Abstracts: Research Seminars 2006

Hélder Ferreira do Vale (Visiting PhD Fellow, Universidad Complutense de Madrid): Retiring Le-viathan in Decentralized Polities: The Rise of Local Power in Fiscal Federalism in Brazil and Spain in the 1990s

(Abstract of the paper to be presented on the seminar):
This short paper develops a general framework of interpretation about the changes in the patterns of governance in Brazil and Spain throughout the 1990s. The central argument of the paper is that the processes of federalization and decentralization were progressively altering the federal-like hierar-chical power relations in Brazil and Spain in favor of the subantional governments. Considering governance patterns as a result of the processes of decentralization and federalization, the paper creates a general framework in order to understand how institutions and political actors create a dynamics of changes in intergovernmental relations. The most-different comparative approach to the study cases is employed in order to strengthen the central argument.

Peter Geoghegan (Visiting PhD Fellow, University of Edinburgh, Scotland): Beyond Orange and Green: Discourses and practices of anti-racism in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland, for years considered an anomalous ‘place apart’, is increasingly becoming a site for immigration. Co-terminus with the peace process and the transnational movement of people into the region, issues of ‘race’, racism and anti-racism have emerged on both the political and the public policy agendas. Racist violence in the area has received increased media attention and Belfast has been dubbed ‘Race Hate Capital of Europe’ (BBC Online, 2004) at the same time anti-racism has emerged as a prominent discourse across the political spectrum. My PhD project seeks to interrogate this emergent anti-racist discourse and practice across political institutions and civil society in Northern Ireland.

This presentation shall focus on visual representations of anti-racism produced by grassroots groups in an area of Belfast strongly associated with sectarian division. The content of anti-racist murals, posters and pamphlets is drawn upon to demonstrate that visual culture(s) used to (re) produce boundaries and identities along ethno-sectarian lines are now also being used to produce an anti-racist message. Through this detailed analysis of anti-racist representations I hope to show that these representations may actually re-inscribe ethno-sectarian divisions and territoriality and that grassroots anti-racism in Northern Ireland is profoundly structured by ethno-sectarian divisions and demonstrates an inability to engage fully with anti-racism as an alternative interpretation of political discourse.

Liliya Kiriyanova (Visiting PhD Fellow, Tomsk Polytechnic University, Russia): Global and Local Cultures Co-existence and Interplay within the Framework of Cultural Globalization

The distinct dynamic of globalization processes expands forms and levels of local cultures interaction and communication, reduces the “clash of localities”. This intensive multicultural interaction has predetermined the appearance of new culture – global or trans-national culture. Cultural globalization has posed to local cultures not only a problem of interaction between themselves but the problem of reaction on global culture proliferation also. My work is an attempt to build a philosophical-theoretical framework of the global and local cultures co-existence and interplay which can be conformed to and developed for examining different levels of global\local relations within its cultural aspects. The presentation is focused on general explication of “the local” and “the global” and their interpretation within cultural aspect. Local/global dichotomy is considered as a basic philosophical notion of globalization conception. It is displayed that “the global” and “the local” are not opposite to each other; moreover it is argued that within philosophical category “global” and “local” are interdependant. Nevertheless, I will advance some arguments that it makes sense to replace traditional local\global nexus by global\non-global. The essence of “global culture” and “local culture” will be examined. At the end there will be presented the preliminary consideration of main variants of local cultures reactions on global culture proliferation and conditions which determinate certain way of reaction.

Andrea Teebken (PhD Candidate, SPIRIT/Aalborg University): Border- and Geopolitics in Denmark and the Netherlands in the 19th century, viewed in a comparative perspective

Foreign policy in Denmark and the Netherlands during the 19th century had some features in common as both countries had to come to terms with their new smaller state role. After the Congress of Vienna 1815, the European map of power was constantly under pressure, not least from the German states, gaining enormous economical and later also political power. Denmark and the Netherlands, both having open border-questions towards the German nation, looked with suspicion towards the unification ideas.

While showing the similarities and differences of Danish and Dutch geopolitics between c. 1815 and 1871, with special attention payed towards border policies, this presentation also wants to consider some question connected to this concrete case: What is the connection between spatial and cultural identities and how are these issues threatened by the large body of literature connected to the so-called Border Studies? During the past decade, scholars like Ansii Paasi have dramatically broadened theoretical approaches in geography, and we will look closer at some of the new border and mapping concepts, which may also be applicable to the Danish-Dutch case. Special attention will be paid to new developments in the field of cartography.

Poul Duedahl (PhD Candidate, History/Aalborg University): From Racial Strangers to Ethnic Minorities: A conceptual-historical analysis of the transition from a biologically to a culturally based view of man, 1945-1965.

Due to World War II and Holocaust the state leaders recognized a need for political leadership on the global level in order to preserve peace. That led to the creation of United Nations with its political and economic measures and its Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The UN soon acknowledged that peace could only be preserved if it was based on sincere support of the people. Therefore a special agency for education, science and culture - UNESCO - was created according to the philosophy: ”Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed”. This presentation discusses UNESCO’s attempts to defend peace mainly through the educational system. It focuses on one of the major challenges facing the UNESCO in the 1950s and 1960s: to deconstruct the biologically based view of man, which separates the human species into stereotype races with different physical and mental capacities; and to construct a culturally based view of man, which regards people as different but fundamentally equal cultural or ethnic groups.

Martin Bak Jørgensen ((PhD Candidate, SPIRIT/Aalborg University): The Construction of Identity among Young Turks in Denmark: National and Transnational Identity Construction

Denmark and Sweden have a relatively homogeneous history of immigration. Yet there seems to be significant differences between the Danish and Swedish integration- and incorporation regime. The presentation gives an analysis of the Danish and Swedish integration policies and political debate with a focus on changes from the late 90s and onwards. The dominant discourses and political strategies are outlined and discussed in relation to the possible consequences for citizenship. Special focus is given to concepts as integration, citizenship and discrimination.

Boguslawa Dobek-Ostrowska (Professor, University of Wroclaw, Poland): Challenges to European Media on Multimedia Market

The last academic year with my colleagues we did the research on the media in postcommunist countries. We collected a lot of very interesting data about Polish, Czech, Slovakian, Hungarian, Romanian, Russian , Estonian, Lithuanian and Ukrainian media. Unfortunately, it was very difficult to find information about Bulgarian and Latvian media. We have not been interested in the media in post- Yugoslavian countries.

Now we can start the second work package. We shall do some comparative analysis of:
- newspaper industry;
- public service broadcasting
- private radio and television market
- new media market (internet, multimedia, mobile market)

We use the conception of Mancini and Hallin to our analysis . We would like to compare:

1. Level of development of commercial print media market
2. Role of the foreign media companies and ownership (very important problem !)
2. Relationship between the media owners and politicians (political parallelism)
3. Professionalism of media workers (journalists, managers, etc)
4. Intervention of a state at the public service broadcasting

The project has a main goal: to answer a question:
Is there one common media system in the postcommunist Europe or are there many different systems? We would like to compare the postcommunist media model (models) to Mancini and Hallins models in the Western, Scandinavian and Southern European countries. We are interested in the challenges to European public service broadcasting.

Peter Kvistgaard (Ph. D., Tourism Research Unit, AAU): Times of transformation – times of shifting paradigms
From ‘Massentourismusorientierung’ to ‘Erlebnisorientierung’ in Danish tourism and indications of transformation problems

In this explorative and speculative article an ongoing paradigm shift in Danish tourism and its implications for Danish tourism are discussed. The results of three small samples (77 questionnaires) may be interpreted as indicative of the start of a transformation process from a focus on mass tourism to a focus on experience tourism in which the individual plays a pivotal role. In this transformation process there seems to be a demand for information and communication about the possibilities and problems of the emerging experience economy in Danish tourism. The Danish tourism actors seem hesitant to adapt to and transform their products to match the needs, wants and tastes of the present and future experience-craving consumers. Results of the small study may indicate a failure on behalf of the leading actors in the Danish society generally and in the Danish tourism sector in particular to inform on and translate the concepts in the experience economy into understandable and user-friendly tools. It is argued that this transformation process – without the necessary information and tools – could create a serious long-term competitive problem for the backbone of Danish tourism, the MSMEs (Micro, Small and Medium sized Enterprises).

Carole Clavier (Visiting PhD Candidate, University of Rennes, France): Healthy Cities in France and in Denmark: transfer of ideas and its effects on the standardisation of practices.

There are convergent dynamics in the development of territorial public health policies in Europe, including in France and in Denmark. This convergence is mostly cognitive, drawing on the global conception of health that is the basis for the World health organisation's philosophy. Health is defined as being a complete state of physical, mental and social well-being and can be promoted through specific actions aiming both at encouraging people to adopt so-called healthy behaviours and at creating supportive environments for health. WHO's Healthy Cities project has been a driving force for the development of public health policies, thus participating in the convergence process. In terms of public policy analysis my research question here is to what extent does the transfer of ideas and practices inspired from the Healthy Cities project resulted in a standardisation of practices and policies in both countries? Rather than standardisation, analysis points to a hybridisation of practices and policies. The influences of context and of the actors transfering and translating ideas and practices into territorial policies are the most salient explanatory factors in this process.

Susanne Bendtsen (Tourism Research Unit, AAU) & Iben Steensbæk Schrøder (Arkitektur & Design, AAU): Blokhus i forandring – turismen, byen og havet

Oplægget er en kombination af to selvstændige dele af det samlede feasibility study for Blokhus: en præsentation af TRU’s del af rapporten og af byplanudviklingsdelen ved specialestuderende fra Arkitektur & Design. Indledningsvis opridses baggrunden for projektet, herunder de involverede parter og nuværende status for projektet. Oplægget vil herefter fokusere på, hvordan vi har grebet opgaven an gennem en SWOT-analyse af området med henblik på valg af målgruppe, en imageanalyse med henblik på forslag til brandingkoncept og endelig et forslag til implementeringsstrategi. Resultaterne af analysen og udfordringerne undervejs præsenteres løbende. Specialet med titlen, The sea, the town and the landscape – Urban development of Blokhus, handler i høj grad om en italesættelse af området, hvor det betragtes som en helhed. Gennem urban design behandles området på flere niveauer hvor både det fysiske miljø og de sociale aspekter betragtes som noget, der i samspil skaber områdets dynamik. Som middel til at italesætte området foreslås en strategi, der har til formål at sætte fokus på nogle af områdets oversete potentialer, og hvordan disse kan bruges til at styrke områdets profil og være grundlaget for at skabe et autentisk image.

Iulia Dumitriu (Visiting PhD Fellow, University "Babes-Bolyai" Cluj-Napoca, Romania): Value Orientations and Personal Development among Romanian immigrants to Denmark.

Due to last years’ political and economical troubled situation of Romania, many nationals have chosen to settle in other countries. Before december ´89 but mostly after, many Romanians decided to emigrate to different other countries. The motives of majority were: low economic situation they had in the country of origin, hope for a “better life”. But is this wish becoming reality or is it just an illusion?
The empirical data collection will be undertaken through narrative interviews conducted with Romanian immigrants with residence in Denmark (Aalborg, Århus, Copenhagen, Odense and, if possible, other cities). I will develop a comparative study between the generation that arrived here before december ´89 and the generation after ´90s. Therefore, this study focuses on these 2 types of emigration:
1. political emigration – before december ´89
2. economical emigration – after december ´89.
By conducting this research, I intend to identify which Nordic values (maybe discipline, honesty, freedom of expressing, responsibility, modesty) can shape Romanians profile (a Latin one, after all) in a way that leads towards personal realisation. My hypothesis is that personal development is influenced by self-determination, in other words, a strong motivation might be “responsible” for Romanian immigrants´ realisation.

Daniel Gustafsson (AMID PhD Candidate, Aalborg University):
Human Trafficking and Prostitution: The Effect of Two Different Prostitution Regimes.

This paper serves the purpose of introducing a methodological and theoretical framework to be used for studying the organisational and operational adaptation of human trafficking organisations/networks to the prostitution regimes of Denmark and Sweden. The methodology suggested is strictly qualitative and the theoretical approached is mainly based on organisation theory. The paper ends with the presentation of some questions and problems that concerns the author at this point of time, and where he would like to have the advice of the reader.

Sikunder A. Baber (PhD Candidate, Dept. of Education, Learning and Philosophy, Aalborg University):
Investigation into the foregrounds of migrants from Pakistan to Denmark: what can be learned from this approach of working with diversity?

In this talk, I will share my research focus and then zoom into the investigation into the foregrounds of migrants from Pakistan in Danish context. I will try to share what are some of the findings of my research with migrants from Pakistan that can help us as educators, the researchers in the area of migration studies to understand different aspects of diversity. I will then pose some questions related to diversity to the audiences for creating a need for finding out innovative ways to handle diversity in general and within Danish context in particular. Main thrust of the argument within the talk will be to create possibilities for deep intercultural communication.

Ioana Bunescu (Visiting PhD Fellow, Graduate School for Social Research at the Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland):
Roma/Gypsy Identity Construction under Local and Global Conditions.

The Roma/Gypsies constitute a population whose history is still disputed and whose roots are therefore still negotiated. Although there is a common agreement over the North Indian roots of Roma due to the Sanskrit base of Romani language, this fact merely forms a solid core for the belated ethnogenesis of these people. Roma have constituted minority populations in several countries of the world and their history as people has been marked by the specific histories of the countries in which they live. For this reason, nowadays Roma are quite heterogeneous population and their sense of belonging, while not firmly rooted into a territory, hardly transcends the limits of a particular clan or family. This particular state of uncertainty of belonging plays a very important role in the process of nation building that some Roma elites are undergoing at the European level. While some Roma activists advocate the right to constitute themselves into a “de-territorialized Roma nation”, there is still doubt onto what extent, the regular Roma identify as belonging to the Roma nation. In addition, the legitimacy of the Romani elites is also coming to the fore as a possible source of difficulty in achieving their political aims. The whole problematic will be analysed in the context of the European enlargement while stressing on the mutual instrumentalization of European politics and Romani politics.

Ingeborg Nordbø (SPIRIT PhD Candidate, AAU):
Tourism as an Agent of Change in Rural Areas - the case of entrepreneurial family businesses in Norway and Chile.

The tourism industry is numerically speaking dominated by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and even more so in the rural tourism sector (see e.g. Clarke 2004, Shaw and Williams 1994, Sharpley and Sharpley 1997). Considering the high priority that has been placed on tourism as a panacea for rural development in both developed and developing countries, surprisingly little attention has been paid to the contribution or role of small scale entrepreneurs and family business (see e.g. Dahles 1999).

Theoretically, the study of entrepreneurship and family operated businesses in (rural) tourism has been dominated by economic concepts and theories, and the focus has mainly been on the motivations and goals of the entrepreneurs, entrepreneurial culture, the lifecycle of the businesses or marketing or financial issues. Some studies have also looked into factors like migration and gender, but basically no studies have considered the relationship between entrepreneurial family run tourism and rural change. This presentation argues for the relevancy of this research theme, and on the basis of empirical studies of entrepreneurial family operated tourism enterprises in Norway and Chile it introduces an extended version of the everyday life approach combined with existing research on tourism impacts, as an useful framework for understanding the relationship between tourism and rural change. The presentation will also introduce some of the main empirical findings.

Malene Gram (International Studies, AAU): The Meaning of Age: mature tourists`age negotiations.

Growing old and being old is not associated with positive connotations in today’s society. A number of stereotypes about the elderly confirm this. This might be part of the explanation why people dissociate themselves from being elderly or old, and an extensive body of literature documents that there is a clear difference between chronological and cognitive age. But age is a zone with unclear borders.

The main target groups of travellers in Denmark are German and Danish tourists. By the end of 2004, the Danish tourism board, VisitDenmark, decided to take a closer look at mature couples travelling without children, their second largest target group of visitors to Denmark among tourists after families with children.

In this study mature couples were defined as couples older than 45 years. The research objective of this article is to examine the meaning of age held by these consumers to know more about how these travellers perceive their own age and the signification of age when it comes to travelling and market communication promoting travelling.

>From the literature it is clear that mature consumers cannot be
stigmatized as one group and not – not even the oldest people in the group - at all as ”old”. These consumers are heterogeneous just as other consumer age groups. Stereotypes about mature people (that they are passive, vulnerable, conservative, stingy, etc.) are hard to change, but they are out of tune with reality and these people’s self-perception. The experience this group holds, the society in which they grew up, the resources they are in charge of and the influence they are used to having, makes this group very different (active, anti-authoritarian, self-centred, fit, etc.) from mature people in earlier days. These people do not identify with their chronological age, but they build their identity on what they have obtained in life till now and the plans they have for the future.

The study is based on an empirical study of six focus groups and five qualitative interviews with 45+ couples. The participants in the discussion groups in Denmark and Germany do not consider themselves seniors or old folks. They are to a high extent living an active life and have a great appetite on travelling. Many participants tell that they have become more comfortable with age but at the same time that they have become more active with age. Instead of lying on the beach for hours they want to walk, bike and go sightseeing.

Freedom, more time and for these people also more money have come along with age, which is perceived as a privilege. The health starts to be ailing for a few participants, primarily from the senior groups. The empty nester groups are not in the same way burdened by the thought about how long the health will last.

As a supplement to the well-known categories chronological versus cognitive age, the concept of pragmatic age is suggested to indicate that mature consumers can choose to negotiate the use of their age whenever they find it appropriate. The data material indicates that the group participants themselves can talk about being old when it suits them. In certain situations they can themselves use this label, to avoid doing something (not having one’s own bathroom, not going to cafés, not sleeping in a tent) or to get something (attractive prices, special courses). Others e.g. marketers – on the contrary – have to be very careful to indicate that they are old e.g. by using elderly models in tourism promotional material.

The mature tourist can use age pragmatically – as the only one, the seller of tourism services cannot.

Lisanne Wilken (AMID, University of Aarhus): France is burning, is Europe next?

The second part of my amid-project "Making room for migrants in the
European Union", deals with national struggles to define and perhaps even
claim "European values" like tolerance, multiculturalism, respect for
diversity etc. This presentation looks at one particular struggle which
took place in the "international media field" related to the discussions
of the riots in France in the fall of 2005. The presentation will reflect
a work in progress, and may be more concerned with the theoretical than
the empirical problems involved in analysing the debates over European
values in the international media field.

Chik Collins (School of Social Sciences, University of Paisley, Scotland, UK): Discourse and the Critique of Neo-Liberalism: A cultural-historical critique of the ‘critical discourse analysis’ of Norman Fairclough

Norman Fairclough’s internationally famous and widely embraced ‘critical discourse analysis’ (CDA) aims to “make an important contribution on issues which are vitally important for the future of humankind”. In particular, it aims to provide “those in struggle” against neo-liberalism with a “resource for language critique in circumstances where the ‘turn to language’ makes language critique an important part of such struggle” (Fairclough, 2001, p.216),

In this presentation I will argue that the kind of ‘language critique’ that Fairclough espouses cannot be delivered along the lines of CDA. In order to make this case I will focus on one particular utterance spoken by one particular individual ‘in struggle’ against neo-liberalism. I will argue that it is a very good example of ‘language critique’, which achieves the key aim of Fairclough’s CDA, but that it achieves this aim insofar as it eschews anything resembling the procedure for CDA as laid out by Fairclough. By treating this utterance as discourse analysis, rather than with discourse analysis, we can learn from ‘those in struggle’ about what is really involved in language critique which achieves the kind of aim Fairclough sets.

Finally, it will be suggested that this argument has particular relevance for those working in the cultural-historical and activity theory tradition. For here there has been an uncritical importation of the procedures of CDA, with too little regard to the serious problems of compatibility between the two (a most unvygotskian approach). It will be suggested that this approach sits well in particular with the interpretation of the CHAT tradition developed by Anna Stetsenko (2004a, b, 2005).

Michael Smith (Loughborough University): The Shock of the Real: Trends in European Foreign and Security Policy Since 11 September 2001.

This paper sets out to identify some key trends in European foreign and security policy since the attacks of September 11th 2001. It begins by sketching a number of elements that have contributed to a re- framing and re-shaping of European foreign and security policy, and identifies important features of the policy context since 2001. It then goes on to explores a series of trends and tensions in the continuing development of European foreign and security policies, particularly the pursuit of a ’real’ European foreign and security policy, and to evaluate the ways in which these have created new forms of risk and uncertainty in the policy context.

Tadeusz Kowalski (Poznan Economic University, Poland):
Polity vs. Economy in New Member States. The Case of Poland.

Poland has recently won attention of international observes. How much the political and economic situation is different from Poland’s neighbors, namely New Member States? Is there a (negative) link between the situation in the polity (political system) and economy? What are trends in Poland’s international competitive position?

Adrian Favell (University of California, Los Angeles, USA): Internal and External Movers: East-West Migration and the Impact of EU Enlargement.

The large scale migration and mobility of East and Central Europeans to
Western Europe in the last decade is arguably the most profound social and
economic transformation taking place in the continent as a result of
European integration. Drawing on recent survey research and interviews of
Polish and Romanian 'movers' in the West, I will explore the consequences
of this migration in terms of their mobility, integration, exploitation
and exclusion in host societies, and sketch the emerging liberal economic
and demographic system that Europe is adopting as a result of the
enlargement of the European Union eastwards.