Inside the postdigital crowds: The aesthetics and politics of the mediation and governing of digitised crowds

This practice-led research analyses and explores, through different artistic mediums and processes, the aesthetics and politics of the mediation and governance of crowds in a postdigital era. Through material and physical articulations it addresses the urgency of a phenomenon where the employment of computational tools and mechanisms representing and governing today´s crowds and collective behaviour are becoming increasingly opaque while facing political and ethical dilemmas. The outcomes of this research proposes a new embodied understanding of the agency of the postdigital crowds. The specific inside approach inherent to the present postdigital condition, is articulated throughout the research and embodied within the practice. Using a ‘post-individualistic’ perspective enables this research to think beyond today’s intensified individualism and deploy a collective understanding of these crowds while shedding light on their fragmented and atomised online and physical existence. The key terms and notions of ‘default’ and ‘flow’ are central in the methodological investigative nature of the research. They act as guiding clues exploring the links between the digital operations of crowds and contemporary economic currents and political strategies while establishing a direct correlation between written theory and the embodied and spatial articulations of the practice. A methodological approach which helps to identify the corporal ramifications and instrumental role the employment of these key terms and the digital tools have on the crowd and collective behaviour. The postidigital crowds are analysed through their digital representations, media and technologies, such as crowd simulations for film and computer games (the latter in partnership with the gaming company Ubisoft), as well as multi-target tracking systems. Through embodied experiences, this practice-based research uses multiple mediums in the form of spatial narratives, such as sculptural installations, collages and performance where the organic human body is used as reference and tool of investigation. This unravelling uses a process of re-mediation to physically understand the postdigital conditions in which the crowd operates with the aim to materialise the immaterial from a critical standpoint while making visible the dissimulated articulations and strategies enabled by computational technologies. The data generated from these various methods of approach are synthesised in a series of essay films forming the core of this research. These films propose an associative and critical analysis of how digital governance of the crowds are modelling the politics of future collective behaviour. In a postdigital era with a 24/7 online life and working body, framed within an accelerated economy affecting our collective behaviour and production modes, this practice-led research attempts to contribute an experienced understanding of the aesthetics and politics of the digital governing and modellations of crowds. By using various artistic media and methods this research establishes a multi-faceted and embodied analysis articulated in various spatial and visual outcomes on the conditions and agency of the postdigital crowd subject

Vein action: Performativity and the material body in haemodialysis

 For patients suffering from acute kidney failure technology is the only means of survival until a kidney graft can be secured1 - a process which may take several years. In this article I focus on patients’ ongoing, situated, and embodied practices of knowing and doing as part of their caring for kidney failure. In these practices the action of blood, veins, needles, and the dialysis machine are of central import. I argue that kidney failure is »done« through a variety of cultural practices, including medical technology. It is a process of material re-shaping I term ‘vein action’. The concept of "doing" is elaborated upon by linking it to theories of neo-materialism and particularly Karen Barad’s notion of intra-activity. I investigate how flowing of blood between the patient and the dialysis machine is constituted by analyzing the material and performative qualities of these entities as part of living with kidney failure. I ask how does the materiality of the body, needle, and machine affect the doing of dialysis, and by extension the doing of kidney failure, in an everyday context? What does doing dialysis tell us about the nature of care-oriented agency

Good Lives, Hidden Miseries : An Ethnography of Uncertainty in a Finnish Village

This is an ethnographic study, in the field of medical anthropology, of village life among farmers in southwest Finland. It is based on 12 months of field work conducted 2002-2003 in a coastal village. The study discusses how social and cultural change affects the life of farmers, how they experience it and how they act in order to deal with the it. Using social suffering as a methodological approach the study seeks to investigate how change is related to lived experiences, idioms of distress, and narratives. Its aim has been to draw a locally specific picture of what matters are at stake in the local moral world that these farmers inhabit, and how they emerge as creative actors within it. A central assumption made about change is that it is two-fold; both a constructive force which gives birth to something new, and also a process that brings about uncertainty regarding the future. Uncertainty is understood as an existential condition of human life that demands a response, both causing suffering and transforming it. The possibility for positive outcomes in the future enables one to understand this small suffering of everyday life both as a consequence of social change, which fragments and destroys, and as an answer to it - as something that is positively meaningful. Suffering is seen to engage individuals to ensure continuity, in spite of the odds, and to sustain hope regarding the future. When the fieldwork was initiated Finland had been a member of the European Union for seven years and farmers felt it had substantially impacted on their working conditions. They complained about the restrictions placed on their autonomy and that their knowledge was neither recognised, nor respected by the bureaucrats of the EU system. New regulations require them to work in a manner that is morally unacceptable to them and financial insecurity has become more prominent. All these changes indicate the potential loss of the home and of the ability to ensure continuity of the family farm. Although the study initially focused on getting a general picture of working conditions and the nature of farming life, during the course of the fieldwork there was repeated mention of a perceived high prevalence of cancer in the area. This cancer talk is replete with metaphors that reveal cultural meanings tied to the farming life and the core values of autonomy, endurance and permanence. It also forms the basis of a shared identity and a means of delivering a moral message about the fragmentation of the good life; the loss of control; and the invasion of the foreign. This thesis formed part of the research project Expressions of Suffering. Ethnographies of Illness Experiences in Contemporary Finnish Contexts funded by the Academy of Finland. It opens up a vital perspective on the multiplicity and variety of the experience of suffering and that it is particularly through the use of the ethnographic method that these experiences can be brought to light. Keywords: suffering, uncertainty, phenomenology, habitus, agency, cancer, farmingDenna avhandling, inom ämnesområdet medicinsk antropologi, undersöker hur social och kulturell förändring påverkar finländska bönders liv, hur de upplever förändring och hur de agerar för att handskas med den osäkerhet som det kan skapa. Den beskriver vad som står på spel i bönders livsvärld och hur de träder fram som kreativa aktörer inom denna värld. Begreppet socialt lidande används som en metodologisk infallsvinkel för att undersöka hur förändring är kopplat till upplevelser, trångmålsspråk och narrativer. Avhandlingen baseras på ett år (2002-2003) av etnografiskt fältarbete, dvs. deltagande observation och djupintervjuer utförda i en kustby i sydvästra Finland. Målsättningen var att få en allmän bild av arbetsförhållanden och jordbrukarlivet. Ett grundläggande antagande som gjorts i studien är att förändring är tvåsidigt: det är både en konstruktiv kraft som bildar något nytt och en prosess som skapar osäkerhet angående framtiden. Osäkerhet uppfattas som ett existentiellt tillstånd som kräver ett socialt svar. Det är något som både transformerar vardagens lidande samt orsakar det. Lidande, i likhet med osäkerhet, har två sidor. Det orsakar något gott genom att engagera individer att agera för att garantera kontinuitet och att upprätthålla hopp inför framtiden. Samtidigt kan det fragmentera den sociala ordningen och därmed skapa ytterligare osäkerhet. När fältarbetet påbörjades hade Finland varit en EU-medlemsstat i sju års tid. Ett centralt antagande var att bönders liv och arbetsförhållanden hade påverkats av medlemskapet på ett avsevärt sätt. Bönderna som ingick i studien klagade över att deras autonomi begränsats och att deras kunskaper varken respekteras eller erkänns av EU-systemets bryåkrater. Nya regler kräver att de ska arbeta på ett sätt som är moraliskt oacceptabelt och ekonomisk osäkerhet har blivit mera framstående. Alla dessa förändringar antyder en potentiell förlust av hemmet och förmågan att garantera familjegårdens kontinuitet. När det är frågan om familjejordbruk, som fortfarande är den vanligaste formen av jordbruk i Finland, är hem och arbete intimt sammankopplade. Att det nu finns hinder för hur man ska arbeta innebär ett allvarligt hot gentemot allt som ger livet mening. Avhandlingen är en delstudie i ett forskningsprojekt Expressions of Suffering. Ethnographies of Illness Experiences in Contemporary Finnish Contexts finansierat av Finlands akademi. Ytterligare en väsentlig infallsvinkel i avhandlingen var att undersöka kulturskillnader i Finland genom att jämföra en by i östra delarna av landet (Nordkarelen) med en i väst. Medicinsk forskning har påvisat att det inom Finland finns ett så kallat östligt överskott i morbiditet och att man i de västliga kustområdena i Österbotten lever längre och är lyckligare och friskare än i andra delar av landet. Studien ville därför undersöka om samma situation gäller för de sydvästra kustområdena är livet bättre och hälsosammare i sydväst än i öst? Under studiens gång uppkom upprepade anspelningar på att det finns mycket cancer i fältstudieområdet fastän sjukdomsstatistik påvisar att cancer inte är mera utbrett i den delen av landet. Vad är då betydelsen av detta prat om cancer? Studien kommer fram till att detta cancerprat kan uppfattas som ett trångmålsspråk som är fyllt av metaforer. Det uppdagar kulturbetydelser kopplade till jordbrukarlivet och centrala värderingar såsom autonomi, uthållighet och beständighet. Genom att prata om cancer lägger man grunden till en gemensam identitet - det är även ett sätt att föra fram ett moraliskt budskap om det goda livets fragmentering, förlust av kontroll, och intrång av det främmande i hemmets intima sfär. Avhandlingen pekar på det väsentliga perspektivet att mångfald och variation karaktäriserar upplevelsen av lidande och att det är genom att använda den etnografiska metoden som det blir möjligt att göra dessa upplevelser synliga. Nyckelord: lidande, osäkerhet, fenomenologi, habitus, aktörsperspektiv, cancer, jordbru

La vida alegre : Intimacy and Respect in the World of Prostitution in Managua

Only abstract. Paper copies of master’s theses are listed in the Helka database (http://www.helsinki.fi/helka). Electronic copies of master’s theses are either available as open access or only on thesis terminals in the Helsinki University Library.Vain tiivistelmä. Sidottujen gradujen saatavuuden voit tarkistaa Helka-tietokannasta (http://www.helsinki.fi/helka). Digitaaliset gradut voivat olla luettavissa avoimesti verkossa tai rajoitetusti kirjaston opinnäytekioskeilla.Endast sammandrag. Inbundna avhandlingar kan sökas i Helka-databasen (http://www.helsinki.fi/helka). Elektroniska kopior av avhandlingar finns antingen öppet på nätet eller endast tillgängliga i bibliotekets avhandlingsterminaler.This thesis analyses the specific moral discourses that popular class female sex workers and their regular clients create in the particular world of prostitution in Managua, Nicargua. My intention was to identify, through ethnographic narratives, what meanings sex workers and clients attach to intimacy and respect and how their street life (calle) and home making (casa) roles merge and interact. The specific kind of morality that emerges in sex workers' and clients' manner of speaking indicates how the limits of morality are fluid, pointing to where the spheres of calle and casa meet, intermingle and create specific meanings. This is not an investigation into deviant behaviour, although the actors are situated in a social world that is characterised as liminal. It is, rather, an ethnography of the particular aimed at dispelling stereotypical images portrayed of sex workers and clients. It attempts to bring a commentary to the ongoing discussion on masculinity and sexuality, where a stress is being placed on the multiplicity and shifting character of roles, and of the centrality of interaction between men and women. The study is based on ethnographical field work (Nov 1998 - Mar 1999) conducted in Managua. The main methodology used was taped life history interviews mainly with sex workers and clients; and, participant observation through site visits to both day time and night time locations. The total number of interviews conducted was 26 (women 18, men 8). Additionally, literary sources on sexuality and masculinity in Latin America were used. In the world of Managua prostitution we find popular class Managuans in their role as clients and sex workers, but we also glimpse their other, home making roles. The so called "ideal" picture of gender relations, and the real situation on the streets and homes of popular class Nicaraguans contradict each other. Men and women are conditioned to believe in romantic love, but in many Nicaraguan homes the reality is economic and emotional deprivation, violence, and abandonment. There is a lack of trust, of safety and of an opportunity for men and women to fulfil the roles of home making. Women and men live with the dream of having a home, a place of safety and love, understanding and communication. Through the game of courtship between sex workers and clients, respect and communication leads to a mutual sense of affection and a particular kind of morality. The safety arising from this interaction provides a means of making a home. In this process we find evidence of how the meaning of morality and masculinity is shifting and transformative

Solidarity beyond the grave: Yielding organs in a Nordic welfare state

According to a survey carried out in 2009, Finnish citizens are exceptionally willing to donate their organs after death, an attitude that paved the way for a 2010 amendment to the Tissue Law that introduced an ‘opt-out’ consent policy. Reactions to the legislative change ranged from taking a highly utilitarian stance on the issue to expressing indignation over the welfare state meddling with citizens’ right to self-determination and ownership of the body. In this article I consider how willingness to donate is linked to the notion that donation is a civic obligation, as well as a means to distribute the valuable national resource that organs are deemed to be. I explore how the welfare state relates to national attitudes towards donation, and I discuss culturally specific terms for donation as a way of understanding the emotions that surround it. By examining the rhetorical moves that turn the body into a community resource, I analyse the specifics of bodily citizenship in Finland, and particularly how the notion of solidarity can be used to explain citizens’ motivation to donate their bodies after death. A key finding is that solidarity is not only needed in order to bring about donation but also produced as a result of donation.</p

Conference • NNHSH 2013 Theme: Transformations of Health Practices and Health Policies in the Nordic Welfare States

With the theme of the research conference of the NNHSH network we want researchers, both at doctoral and post-doctoral level, to reflect on how health practices and health policies in the Nordic Welfare States are being transformed and have been transformed in the past. The Nordic countries are all, more or less, in the midst of a transformation from a social democratic health care system, based on universal access for all citizens with no regard to their position, class or previous health practices, to a more neoliberal oriented health care regime with new - or perhaps in some ways very old - ideas about the body, health, and health care responsibilities. Sociologist S.N. Eisenstadt (1956) once suggested that the idea of "citizenship" in the development of a societal structure like the Western states of today served to establish a historically new position for individuals in preference to kinship and family status. Within different forms of government, such responsibilities are balanced differently between individual, family and state. For more than a century responsibility for health and healthiness in the Nordic countries has to a great extent been incumbent on the state. At the same time transformations of political ideologies have led to more pressure on individual - and familial - responsibilities. The conference aims at encouraging scholarly discussions highlighting the transformations of health politics in the Nordic countries and the consequences as observed and experienced by people in this context. Topics discussed can revolve around the role of governments in the furthering of transformations - be it regarding patient education, expectations of empowerment of the elderly in elderly care, or negotiations about the right to biological parenthood. It can also be about peoples´ embodied, verbalized and negotiated responses to the changes taking place. Furthermore, any health situation does not only concern patients or other people in need of care or help, but it also includes family-members as care providers, who may be drawn in to this role due to increasing expectations of kinship obligations and responsibilities