{"id":2164,"date":"2025-09-30T10:00:50","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T07:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kehitystutkimus.fi\/?p=2164"},"modified":"2025-10-10T18:37:20","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T15:37:20","slug":"development-in-ruins-hope-in-the-cracks-a-time-for-reckoning-reclaiming-and-reawakening-concept-note-and-call-for-working-groups-for-devdays2026-and-fsdr40","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kehitystutkimus.fi\/?p=2164","title":{"rendered":"Development in Ruins, Hope in the Cracks: A Time for Reckoning, Reclaiming, and Reawakening (Concept Note and Call for Working Groups for #DevDays2026 and FSDR@40)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Concept Note<\/strong><\/h3>\n

We live in a ruined and ruining world. The postwar program and edifice of \u201cdevelopment\u201d as we know it\u2014built on the assumptions of linear progress, donor-driven aid, and international cooperation\u2014is crumbling. Development\u2019s failures, rooted in the colonial and capitalist world-system, are manifest: in the stark precarity and inequalities sharpening under economic neoliberalism; in the climate emergency spiraling beyond control; in the defunding of social institutions and public services amid rising securitization and militarization; in the surge of reactionary, ethno-nationalist, and authoritarian-populist politics eroding human dignity and global solidarities; and in the realities of genocide, forced displacement, and mass starvation \u2014 cruelties inflicted against humanity.<\/p>\n

These ruins<\/strong> in the contemporary polycrisis, entangled with the history of extractive capitalism and colonialism, demand profound reckoning. Yet, in the cracks<\/strong>\u2014within the fissures and margins of the prevailing disorder\u2014seeds of hope are already germinating. This hope<\/strong> is found both in the recognition of diverse forms of human coexistence that predate Western hegemony, and in vibrant new movements. From struggles for climate action, equality, peace, and food sovereignty, to feminist economies of care and Indigenous knowledge reclamations, to the uprisings led by students and the youth, people are reawakening consciousness and reclaiming agency, spaces, and the commons. These are not simply strategies of survival, but practices of community-building and world-making that prefigure life beyond the colonial capitalist paradigm of development.<\/p>\n

Coinciding with the 40th anniversary of the Finnish Society for Development Research<\/strong>, the #DevDays2026<\/strong> international conference calls on scholars, practitioners, and activists to share their studies, reflections, advocacies, and experiences in engaging this dialectic of ruin and hope. We ask: How do we reckon with the ruins of development? How do we learn from, and nurture, the cracks where hope takes root? And how do we reawaken political consciousness for socio-ecological and economic-cultural transformation?<\/p>\n

This gathering is more than critique. It is an invitation to self-reflection on Reckoning, Reclaiming, Reawakening<\/strong> toward renewal. As we reflect on four decades of critical development research in Finland, we take up the challenge not only to analyze collapse but to actively participate in the collective labor of reimagining and advancing futures of justice, care, and solidarity.<\/p>\n

Sub-Themes for Working Groups<\/strong><\/h3>\n

We invite proposals for Working Groups<\/strong> in various formats, such as academic panels, policy discussions, activist forums, poster sessions, or other creative activities. Submissions are encouraged to engage with the conference theme, including but not limited to the following topics and issues:<\/p>\n

1. Reckoning with the Ruins: Critical Diagnostics of a Failing System <\/em><\/strong>
\n\u25cf Political economies of de-development: austerity, donor retreat, militarization, and financialization
\n\u25cf Genocide, mass displacement, and humanitarian catastrophe
\n\u25cf Polycrisis, shifting geopolitics, imperialist wars, and resource conflicts
\n\u25cf Colonial extractivisms, climate change, maldevelopment, and the accumulation of waste
\n\u25cf Crises of legitimacy in development institutions and global governance<\/p>\n

2. Reclaiming the Cracks: Sites of Hope, Resistance and Alternatives <\/em><\/strong>
\n\u25cf Indigenous, peasant, civil society, labor, youth and Gen Z uprisings and struggles for land rights, sovereignty, ecological stewardship, democratization, and social change
\n\u25cf Feminist, queer, and communities of care and social reproduction
\n\u25cf Practices of commoning, degrowth, and Buen Vivir
\n\u25cf Technology as a tool for liberation and digital activism against surveillance capitalism
\n\u25cf South\u2013South cooperation, emergent mutual aid, and reciprocal relations<\/p>\n

3. Reawakening Consciousness: Theories and Pedagogies for Transformative Futures<\/strong><\/em>
\n\u25cf Decolonial, abolitionist, anti-capitalist and post-development frameworks
\n\u25cf Art, narrative, culture, and popular education for development communication
\n\u25cf Pedagogy of hope, educating for sustainability, and learning for participatory action
\n\u25cf Transnational solidarities and ethics of global justice in an age of insularity, racism and ethno-nationalism
\n\u25cf Methodologies for studying futures of, or alternatives to, development<\/p>\n

Submission Guidelines and Timeline<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Please submit a 300-word<\/strong> proposal with the contact details of the Working Group Coordinator(s) by 25 October 2025<\/strong> to info.developmentdays@gmail.com<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u25cf 30.09.2025: Call for working groups opens
\n\u25cf 25.10.2025: Deadline for working group proposals
\n\u25cf 31.10.2025: Acceptance of working groups
\n\u25cf 7.11.2025: Call for papers opens
\n\u25cf 30.11.2025: Deadline for paper abstract submission
\n\u25cf 8.12.2025: Notification of accepted abstracts
\n\u25cf 12.01.2026: Registration opens
\n\u25cf 15.02.2026: Registration closes
\n\u25cf 25.02.2026: Pre-conference events (DocShop, Master\u2019s Workshop, Public Forum)
\n\u25cf 26.-27.02.2026: #DevDays2026 Conference in Helsinki<\/p>\n

In line with our commitment to democratizing, diversifying, and decolonizing development knowledge, we welcome online participation and hybrid engagement. We particularly encourage collaboration with colleagues from the Global South.<\/p>\n

For\u00a0more information and updates, please visit the conference\u00a0website<\/a> regularly, follow FSDR’s social media pages (Facebook<\/a> and LinkedIn<\/a>), or contact us at info.developmentdays@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Concept Note We live in a ruined and ruining world. The postwar program and edifice of \u201cdevelopment\u201d as we know it\u2014built on the assumptions of linear progress, donor-driven aid, and international cooperation\u2014is crumbling. Development\u2019s failures, rooted in the colonial and capitalist world-system, are manifest: in the stark precarity and inequalities sharpening under economic neoliberalism; in …<\/p>\n

Development in Ruins, Hope in the Cracks: A Time for Reckoning, Reclaiming, and Reawakening (Concept Note and Call for Working Groups for #DevDays2026 and FSDR@40)<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kehitystutkimus.fi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kehitystutkimus.fi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kehitystutkimus.fi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kehitystutkimus.fi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kehitystutkimus.fi\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2164"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.kehitystutkimus.fi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2164\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2166,"href":"https:\/\/www.kehitystutkimus.fi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2164\/revisions\/2166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kehitystutkimus.fi\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kehitystutkimus.fi\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kehitystutkimus.fi\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}