This March students and researchers at universities in Copenhagen, Lund, Oslo, and on Iceland are given a rare opportunity to discuss ways of applying Foucault’s governmentality concept on the Chinese context. This is possible when Elaine Jeffreys from the University of Technology in Sydney visits the Nordic region on a tour to four universities where she will give the presentation Governmentality and China studies. Elaine will introduce the governmentality concept and give examples on its applicability in China.

For more information on time and place please contact Martin Bech, NIAS, martin.bech@nias.ku.dk.

Elaine Jeffreys’ visit is part of the new NIAS initiative: Nordic Tour: How do we study Asia? which during the coming years is expected to send scholars around the Nordic region and have them share their thoughts on new ways of studying Asia.

Does security have anything to do with culture?
Another major thing we have been working on at NIAS during x-mas and new years is this year’s Second Annual NNC conference which is called Culture and the configuring of security. The conference takes place in November in Höör outside Lund and features a range of interesting and internationally renowned speakers. The intention of the conference – which is by the way also includes a PhD workshop – is to facilitate discussions between macro- and micro perspectives on security. We are hoping to get people from difference scientific disciplines (e.g. international relations, anthropology, political science, economics, law, linguistics) with an interest security related aspects to engage in a cross-disciplinary dialogue and hopefully thereby add new insights to the theoretical framework of security.

I’m betting that it’ll be a heck of a conference and so if you are interested in security and security theory please check out the conference website for more information and registration: www.asiansecurity.niasconferences.dk

// martin