This study examines a model project initiated by a German Federal Ministry in the middle of the v... more This study examines a model project initiated by a German Federal Ministry in the middle of the vast increase in forced migration to Germany after 2015. The project aimed at facilitating the integration of female refugees into German society by way of ‘empowering’ them to become self-employed. A business counselling agency with a feminist orientation was commissioned to design and run the project. Interpellating refugee women as subjects of entrepreneurial self-actualization to enact gender equality, the project embodies a tangible example of postfeminist governmentality. Combining recent research on postfeminism with analytics of governmentality, the study directs its analytical gaze to the work of governing. This opens up a twofold perspective: it enables us to investigate the operation of governmental power in relation to its envisioned subjects, and how this power acts upon the subjects tasked with the work of governing in the contemporary organizational context.
Drawing on qualitative interviews and documentary materials within an “ethnographic imaginary”, we examine, first, the assemblage of elements that made up the fabric of postfeminist governmentality in the governmental intervention at hand and what happened when the governmental attempts “hit the ground” met – and failed to meet – the diverse bodies of the envisioned participants. This perspective illustrates how the logic of postfeminist governmentality radically failed when it came to differences deriving from the structural positioning of the women, but also indicates moments of agency and resistance and the perspectives for those who were able and willing to access the offered subject position. Second, the analysis shows how this failure affected the women involved less than the female project manager who was to bear the consequences. In this respect the analysis sheds light on the amount of practical and emotional work that the task of rendering the project nevertheless ‘a success’ required, the “hidden injuries” this work involved and how this work ultimately led to a reaffirmation of the logic of postfeminist governmentality. The study contributes to understandings of the gendered operation of governmental power in and through contemporary organizations and in the organization of labour.
In the introduction to the special issue "Languaging the worker: globalized governmentalities in/... more In the introduction to the special issue "Languaging the worker: globalized governmentalities in/of language in peripheral spaces", we take up the notion of governmentality as a means to interrogate the complex relationship between language, labor, power and subjectivity in peripheral multilingual spaces. Our aim here is to argue for the study of governmentality as a viable and growing approach in critical sociolinguistic research. As such, in this introduction, we first discuss key concepts germane to our interrogations, including the notions of governmentality, languaging, peripherality and language worker. We proceed to map out five ethnographically and discourse-analytically informed case studies. These examine diverse actors in different settings pertaining to the domain of work. Finally we chart how the case studies construe the issue of languaging the worker through a governmentality frame.
Her research interests include institutional and professional interaction and discourse. Previous... more Her research interests include institutional and professional interaction and discourse. Previously, she has conducted research on religious and organisational settings. Currently, she is studying organisational training and development, consultancy work and new specialist professions in contemporary economies. She has published, among others, in Text & Talk,
International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 2022
This paper seeks to advance research on the nexus of language, work-related training and affectiv... more This paper seeks to advance research on the nexus of language, work-related training and affective capitalism by focusing on an entrepreneurship workshop organized for newly arrived refugees in Germany. Despite the occupational orientation, the primary objective of the workshop was not establishing a business but “empowering” the participants by guiding them to adopt “an entrepreneurial mindset”. To delve deeper into this ‘will to empower’, the study brings together the perspectives of governmentality studies, ethnography, discourse studies and affect studies. To investigate in more detail the evocation of the ‘entrepreneurial mindset’, the study draws on ethnographic data collected in the context of the workshop and focuses on a particular discursive resource, the genre ‘elevator pitch’. The analysis examines how this genre operated as a technology of government by allowing an attempt at modulating the affective states and attachments of the participants so as to evoke an affective...
In the introduction to the special issue " Languaging the worker: globalized governmentaliti... more In the introduction to the special issue " Languaging the worker: globalized governmentalities in/of language in peripheral spaces " , we take up the notion of governmentality as a means to interrogate the complex relationship between language, labor, power and subjectivity in peripheral multilingual spaces. Our aim here is to argue for the study of governmentality as a viable and growing approach in critical sociolinguistic research. As such, in this introduction , we first discuss key concepts germane to our interrogations, including the notions of governmentality, languaging, peripherality and language worker. We proceed to map out five ethnographically and discourse-analytically informed case studies. These examine diverse actors in different settings pertaining to the domain of work. Finally we chart how the case studies construe the issue of languaging the worker through a governmentality frame.
Putting resources into practice: a nexus analysis of knowledge mobilisation activities in languag... more Putting resources into practice: a nexus analysis of knowledge mobilisation activities in language research and multilingual communities, Current Issues in Language Planning,
Over recent years, an increasing body of research in social and cultural studies has investigated... more Over recent years, an increasing body of research in social and cultural studies has investigated the contemporary processes of social change from the point of view of affective capitalism. In this article, we take under scrutiny one of its technologies, namely, empowerment, by which we mean a state characterised by feelings of strength, ability and power that enable agency. More specifically, we investigate the way empowerment is presented in a cultural product, a play that tells a story about personnel training in a factory, shown in a city theatre in Finland. By linking recent theorisation of affective capitalism with an investigation of the intertextual and interdiscursive relations of the play, we analyse how the factory workers' pursuit for good life through empowerment recycles and exploits the affective-discursive elements of sexual and spiritual awakening. In conclusion, we discuss the play as a reflection of and on contemporary social processes. By presenting empowerment as a technology employed to interpellate in particular female subjects, the play contributes to the critique of neoliberalism as a gendered project, with women as its ideal subjects.
Music video covers, minoritised languages and affective investments in the space of YouTube Abstr... more Music video covers, minoritised languages and affective investments in the space of YouTube Abstract While interest in affective processes has led to an affective turn in cultural studies, in sociolinguistics this perspective has been given less attention. This study takes up the 'lens of affect' and directs it on two cases exemplifying the circulation of minoritised languages in new media spaces: music video covers from two minority language contexts, Irish and Sámi, uploaded on YouTube. Combining recent theorising on affect with insights from sociolinguistic research, the study investigates how the YouTube users' affective investments contribute to a (re)valuation of the two minoritised languages, their speakers and the related ethnic/national belongings, and how these investments are expressions of more or less banal nationalism, connected to the colonial histories of Ireland and Finland. The study illustrates how the social media operate as a catalyst of affective investments involved in an ethnolinguistic (re)ordering of languages and their speakers, at the intersection of 'banal globalisation' and 'everyday nationalism'.
Indigenous Popular Culture is currently one of the fastest-growing fields of contemporary cultura... more Indigenous Popular Culture is currently one of the fastest-growing fields of contemporary cultural production in the United States and Canada, but also other regions across the globe. Indigenous artists, writers, musicians, filmmakers, and entrepreneurs of all walks of life proliferate increasingly on the contemporary popular cultural landscape in all its various incarnations, from popular fiction to animation to the fashion world. Diverse Indigenous practitioners of the popular throughout the world not only intervene powerfully into the landscape of popular culture and representation—a cultural field which is notorious for its various appropriations and misrepresentations of Indigenous people and cultures—but also draw attention to the pressing social and political challenges which Indigenous communities are facing today. With its ever expanding scope, Indigenous popular culture harnesses the vibrant and mutable energies of popular culture, fan culture, and geek culture in order to not only indigenize the cultural field of the popular, but also to advance Indigenous cultural archives in a multiplicity of forms. Thus, Indigenous popular culture is not only a field of a dynamic creative expression, but often also in one way or another stands in dialogue with contemporary Indigenous activist groups and causes working towards the goal of decolonization and Indigenous resurgence. The proposed volume seeks to bring together researchers and practitioners of Indigenous popular culture in order to illustrate the cultural vibrancy, complexity, and importance of this emerging field. We therefore invite contributions from academics as well as artists, entrepreneurs, event organizers, cos players etc.
In the introduction to the special issue “Languaging the worker: globalized governmentalities in/... more In the introduction to the special issue “Languaging the worker: globalized governmentalities in/of language in peripheral spaces”, we take up the notion of governmentality as a means to interrogate the complex relationship between language, labor, power and subjectivity in peripheral multilingual spaces. Our aim here is to argue for the study of governmentality as a viable and growing approach in critical sociolinguistic research. As such, in this introduction, we first discuss key concepts germane to our interrogations, including the notions of governmentality, languaging, peripherality and language worker. We proceed to map out five ethnographically and discourse-analytically informed case studies. These examine diverse actors in different settings pertaining to the domain of work. Finally we chart how the case studies construe the issue of languaging the worker through a governmentality frame.
Volunteer tourism is one of the latest branches of the ever expanding globalised tourism. The ini... more Volunteer tourism is one of the latest branches of the ever expanding globalised tourism. The initiative Workaway, an expression of this trend, was established in the late 90's with the aim of promoting " cultural understanding between different peoples and lands throughout the world ". The figure of the workawayer as a new cosmopolitan subjectivity started to take shape. With the growth of the tourism industry, the Workaway scheme has started to be of interest also to tourism entrepreneurs, especially in the global peripheries such as northern Lapland, home to the indigenous minority language community of the Sámi. By signing up as a volunteer in a heritage tourism resort, the workawayer, the cultural adventurer, becomes linked up to the network of the globalised new economy. Drawing on aspects of governmentality studies, discourse studies and ethnographic approaches, this study traces the translocal formation of the figure of the workawayer through two crucial technologies of subjectification: the Internet portal workaway.info and the actuality of everyday work in a Sámi heritage tourist resort in northernmost Finnish Lapland. Although the Workaway initiative positions itself as non-capitalist if not anti-capitalist, the study shows how the workawayer is gradually shaped to meet the requirements of the contemporary neoliberal world of work. If Workaway offers new languages and cultures with a flavour of romanticised multiculturalism, in the tourist resort actual encounters are governed by straightforward market rationality. Here, languages are valued as skills among others, but not above others, since ultimately " you don't necessarily need any language for money transactions " .
The diversification of the media has opened up new spaces for performances that seek not only to ... more The diversification of the media has opened up new spaces for performances that seek not only to evoke laughter but also to voice social critique. One example of this development is the TV comedy show Märät säpikkäät/Njuoska bittut, created by two young women belonging to the indigenous Sámi people living in Finland, in Northern Europe. This paper focuses on one particularly critical sketch in the show: a counter parody of a popular parody of the Sámi presented by two Finnish male comedians. The original sketch was a parody of ethnicity. As they strike back, however, the female presenters consciously foreground the categories of gender and class, thereby introducing a completely new figure: a white, urban, underclass woman. In this paper we draw on intersectionality and indexicality to analyse this multidimensional performance and its intertextual links to the original sketch. We ask, what do these insurgent discursive practices mean in terms of critique, what do they do under cover of laughter?
'Localness' has gained currency as a source of authenticity and distinction in the niche marketin... more 'Localness' has gained currency as a source of authenticity and distinction in the niche marketing of the globalised new economy. This has created opportunities for peripheral minority language sites to capitalise on their geographically and culturally peripheral location, and has lifted tourism and handicraft industries to key sites of socioeconomic development in these regions. Although 'localness' may seem like a ready source of economic gain in cultural production in such sites, it does not come without consequences for the cultural entrepreneurs. This paper explores what is at stake for cultural entrepreneurs in the promotion of localness as a source of authenticity. The study focuses on two ceramic artists working in two peripheral minority language contexts, Sámiland in northern Lapland, and the Dingle Peninsula in the West of Ireland. Drawing on a nexus analytical approach combining multimodal discourse analysis and ethnographic approaches, the study investigates how the two artists draw and struggle to draw on the idea of localness in their work, examines the practices and semiotic resources they utilise, and explores the conditions and consequences of these discursive and material investments. The examination draws attention to how authenticities are always political, and, although discursively produced, have very material consequences for the actors involved in their production. On a broader plane, the study provides insight into how discourse 'matters' (in both senses of the expression) in contemporary conditions, in which identity, culture and creativity have become major economic resources.
Recent demand within the academy for language research that bridges different stakeholders render... more Recent demand within the academy for language research that bridges different stakeholders renders the social relevance of research a factor in the academic competition for research funds [Curry, M. J., & Lillis, T. (2013). Introduction to the thematic issue: Participating in academic publishing – consequences of linguistic policies and practices. Language Policy, 12, 209–213]. This calls for new means and innovations for designing and carrying out knowledge mobilisation activities, with consequences concerning where, how and with whom this type of undertaking can or should be done. In this paper we, a team of (multilingual) researchers working within the fields of multilingualism, minority language studies and discourse studies, critically reflect on how we engage in knowledge mobilisation through the conceptualisation, development and management of the Jyväskylä Discourse Hub research initiative and its website (www.discoursehub.fi). Drawing on nexus analysis [Scollon, R., & Scollon, S. (2004). Nexus analysis: Discourse and the emerging internet. London: Routledge], a transdisciplinary discourse-ethnographic framework, we employ the three cycles of this nexus analytical framework (engaging, navigating and changing a nexus of practice) to explore the conditions and consequences of collaborative knowledge mobilisation, especially in terms of creating dialogue among different actors and as a way of enhancing social relevance of language research. We conclude by discussing the implications of this kind of partnership for language policy and planning activities in this era of new types of shifts, demands and openings.
This study investigates the shifting terrain of pride, profit and power relations in minority lan... more This study investigates the shifting terrain of pride, profit and power relations in minority language communities under contemporary globalisation. While " pride " associates linguistic-cultural heritage with identity and preservation, " profit " views these as sources of economic gain. In contemporary late capitalism, " pride " seems to be increasingly giving way to " profit ". Arguing that this transformation needs to be interrogated in terms of complexity and that a detailed, multilayered semiotic analysis can open a privileged window for such an inquiry, this study combines critical multimodal discourse analysis and an ethnographic approach to analyse processes of semiotic commodification in handicraft production in the indigenous minority language community of the Sámi in northern Lapland. The investigation focuses on the activities of an innovative Sámi artist and entrepreneur, and within these a range of paper notebooks, which are, although designed by the Sámi artist and sold in her handicraft shop in Lapland, produced by women living at the border of Thailand and Laos. The investigation illuminates two critical shifts: how the move towards profit can open up space to contest the ownership of pride within an ethnic community. Second, how this move makes way for new, globalised modes of production of 'indigenous handicrafts' and creates global vectors of power, engaged in both empowerment and exploitation, in the production of both pride and profit. The study thereby contributes to the understanding of the increasingly complex power relations and the ambivalence and multiple effects of practices constituting the apparent shift from " pride " to " profit " .
Accompanying the rise of the globalized new economy, the heritage tourism industry is expanding e... more Accompanying the rise of the globalized new economy, the heritage tourism industry is expanding ever further into the global peripheries. One such 'peripheral' site is Sámiland, home of the indigenous language minority Sámi people, in the north of Lapland. Here, tourism is emerging as an opportunity for the Sámi to challenge their longstanding marginalization by mobilizing the periphery and signifying their peripheralized identities in new ways. These processes may look encouraging but they call for critical interrogation. To gain a deeper insight into these processes, the present study draws on a nexus analytical approach combining discourse analysis and ethnography to examine an illuminating case: discursive construction of 'the periphery' on a website advertising guesthouses in northern Lapland run by a Sámi woman who is an artist and entrepreneur. The investigation shows how, drawing on a variety of local, global and personal sources of signification, 'the periphery' is constructed as a hybrid and polycentric space, a construction that challenges persisting conceptions of peripheral regions as homogeneous and immutable. An examination of the material factors underlying this discursive construction leads to the question of how these emerging possibilities are actually linked to socioeconomic conditions and suggests implications for future research.
Stories and images of successful career women and support for women's advancement in working life... more Stories and images of successful career women and support for women's advancement in working life have become hallmarks of contemporary postfeminist media culture, and especially of women's magazines such as Cosmopolitan. While in previous research these features have been seen as signs for a new, popular feminism, more recently they have also been connected to the growing hegemony of neoliberal governance, a mode of power that ultimately aims at the economization of the social and is fundamentally exercised in and through discourse. The aim of this article is to investigate further the interconnectedness of these two phenomena, postfeminism and neoliberalism, in the domain of work, using the example of the German edition of Cosmopolitan. For a detailed and multilayered investigation the study draws on linguistically oriented discourse analysis, focusing on the operation of a 'discourse of postfeminist self-management'. The examination shows how this discourse, while on the one hand evoking an ethos of feminist engagement, on the other seeks to guide readers to mould themselves into a version of the entrepreneurial self required by the neoliberalized world of work.
This study examines a model project initiated by a German Federal Ministry in the middle of the v... more This study examines a model project initiated by a German Federal Ministry in the middle of the vast increase in forced migration to Germany after 2015. The project aimed at facilitating the integration of female refugees into German society by way of ‘empowering’ them to become self-employed. A business counselling agency with a feminist orientation was commissioned to design and run the project. Interpellating refugee women as subjects of entrepreneurial self-actualization to enact gender equality, the project embodies a tangible example of postfeminist governmentality. Combining recent research on postfeminism with analytics of governmentality, the study directs its analytical gaze to the work of governing. This opens up a twofold perspective: it enables us to investigate the operation of governmental power in relation to its envisioned subjects, and how this power acts upon the subjects tasked with the work of governing in the contemporary organizational context.
Drawing on qualitative interviews and documentary materials within an “ethnographic imaginary”, we examine, first, the assemblage of elements that made up the fabric of postfeminist governmentality in the governmental intervention at hand and what happened when the governmental attempts “hit the ground” met – and failed to meet – the diverse bodies of the envisioned participants. This perspective illustrates how the logic of postfeminist governmentality radically failed when it came to differences deriving from the structural positioning of the women, but also indicates moments of agency and resistance and the perspectives for those who were able and willing to access the offered subject position. Second, the analysis shows how this failure affected the women involved less than the female project manager who was to bear the consequences. In this respect the analysis sheds light on the amount of practical and emotional work that the task of rendering the project nevertheless ‘a success’ required, the “hidden injuries” this work involved and how this work ultimately led to a reaffirmation of the logic of postfeminist governmentality. The study contributes to understandings of the gendered operation of governmental power in and through contemporary organizations and in the organization of labour.
In the introduction to the special issue "Languaging the worker: globalized governmentalities in/... more In the introduction to the special issue "Languaging the worker: globalized governmentalities in/of language in peripheral spaces", we take up the notion of governmentality as a means to interrogate the complex relationship between language, labor, power and subjectivity in peripheral multilingual spaces. Our aim here is to argue for the study of governmentality as a viable and growing approach in critical sociolinguistic research. As such, in this introduction, we first discuss key concepts germane to our interrogations, including the notions of governmentality, languaging, peripherality and language worker. We proceed to map out five ethnographically and discourse-analytically informed case studies. These examine diverse actors in different settings pertaining to the domain of work. Finally we chart how the case studies construe the issue of languaging the worker through a governmentality frame.
Her research interests include institutional and professional interaction and discourse. Previous... more Her research interests include institutional and professional interaction and discourse. Previously, she has conducted research on religious and organisational settings. Currently, she is studying organisational training and development, consultancy work and new specialist professions in contemporary economies. She has published, among others, in Text & Talk,
International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 2022
This paper seeks to advance research on the nexus of language, work-related training and affectiv... more This paper seeks to advance research on the nexus of language, work-related training and affective capitalism by focusing on an entrepreneurship workshop organized for newly arrived refugees in Germany. Despite the occupational orientation, the primary objective of the workshop was not establishing a business but “empowering” the participants by guiding them to adopt “an entrepreneurial mindset”. To delve deeper into this ‘will to empower’, the study brings together the perspectives of governmentality studies, ethnography, discourse studies and affect studies. To investigate in more detail the evocation of the ‘entrepreneurial mindset’, the study draws on ethnographic data collected in the context of the workshop and focuses on a particular discursive resource, the genre ‘elevator pitch’. The analysis examines how this genre operated as a technology of government by allowing an attempt at modulating the affective states and attachments of the participants so as to evoke an affective...
In the introduction to the special issue " Languaging the worker: globalized governmentaliti... more In the introduction to the special issue " Languaging the worker: globalized governmentalities in/of language in peripheral spaces " , we take up the notion of governmentality as a means to interrogate the complex relationship between language, labor, power and subjectivity in peripheral multilingual spaces. Our aim here is to argue for the study of governmentality as a viable and growing approach in critical sociolinguistic research. As such, in this introduction , we first discuss key concepts germane to our interrogations, including the notions of governmentality, languaging, peripherality and language worker. We proceed to map out five ethnographically and discourse-analytically informed case studies. These examine diverse actors in different settings pertaining to the domain of work. Finally we chart how the case studies construe the issue of languaging the worker through a governmentality frame.
Putting resources into practice: a nexus analysis of knowledge mobilisation activities in languag... more Putting resources into practice: a nexus analysis of knowledge mobilisation activities in language research and multilingual communities, Current Issues in Language Planning,
Over recent years, an increasing body of research in social and cultural studies has investigated... more Over recent years, an increasing body of research in social and cultural studies has investigated the contemporary processes of social change from the point of view of affective capitalism. In this article, we take under scrutiny one of its technologies, namely, empowerment, by which we mean a state characterised by feelings of strength, ability and power that enable agency. More specifically, we investigate the way empowerment is presented in a cultural product, a play that tells a story about personnel training in a factory, shown in a city theatre in Finland. By linking recent theorisation of affective capitalism with an investigation of the intertextual and interdiscursive relations of the play, we analyse how the factory workers' pursuit for good life through empowerment recycles and exploits the affective-discursive elements of sexual and spiritual awakening. In conclusion, we discuss the play as a reflection of and on contemporary social processes. By presenting empowerment as a technology employed to interpellate in particular female subjects, the play contributes to the critique of neoliberalism as a gendered project, with women as its ideal subjects.
Music video covers, minoritised languages and affective investments in the space of YouTube Abstr... more Music video covers, minoritised languages and affective investments in the space of YouTube Abstract While interest in affective processes has led to an affective turn in cultural studies, in sociolinguistics this perspective has been given less attention. This study takes up the 'lens of affect' and directs it on two cases exemplifying the circulation of minoritised languages in new media spaces: music video covers from two minority language contexts, Irish and Sámi, uploaded on YouTube. Combining recent theorising on affect with insights from sociolinguistic research, the study investigates how the YouTube users' affective investments contribute to a (re)valuation of the two minoritised languages, their speakers and the related ethnic/national belongings, and how these investments are expressions of more or less banal nationalism, connected to the colonial histories of Ireland and Finland. The study illustrates how the social media operate as a catalyst of affective investments involved in an ethnolinguistic (re)ordering of languages and their speakers, at the intersection of 'banal globalisation' and 'everyday nationalism'.
Indigenous Popular Culture is currently one of the fastest-growing fields of contemporary cultura... more Indigenous Popular Culture is currently one of the fastest-growing fields of contemporary cultural production in the United States and Canada, but also other regions across the globe. Indigenous artists, writers, musicians, filmmakers, and entrepreneurs of all walks of life proliferate increasingly on the contemporary popular cultural landscape in all its various incarnations, from popular fiction to animation to the fashion world. Diverse Indigenous practitioners of the popular throughout the world not only intervene powerfully into the landscape of popular culture and representation—a cultural field which is notorious for its various appropriations and misrepresentations of Indigenous people and cultures—but also draw attention to the pressing social and political challenges which Indigenous communities are facing today. With its ever expanding scope, Indigenous popular culture harnesses the vibrant and mutable energies of popular culture, fan culture, and geek culture in order to not only indigenize the cultural field of the popular, but also to advance Indigenous cultural archives in a multiplicity of forms. Thus, Indigenous popular culture is not only a field of a dynamic creative expression, but often also in one way or another stands in dialogue with contemporary Indigenous activist groups and causes working towards the goal of decolonization and Indigenous resurgence. The proposed volume seeks to bring together researchers and practitioners of Indigenous popular culture in order to illustrate the cultural vibrancy, complexity, and importance of this emerging field. We therefore invite contributions from academics as well as artists, entrepreneurs, event organizers, cos players etc.
In the introduction to the special issue “Languaging the worker: globalized governmentalities in/... more In the introduction to the special issue “Languaging the worker: globalized governmentalities in/of language in peripheral spaces”, we take up the notion of governmentality as a means to interrogate the complex relationship between language, labor, power and subjectivity in peripheral multilingual spaces. Our aim here is to argue for the study of governmentality as a viable and growing approach in critical sociolinguistic research. As such, in this introduction, we first discuss key concepts germane to our interrogations, including the notions of governmentality, languaging, peripherality and language worker. We proceed to map out five ethnographically and discourse-analytically informed case studies. These examine diverse actors in different settings pertaining to the domain of work. Finally we chart how the case studies construe the issue of languaging the worker through a governmentality frame.
Volunteer tourism is one of the latest branches of the ever expanding globalised tourism. The ini... more Volunteer tourism is one of the latest branches of the ever expanding globalised tourism. The initiative Workaway, an expression of this trend, was established in the late 90's with the aim of promoting " cultural understanding between different peoples and lands throughout the world ". The figure of the workawayer as a new cosmopolitan subjectivity started to take shape. With the growth of the tourism industry, the Workaway scheme has started to be of interest also to tourism entrepreneurs, especially in the global peripheries such as northern Lapland, home to the indigenous minority language community of the Sámi. By signing up as a volunteer in a heritage tourism resort, the workawayer, the cultural adventurer, becomes linked up to the network of the globalised new economy. Drawing on aspects of governmentality studies, discourse studies and ethnographic approaches, this study traces the translocal formation of the figure of the workawayer through two crucial technologies of subjectification: the Internet portal workaway.info and the actuality of everyday work in a Sámi heritage tourist resort in northernmost Finnish Lapland. Although the Workaway initiative positions itself as non-capitalist if not anti-capitalist, the study shows how the workawayer is gradually shaped to meet the requirements of the contemporary neoliberal world of work. If Workaway offers new languages and cultures with a flavour of romanticised multiculturalism, in the tourist resort actual encounters are governed by straightforward market rationality. Here, languages are valued as skills among others, but not above others, since ultimately " you don't necessarily need any language for money transactions " .
The diversification of the media has opened up new spaces for performances that seek not only to ... more The diversification of the media has opened up new spaces for performances that seek not only to evoke laughter but also to voice social critique. One example of this development is the TV comedy show Märät säpikkäät/Njuoska bittut, created by two young women belonging to the indigenous Sámi people living in Finland, in Northern Europe. This paper focuses on one particularly critical sketch in the show: a counter parody of a popular parody of the Sámi presented by two Finnish male comedians. The original sketch was a parody of ethnicity. As they strike back, however, the female presenters consciously foreground the categories of gender and class, thereby introducing a completely new figure: a white, urban, underclass woman. In this paper we draw on intersectionality and indexicality to analyse this multidimensional performance and its intertextual links to the original sketch. We ask, what do these insurgent discursive practices mean in terms of critique, what do they do under cover of laughter?
'Localness' has gained currency as a source of authenticity and distinction in the niche marketin... more 'Localness' has gained currency as a source of authenticity and distinction in the niche marketing of the globalised new economy. This has created opportunities for peripheral minority language sites to capitalise on their geographically and culturally peripheral location, and has lifted tourism and handicraft industries to key sites of socioeconomic development in these regions. Although 'localness' may seem like a ready source of economic gain in cultural production in such sites, it does not come without consequences for the cultural entrepreneurs. This paper explores what is at stake for cultural entrepreneurs in the promotion of localness as a source of authenticity. The study focuses on two ceramic artists working in two peripheral minority language contexts, Sámiland in northern Lapland, and the Dingle Peninsula in the West of Ireland. Drawing on a nexus analytical approach combining multimodal discourse analysis and ethnographic approaches, the study investigates how the two artists draw and struggle to draw on the idea of localness in their work, examines the practices and semiotic resources they utilise, and explores the conditions and consequences of these discursive and material investments. The examination draws attention to how authenticities are always political, and, although discursively produced, have very material consequences for the actors involved in their production. On a broader plane, the study provides insight into how discourse 'matters' (in both senses of the expression) in contemporary conditions, in which identity, culture and creativity have become major economic resources.
Recent demand within the academy for language research that bridges different stakeholders render... more Recent demand within the academy for language research that bridges different stakeholders renders the social relevance of research a factor in the academic competition for research funds [Curry, M. J., & Lillis, T. (2013). Introduction to the thematic issue: Participating in academic publishing – consequences of linguistic policies and practices. Language Policy, 12, 209–213]. This calls for new means and innovations for designing and carrying out knowledge mobilisation activities, with consequences concerning where, how and with whom this type of undertaking can or should be done. In this paper we, a team of (multilingual) researchers working within the fields of multilingualism, minority language studies and discourse studies, critically reflect on how we engage in knowledge mobilisation through the conceptualisation, development and management of the Jyväskylä Discourse Hub research initiative and its website (www.discoursehub.fi). Drawing on nexus analysis [Scollon, R., & Scollon, S. (2004). Nexus analysis: Discourse and the emerging internet. London: Routledge], a transdisciplinary discourse-ethnographic framework, we employ the three cycles of this nexus analytical framework (engaging, navigating and changing a nexus of practice) to explore the conditions and consequences of collaborative knowledge mobilisation, especially in terms of creating dialogue among different actors and as a way of enhancing social relevance of language research. We conclude by discussing the implications of this kind of partnership for language policy and planning activities in this era of new types of shifts, demands and openings.
This study investigates the shifting terrain of pride, profit and power relations in minority lan... more This study investigates the shifting terrain of pride, profit and power relations in minority language communities under contemporary globalisation. While " pride " associates linguistic-cultural heritage with identity and preservation, " profit " views these as sources of economic gain. In contemporary late capitalism, " pride " seems to be increasingly giving way to " profit ". Arguing that this transformation needs to be interrogated in terms of complexity and that a detailed, multilayered semiotic analysis can open a privileged window for such an inquiry, this study combines critical multimodal discourse analysis and an ethnographic approach to analyse processes of semiotic commodification in handicraft production in the indigenous minority language community of the Sámi in northern Lapland. The investigation focuses on the activities of an innovative Sámi artist and entrepreneur, and within these a range of paper notebooks, which are, although designed by the Sámi artist and sold in her handicraft shop in Lapland, produced by women living at the border of Thailand and Laos. The investigation illuminates two critical shifts: how the move towards profit can open up space to contest the ownership of pride within an ethnic community. Second, how this move makes way for new, globalised modes of production of 'indigenous handicrafts' and creates global vectors of power, engaged in both empowerment and exploitation, in the production of both pride and profit. The study thereby contributes to the understanding of the increasingly complex power relations and the ambivalence and multiple effects of practices constituting the apparent shift from " pride " to " profit " .
Accompanying the rise of the globalized new economy, the heritage tourism industry is expanding e... more Accompanying the rise of the globalized new economy, the heritage tourism industry is expanding ever further into the global peripheries. One such 'peripheral' site is Sámiland, home of the indigenous language minority Sámi people, in the north of Lapland. Here, tourism is emerging as an opportunity for the Sámi to challenge their longstanding marginalization by mobilizing the periphery and signifying their peripheralized identities in new ways. These processes may look encouraging but they call for critical interrogation. To gain a deeper insight into these processes, the present study draws on a nexus analytical approach combining discourse analysis and ethnography to examine an illuminating case: discursive construction of 'the periphery' on a website advertising guesthouses in northern Lapland run by a Sámi woman who is an artist and entrepreneur. The investigation shows how, drawing on a variety of local, global and personal sources of signification, 'the periphery' is constructed as a hybrid and polycentric space, a construction that challenges persisting conceptions of peripheral regions as homogeneous and immutable. An examination of the material factors underlying this discursive construction leads to the question of how these emerging possibilities are actually linked to socioeconomic conditions and suggests implications for future research.
Stories and images of successful career women and support for women's advancement in working life... more Stories and images of successful career women and support for women's advancement in working life have become hallmarks of contemporary postfeminist media culture, and especially of women's magazines such as Cosmopolitan. While in previous research these features have been seen as signs for a new, popular feminism, more recently they have also been connected to the growing hegemony of neoliberal governance, a mode of power that ultimately aims at the economization of the social and is fundamentally exercised in and through discourse. The aim of this article is to investigate further the interconnectedness of these two phenomena, postfeminism and neoliberalism, in the domain of work, using the example of the German edition of Cosmopolitan. For a detailed and multilayered investigation the study draws on linguistically oriented discourse analysis, focusing on the operation of a 'discourse of postfeminist self-management'. The examination shows how this discourse, while on the one hand evoking an ethos of feminist engagement, on the other seeks to guide readers to mould themselves into a version of the entrepreneurial self required by the neoliberalized world of work.
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Papers by Kati Dlaske
Drawing on qualitative interviews and documentary materials within an “ethnographic imaginary”, we examine, first, the assemblage of elements that made up the fabric of postfeminist governmentality in the governmental intervention at hand and what happened when the governmental attempts “hit the ground” met – and failed to meet – the diverse bodies of the envisioned participants. This perspective illustrates how the logic of postfeminist governmentality radically failed when it came to differences deriving from the structural positioning of the women, but also indicates moments of agency and resistance and the perspectives for those who were able and willing to access the offered subject position. Second, the analysis shows how this failure affected the women involved less than the female project manager who was to bear the consequences. In this respect the analysis sheds light on the amount of practical and emotional work that the task of rendering the project nevertheless ‘a success’ required, the “hidden injuries” this work involved and how this work ultimately led to a reaffirmation of the logic of postfeminist governmentality. The study contributes to understandings of the gendered operation of governmental power in and through contemporary organizations and in the organization of labour.
Drawing on qualitative interviews and documentary materials within an “ethnographic imaginary”, we examine, first, the assemblage of elements that made up the fabric of postfeminist governmentality in the governmental intervention at hand and what happened when the governmental attempts “hit the ground” met – and failed to meet – the diverse bodies of the envisioned participants. This perspective illustrates how the logic of postfeminist governmentality radically failed when it came to differences deriving from the structural positioning of the women, but also indicates moments of agency and resistance and the perspectives for those who were able and willing to access the offered subject position. Second, the analysis shows how this failure affected the women involved less than the female project manager who was to bear the consequences. In this respect the analysis sheds light on the amount of practical and emotional work that the task of rendering the project nevertheless ‘a success’ required, the “hidden injuries” this work involved and how this work ultimately led to a reaffirmation of the logic of postfeminist governmentality. The study contributes to understandings of the gendered operation of governmental power in and through contemporary organizations and in the organization of labour.