For the first time in its history, the annual conference of ETMU (Society for the Study of Ethnic Relations and International Migration) will be arranged at the University of Lapland. The conference focuses on mobility, roots, and crossing of borders especially from the perspective of indigenous peoples. Along with the event, Rovaniemi will accommodate nearly a hundred Finnish and international researchers sharing an interest in indigenous peoples, ethnic relations, and migration.
Crossing various types of borders is commonplace for a large number of people worldwide. For some, mobility is due to coercion and conflict – also increasingly to climate change. For others, mobility is a privilege: an opportunity to move freely toward and across other cultures and places. As for indigenous peoples, mobility has both enabled nature-based subsistence and produced specific cultures. Along with modernization and colonization, the traditional ways to move and travel have changed, even disappeared, placing cultures in new state of mobility and transition. On the other hand, all contemporary cross-border mobility, be it virtual or concrete, provides a totally new way to create and maintain cultural ties – or to break them.
This is the context of the annual conference of ETMU, convening at the University of Lapland between 22 and 23 October under the theme Mobile Roots – Rethinking Indigenous and Transnational Ties. The academic discussion of the topic will cover the viewpoints of indigenous peoples, ethnic relations, and migration. Also themes related to the Sámi and the North will be dealt with, as the international research profile of the University of Lapland is focused on the Arctic, the North, and Northern societies in a state of change. In addition, the University of Lapland has a national responsibility to implement and develop Sámi-related research in the areas of the social sciences and law.
The keynote speakers of the ETMU Days 2015 conference are Audra Simpson, Professor of Anthropology (Columbia University, New York); Ninna Nyberg Sørensen, Senior Researcher concentrating on migration (Danish Institute for International Studies, Copenhagen); Florian Stammler, Research Professor of Arctic Anthropology (University of Lapland); and Veli-Pekka Lehtola, Professor of Sámi Culture (University of Oulu). In addition, there will be a panel discussion as well as 11 working groups addressing a variety of themes.
The programme of the conference
The Society for the Study of Ethnic Relations and International Migration (ETMU) is committed to advance multicultural research of ethnic relations in Finland.
ETMU award
Each year, an award of recognition is conferred on a notable person during the ETMU Days event. The winner of 2015 will be announced on Thursday 22 October at 11:30 in Fellman hall at the University of Lapland (main building, 1st floor, Yliopistonkatu 8, Rovaniemi).
The ETMU award is granted to a researcher or hands-on operator whose work, in Finland or at the international level, has been a major contribution to the area of ethnic relations or emigration. In this context, research on ethnic relations is considered broadly to also cover international immigration, refugeeism, multiculturalism, racism, nationalism, integration, minority rights, immigrants, national minorities, nationality, and other corresponding issues. This year’s awarding criteria emphasize the indigenous perspective.
Former award-winners: Professor Vesa Puuronen (2014); President Tarja Halonen (2013); Director of the Institute of Migration Ismo Söderling (2012); Docent Magdalena Jaakkola (2011); MP Pekka Haavisto (2010); Professor (emereta) Rauni Räsänen (2009); Counsellor Risto Laakkonen (2008); Professor (emeritus) Tom Sandlund (2007); Professor Karmela Liebkind (2006); Professor Marja-Liisa Swantz (2005); and Academician Erik Allardt (2004).
Meeting of Sámi research institutes during the ETMU Days conference
The Sámi Research Group of the University of Lapland has invited key players of Sámi research to the event from the University of Oulu, the University of Tromsø, Umeå University, and Sámi University College in Kautokeino.
A meeting will be arranged between the institutes to discuss their cooperation within the areas of research and teaching as well as the improvement of this cooperation. In addition, the ethical recommendations for Sámi research will be discussed during the event.
Further information:
Sanna Valkonen
Associate Professor of Sámi Research
University of Lapland
sanna.valkonen (at) ulapland.fi
Saara Koikkalainen
Doctor of Social Sciences
University of Lapland
saara.koikkalainen (at) ulapland.fi
Requests for interviews:
Rovaniemi–Lapland Congresses, University of Lapland Conference Office
Phone: +358 40 484 4462
congress (at) ulapland.fi
Programme of the ETMU Days 2015 conference
ULapland/Communications/SV