University of Agder, Kristiansand (Norway)
10–11 December 2026
Supported by the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Bonn
Workshop Overview
Over recent decades, resilience has become a key concept in environmental and psychological research. It describes the ability of ecological and social systems to adapt to disturbances while maintaining core functions. Increasingly, literary and cultural studies explore resilience as a narrative and cultural phenomenon, including its aesthetic, cognitive, and ideological dimensions.
This workshop aims to investigate Nordic approaches to resilience across different periods, genres, and media, with a particular focus on narrative forms and socio-ecological contexts.
Possible Topics
Contributions may address (but are not limited to) the following questions:
▪ Are there culturally or historically specific Nordic forms and narratives of resilience? Are
any genres and tropes especially prominent? How is resilience conveyed not only in
literature, television and film, but also, for example, in educational texts and in political
discourse in the Nordic countries?
▪ Does resilience theory give us new ways of reading old, or new, Nordic texts? Which
kinds of texts lend themselves especially well to this kind of re-reading?
▪ Can we trace how Nordic representations of resilience have changed over time? Which
differences are there between premodern and contemporary resilience narratives, for
example?
▪ How does Indigenous and minority “resilience thinking” differ from that of the majority
societies in the Nordic countries? To what extent is resilience compatible with
decolonization and/or able to function as a response to environmental injustice?
▪ To what extent have texts and artworks functioned (or been viewed) as “cultural
resources of resilience”? Can literary texts or other art forms help their audiences cope
with processes of ecological and social-ecological change?
▪ How have writing, reading, and performance of literary and/or audiovisual texts played a
role in practices of resilience in the Nordic context?
Submission Details
Abstract: max. 300 words
Presentation: 20 minutes + 10 minutes discussion
Deadline: 22 June 2026
Submission to: reinhard.hennig@uia.no
Researchers at all career stages, including doctoral students, are warmly invited to apply. Interdisciplinary contributions are especially welcome.
Workshop language: English
Selected papers are planned for publication in a peer-reviewed edited volume
Limited funding for accommodation may be available
Further information: www.enscan.net