The Brundtland Report defines sustainability as meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Social sustainability can be framed as the reduction of social harms — the generally unintended and often unacknowledged consequences of social action that undermine the needs of present and future generations.

Social sustainability works together with economic and environmental sustainability. Through the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), the United Nations and its Member States raise awareness of sustainability issues beyond climate change and biodiversity loss, including social inequalities and discrimination. Scarcity and uneven distribution of natural, economic, and social resources lead to increasing inequalities, which in turn can affect security, democracy, and the rule of law adversely. Against this background, and to promote social sustainability, we suggest reimagining the boundaries of the social.

Social sustainability and the reduction of social harms are often conceived within anthropocentric, Eurocentric, androcentric, and State-centered epistemologies. We suggest decentering this dominant discourse to counteract social, epistemological, and ontological inequalities and injustices. This conference will start a conversation on polycentric social sustainability.

Call for abstracts

We invite contributions from across the disciplines of anthropology, sociology, theology, law, social work, psychology, gender studies, political science, and related disciplines. Empirical, theoretical, and methodological papers are welcome.

We consider the following three areas particularly relevant to conceptualizing polycentric social sustainability: restorative justice, relational worldviews, and fluid boundaries. Submissions addressing any aspect of these three areas are particularly welcome. We also welcome submissions on topics related to the conference theme that may include but are not limited to the following:

Restorative justice(s)

Restorative justice is an alternative approach to justice grounded in relationality. It is characterized by inclusive and non-adversarial frameworks that seek to prevent the past from being repeated and restore - and importantly, improve - strained relationships. Increasingly, restorative justice is invoked as a conceptual tool in efforts to locate an appropriate normative and social approach to victims, wrongdoers, bystanders, and beneficiaries. Processes of justice take place in several countries and areas of the world, with different approaches to dealing with harms inflicted at a societal level. We particularly welcome papers addressing the report of the Commission to Investigate the Norwegianisation Policy and Injustice Against the Sámi and Kvens/ Norwegian Finns (expected in June 2023) as well as injustices against other minority groups.

Relational worldviews

Issues such as climate change and declining biodiversity have made the social relevance of non-human entities unquestionable. At the same time, the human individual is a key tenet of Western social ontology. Other conceptions of the person and the collective emphasize the relational constitution of personhood and reality, such as the well-known Bantu concept of ubuntu and the less-known Sámi notion of soabalašvuohta. The latter has a bearing on the notion of ‘the social’ also beyond the human sphere, challenging the taken-for-granted boundaries of the social as composed of only human beings.

Fluid boundaries

The social is often conceptualized within the borders of the state, within which populations have often been assumed to share characteristics and identities encapsulated in static categories. Mobility across borders, as well as recognition of indigenous peoples and minorities, challenge such assumptions about the social as populations become more dispersed and diverse. These challenges established and normatively bounded social categories, such as those relating to gender and sexuality, culture/nature, normal/pathological, able/disabled, and health/illness, calling for critical inquiry into social, epistemological, and ontological borders and boundaries.

Abstracts should be of max. 300 words and contain the title of the paper, as well as the name, title, and affiliation of the author(s). Please submit the abstract together with a short bio (max. 100 words) by 1 March 2023 to Carola Lingaas (carola.lingaas@vid.no). Only one abstract per author will be considered. Joint submissions are possible. Selection will be based on the quality and originality of the abstract as well as its capacity to engage with other proposals and to foster a collaborative dialogue, and on diversity criteria. We will inform all interested parties by 15 March 2023 about the outcome of the selection.

Selected papers will be published in the form of an edited volume or as a special issue of a peer-reviewed international journal. Further information on publication plans will be provided at the end of the conference.

Travel grant: A limited amount of funding is available to help bear the costs for selected individuals to participate in the conference. The travel grants are awarded to scholars who may otherwise be unable to attend the conference. If you wish to be considered for financial assistance, please attach a short application (max. 500 words).

Keynote speakers

Will be published at a later date

The Conference venue and Oslo

The conference will be held at VID Specialized University in Oslo, the capital of Norway. Oslo is a modern city between the mountains and the fjord. The campus of VID is not far from the city centre and very close to Frogner Park, one of the top trust attractions of Oslo. The conference will not only take place at campus VID but use the whole city as a conference site. On Saturday, a voluntary excursion to the nearby Norwegian countryside will be offered at their own expense for international participants.

For more information regarding the venue and cultural and tourist attractions visit the following websites:

https://www.vid.no/en/campuses/diakonhjemmet-oslo/

https://www.visitoslo.com/en/

How do I get to the VID campus

When travelling by

Plane

The nearest airport is Oslo Airport at Gardermoen. To get to the VID campus you can take the airport express or a regional train of the Norwegian train company Vy. To get to the VID Oslo campus you can switch to the metro at Nationaltheatret station or at Oslo S (Oslo Central) station.

Train

If you come by train, you can switch to the metro at Nationaltheatret station or at Oslo S (Oslo Central) station.

Long Distance Bus

You will arrive at the Oslo bus terminal if you come to Oslo by long-distance bus. Oslo bus terminal is directly connected to Oslo S (Oslo Central) station. There, you can switch to the metro.

Metro (T-bane)

Metro line 2 or 3 to Borgen station (direction West), or line 1 to Frøen station, alternatively Steinerud station (direction West). Only Borgen station has stair-free access. Read more about routes and tickets at Ruter.

Local Bus

The nearest bus stop is Volvat in Sørkedalsveien, and Frøensalléen in Slemdalsveien. Read more about routes and tickets at Ruter.

Car

By car, you can drive into Diakonveien from the roundabout in Sørkedalsveien. Parking is available at the designated places in Diakonveien and Reidar Kobros vei. Maximum coin deposit gives eight hours of parking time. There is a high parking violation ticket for breach.

City bike

There is a bicycle rack close by. Read more about pricing and access at Oslo City Bike.

Contact information

Carola Lingaas. E-mail: carola.lingaas@vid.no. Phone: +47 22 96 38 73