Discourse and Interaction Studies in the ‘New North’: Keynote Roundtable

The plenary roundtable draws together key scholars from the Nordic countries and scholars living in the Nordic region to discuss the future of discourse and interaction studies in the Nordic region. It will address what sorts of approaches in discourse studies do we need for studying and shaping 'the Nordic' in the twenty first century, and what theoretical concepts and methodological principles should we abide by or develop. For example, the roundtable could discuss the theme of challenges to 'the Nordic model'. How are the North's so-called social welfare and healthcare model and its understandings of itself as a community of peaceful, caring societies built on consensus social democracy challenged by neoliberalism, globalisation and immigration? How can discourse studies study these developments in a positive yet critical fashion, with tools crafted with our concerns (not Anglo American societies) in the foreground? There is also the theme of the 'New North'. How is the Northern Rim being reconfigured as a result of climate change, (un)sustainable travel, resource exploitation, geopolitics, and cultural nationalism? How can discourse studies help us understand, advise and intervene in shaping a better understanding of ‘the Nordic’, eg. to promote sustainable sociodiscursive practices of living together informed by discourse studies research?