The Conference Reimagined. Postcards, Letters, and Camping Together in Undressed Places

Abstract

In this paper, five authors account for the rethinking of a conference as a series of postcards, letters, rules and silent moments so that traditional hierarchies of knowledge could be overturned or, at least, sidelined. We recount how the place we convened was enlisted as an actor and the dramas and devices we applied to encounter it. We use this accounting to problematize the conventional practices of goal-oriented meetings and co-authored papers as forms of academic meaning-making. In finding a meeting point where expertise was disorientated and status undressed, we were able to investigate the idea of co-being between human and nonhuman realities as the step social theory needs to take to become a point of connection with the social world, instead of an escape from it. We conclude that this involved silence and necessary fictions as a means to consider the future and past in the moment of meeting.

Ontological mingling and mapping: Chinese tourism researchers’ experiences at international conferences

“…We also suggest that future studies should continue the line of this inquiry to dig deeply into the complex mechanism through which conference experiences impact on knowledge-making, and the often taken-for-granted but vague conceptions of 'connections' and 'relations' between different individuals, groups and ideas. A recent study on slow conferencing through camping together is one example of exploring unusual forms (silence and fiction) of communication in moments of meeting (Veijola et al, 2019). Furthermore, with increasing awareness and efforts coming from the 'non-Western' scholars' side to understand the dynamics of knowledge production in today's scientific community, there is little study done on a more general population.…”

Kriittinen yhteiskuntatieteellinen matkailututkimus Suomessa

“…Suomalaisessa matkailututkimuksessa hitaan matkailun ja lähimatkailun käsitteitä on hyödynnetty vielä verrattaen vähän (esim. Veijola & Säynäjäkangas, 2018;Veijola ym. 2019).…”

“…Kiinnittämällä huomiota rytmeihin tulee näkyväksi esimerkiksi se, kuinka hidastaminen voi mahdollistaa yhteiselon opettelemista niin läheisten ihmisten kuin ei-inhimillisen ympäristön kanssa tai auttaa löytämään keinoja vapautua hektisestä arjesta (Rantala, 2015(Rantala, , 2019. Hidastaminen ja matkailukäytänteiden tuominen arjen konteksteihin voivat myös tehdä oman tutun elinpiirin vieraammista paikoista, ihmisistä tai muista lajeista saavutettavampia (Salmela ym., 2021;Veijola, 2014;Veijola & Säynäjäkangas, 2018). Tällöin pääsemme toivottavasti tarpeesta luokitella matkailijoita ja paikallisia tiukasti eri ryhmiksi, ja voimme tarkastella matkailullisia käytänteitä, toimintoja ja kuluttamista myös osana arkea, joka pyrkii huomioimaan tässä ajassa vallalla olevat globaalit kysymykset.…”

Environmental Art for Tourism in the Arctic

“…In recent years, the development of so-called silent tourism has become one form of cooperation (e.g. Veijola & Säynäjäkangas, 2018). Development projects have aimed to combine artistic thinking with walks and silence (Erkkilä-Hill, 2017).…”