What, then, will I bring from the Nordic Summer University’s gathering in Jyväskylä? I remember calm sauna evenings in the soft darkness of late July, as well as the vivid democratic process that maintains the Nordic Summer University and defines its upcoming activities… From visiting ongoing study circles I recall the mapping of conflicting interests in Belarusian and Lithuanian places of heritage; the re-imagining of time from a queer perspective; the enactment of a Parliament of Things, on the hot topic of in vitro fertilisation in Poland… to mention just a few highlights.
And, above all, I bring the experience of a teamwork that fulfilled its purpose of co-planning the concept for a new three-year circle. During the week-long gathering, our proposal for Studies in Remoteness was presented, discussed and approved by the NSU board, and confirmed by the General Assembly of NSU members. Planning is now underway – but this, I feel, deserves a separate post. I left Jyväskylä feeling deeply grateful for this new opening.
While the Praxis of Social Imaginaries study circle was coming to an end in 2025, its continuation took form during the recent NSU Summer Session – this year gathering not far from the city of Jyväskylä in the Lake District of central Finland. Leaving Stockholm on Sunday evening, July 20th…
Stockholm – Åbo/Turku – Jyväskylä – Korpilahti
…I reached the Alkio-Opisto folk high school in Korpilahti after 20 hours of travel. The staff people were welcoming and helpful, it was good to meet friends and colleagues old and new, and delightful to have a swim in the nearby lake – immersing oneself in its summer-warm, velvety body of water.
Tuesday morning began with scheduled work in the nine established study circles of the Nordic Summer University; the tenth group being our working team. On Tuesday afternoon, we presented our draft for a coming three-year cycle of Studies in Remoteness for community review. The proposal got substantial feedback, which we continued working on during the following days. A few of us were attending on-site in Korpilahti, others could join in digitally when needed. Those of us present also had time to visit some of the other study circles – among them Circle 1, Places of Heritage and Circle 7, Meta-Perspectives on Climate Change Knowledge; later also the circles on Critical Theory, Queer Materialism and Feminist Theory. In each circle, urgent topics were presented and processed in various productive ways; these visits were thought-provoking, not least in trying to understand how our future study circle could add constructive perspectives and relevant methodologies to the Nordic Summer University as a whole.
The Remoteness team was assigned a workplace located at a corridor’s end, beyond the pool table and the soda machine. Having passed a row of portraits of stern-looking men, we opened the door to a neat classroom, containing pot-flowers as well as an exercise bike, a row of large windows, an interesting document hanging in a frame on the back wall…
Entering the ‘Studies in Remoteness’ workplace. A translation of the text above the tiny photos in the framed picture would be “First Parliament of the Finnish people, 1907 Disbanded on April 6th 1908”; an impressive number of women were present (I can spot at least five in the close-up).
… and lo! a world map. After spending the past two-and-a-half years with mappings of various kinds, I cannot un-see the colonial implications of a North-above, Europe-centered map. Having improvised a large table in the middle of the room, I could lay down the map horizontally – still Europe-centered, but at least accessible from all sides. This position invited a more playful approach… A handful of tiny pebbles did the rest.
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Playing with pebbles on a world map – shifting perspectives, from Nagaland (India) via Berlin, Oslo and Stockholm (Europe) to New York (USA); these are places where the ‘Remoteness’ team members are currently based.
Helena Hildur W. 