{"id":4603,"date":"2025-11-06T20:32:25","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T18:32:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kehitystutkimus.fi\/conference\/?page_id=4603"},"modified":"2026-01-13T00:24:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T22:24:09","slug":"working-group-15-shifting-foundations-for-civic-space-and-expanding-solidarity-learning-care-and-collective-agency-beyond-development","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.kehitystutkimus.fi\/conference\/working-groups\/working-group-15-shifting-foundations-for-civic-space-and-expanding-solidarity-learning-care-and-collective-agency-beyond-development","title":{"rendered":"Working Group 15: Shifting Foundations for Civic Space and Expanding Solidarity: Learning, Care, and Collective Agency Beyond Development"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Coordinators:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Crystal Green <em>(University of Helsinki) &#8211;\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"mailto:crystalbgreen@gmail.com\">crystalbgreen@gmail.com<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Susan Wiksten <em>(University of Helsinki) &#8211; <\/em><a href=\"mailto:susanwiksten@g.ucla.edu\">susanwiksten@g.ucla.edu<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Across the world, civil-society actors in development and humanitarian fields are confronting a difficult and uncertain moment. The post-war system of aid and international cooperation,<br \/>\nfounded on liberal ideals of progress and partnership, is disintegrating amid austerity, donor<br \/>\nretreat, rising militarization, and the expanding financialization of development. Within this<br \/>\nlandscape of contraction, new solidarities may form as educators, health workers, farmers,<br \/>\nresearchers, and community organizers seek to reclaim their work as a civic and relational<br \/>\npractice. Grounded in post-development and critical perspectives, this working group explores<br \/>\nhow actors operating between state and market sustain spaces of meaning, care, and collective agency amid the \u201cend of the age of NGOs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>We welcome perspectives that extend classical and postcolonial understandings of solidarity.<br \/>\nDrawing on Durkheim\u2019s attention to the interaction of societal change and norms (Durkheim,<br \/>\n1919), for understanding what is understood as ethically grounded interventions amidst societal change and Chatterjee\u2019s (2004) reflections on the coexistence of formal civil society and informal political society, the group also invites dialogue informed by feminist, decolonial, and other critical traditions on how collective life endures and transforms when regimes of governance change and official systems falter.<\/p>\n<p>We invite submissions exploring how civil-society organizations, movements, and hybrid networks navigate shrinking political and financial space and redefine their roles within it. What forms of mutual aid, reciprocity, or collective organizing are emerging across different contexts? What pedagogical, communicative, or relational practices help rebuild trust and belonging when formal systems retreat? What strategic silences, compromises, or acts of imagination sustain hope and cooperation amid the erosion of institutional security?<\/p>\n<p>This session aims to open a space for shared inquiry into how civil society nurtures solidarity and world-making amid systemic change.<\/p>\n<p>The session will be conducted in a hybrid format, allowing for both in-person and online participation. For inquiries or further information about the session, please contact either of the organizers at the addresses above.<\/p>\n<p>References:<br \/>\nDurkheim, \u00c9. (1919). Les R\u00e8gles de la m\u00e9thode sociologique. Librarie F\u00e9lix Alcan.<br \/>\nChatterjee, P. (2004). The politics of the governed: Reflections on popular politics in most of the world. Columbia University Press.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Format:<\/strong> One hybrid session<\/p>\n<h3>Accepted presentations<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Field-Level Expertise and Radical Localization in Development Practice<\/em> (Chamanie Nanayakkara)<\/li>\n<li><em>Survival Solidarity: How Community-Led Mutual Aid Networks Fill the Civic Vacuum in Ethiopia\u2019s Conflict-Affected Regions<\/em> (Anoro Gebre Atebo)<\/li>\n<li><em>A Pluriverse Built in Hell: The Bolivian Chiquitanian Forest Fires and Ecological Love in Life-Centric Politics from Below<\/em> (Eleonoora Karttunen)<\/li>\n<li><em>Reclaiming Global Learning to reckon with the notion that we are running out of time in the development of education <\/em>(Susan Wiksten)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Registration is now open from 12 January to 15 February 2026.\u00a0<\/strong><br \/>\nPresentation titles and the detailed timetable will be published soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Coordinators: Crystal Green (University of Helsinki) &#8211;\u00a0crystalbgreen@gmail.com Susan Wiksten (University of Helsinki) &#8211; susanwiksten@g.ucla.edu Across the world, civil-society actors in development and humanitarian fields are confronting a difficult and uncertain moment. The post-war system of aid and international cooperation, founded on liberal ideals of progress and partnership, is disintegrating amid austerity, donor retreat, rising militarization, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"parent":3437,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kehitystutkimus.fi\/conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4603"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kehitystutkimus.fi\/conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kehitystutkimus.fi\/conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kehitystutkimus.fi\/conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kehitystutkimus.fi\/conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4603"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.kehitystutkimus.fi\/conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4603\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4852,"href":"https:\/\/www.kehitystutkimus.fi\/conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4603\/revisions\/4852"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kehitystutkimus.fi\/conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kehitystutkimus.fi\/conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}