Helsinki Research Group for
Political Sociology
(HEPO)
Meeting with the ’Moderns’
University of Helsinki
15 March 2011
HEPO basics
• Founded / institutionalized by Risto Alapuro,
Markku Lonkila, Eeva Luhtakallio and Tuomas
Ylä-Anttila
• Studies of political processes , practices and
disputes; social movements & associations,
activism, civil society, democratization, public
sphere…
• Global scope, comparative perspective
• Particularly strong knowledge of French and
Russian societies
More info on HEPO
• HEPO blog:
http://blogs.helsinki.fi/politicalsociology/
• HEPO in Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=15
3211418045316
HEPO teaching
• Seminar for doctoral students
• Series of lectures by HEPO members and
colleagues: ’Politics on the move’,
http://www.valt.helsinki.fi/blogs/spaces/m
ove.htm
• Workshop course on qualitative methods
by Eeva Luhtakallio
• Supervision of doctoral and masters’ theses
HEPO post-doc researchers
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Akhlaq Ahmad*
Risto Alapuro*
Markku Lonkila*
Eeva Luhtakallio*
Suvi Salmenniemi: Self-help and
Conceptions of a ‘Good Life’ in Finland
and Russia
• Tuomas Ylä-Anttila*
Doctoral students affiliated
with HEPO
• Karin Creutz-Kämppi*
• Leonardo Custodio: Community media,
democratic theory and participation
• Veikko Eranti*
• Peter Holley*
• Suvi Huikuri*
Doctoral students affiliated
with HEPO (cont)
• Zeinab Karimi*
• Meri Kulmala: Womens’ activism in Russian
Carelia
• Mari Kuukkanen: Means and ends of anarchist
politics in Finland
• Sofia Laine*
• Samu Lindström*
Doctoral students affiliated with
HEPO (cont)
• Eveliina Louhivuori*
• Laura Lyytikäinen: Youth civic activism and
protest movements in Moscow.
• Elina Mikola*
• Freek van der Vet: Russian civil society and
access to the European court of human rights
• Minna Viuhko: The organisation of human
trafficking
Some examples of HEPO
masters’ theses
• Veikko Eranti: Variations of NIMBY. Common good and selfinterest in the opinions of the inhabitants of Etelä-Haaga
• Suvi Huikuri: Dispute on climate: Justifications presented by
the global North and South in the conferences on climate
change. (Kiista ilmastosta: pohjoisen ja etelän esittämät
oikeutukset uutta ilmastosopimusta rakentavien kokousten
julkisissa keskusteluissa).
• Samu Lindström: Gate crashers’ demonstrations
(Kuokkavieras –mielenosoitukset)
• Kaisa Luhtala: Civic activism in the internet-era. The arrival
of Carrot mob in Finland (Kansalaisaktivismi internet aikana. Porkkanamafian tulo Suomeen)
• Hanne Hämäläinen: Visuaalinen vastademokratia valta- ja
vastajulkisuudessa
Recent dissertations by HEPO
• Eeva Luhtakallio: Local Politicizations - A
Comparison of Finns and French Practicing
Democracy" (Politisaation paikat. Tutkimus
suomalaisista ja ranskalaisista demokratian
käytännöistä)
• Tuomas Ylä-Anttila: Politiikan paluu Globalisaatioliike ja julkisuus (The Return of
Politics – The Global Justice Movement and
the Public Sphere)
HEPO is full of HOPE!
Youth political participation in
transnational agoras
Sofia Laine
PhD Candidate,
Institute of Development Studies, University of Helsinki
Research setting
Participants
come form
several different
countries.
Transnational
themes.
Mostly 17-30years-old
Young
peoples’ political
participation in
transnational political
meetings
Freedom=
diversity of the
forms of political
actions = room for
creativity
Different form of
knowledge takes
place in different
forms of political
participation
World Social Forums
(2006 Bamako, 2007 Nairobi and 2009 Belém),
European Social Forum (2008 Malmö),
Global Young Greens Foundin Conference (2007
Nairobi), EU Presidency Youth Event (2007
Hyvinkää)
Articles and timetable
1. Laine, Sofia & Gretschel, Anu (2009) Whose arena the EU youth policy is?
Young participants’ involvement and influence in EU youth policy from their
own points of view: Case of EU Presidency Youth Event in Hyvinkää, Finland.
Young 17(2), pp. 191–215.
2. Laine, Sofia (2009) Contestatory Performative Acts in the Transnational
Political Meetings. Societies Without Borders 4(3), pp. 398–429.
3. Laine, Sofia (forthcoming, fall 2011) Grounded globalizations of transnational
social movement. Ethnographic Analysis on Free Hugs Campaign at the World
Social Forum Belém 2009. Ephemera – theory and politics in organization
4. Laine, Sofia (under construction) Methodological cosmopolitanism. In
Haverinen, Ahponen and Harinen (eds.) Methodological nationalism –
transnational reality: crossing civic cultural borderlines.
• Preliminary examination of the dissertation June– September. Corrections in
October.
• Submitting to Faculty: November-December
• Defense: January-February 2012
Samu Lindström: The Gatecrasher movement and
the Finnish political culture
• the gatecrasher demonstrations (arranged during 1996–2007 on 6th of
December, the Finnish national day) provoked a wide public debate
because of the radical repertoires of action that were used
• the protest represented new kind of activism in the Finnish perspective
owing to its organisational basis, forms of action and goals
• the Finnish consensus driven tradition of avoiding conflicts is
challenged by the newest radicalism, but to what extent?
• the transformation of the gatecrasher publicity: after the favourable
phase the gatecrashers were represented as threatening, then trivial
and finally as an institutionally conquered phenomenon without any
political significance
• under scrutiny: the internal publicity of the gatecrasher movement
reached through archived web discussions and other alternative media
Climate Change and Civil Society (CLIC)
 Newspapers in Finland, France, India,
California, South Africa, Malawi
 UN meetings 2005 - 2011
 Public Justifications Analysis: Moral
dispute on climate (Ecology, Market,
Civic…
 Interviews + analysis of websites of
environmental organizations
 Their justifications, views on the public
debate and global networking
 From global justice to climate justice?
Peter Holley
THE NATION (RE)IMAGINED:
National Belonging amongst Immigrant ‘Activists’
in Finland and Finnish Expatriates in the UK
• Aim: To understand how migrants construct an
image of a Finnish ‘nation’ and how they position
themselves in relation to an imagined Finnish
‘national community’. (Anderson 1991; Billig 1995)
• I understand the ‘nation’ (like ethnicity and ‘race’) as a
basic unit of social classification. (Brubaker, Loveman &
Stamotov 2004)
• This approach does not uphold (methodological)
nationalism’s belief that the social world is “‘naturally’
divided into [national] communities” (Billig 1995: 63).
• Rather the ‘nation’ is comprehend as a cognitive
category – the ‘nation’ is “fundamentally not a thing in the
world, but a perspective on the world.” (Brubaker, Loveman & Stamotov
2004: 32. See also DiMaggio 1997)
• The following research questions guide my research:
• How is the Finnish ‘nation’ constructed by those
studied?
• And how do those studied position themselves in
relation to a perceived Finnish ‘national community’?
DOCTORAL STUDENT
Department of Social Research (Sociology)/
CEREN, Swedish School of Social Science
• Two ethnographic case studies:
1. Immigrant ‘activists’ in Finland – those active in immigrant
NGOs and/or social networks.
2. Finnish expatriates in the UK – within ‘Finnish’ social
networks/cultural institutions.
• Dual Migrant Perspective: immigrant ‘activists’
in Finland and Finnish expatriates abroad.
• Both ‘groups’ studied present a challenge to
homogeneous, territorially bound imaging of the
Finnish nation-state.
• The first represents the ‘immigrant Other’ within the
sovereign borders of the Finnish state, whilst the
second symbolizes an extension of the ‘national
community’ beyond the state’s territorial limits.
• Current status: I am now beginning to collect
fieldwork data, tentatively entering the field and
continuing to locate/contact potential participants
in Finland.

The project title and its content are a work in progress...
allwww.helsinki.fi/yliopisto
suggestions for improvement are most welcome!
Engagement in Political Action: Comparing
Climate Activism in Finland, France, and the US
Eeva Luhtakallio
• How do climate issues translate into
local civic practices? What kind of
engagements do these practices
articulate? What do these practices
tell about the dynamics of local,
national, and global climate politics?
• Bicycle politics in three cities:
Helsinki, Los Angeles, Paris
• Critical mass demonstrations,
transport activism, environmental
life style groups… And local
questions of climate justice?
STUDY INTERESTS
 Russian civil society in a
comparative perspective
 Cultural, social and moral
foundations of Russian economy
 Internet and social media in civic
and political activism
THE BIG QUESTIONS
 What kind of socio-political system
is about to form in present-day
Russia?
 How can associations, social
movements and activism contribute
to Russian democratization?
CONCRETE STUDIES
 The role of social network sites in
Russian and Finnish activism
 Urban activism in Helsinki and St.
Petersburg
 Anti-military activism in Russia
 Car drivers’ associations and
movements in Russia and Finland
 Social networks in the Russian
market economy (Palgrave
Macmillan, 2011)
Climate Risk Management in Urban Environment –
Strategies to enhance social adaptation and resilience
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Adaptation to climate change is necessary all over the world
Urbanization is a global phenomenon -> special problems
Climate-related risks need to be taken into account in urban policy
International organizations (e.g. World Bank, IMF, UN) have
programs and recommendations – How they are taken into account
at local level?
• Comparative study of metropolises (developing, industrial or both?)
The idea is to.. 1) generate scientific knowledge on risk management
and adaptation methods of cities; 2) understand the impacts of
climate change to cities and its inhabitants; 3) explore social
responses to mitigate and adapt to CC in city level; 4) enhance the
resilience of social systems; 5) contribute sustainable urbanization
HEPO/Moderns 15.3.2011 Suvi Huikuri
24
Karin Creutz-Kämppi
SOCIAL BOUNDARIES IN A SUPRANATIONAL CONTEXT:
COLLECTIVE POSITIONING AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF EUROPEANNESS IN
MEDIA DISCOURSES ON ISLAM
KEY CONCEPTS: Sociology of knowledge, nationalisms, Europeanization, Islam, globalization, social
boundaries, subject positions, group consciousness, media, rhetorical analysis
•
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The struggle over regional identity: “different struggles over
classifications, struggles over the monopoly over power to make
people see and believe, to get them to know and recognize, to
impose the legitimate definition of the divisions of the social world
and, thereby, to make and unmake groups” (Bourdieu 1991, 221).
•
• How is groupness articulated and what are the specific concepts
identified with?
• How are national and supranational positions negotiated?
• How are the different subject positions rhetorically signified?
• How are these concepts legitimized?
A collective gets its distinct form and substance when it is mirrored
against the idea of an outer collective (Schütz & Luckmann 1973).
• The focus of my study is on the positions for collective identification –
on the groupness constructed and reinforced in a dichotomic
relationship with the notion of Islam.
• As collectivity on a global level is distant to the everyday-life of the
individual, without attachment to daily practices, it is from a sociological
viewpoint interesting to look at how these conceptions of belonging are
rhetorically constructed and legitimized as positions for identification.
• This assessment simultaneously shows articulations of the discursive
power specific institutionalized knowledge forms possess.
•
As unnoticed parts of our daily lives media representations possess a
specifically powerful role as reality-constructing and realityestablishing systems; they appear in a naturalized form as taken for
granted knowledge, and hence pass without being in the center of
our attention (Alasuutari 1996).
•
Aim: to identify the forms of belonging and the meaning
production related to the concepts representing this
collectivity by analyzing media texts that cover Islam from
a global perspective.
DOCTORAL STUDENT
Department of Social Research (Sociology)/
CEREN, Swedish School of Social Science
My key research question is: who represent the We-collective
when Islam is presented as the Other?
•
The topic is approached through comparative case-studies
of three countries, by analyzing newspaper discussions in
Finland, Turkey and the UK.
• Research Data: Samples from Helsingin Sanomat (Finland), The
Times (UK) & Hurriyet (Hungary) 2001-2011.
• Method: Rhetorical analysis (Chaïm Perelman & Lucie OlbrechtsTyteca 1971).
• Focus on argumentation in common language – how we argue on
the basis of values, how these are legitimized and how agreement
is reached through argumentation.
The first case study:
The Domestication of Global News: National Coverage of the 2011 Uprising
in Egypt
www.helsinki.fi/yliopisto
Intergenerational Relationships in International
Immigrant Families
Parent-Adult Child Relationships of Iranian Immigrant Families in
Finland
Zeinab Karimi
Postgraduate Student
Department of Social Research (Sociology)