Call For Participation

Nordic Summer University
Circle 4: An/Other\not-I/(m)\Other in Feminist Philosophy

Invites you to the Summer Session 2025

21–28 July, 2025. Jyväskylä, Finland

m-Otherhood in Feminist Theory 

Intersectional feminist theory offers the concepts of mother, mothering and motherhood as a way to rethink and re-address the way in which humans relate to one another. 

In this symposium we aim to bring in different frameworks both as content and as method. We explicitly invite people with different backgrounds to contribute towards this theme. 

Content of m-Otherhood

Instead of claiming there is one theory or way in which m-Otherhood can be put forward and explored, we like to open the floor by a few themes to outline the broad spectrum for this symposium:

• Saidiya Hartman questions the myth and idea of return: return to what and to where as well as the pain in the fallacy of return. A return towards the position of the mother that is always lost, as a way to look towards history and how to deal with generations of injustice. (Hartman, Saidiya. Lose Your Mother: A Journey Along the Atlantic Slave Route. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007.)
• Jonna Bornemark presents pregnancy and motherhood as an unexplored area of philosophical knowledge in a way that bridges autobiography, poetry and contemporary feminist philosophy. 
• Bracha Ettinger proposes a matrixial understanding of relationships that predates the phallocentric relationship of othering as exclusion. Ettinger opens up a world of language in which m/Othering and response-ability as compassion delineate a matrixial borderspace in which truth is redefined. (Bracha Ettinger, The Matrixial Borderspace, University of Minnesota Press, 2006.)
• There is a need to explore non-motherhood beyond the involuntary/voluntary divide and consider a wide range of conceptualizations of women who do not become mothers. (Negotiating Non-Motherhood: Representations, Perceptions, and Experiences, Palgrave Macmillan 2025, Editors: Jenny Björklund, Dovilė Kuzminskaitė, Julie Rodgers.)

Method of m-Otherhood

During this summer session we aim to work together on exploring the theme of m-Otherhood also in the way we participate. We explicitly invite people to share their insights, artistic practises and academic understanding in a way that invites collaborative thinking. For this reason academic presentations are discouraged, although a presentation can be a part of a larger workshop. Please indicate in your application how you aim to use the time allotted to your session. First-time experiments are as welcome as tested concepts. 

Participants without workshops/presentations are also most welcome to collaborate. 

About Nordic Summer University (NSU):

NSU is a space for collaboration between disciplines/peoples/ideas. During the Summer Session several study circles, each hosting their own program, will come together – participants are welcome to join different circles/programmes during the week. NSU is a flat organisation, being present means you are a member and part of the organisation.

Costs

NSU offers a limited amount of grants and scholarships. If you are interested in receiving one (which means a reduced participation fee), please let us know while applying. 

• 450 EUR — grant/scholarship receivers (stay in 4–5 people apartments)
• 850 EUR — single room
• 700 EUR — bed in a twin room
• 650 EUR — family room [per person]
• 1250 EUR — institutional price. Institutional price is intended for participants whose attendance is paid for by their institutions, e.g. trough research grants or similar dedicated funding
• 950 EUR — institutional price PhD
• 440 EUR — shared lodging (indoor camp rooms (shared accommodation))
• 400 EUR — camping

The price includes NSU membership, so it is not necessary to purchase it separately. Those who have already attended a winter symposium and paid the membership will receive a discount code to deduct the membership fee. No refunds will be given if participants pay membership twice by mistake, so please mention in your application that you already attended an NSU event this year, to receive a discount code.

Deadlines

Please send us a short text explaining your aim / topic / idea, how much time you would need to host the experience, and what materials you would require (paper/paint/bicycles), which we will try to accommodate. 

Please send us your application by April 5th. Especially if you would like to be considered to receive a grant/scholarship, as decisions on grants/scholarships will be made at the end of April. Deadline to confirm and pay your spot as a grant/scholarship receiver is May 1st. 

Other applicants are accepted on a rolling basis. Final deadline to apply: May 10th. By May 15th you will need to register and pay for the accommodation.

Applications and queries can be send to: nicole.nobyeni@nsuweb.org

Please be aware that everyone involved at Nordic Summer University is collaborating on a voluntary basis.

About the Circle:

How to think/write/be/inter-act without being limited by an already outlined goal/outcome/impact? How to explore what is messy/confused/embodied while accepting that exploration is always also taking place within philosophy/genre/language/life – within what is. That is, our attempt to explore, to transcend our sites of speech happens in this world and is framed by the situatedness of our lives. Could it be otherwise? This study circle aims to take advantage of the network, space and openness provided by the Nordic Summer University to raise questions that cannot be answered/grounded/voiced, for philosophers/writers/feminists and/or/as-well-as those who are other(s/ed/ing). 

This study circle will explore the liminality of not belonging in a discipline/space/frame/ category/nation. Accepting language as the limit/tool/curse and an unavoidable starting point, building upon the work of Irigaray/Arendt/Ettinger, this state of exception of being-with/in/of language is not simple put aside, but accepted as a reality which is “disturbing, overwhelming, and sometimes too close for comfort”. 

These tensions open up a liminal space – how to think/write/be/inter-act within such a space, while being an/Other\not-I/(m)\Other within feminist philosophy? How to write/create/live as a being that is more than the available categories available to mark/describe/situate them? How to explore power as a temporary space, a moment, political and liminal? How to read and ground ourselves in feminist philosophy while also living/m-othering/PhD-ing? How to even ask/write/question these questions, without falling prey to the linearity inherent in what/who/why it means to question? 

More information: https://www.nsuweb.org/study-circles/circle-4-an-other-not-i-m-other-in-feminist-philosophy/