other planets is becoming increasingly relevant. But given that we know of only one origin
of life, our own, can we draw any general conclusions about other unknown potential life forms? I
will argue that by combining general evolutionary principles with what we know about the speed and
frequency of the evolution of various properties of life on earth, we can make educated guesses about
the course of evolution on other planets. I will provide an introduction to evolution and natural selection,
and then speculate whether a number of major transitions in complexity are likely to be universal pro-
perties of life or not.



6 October, 1:30 p.m. WORKSHOP – HYBRID EVENT
Governance as Ideal and Practice: Metrics, Mobility, and Modes of Knowledge
Afshin Mehrpouya, Franke N. Pieke, Francesca Rosignoli, Cris Shore, Michael J. Watts, Linda Wedlin
The workshop will be followed by a reception. Pre-registration is required. The number of seats is limited,
and seats will be distributed on a first come, first served basis.
Please contact rsvp@swedishcollegium.se no later than 29 September to register for the event.
The event will also be available via Zoom Webinar: https://uu-se.zoom.us/j/61900879701 (no registration
required for the digital event).
This is an event of the Global Horizons Programme.


PROGRAMME:
13.30 – 13.35
Introductory remarks
Christina Garsten (SCAS)

Presentations:
13.35 – 14.05  
Governance, Metrics and Global Status Games: Organizing Competition in Science and Education       
Linda Wedlin (SCAS & Uppsala University)

14.05 – 14.20  
Q&A

14.20 – 14.50  
Technologies of Self-lessness – A Study of the Moralizing/Normalizing Aspects of the Chinese Social
Credit System

Afshin Mehrpouya (SCAS & University of Edinburgh Business School)

14.50 – 15.05  
Q&A

15.05 – 15.25  
Coffee/tea break

Panel presentations:
15.25 – 15.40  
The Good Governance Agenda: Neoliberal Modalities on the Move to the Global South
Michael J. Watts (SCAS & University of California, Berkeley)

15.40 – 15.55  
Flood of Climate Migrants, Desert in International Governance? Finding an Appropriate
“Institutional Home” for Climate-induced Migration and Displacement through Emerging
Models of Cross-governance

Francesca Rosignoli (SCAS, Stockholm University & Eurac Research, Bolzano)

15.55 – 16.10  
Governing by Numbers and Managing through Metrics; Indicators, Rankings, and the New World
(Dis)Order

Cris Shore (SCAS & Goldsmiths University of London)

16.10 – 17.15  
Discussion

17.15 – 17.30  
Break

Reflections:
17.30 – 18.00  
Global Horizons: Critical Reflections from the Chinese Periphery
Frank N. Pieke (SCAS & Leiden University)

18.00 – 19.00  
Reception



12 October, 2:15 p.m. SEMINAR - HYBRID EVENT                
Susan Pedersen, Fellow, SCAS.
Gouverneur Morris Professor of British History, Columbia University
From ‘Political Wife’ to ‘Woman Politician’:  Recovering British Women’s Political Work before
Enfranchisement

Zoom Webinar: https://uu-se.zoom.us/j/64932671738


ABSTRACT:
This talk is essentially a précis of one thread of the book I am writing.  That book, Balfours in Love
and Trouble
, is about two interlinked transformations:  the shift from an aristocratic to a democratic
political order, and the shift from marriage as a tool of dynastic alliance to marriage as personal and
affective tie.  It recounts that shift, however, using collective biography, tracing the lives and marriages
of two aristocratic women – Lady Frances Campbell, daughter of the Whig politician and Scottish
magnate the 8th Duke of Argyll, and Lady Betty Lytton, daughter of the recent Viceroy of India Lord
Lytton – who married younger brothers of the late Victorian Conservative politician and later Prime
Minister Arthur Balfour.  

This talk explores these women’s political involvements, tracking their evolution from “political wives,”
working to aid their husbands’ careers and their families’ power, to political figures in their own right.
Especially through the medium of the women’s suffrage movement, in which both played a leading part,
Frances and Betty Balfour would cast their lot with democratic forces that would diminish the power of
their families and class.  This book is being written for a general audience, and the talk assumes little
knowledge of nineteenth century British politics.



19 October, 2:15 p.m. SEMINAR - HYBRID EVENT               
Frank N. Pieke, Fellow, SCAS.
Professor of Modern China Studies, Leiden University
The Chinese Communist Party as a Global Force
Zoom Webinar: https://uu-se.zoom.us/j/64732566585


ABSTRACT:
In this presentation I will investigate China’s rise as a superpower from the perspective of the Chinese
Communist Party (CCP), asking how the Party attempts to prime itself for the challenges posed by
China’s globalization and superpower competition with the U.S. The CCP is currently in the throes of
redefining itself as not just China’s ruling party, but also as the dominant force of global China. The
principal aim of the CCP’s global extension overlaps with and complements the CCP’s strategy of
influencing and interfering in the society and politics of other countries, but has different aims. The
CCP seeks to expand the reach of its system abroad and to strengthen the cohesion of the Chinese
nation also beyond China’s borders. This includes not only strengthening and extending the existing
armoury of overseas Chinese and united front work, but also mobilizing the organizational power of
the CCP itself to tie party members among Chinese businesspeople, professionals, contract workers
and students abroad back into “the system” in China. I conclude that the extraterritorial extension of
the Party, nation and culture documented in this chapter is certainly not innocent and benign, but
poses less of an immediate threat than the Party’s attempts at directly influencing the politics and
society of other countries.



21 October, 10:15 a.m. SYMPOSIUM
Indo-European Ecologies
Davide Ermacora, Leszek Gardeła, Riccardo Ginevra, Peter Jackson, Anders Richardt Jørgensen,
Anders Kaliff, Jenny Helena Larsson, Birgit Anette Olsen, Terje Østigaard

Discussants: Lisa Bukhave, Tommy Kuusela, Andreas Nordberg
The number of seats is limited. Pre-registration is required by 15 October 2021 at the latest.
Please contact Jenny Larsson (jenny.larsson@balt.su.se) for details.
This is an event of the research programme LAMP – Languages and Myths of Prehistory and the Centre
for Studies in Indo-European Language and Culture
(Stockholm University).


ABOUT:
The symposium Indo-European Ecologies deals with various aspects of the Indo-Europeans’ relation-
ship to cattle and milk, including a number of threats to this cattle economy. The relationship to cattle
is expressed in words, myths and rituals, occurring in numerous variants in different Indo-European
contexts. This may be assumed to have its essential basis in the original pastoral lifestyle and the eco-
logical conditions for large-scale cattle herds on the Eurasian steppe. Both archaeological and environ-
mental historical findings about the conditions on the Eurasian steppe are therefore of great value to
highlight as a background to why notions of cattle and milk have gained such a significant and long-
lasting position in various Indo-European cultural traditions.

PROGRAMME:
10.15 - 10.30
Welcome
Christina Garsten, SCAS, & Jenny Helena Larsson, Stockholm University

Session 1
Chair: Birgit Anette Olsen, University of Copenhagen

10.30 - 11.00
Celtic Cow-sucklers and Other Chthonic Creatures
Anders Richardt Jørgensen, Uppsala University

11.00 - 11.30
The Baltic “Snake Cult” and the Milk-drinking, Cow-suckling Snakes
Jenny Helena Larsson, Stockholm University

11.30 - 12.30
Coffee/tea

Session 2
Chair: Anders Richardt Jørgensen, Uppsala University

12.30 - 13.00
Churning the Ocean of Milk
Birgit Anette Olsen, University of Copenhagen

13.00 - 13.30
The Monstrous Animal Sibling and Some Mythological Irish ‘Worm’-stories
Davide Ermacora, Università degli Studi di Torino

13.30 - 14.30
Lunch break

Session 3
Chair: Lisa Bukhave, Uppsala University

14.30 - 15.00
Tamed and Untamed: Snakes in the Slavic Mind
Leszek Gardeła, National Museum of Denmark

15.00 - 15.30
From Guest to Stranger to Monster (and back again) – A Topos and its Transmutations
in Indo-European Mythology

Peter Jackson, Stockholm University

15.30 - 16.00
There Be Dragons, and Other Dangerous Ones: Serpents, Water, Otherness, and Space
in Indo-European

Riccardo Ginevra, Catholic University of Milan

16.00 - 16.30
Coffee/tea

Session 4
Chair: Peter Jackson, Stockholm University

16.30 - 17.00
Farming, Fertility and Foaming Water: Indo-European Ritualisations of Life-giving
Forces in Scandinavian Agriculture

Terje Østigaard, Uppsala University

17.00 - 17.30
Cattle, Cosmology and Sacrifice: An Indo-European Interpretation of Burnt Mounds
Anders Kaliff, Uppsala University

Discussants:
Lisa Bukhave, Uppsala University
Tommy Kuusela, Swedish Institute for Language and Folklore
Andreas Nordberg, Stockholm University



26 October, 2:15 p.m. SEMINAR - HYBRID EVENT                
Rashna Darius Nicholson, Barbro Klein Fellow, SCAS.
Assistant Professor of Theatre Studies, University of Hong Kong
Indo-American Geopolitics, the Festival of India and the Mahabharata: Intercultural Theatre
and/as Soft Power

Zoom Webinar: https://uu-se.zoom.us/j/65717484250


ABSTRACT:
The Festival of India (1985 to 1986), described as “an event without parallel in the history of cultural
interchange between India and the United States and perhaps between the United States and any other
country”, was conceived to provide the American public with a comprehensive projection of the life,
art, and culture of India from ancient times to the present day. The Festival spanned forty states and
over a hundred cities; comprised more than seven hundred art exhibitions, programs of music, dance,
drama, film shows, seminars, workshops, and lectures sponsored by over two hundred cultural insti-
tutions; engendered extensive media coverage; and cost approximately $20 million. It not only consti-
tuted“one of the biggest events ever mounted to promote goodwill and understanding between two
countries”,  but also served to promote bilateral relations, economic and technological exchange, and
tourism; to expedite the liberalization of the Indian economy (thereby propelling India away from the
Soviet Union); and to alter the direction of cultural, art history, and not least theatre studies in the
following decades. Drawing on records in the Rockefeller Archive Center (RAC), this paper situates
one of the Festival’s “major attractions”—Peter Brook’s Mahabharata—arguably the most studied and
most controversial performance event of the twentieth century—within the geopolitics of Indo-US Cold
War diplomacy, Indian development, and American foundations’ efforts to consolidate a transregional
epistemic community of political, cultural, and intellectual elites. It demonstrates how the production’s
impact and renown was due to its strategic, utilitarian position as a cultural bridge at the critical moment
when the Indian and US government sought to redefine their relations. The paper traces the undisclosed
script enacted by the event’s key performers: both high-profile statesmen as well as hitherto unknown
figures (officers of the JDR 3rd Fund, Ford Foundation, and Indo-US Subcommission; deputies of the
Indian Ministry of Culture; university representatives; and key journalists). In so doing, it illuminates the
hidden, multi-layered political exigencies behind the production’s staging.



8-10 November. WORKSHOP
Beyond Advanced Studies: Interdisciplinary Theory and Research Careers
The first workhop within the Beyond Advanced Studies initiative.
In collaboration with Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies (AIAS) and
Turku Institute for Advanced Studies (TIAS).
By invitation only.


16 November, 2:15 p.m. SEMINAR - HYBRID EVENT 
Adam Kirrander, Natural Sciences Fellow, SCAS.
Senior Lecturer in Chemical Physics, University of Edinburgh.
Visiting Scientist, Brown University
New Tools for New Science: Observing Transformations of Matter
Zoom Webinar: https://uu-se.zoom.us/j/62878845200


ABSTRACT:
Almost all matter around us consists of atoms. Understanding how atoms link to each other to form
intricate structures, from rock salt to DNA, belongs to one of the great achievements of modern
science and has been awarded many Nobel prizes. New facilities known as X-ray Free-Electron Lasers
(XFELs) exploit relativistic electrons to create ultrashort pulses of x-rays, sufficiently intense to record
the motions of atoms and electrons. This opens the door for a more sophisticated understanding based
on dynamic rather than static properties. In this talk, I will survey the historical developments that have
taken us to this point, taking the view that it is often new instruments that drive scientific progress. The
journey involves detours via frogs (sic) and the Cold War Star Wars program, before arriving at state-of-
the-art experiments that measure the atomic motions during chemical reactions and the flow of energy
through photoexcited molecules. Finally, I will examine the prospects for new experiments at XFELs
that may have profound impact on research across chemistry, physics, biology, and materials science,
including an opportunity to measure electron correlation, which is one of the most fundamental proper-
ties of matter.



23 November, 2:15 p.m. SEMINAR - HYBRID EVENT           
Valentyna Savchyn, Fellow, SCAS
Associate Professor of Translation Studies, Ivan Franko National University of Lviv
Literary Translation behind Bars in the Context of the 1970s–80s Political Repressions in
Soviet Ukraine

Zoom Webinar: https://uu-se.zoom.us/j/65785108053


ABSTRACT:
Translation in incarceration is nothing new, nor is it restricted to a particular place or historical
period. However, this social and cultural phenomenon is marked by a far more frequent occurrence
in totalitarian societies. This seminar examines the practice of literary translation in Soviet labour
camps, where, as a result of political repressions, Ukrainian scholars, writers, translators, and lexi-
cographers (aka prisoners of conscience) constituted a large part of the incarcerated population.
The fact that translation activity thrived behind bars despite brutal and dehumanizing conditions
testifies to the phenomenon of cultural resistance and translators’ activism, both of which deserve
close scholarly attention. I will provide insights into practical, historical, psychological, and philoso-
phical aspects of translation in extreme conditions. My talk seeks answers to the questions of why
prisoners of conscience felt moved to translate, and how they pursued their work in situations of
extreme pressure. Through the lens of translation in prison, I will offer a wider perspective on the
issues of retranslation, pseudotranslation, translation editing, text selection, and the functions of
literary translation. The focus of my talk is on Soviet Ukraine in the 1970s-80s, when a wave of
political repressions led to the appearance of a new generation of prisoners of conscience. Case
studies of Vasyl' Stus and Ivan Svitlychnyi will be discussed, drawing on their letters during the
incarceration period and the memoirs of their inmates.



30 November, 2:15 p.m. SEMINAR - HYBRID EVENT         
Robin Holt, Guest of the Principal, SCAS.
Professor, Department of Management, Politics and Philosophy, Copenhagen Business School.
Visiting Professor, Nottingham Business School
Why Craft Matters Like Never Before
Zoom Webinar: https://uu-se.zoom.us/j/64419977419


ABSTRACT:
Our place in the world seems to be beset by what Marilynne Robinson observes to be an atmosphere
of joyless urgency. What was once certain is now lost in endless cycles of translation: everything is
to become a subject of improvement. Craft offers a reprieve. The restoration and expansion of work
practices and products that quietly and generously commit to more sustainable and organically complete
lifestyles emerges as an organizational oasis amid the ruinous rush for progress. Its distinctive attractive-
ness unfolds as might a patch of red poppies set themselves amid a wasteland; its desirability becomes a
naturally occurring imperative. But it is a dangerous imperative. It suggests not only that the certainties
we crave are available to us, if only we looked back and recovered ‘the old ways’, but that they are de-
sirable. My talk acknowledges something heartfelt in the turn to craft. The imperative to make and use
things well carries the possibility for recalibrating how we, as a species, organize (and are organized by)
processes of material wealth production. Yet in excavating and understanding this ‘turn’, I critically ques-
tion whether the value of craft really rests with its offer of refuge from the headless and heedless forces
of extractive industrialism. Perhaps, more potent still, is its commitment to the generative qualities of em-
bracing, rather than avoiding, uncertainty.



UPDATE/2 December: This event will be held as a WEB EVENT ONLY.
2 December, 3:15 p.m. BOOK LAUNCH – HYBRID EVENT
A Posthumous Book by SCAS Permanent Fellow Barbro Klein:
I tosaforornas värld: Gustav berättar
(In a Flapdoodle World: Gustav's Storytelling)
Björn Wittrock, Marie-Christine Skuncke, Lotten Gustafsson Reinius, and
Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett
(in this order) will present the book and its author.
The book launch will be followed by a reception. Pre-registration is required. The number of
seats is limited, and seats will be distributed on a first come, first served basis.
Please contact rsvp@swedishcollegium.se no later than 26 November to register for the event.
The event will also be available via Zoom Webinar: https://uu-se.zoom.us/j/62014809845 (no
registration required for the digital event).


ABOUT THE BOOK:
I tosaforornas värld: Gustav berättar (In a Flapdoodle World: Gustav’s Storytelling)
Barbro Klein
(Carlsson Bokförlag, 2021)

The Swedish folklorist Barbro Klein (1938–2018) worked for 40 years on a monograph in Swedish
about her father Gustav Arklind’s storytelling. Working from tape-recordings and fieldnotes, she
reconstructed his oral performances, paying careful attention to nuances in tone and laughter. The
book is a rich, ethnographic study of verbal art and at the same time a biography of Gustav, the
destitute boy from southern Sweden who went to sea at the age of thirteen. His life history is woven
into and sheds light on the social transformations of twentieth-century Sweden. It is also an intimate
book, inseparable from the author’s own life story.

Barbro Klein had nearly completed the manuscript when she passed away in 2018. It has been edited
posthumously by her friends, the literary historian Marie-Christine Skuncke and the ethnologists Georg
Drakos, Jonas Engman and Lotten Gustafsson Reinius.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Barbro Klein (1938-2018), Deputy Principal Emerita and Permanent Fellow Emerita, SCAS, and
Professor Emerita of Ethnology, Stockholm University


ABOUT THE SPEAKERS:
Lotten Gustafsson Reinius, Hallwyl Guest Professor of Ethnology, Nordiska museet, Stockholm,
and Senior Lecturer in Ethnology, Stockholm University

Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, Professor Emerita of Performance Studies, New York University,
and Ronald S. Lauder Chief Curator of the Core Exhibition, POLIN Museum of the History of Polish
Jews, Warsaw

Marie-Christine Skuncke, Professor Emerita of Literature, Uppsala University

Björn Wittrock, Permanent Fellow, Founding Director and Former Principal, SCAS, and
University Professor Emeritus, Uppsala University


7 December, 2:15 p.m. SEMINAR - HYBRID EVENT                  
Francesca Rosignoli, Junior Global Horizons Fellow, SCAS.
Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Political Science, Stockholm University.
Project Leader and Researcher, Institute for Comparative Federalism, Eurac
Research, Bolzano
Justice, Women and Climate Induced-Migration: A Time for Discourse
Zoom Webinar: https://uu-se.zoom.us/j/68110670873


ABSTRACT:
Similarly to the 2018 Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration, the EU New Pact
on Migration and Asylum adopted in 2020 acknowledges natural disasters and climate change among
the drivers of migration. However, it also fails to recognize a new legal subjectivity for people fleeing
environmental disruptions. Without a legal definition, climate-induced migrants are protected neither
under international nor EU law. This protection gap is more likely to increase the vulnerabilities of
most marginalized groups, particularly women. UN figures show that 80% of people displaced by
climate change are women. Less educated, poorer, and with limited access to natural resources,
women will be ever more disproportionately vulnerable to the effects of natural disasters and climate
change. As discussed at length during the COP26, this aspect raises gender equality, gender justice,
and environmental justice issues that are increasingly discussed by policy-makers, non-state actors,
and civil society. This seminar will provide insights into the terminology in use, the gap in legislation,
and existing narratives that are shaping the debate linking gender, climate change, justice, and migration.
In particular, I will address the following questions: How the gender dimension is discussed in the con-
text of climate-induced migration? Which narratives are shaping the debate? What is and will be the role
of EU institutions in addressing this pressing issue?



9 December, 6:15 p.m. PERFORMANCE          
La Serva Padrona
David William Hughes
The performance will be followed by a reception.
Pre-registration is required.
The number of seats is limited, and seats will be distributed on a first come, first served basis.
Please contact rsvp@swedishcollegium.se no later than 6 December to register for the event.


ABOUT
David William Hughes presents La Serva Padrona.

Since 2020, the Coronavirus threatens to kill opera!
Can David William Hughes save it with his one-man production of La Serva Padrona?
Baroque meets retro in this fresh new twist on Pergolesi’s 1733 comic masterpiece.
The performance will be followed by a Q&A session.

‘Possessed of a fine voice with an enormous range… his energy carries his audience along
as if surfing a wave’ - FringeReview

‘I loved every second’ ***** - MusicalTalk

**** - Adelaide Advertiser



14 December, 2:15 p.m. SEMINAR - HYBRID EVENT                   
Ivan Miroshnikov, Pro Futura Scientia Fellow, SCAS.
Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Egyptological Studies, Russian Academy of
Sciences, Moscow.
Docent in Early Christian and Coptic Studies, University of Helsinki
The Fayyūm, Its Dialects, and Its Literature
Zoom Webinar: https://uu-se.zoom.us/j/68455683772


ABSTRACT:
In this seminar, I would like to take you to the Fayyūm. One of the poorest regions of today’s
Egypt, in its heyday it was a leading center of monasticism and, consequently, manuscript pro-
duction. Since I have just come back from a research trip to the Fayyūm, it seems appropriate
to start with a short report on my findings. I will thus introduce you to a beautiful papyrus codex
discovered in 1987 at the ancient site of Narmoute, which I autoptically examined at Ali Radwan
museum storage in Kom Aushim. The extant fragments of the codex bear witness to an erotapo-
krisis (a series of questions and answers), which is otherwise attested in a single Coptic manu-
script, and an otherwise unattested but fascinating text on the relationship between the body
and the soul.

I will then proceed to an overview of the languages used in the Fayyūm in the first millennium of
the Common Era. I will put a special emphasis on the various Coptic dialects that were present in
the region—from poorly attested and obscure (e.g., the so-called “dialect K”) to those that played
the dominant role in Coptic manuscript production (i.e., Sahidic, classical Fayyūmic, and medieval
Bohairic). I will also discuss the most important sites of the region, including Toutōn (whose scrip-
torium produced numerous manuscripts for the famous White Monastery in Upper Egypt), and
Phantoou (where a large group of parchment codices was discovered in 1910).

Finally, I will draw you a picture of the literature that came down to us in the indigenous dialect of
the region—viz., Fayyūmic. I will start with the Fayyūmic Bible, whose origin remains largely un-
explored. As I am going to demonstrate, the time has come to retire the views on the relationship
between the Bohairic and Fayyūmic Bibles expressed by the prominent Coptologists of the past
(Paul E. Kahle and H. J. Polotsky) and to search for more complex and viable solutions. I will
then survey the other extant texts translated into Fayyūmic (from Greek, from Sahidic, or from
Greek via Sahidic). I will conclude this talk with a discussion of the motley crew of texts that may
have been originally composed in Fayyūmic.



18 January, 2:15 p.m. SEMINAR - WEB EVENT                  
Michael John Watts, Non-resident Long-term Fellow for Programmes on the Political
Economy of Development and Development Policy, SCAS.
Senior Global Horizons Fellow, SCAS.
Class of ‘63 Professor of Geography, University of California, Berkeley
Life without Authority:  Frontier Violence in West Africa
Zoom Webinar: https://uu-se.zoom.us/j/69706860470


ABSTRACT:
What might it mean to live outside of legitimate systems of public authority?  And under what conditions
might that arise?  In this lecture I examine two insurgencies that arose in Nigeria -  Africa's most populous
state and a major producer of oil and gas for world markets - during the 2000s, each markedly different in
character and form and arising in contrasting regions of the country: one draped in the language of Islam,
restoration and the Caliphate, the other in the language of secular nationalism.   I shall argue that the con-
ditions of possibility for these two contrasting forms of armed non-state violence can best be understood
through the intersection of three processes: space (what I shall call the frontier), public authority (the de-
cay and illegitimacy of modern and customary institutions), and generation (the category of youth politics). 
All three were in turn shaped by the political logic, or ordering of power, within Nigeria's petro-capitalism.


25 January, 2:15 p.m. SEMINAR - WEB EVENT  
Yaffa Epstein,Pro Futura Scientia Fellow, SCAS.
Researcher, Faculty of Law, Uppsala University
Rights of Nature in Europe
Zoom Webinar: https://uu-se.zoom.us/j/68081094583


ABSTRACT:
The rights of nature, or natural entities such as rivers and ecosystems, have been recognized in over a dozen
jurisdictions around the world. In Europe, this legal trend has raised a lot of interest, but has largely not led
to the legal recognition of rights either in the EU or its Member States. But although rights of nature have
thus far had little success in being explicitly recognized in the European Union or within Europe more
broadly, I argue, nature already has legal rights in the EU legal order by virtue of the legal obligations owed
to it under existing environmental laws. Further, although not explicitly recognized, nature’s rights are
currently respected in the EU legal system, in that nature protection laws cannot be derogated from for
mere utilitarian interests. In this seminar, I argue that the rights of nature that are already implicit in EU law
may have consequences for how its interests may be represented in court, and what type of remedies may
be attained.


1 February, 2:15 p.m. SEMINAR - WEB EVENT                  
Stefan Enroth, Natural Sciences Fellow, SCAS.
Associate Professor of Computational Genomics, Uppsala University
Understanding, and Taking Advantage of, Variation in the Human Proteome
Zoom Webinar: https://uu-se.zoom.us/j/61495918609


ABSTRACT:
Human proteins build our bodies but also perform essential functions relating to for instance cell 
communication and regulation of gene transcription. These complex systems can, however, be pushed
out of equilibrium by infections and other, non-communicable disease. Through molecular measurements
of protein concentrations in an accessible tissue such as blood, we can diagnose and monitor a wide range
of diseases. However, many other factors such as ageing, anthropometrics and lifestyle choices are also
reflected in the protein concentrations found in our blood. In this lecture, I will talk about how recent
technological advancements allow us to map the protein landscape on a large scale and how non-disease-
related factors could influence these measurements. I will exemplify how we can use this variation to
build predictive models of personal traits and obtain more robust models for predicting disease.


8 February, 2:15 p.m. SEMINAR - WEB EVENT                  
Kah-Wee Lee, Fellow, SCAS.
Associate Professor of Architecture and Urban Planning, National University of Singapore
The World in the Casino: Contract, Model and Exhibition in Three Asian Cities
Zoom Webinar: https://uu-se.zoom.us/j/64130061666


ABSTRACT:
Over the last twenty years, the center of the casino industry has relocated from Las Vegas to three cities
in Asia-Pacific, namely Singapore, Macau and Manila (Philippines). Underpinning this transformation is
a partnership between states and concessionaires whereby the sovereign right of taxation is leased to
private entities, which in turn allows states to tax populations outside of their territories. In this presen-
tation, I share my analysis of the "state-concessionaire" relationship across three sites - the contract,
the model and the exhibition. I begin by contextualizing this relationship in colonial revenue farming and
contemporary geopolitics. Then I discuss how a particular model of casino development, known as
an "Integrated Resort", mystifies this relationship and promotes the casino industry to new markets in
Asia. Finally, I zoom into one casino lobby and show how the state-concessionaire relationship is
exhibited in a tableau of gems and antiques. By moving across different sites, I aim to develop a kaleido-
scopic treatment of what scholars call "casino capitalism". Rather than an epochal shift in the historical
stage of capitalism, I highlight the inflections caused by the cultural, political and historical diversity of
this region as well as the novel ways it is being attached to the global capitalist order. The world, as seen
from the casino, is fractious and emergent. 


15 February, 2:15 p.m. SEMINAR - WEB EVENT                  
Anja Schüppert, Natural Sciences Fellow (Human Brains and Societies), SCAS.
Assistant Professor of European Languages and Cultures, University of Groningen
Exploring University Students' Academic Performance in Native-language versus
English-medium Instruction

Zoom Webinar: https://uu-se.zoom.us/j/67225886937


ABSTRACT:
Dutch higher education seems to be undergoing a language shift from Dutch to English. Master’s pro-
grammes are predominantly taught in English, and the number of English-taught Bachelor’s programmes
is increasing steadily. While the supposed costs and benefits of this language shift have been frequent
topics in various Dutch media over the past years, surprisingly little empirical data have been collected to
explore its actual impact on various groups of students. In this lecture, I will share some insights on how
this language shift may or may not affect different dimensions of academic achievements in non-native
English-speaking students, and discuss the use of on-line methods such as eye-tracking and keystroke
logging to monitor students’ cognitive load during lecture attention and academic writing in real time.


17 February. The 3rd WITTROCK LECTURE - POSTPONED. New date: 9 June.               
Hans Joas, Ernst Troeltsch Professor of the Sociology of Religion, Humboldt-Universität
zu Berlin, and Professor of Sociology and Social Thought, University of Chicago
Moral Change and the Ambiguity of Religions: Christianity Between Racism and the
Struggle Against It

Pre-registration is required. More information will be available shortly.

17 February. ALUMNI EVENT – PANEL DISCUSSION - POSTPONED. New date: 9 June. 
Is There Anybody Out There? Searching for Life in Outer Space
Jessica Abbott, Alexis Lavail, Anna Neubeck, Nikolai Piskunov
By invitation only.

18 February. The 4th WITTROCK LECTURE - POSTPONED. New date: 10 June.       
Linda Colley, Non-resident Long-term Fellow for Programmes in Early Modern and
Modern History, SCAS.
Shelby M.C. Davis 1958 Professor of History, Princeton University
What Happens When a Written Constitution is Printed, and What Happens When
Print Fails?

Pre-registration is required. More information will be available shortly.

1 March, 2:15 p.m. SEMINAR - HYBRID EVENT                  
Mikael S. Adolphson, Fellow, SCAS.
Keidanren Professor of Japanese Studies, University of Cambridge
Japan's First Economic Miracle: Early Medieval Trade, Minting and Continental Agency
Zoom Webinar: https://uu-se.zoom.us/j/64635965696


ABSTRACT:
The twelfth century was a pivotal time in Japan’s history. It witnessed intense factionalism within the
court in Kyoto, several armed conflicts, Japan’s first national civil war (1180-85) and above all the rise
of warriors to national prominence, culminating with the establishment of Japan’s first warrior govern-
ment, the Kamakura Shogunate (1185-1333). It is hardly surprising then that warrior society has been
the main focus of countless studies of this period, but this approach has also led to one-dimensional
descriptions of a society that was considerably more complex than is assumed. Specifically, Japan’s
medieval economic development, which from a global historical perspective can only be described as
remarkable, have taken the backseat to the warrior-focused narrative that is often both teleological and
ahistorical. Beginning in the mid-twelfth century, Japan was transformed from a rice economy to one
based on cash coins imported from China. For the next three centuries, transactions, tax collections and
even fines were expressed in terms of copper coins, which in turn spurred the emergence of trade cities,
new classes of merchants and artisans, as well as the establishment of guilds. And yet not a single coin
was minted in Japan. This “minting-less” monetization stands in sharp contrast to developments in medi-
eval Europe, where monetization went hand in hand with rulers who struck their own coins.

Scholars have struggled to explain these discrepancies, if they have been noted at all outside Japan despite
their importance to current theories of monetary history, which are often held to be universal. To shed
light on Japan’s medieval monetization, it may therefore be useful to compare the early stages of minting
in Scandinavia to those in Japan. Both were peripheral to centers of high economic activity and the minting
of coins, and both imported them initially as metal, but there the similarities seem to end. Or do they? In
this talk, Mickey Adolphson will attempt just such a comparison by bringing together archeological, textual,
literary and religious sources, while exploring what one might call “Japan’s first economic miracle.”


15 March, 2:15 p.m. SEMINAR - HYBRID EVENT                  
Aaron M. Ellison, Natural Sciences Fellow, SCAS.
Senior Research Fellow in Ecology (Emeritus), Harvard University
Out of the Crucible: Reclaiming and Reconstructing Ecology from the Ashes of Romanticism
Zoom Webinar: https://uu-se.zoom.us/j/64635965696


ABSTRACT:
Professional Ecologists, myself included, are the people who are most actively engaged in studying and
understanding biodiversity, the nonliving (“abiotic”) environment, and how---individually and through
their interactions---biodiversity and the abiotic define and continuously redefine “nature.” Ecologists
also apply our data to the conservation, preservation, and management of “the environment” so that
the nonhuman species and “natural” (yet increasingly “anthropogenic”) ecosystems continue to provide
essential “services” for humans. Although Ecologists have amassed vast amounts of data about how
nature “works,” our prescriptions for environmental management generally fail. Rather than retread
well-worn paths examining the technical reasons for these failures, I seek to understand the cultural
context for the failure of Ecology to make a difference to the environment. In short, I invert the
essence of ecocriticism---understanding literature as if the environment matters---and instead inter-
rogate Ecology as if the cultural milieu matters.

A key question I ask is why do Ecologists, ecologists, and environmentalists hold to the idea of a
“balance of nature,” despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary? My work at SCAS focuses
on the reification of this idée fixe in the late 19th- and early 20th centuries, and during the establish-
ment of the first professional Ecological societies: the British Ecological Society (est. 1913) and the
Ecological Society of America (est. 1916). I suggest that viewing the epistemological stance of Eco-
logy as a critical reaction of Romantics to Modernism is the locus of the origin and persistence of
the balance of nature as a core belief in Ecology, its persistence as Modernism dissolved into Post-
modernism, and its continued influence in environmental science and management. I assert that
Ecologists, ecologists, and environmentalists need to abandon this belief and its corollaries if Eco-
ogy is to continue as a meaningful scientific discipline, if ecologies are to be relevant to other disci-
plines, and for environmental management to have any chance of success on this rapidly changing
planet.


22 March, 2:15 p.m. SEMINAR - HYBRID EVENT                  
Michael Goodhart, Fellow, SCAS.
Professor of Political Science, University of Pittsburgh
Human Rights: Terrains of Contestation
Zoom Webinar: https://uu-se.zoom.us/j/64635965696


ABSTRACT:
Human rights are a vast, evolving, contested, and perplexing agglomeration of phenomena comprising
laws, moral claims, performances, political demands, philosophical ideals, and a bewildering variety of
social and institutional practices. Unsurprisingly, they are often paradoxical or contradictory, both in
theory and in practice, and the field of human rights is characterized by startlingly divergent analyses
and assessments of them. Yet theorists continue to try to make sense of human rights in general, as if
there were a way or thing that human rights really are. This paper proposes a new way to conceptualize
the complexity and multiplicity of human rights as terrains of contestation. The proposed framework
helps theorists to embrace the paradoxical character of human rights and to avoid common fallacies of
reasoning that make many debates on rights distortional, paralytic, and anti-political.


23 March, 2:15 p.m. SYMPOSIUM - HYBRID EVENT
The Next Step – Shaping the Future of Indo-European Studies
Oscar Billing, Lisa Bukhave, Natalia Kashuba, Yoko Yamazaki
The symposium will be followed by a reception. Pre-registration is required.
Please contact rsvp@swedishcollegium.se by 17 March 2022 at the latest to sign up.
Zoom Webinar: https://uu-se.zoom.us/s/63752256666
This is an event of the research programme LAMP – Languages and Myths of Prehistory and
the Centre for Studies in Indo-European Language and Culture at Stockholm University, in
collaboration with SCAS.


ABOUT:
Indo-European language and culture is a rapidly expanding interdisciplinary field and a new generation
of early-career researchers in Sweden is engaging in this emerging area of study. The aim of this sym-
posium is to bring together young researchers working in comparative linguistics, history of religions,
archaeology, and aDNA in order to spark conversations and initiate interdisciplinary collaboration.

PROGRAMME:
14:15 - 14:30
Welcome to SCAS
Christina Garsten, SCAS

Introductory remarks
Jenny Larsson, Stockholm University

14:30 - 15:00
Mysterious Bedfellows and Broken Promises: Exploring the Potential in Combining Indo-European
Studies and the Cognitive Science of Religion

Lisa Bukhave, Uppsala University

15:00 - 15:30
Making Silent Stone Speak: The Study of the Luwic Languages in Ancient Anatolia
Oscar Billing, Uppsala University

15:30 - 16:00
Coffee/tea break

16:00 - 16:30
Traveling Voices: The Diachronic Development of the Voice System in Baltic, Slavic, and Germanic
Branches from a Migrational Perspective

Yoko Yamazaki, Stockholm University

16:30 - 17:00
Ancient DNA: Research Design, Work-flow, Possibilities and Limitations
Natalia Kashuba, Uppsala University

17:00 - 18:00
Reception


29 March, 2:15 p.m. SEMINAR - HYBRID EVENT - New date
Gioia Filocamo, Fellow, SCAS.
Professor of Poetry for Music and Musical Dramaturgy, Istituto Superiore di Studi Musicali di Terni
Accepting Death through Laude: Lay Theology in Early Modern Bologna
Zoom Webinar: https://uu-se.zoom.us/j/64635965696


ABSTRACT:
My research deals with a very unusual corpus of fifteenth-century laude, or non-liturgical devotional
poems in Italian set to music. These consist of over two hundred texts assembled by the brethren of the
Confraternity of Flagellants of St. Mary of Death, founded at Bologna in 1336, and active until 1798.
From its very beginning, this vibrant lay institution devoted its efforts to two very innovative activities:
(1) comforting prisoners condemned to death, from the evening before their execution until they took
their last breath; and (2) running a hospital for terminally ill patients. In addition, from 1433 on, it was in
charge of the yearly city procession of the icon of the black “Madonna di San Luca”, supposed to have
been painted by St Luke the Evangelist and still venerated today.

The purpose of my work is to enter the social, religious, and ethical world of these brethren using the
words of their laude as ‘keys’. The starting point is a close analysis of the Manual of the Bolognese con-
fraternity, a document intended to teach willing lay-comforters how to approach and manage the fears
and doubts of condemned prisoners in their final hours. In addition to exhortations, the Manual of the
comforters is accompanied by several laude, typically called “lode e altre oracioni” (laude and other
prayers), some of which encompass as many as 2000 verses. These are the focus of my study.

Walking a path among these largely unpublished poems, I plan to explore in detail the moral world and
personal expectations of the laymen who supported those condemned to death, the prisoners themselves,
and the people who listened to their words when the brethren sang in public. As I will show, the actions
of the confraternity unfolded against a rich canvass, and their music and poetry have much to tell us about
moral, spiritual, and civic life in one of the liveliest cities in medieval Europe.


31 March, 2:15 p.m. SEMINAR - HYBRID EVENT                  
Patrik Svensson, Senior Global Horizons Fellow, SCAS.
Independent Scholar
Changing Infrastructures, Changing Worlds: The Academy as a Case Study
Zoom Webinar: https://uu-se.zoom.us/j/64635965696


ABSTRACT:
Since about the 1980s we live in an increasingly infrastructural world, a world understood, negotiated,
and made through infrastructure. Infrastructures are often taken to be fixed (foundational, technological,
long-term, instrumental, useful, and difficult to change) even when seen as failing or analyzed relationally.
In this paper, I argue that enacting change requires challenging such models of infrastructure and that
infrastructural change is also about institutional, epistemological, and societal change and should be in-
formed by the ideas and values we want to be driving such change. The category of ‘research infra-
structure’ serves as a case study and ‘academic events’ provides a current example.


5 April, 2:15 p.m. SEMINAR - HYBRID EVENT                  
Fanny Wonu Veys, Barbro Klein Fellow, SCAS
Curator Oceania, the National Museum of World Cultures in the Netherlands
(Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam; Museum Volkenkunde, Leiden; Afrika Museum, Berg en Dal;
Wereldmuseum, Rotterdam)
The Kaleidoscopic History of Tongan Tattooing
Zoom Webinar: https://uu-se.zoom.us/j/64635965696


ABSTRACT:
My study attempts to piece together – using visual and textual sources, and to a lesser extent oral history
– the fragmentary historical and anthropological narrative of tātatau, tattooing in the Pacific archipelago
of Tonga. What is known of Tongan tattooing is mostly based on the disembodied depiction of a tattooed
male thigh in the Atlas made to accompany the journal of Jules Sébastien Dumont d’Urville’s 1827 voyage
to Tonga. The lithography is heralded as the only and the oldest visual record of tātatau before missionary
presence contributed to its demise in the first half of the nineteenth century. Research has revealed that
the uniqueness of this visual tattooing fragment is not only incorrect, but also that a more complex narra-
tive can be told about this millennial practice touching on issues of aesthetics, gender, hierarchy and
regional difference.

The fragments and debris of texts, remembered stories and visual records used in my research were mainly
produced by European and American explorers and missionaries. Their experiences caught in textual and
pictorial narratives were often based on preconceptions, which sometimes led to misunderstandings. My
talk will focus on concepts and methodologies that may help tell an anthropological narrative that is as
much western as indigenous about Tongan tattooing, a practice with an interrupted genealogy.


7 April, 2:15 p.m. SEMINAR - HYBRID EVENT New date                 
Sofia Lodén, Pro Futura Scientia Fellow, SCAS.
Associate Professor of French, Stockholm University
Crossing Borders in the World of King Arthur
Zoom Webinar: https://uu-se.zoom.us/j/64635965696


ABSTRACT:
The legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table is associated with chivalric adventures, love
stories and enchanted landscapes. It evokes fairy tales and fantasy and has been described as relatively far
from the real world, reflecting ideals of the aristocracy rather than a societal reality. Yet, many Arthurian
romances also show a strong interest in the external world, not least by depicting journeys throughout
medieval Europe – in Brittany, England and Wales, but also in Greece, Ireland, Scandinavia and Sicily.
Cultural and geographical peripheries are thus drawn into the Arthurian world, at the same time as the
legend itself spreads to the European peripheries through translation. In my seminar, I will draw attention
to the ways in which the Arthurian tradition crossed various borders and argue that it contributed to the
creation of a cultural European community. I will discuss how romances crossed cultural and linguistic
borders through translation and adaptation and how these same romances, written in different languages,
describe protagonists who cross cultural and geographical borders.


26 April, 2:15 p.m. SEMINAR - HYBRID EVENT                  
Pim Edelaar, Natural Sciences Fellow, SCAS.
Professor of Biology, Pablo de Olavide University, Seville
Towards a Generalised Theory of Adaptive Evolution
Zoom Webinar: https://uu-se.zoom.us/j/64635965696


ABSTRACT:
“To see what is in front of one’s nose requires a constant struggle” (George Orwell).

Evolutionary biology has provided us with a completely different look on the origin and “meaning”
of life, and has been applied with great success in many branches of science, from conservation,
agriculture and medicine to linguistics, economy and computation. However, evolutionary theory
is increasingly receiving criticism for being biased and incomplete.  I will review the three tradi-
tional requirements for adaptive evolution, and then explore to what extent these can or should
be generalised such that they cover the full set of possibilities. I indeed find that this is possible
and desirable. Separately and in combination, the expansion of the three requirements for adaptive
evolution has very significant implications for how we understand and apply adaptation and evolution. 


28 April, 2:15 p.m. SEMINAR - HYBRID EVENT New date                  
Mia Phillipson, Natural Sciences Fellow, SCAS.
Professor of Physiology, Uppsala University.
Co-director, SciLifeLab
Immune Cells in War and in Peace
Zoom Webinar https://uu-se.zoom.us/j/64635965696


ABSTRACT:
Our current notion of the immune system is mainly focused on the contributions of immune cells
during disease where they either fight invading pathogens, kill cancer cells or cause tissue damage
during allergies or autoimmune disorders. However, immune cells have important functions also
during development and regulation of healthy organ functions. Here, I will discuss the historical
reasons for the comparison of immune cells to soldiers protecting our borders, and how the war
metaphors used within immunology have conserved this view and thereby hampered current
understanding of the wide spectrum of immune cell functions. These insights are important in the
era of data driven life science and the development of immunotherapies that utilize inherent immune
cell functions to treat disease.


10 May, 2:15 p.m. SEMINAR - HYBRID EVENT                  
Bruce G. Carruthers, Non-resident Long-term Fellow for Programmes on Global
Governance, SCAS.
John D. MacArthur Professor of Sociology, Northwestern University, Evanston
Corporate Taxation and Social Responsibility: Effective Tax Rates of US Firms in
the 21st Century

Zoom Webinar: https://uu-se.zoom.us/j/64635965696


ABSTRACT:
The social responsibilities of for-profit corporations have gained importance recently, and CSR
(corporate social responsibility) has become both a goal and a set of guidelines for corporations.
CSR typically includes various environmental and social impacts. But do firms that are “good citi-
zens” also pay higher taxes? Is it the social responsibility of firms to help pay for public services?
Focusing on the percentile rank of effective tax rates, and using random effects panel regression
of a set of publicly-traded U.S. firms, we find that the relationship between CSR and taxation is a
complicated one that warrants further investigation. However, strong corporate governance is
associated with lower tax rates, suggesting that narrow responsibility to shareholders conflicts
with broader social responsibilities.


11 May, 2:15 p.m. SYMPOSIUM - HYBRID EVENT
Exploring New Methods: Quantitative Approaches to Indo-European Linguistics
Oscar Billing, Erik Elgh, Harald Hammarström, Philipp Rönchen   
The symposium will be followed by a reception.
Pre-registration is required for the physical event. Please sign up via rsvp@swedishcollegium.se
by 6 May 2022 at the latest.
Zoom Webinar: https://uu-se.zoom.us/j/69022550575 (pre-registration not required)
This is an event of the research programme LAMP – Languages and Myths of Prehistory and
the Centre for Studies in Indo-European Language and Culture at Stockholm University, in
collaboration with SCAS.
Download the programme here (PDF) >>


ABOUT:
In recent years, quantitative methods developed in the field of biology have been repurposed and
applied to linguistic data. The aim of this symposium is to provide an insight into this ongoing work.
At the symposium, we will discuss the scientific advances it promises as well the potential limitations
to the method, both specifically in relation to the Indo-European language family and to comparative
linguistics in general.


17 May, 2:15 p.m. SEMINAR - HYBRID EVENT                  
Alisse Waterston, Non-resident Long-term Fellow for Programmes in Transnational Processes,
Structural Violence, and Inequality, SCAS.
Presidential Scholar and Professor of Anthropology, the City University of New York
An Anthropologist as Writer: Experiments in Crafting and Communicating Knowledge
Zoom Webinar: https://uu-se.zoom.us/j/64635965696


ABSTRACT:
A growing number of scholars have been participating in a series of interconnected debates centered on
failures to decolonize the disciplines and to venture beyond the confines of the ivory tower to engage
with the world, and how to put knowledge to public use in the interest of a more just world. These
conversations have helped generate recognition of what Gina Ulysse describes as the dangers of the
split, such as the schism between the scholar and the responsible global citizen and between the artistic
and the scholarly in representing what we have come to learn. I count myself among the ever-growing
ranks of anthropologists experimenting with genres beyond conventional academic writing forms and
whose hunger never seems to be satisfied for conversation about the often frustrating, rarely celebrated
process of communicating what we have come to know and understand. In this talk, I describe my
experiments in multimodal anthropology with intimate ethnography and the graphic novel as well as new
endeavors in writing fiction. In this presentation, I will discuss aspects in the process of knowledge pro-
duction and communication that include the art and the craft, the whys and wherefores, the conceptions
and creations, the uses of new tools and technologies, the effort to “write otherwise” (Hannerz 2016),
and matters of audience, reception, and a work’s afterlife. Underneath these efforts are various questions
for discussion that may include: What is gained and what is lost in crafting works designed to stimulate,
disturb and/or inspire? How to effect change in scholarly disciplines and their institutions to support ex-
perimental formats and efforts to communicate otherwise?


18 May. SYMPOSIUM/ROUND TABLE DISCUSSIONS
Opening the Ivory Tower Wide 
This is an event of the SCAS Natural Sciences Programme (Measurable Human).
By invitation only.

19 May. SYMPOSIUM
Opening the Ivory Tower Wide 
Shirin Ahlbäck Öberg, Mats Benner, Petter Brodin, Lars Calmfors, Johan Elf, Björn Eriksson,
Bengt Gerdin, Maria Gunther, Anders Hagfeldt, Lars Hultman, Gunnar Ingelman, Sanna Koskiniemi,
Ulf Landegren, Jenni Nordborg, David Sumpter, Johan Sundström, Evelina Vågesjö, Sven Widmalm
Venue: Uppsala Biomedical Centre (BMC), Uppsala University
No registration is required.
This is an event of the SCAS Natural Sciences Programme (Measurable Human).
Download the programme here (PDF) >>


ABOUT:
The two central university missions - research and teaching - have long been complemented
by an aim for public outreach and the charge to spread knowledge and research results to the
broader society. This symposium will discuss and exemplify how academic progress reaches
society and makes a wider difference, but also challenges to this process, and consequences
for academic freedom.

Sessions:
I. Path from Scientific Research to Impact and Industry           
II. Freedom vs Impact? Role of Universities and Funders
III. Life Science Research for the Benefit of Patients and Society
IV. Science Communication and Policy Advice

Organizing committee: Nina Schiller, Erik Ullerås, Kristofer Rubin & Ulf Landegren


23 - 24 May. SYMPOSIUM
Interdisciplinary Ambitions: Women’s Mental Health from History to Neurobiology 
Ingrid Ahnesjö, Anat Biegon, Jenny Douglas, Andrew S Fox, Tomas Furmark, François Georges,
Lisa Käll, Elizabeth Lunbeck, Ann E Rogers, Ivanka Savic, Åsa Wallén-Mackenzie, Marlene Zuk
,
among others.
Pre-registration is required by 29 April, 2022 at the latest. The number of seats is limited and seats
will be distributed on a first come, first served basis.
This is an event of the SCAS Natural Sciences Programme (Human Brains and Societies). It is a
collaboration between Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study (SCAS) and Uppsala University’s
Centre for Women’s Mental Health during the Reproductive Lifespan (WOMHER).
Download the programme here (PDF) >>


ABOUT:
Mental health problems are increasing in prevalence in the Western world, placing mental health
promotion, mental disorder prevention, and related interventions as major priorities for the society.
The increase in mental health problems is particularly pronounced among women during the repro-
ductive years.

Brain development is at the core of our understanding of mental health problems. The human brain
is influenced by genetically determined sex differences and early postnatal experiences and is evolu-
tionary adapted to withstand a range of environmental demands. Sex differences in brain function
has gained increased interest over the past ten years. However, there is still a paucity of information
on the specific characteristics of the female brain, and how it adapts to reproductive challenges like
puberty, pregnancy and menopause. The lack of knowledge affects our understanding of the female
brain function and our ability to distinguish functional adaptations from disease states, all of which
have potential consequences for mental health and socialization. At the same time, our understanding
of mental health problems in women must also consider women’s role in society, the expectations
and societal norms they face and the experience and definition of mental illnesses.

This interdisciplinary symposium will bring together scientists at the forefront of neuroscience,
psychology, psychiatry, sociology, humanities and neuroendocrinology to highlight major advances
and challenges in the field of women’s mental health and suggest future avenues for research. Contri-
butions will be made by the newly established Centre for Women’s Mental Health during the Repro-
ductive Lifespan (WOMHER), where these research questions are in focus.

Organizing committee: Erika Comasco, Lisa Ekselius, Andreas Frick, Dan Larhammar, Alkistis Skalkidou,
Agneta Skoog Svanberg, and Inger Sundström Poromaa.


31 May, 2:15 p.m. SEMINAR - HYBRID EVENT                  
Magnus Ivarsson, Natural Sciences Fellow, SCAS.
Associate Professor of Paleobiology, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm
Impacts and Life – Extending the Habitable Zone in Time
Zoom Webinar: https://uu-se.zoom.us/j/64635965696


ABSTRACT:
The discovery of Earth’s deep biosphere has extended the habitable zone of the solar system from Earth,
to also include Mars and several icy moons around the outer planets. The geochemical conditions required
to support deep life exist on most terrestrial planets, perhaps even on those beyond our own solar system.
However, most terrestrial planets are geologically inactive and so the duration of habitable environments
are limited. Without global processes like plate tectonics and volcanism, the planets need an external
source of energy to generate heat to sustain life.

Meteorite impacts are universal phenomena that influence all planetary bodies. Besides being apocalyptic
events, they generate enough heat to support hydrothermal systems, environments favourable for deep
microbial life. Microbial communities persist if the impact-generated heat endures, which can be from
thousands to millions of years. Yet, recent research on terrestrial craters shows that deep microbial life
can linger hundreds of millions of years after the hydrothermal system has ceased. These microbial
communities are heterotrophic and obtain necessary carbon and energy from hydrocarbons migrating
in the impact-induced fracture system. Methane emissions from Martian craters also indicate hydro-
carbon- cycling in extra-terrestrial craters, suggesting that this is an interplanetary phenomenon.

A new view of impact craters as long-lived biological systems and interplanetary habitats emerges,
where they exist as isolated oases on otherwise barren planets that extend the habitable zones of
planetary systems, not only through space, but also through time. This qualifies them as vital sites for
future missions to Mars and beyond.


7 June, 2:15 p.m. SEMINAR - HYBRID EVENT                  
Jeremy Ravi Mumford, Fellow, SCAS.
Assistant Professor of History, Brown University
Children’s Liberation: An Intellectual History
Zoom Webinar: https://uu-se.zoom.us/j/64635965696


ABSTRACT:
In the United States in the 1970s, a political program emerged stating that children have the same
civil rights as adults: to contract as autonomous individuals, to live where and with whom they
chose, to enter the job market on equal terms, to vote in elections, and to control their own sexuality.
Virtually no one makes these claims today. But they were taken seriously at the time by mainstream
liberal intellectuals, including New York Times journalists and Harvard Law professors. Ultimately,
these claims lost their purchase, even among the most radical; the children’s rights movement became
more concerned with children’s protection than with their civil liberties. In this talk I explore the rise
and fall of Children’s Liberation ideology. What ended it was a new perception that children were
extremely vulnerable to victimization, and above all to sexual abuse, which was now seen as a uniquely
destructive, ever-present threat. After a hundred-year trend toward according children increasing free-
dom and autonomy, American culture reverted to an older conception of childhood vulnerability. 

Part of what interests me as a historian is how we (i.e. people generally, not historians) think about our
own positionality in history. A final subject I consider in this talk is the ways in which people justified
new claims about the present through new interpretations of the past and new conceptions of the future..


9 June, 10:15 a.m.. The 3rd WITTROCK LECTURE - HYBRID EVENT           
Hans Joas, Ernst Troeltsch Professor for the Sociology of Religion, Humboldt-Universität
zu Berlin, and Professor of Sociology and Social Thought, University of Chicago
Moral Change and the Ambiguity of Religions: Christianity Between Racism and the
Struggle Against It

Pre-registration is required by 3 June 2022 at the latest. The number of seats is limited and seats
will be distributed on a first come, first served basis. The lecture will also be available via Zoom
Webinar.
Register here for the 3rd and/or 4th Wittrock Lectures (physical events) >>
Register here for the Zoom Webinar/s >>


ABSTRACT:
The Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 60s led to significant moral change in the United States.
The same is true for its predecessor, the abolitionist movement in the 19th century. Both movements
were deeply influenced by Christian convictions and actors. But could not the same be said about the
other side of the conflicts, the defenders of slavery and the proponents of racial segregation? Had not
Christianity, despite its morally universalist message, always accommodated itself to the institution of
slavery? This lecture attempts to offer a sociological explanation for the relative success of these morally
motivated social movements. In this connection, the main focus will be on their “prophetic” features.
From this particular case study, some generalizing conclusions regarding the complex interplay of
“religious” and “moral” traditions will be drawn. Neither religious nor secular traditions prove to be as
unambiguous as their proponents often pretend.

ABOUT HANS JOAS:
Hans Joas is Ernst Troeltsch Professor for the Sociology of Religion at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin,
and Professor of Sociology and Social Thought at University of Chicago. For many years, he was a
Non-resident Long-term Fellow of the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study. From 1990 to 2002 he
was Professor at the Freie Universität Berlin and from 2002 to 2011 Director of the Max-Weber-Kolleg
in Erfurt. He had visiting professorships at the universities of Toronto, Madison (Wisconsin), New York
(New School for Social Research), Uppsala, Vienna, and Gothenburg. Among his most important recent
book publications in English are Faith as an Option. Possible Futures for Christianity (Stanford University
Press 2014), The Sacredness of the Person. A New Genealogy of Human Rights (Georgetown University
Press 2013), War in Social Thought. Hobbes to the Present (with W. Knoebl, Princeton University Press
2013), and The Power of the Sacred. An Alternative to the Narrative of Disenchantment (Oxford Univer-
sity Press 2021). He holds honorary doctorates from Universität Tübingen and Uppsala University. Among
his numerous awards are the Max Planck Research Award 2015 and the Prix Paul Ricoeur 2017.


9 June. ALUMNI EVENT: PANEL DISCUSSION
Is There Anybody Out There? Searching for Life in Outer Space
Jennifer Greco, Anna Neubeck, Nikolai Piskunov, Locke Rowe
Moderator: Pim Edelaar
By invitation only.

10 June, 10:15 a.m. The 4th WITTROCK LECTURE - HYBRID EVENT      
Linda Colley, Non-resident Long-term Fellow for Programmes in Early Modern and
Modern History, SCAS.
Shelby M.C. Davis 1958 Professor of History, Princeton University
Constitutions in Times of Crisis
Pre-registration is required by 3 June 2022 at the latest. The number of seats is limited and seats
will be distributed on a first come, first served basis. The lecture will also be available via Zoom
Webinar.
Register here for the 3rd and/or 4th Wittrock Lectures (physical events) >>
Register here for the Zoom Webinar/s >>


ABSTRACT:
Just two years ago, in 2020, the constitution of Russia was revised so as to proclaim that country’s
commitment to ”the peaceful co-existence of states and peoples”, and its support for ”international
peace and security”. These Russian amendments touch on the vital relations that have always existed
between written political constitutions on the one hand, and order and conflict on the other. Manifestly,
however, these same amendments also raise the question of how these sorts of political documents and
initiatives are usefully to be approached and understood. Increasingly spreading across continents from
the mid-18th century onwards, constitutions have rarely ever been pure legal and intellectual statements,
and they have frequently been bound up in some way with violence. In this lecture, Linda Colley traces
the close links that have existed over time between constitution-making and crises of different sorts, and
explores some of the newer pressures confronting constitutions now.

ABOUT LINDA COLLEY:
Linda Colley is Shelby M.C. Davis 1958 Professor of History at Princeton University, a Long-term Fellow
in history at SCAS, and a current Fellow of the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin. A Fellow of the British Aca-
demy, she is also a former member of the Board of the British Library, where, in 2008, she organized an
exhibition of historical texts to do with rights entitled “Taking Liberties”, opened by the then UK Prime
Minister. She has also served on the Research Committees of the British Museum and Tate Britain. She
holds seven honorary degrees, of which the last was awarded by the University of Oxford in 2021. The
author of seven books, including Britons: Forging the Nation 1707-1837, a winner of the Wolfson History
Prize, she also writes regularly on history and politics for the New York Review of Books, the London Review
of Books
, and the Guardian and Financial Times newspapers. Her latest work, The Gun, the Ship and the
Pen: Warfare, Constitutions and the Making of the Modern World
, will come out in paperback this spring,
and has just been awarded the 2021 Book of the Year Prize by the International Forum on the Future of
Constitutionalism.