GUJ3-2015English

N O 3 | M AY 2 0 1 5

Taking the side of the weak Give proper attention to African languages, says Laura Downing INSTITUTE FOR TOLERANCE

CRISIS AS COMEDY

RESEARCH AT 4,000 METRES DEEP

The first steps are taken

Stereotypes thrive in Greek television

Exploring the secrets of the ocean’s depths

PAGE 4

PAGE 10

PAGE 14

2

Vice Chancellor

Campus Näckrosen and the Medicinareberget Project are important for the future W E LI V E AT a time of rapid changes, and this also applies to the university world. In order that we as an educational institution will continue to remain relevant in the future, we need to dare to think big, be creative, and innovate. I want to highlight here the two extensive and strategically important development projects that are currently underway at the University of Gothenburg – the Campus Näckrosen Project and the Vision 2020 Project – Medicinareberget.

The Campus Näckrosen Project is a strategic investment in the humanities and the fine arts. By bringing together the artistic and humanities activities with the University Library, the University creates an open venue for a meeting of disciplines that transcends boundaries, in the centre of the city. One could call it a “park for the humanities, culture and art,” which as far as I know would be something new and unique in the Nordic countries. Via meetings beyond the boundaries of their own activities and the city’s art and cultural institutions, new partnerships may arise and new perspectives may be seen which in turn creates a cultural centre for students, researchers, visitors and all of Gothenburg.

I N O R D E R FO R the University’s plans to become reality, it is important to engage in a dialogue with everyone concerned. Together with Akademiska Hus, who owns our premises, we have therefore implemented a number of workshops and interviews with neighbours and local residents about how the park is used and valued today. These were fruitful discussions that can contribute to Campus Näckrosen, sometime around 2020, becoming a cornerstone of the University of

PHOTO: JOHAN WINGBORG

Gothenburg and a symbol for the culture and knowledge city of Gothenburg.

Project Vision 2020 – Medicinareberget has been underway since August 2013 and the vision as developed continues to be concretised and embodied in the development of the activities as well as in the property and city development. The goal is to create a multidisciplinary hub that contributes to the solutions for global societal challenges, such as the aging population.

T H E S C I E N C E A R E A S from the Sahlgrenska Academy, the Faculty of Science and Faculty of Social Sciences are linked together in a new quarter of the city and here one will find activities from the educational programme, research and joint collaborations from molecules to man and society. A collaborative building is planned in the middle of the hill and new meeting venues provide increased opportunities for joint collaboration with the business community, institutions, organisations, public authorities, and other universities and institutions of higher education. A property is planned which will bring together i.a. the activities of Sahlgrenska University Hospital’s medical services laboratory with a transnational molecular medicine research centre at Medicinareberget, as well as premises for the Social Science and Natural Sciences Faculties.

T H E ST U D E N T S A R E actively engaged in the developments, including for the large number of student and guest researcher accommodations that are planned, and the majority of the University’s faculties are interested.

Even the Karolinska Institute contributes to the project with experience from its development in Stockholm.

Just like the Näckrosen project, the Vision 2020 – Medicinareberget project is both an internal activities project within the University of Gothenburg and a joint project of the city and the region. The projects engage and stimulate new ways of thinking and plans for the future of education and research. That they also arouse enthusiasm among our students, is for me, an important confirmation that we are on the right path.

A MAGAZINE FOR EMPLOYEES OF THE UNIVERSIT Y OF GOTHENBURG

May E D I TO R - I N C H I E F A N D P U B L I S H E R

Allan Eriksson 031 - 786 10 21 allan.eriksson@gu.se E D I TO R A N D V I C E P U B L I S H E R

Eva Lundgren 031 - 786 10 81 eva.lundgren@gu.se P H OTO G R A P H Y A N D R E P R O D U C T I O N

Johan Wingborg 031 - 786 29 29 johan.wingborg@gu.se G R A P H I C F O R M A N D L AYO U T

Anders Eurén 031 - 786 43 81 anders.euren@gu.se

T R A N S L AT I O N

Charles Phillips , Semantix ADDRESS

GU Journal University of Gothenburg Box 100, 405 30 Gothenburg E-MAIL

gu-journalen@gu.se INTERNET

www.gu-journalen.gu.se ISSUES

6-7 issues per year The next issue will come out in June 2015 DEADLINE FOR MANUSCRIPTS

June 5, 2015 M AT E R I A L

The Journal does not take responsibility for unsolicited material. The editorial office is responsible for unsigned material.

Feel free to quote, but please give your source.

C OV E R

Laura Downing, Professor in African language Photo: Johan Wingborg

Reg.nr: 3750M

Reg.nr: S-000256

Contents

GUJOURNAL 3 | 2015

6

FROM THE VICE CHANCELLOR

3

Safeguarding African languages Laura Downing has been on the road for nearly her entire life.

2 Campus Näckrosen and Medicinareberget are two of the University’s most important projects for the future.

NEWS

4 V-Dem presents new facts about the state of democracy.

5 The first steps are taken for the Segerstedt institute of tolerance.

PROFILE 6 Laura Downing is like a wandering star.

THESIS

9 Dual defence of a dissertation

REPORTING 10 Greek tragedy as a TV comedy.

12 Aristotle is still relevant, asserts Ana Maria Mora-Marquez.

12

14 Thomas Dahlgren investigates the deep-sea’s secret life.

Medieval philosophy makes a comeback For Ana Maria Mora-Marquez, Aristotle is just as relevant today.

14

9

10

Meet Markus Johansson Double doctor in political science.

Home from an expedition Research at a depth of 4,000 metres requires a long time of preparation.

Greek tragedy as a comedy Georgia Aitaki explores the European crisis in TV shows.

The Editors: A conflict between collegiality and line management J U ST W H E R E I S the Faculty of Science heading to? On the one hand, the University invests in a research vessel at a cost of approximately SEK 120 million, the Faculty establishes an Institution for Marine Sciences and the development of a new marine centre is underway.

On the other hand, the natural scientists are among the losers when it comes to the allocation of new slots in the educational programme.

And at the same time, there is a conflict underway between the Faculty and the Department of Biology and

Environmental Sciences where each other’s positions seem to be rigidly fixed. Hopefully the parties will soon reach an agreement, not the least for the sake of the staff, who increasingly feel trampled upon.

GU Journal writes a lot about the conflict (only in the Swedish version) because it is about a fundamentally important issue: the value of collegiality and participatory influence in relation to line control and increased power for the bosses.

Not entirely unexpectedly, we see the new Government invest in new

slots for educational programmes.

What is positive about this is that universities get free slots, in GU’s case some 300.

T H E G OV E R N M E N T H A S also done a great thing by raising the price tags within certain neglected areas that need to catch up. But the SEK 250 million for a gain in quality is really just exterior veneer.

It will hardly lead to very many more teaching hours for the students.

That would instead require a really significant investment.

20 May is the date of the open house at Jonsered Manor. If you go there, be sure to take a look at the exhibition downstairs. It is made in joint collaboration with GU Journal and deals with man’s relationship to his pets. Ten staff members have set up pictures and then written a text about his/her pet. Additionally Maria Olaussen, our new Professor of English literature, contributes with a reflective contemplation “Caring for animals – a part of being human.”

We look forward to continuing to hear from you!

4

News

The latest news concerning the development of democracy

T H O S E G I V I N G lectures include Ellen Lust, the Department of Political Science’s newly hired top researcher, originally from Yale University, and David Altman, new holder of the Torgny Segerstedt Professorship at the University of Gothenburg. They will talk about how elections and voting affects the processes of democratisation.

So what news will V-Dem present? Among other things, that there is a clear connection between free and fair elections on the one hand, and increased life expectancy and reduced infant mortality on the other hand, explains Staffan I. Lindberg.

“This might not sound so strange. But the results found are actually contrary to earlier research, including at our own Quality of Government Institute, which could not provide evidence of such a link. Another new finding is that a reasonably well-developed level of gender

10 6

8

Female empowerment index

Tunisia

2

4

Iraq

Saudi Arabia

year

1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

»But consider that a situation where those in power are trying to buy votes is at least better than a situation where they resort to violence.« STAFFAN I. LINDBERG equality is a prerequisite for lasting democracy in developing countries, though hearing this might not be so surprising.”

But V-Dem will also present more unexpected results. One example is that vote buying can be a sign of democratic development. strange at first glance, but consider that a situation where those in power are trying to buy votes is at least better than a situation where they resort to violence, or that they put their opponents in jail. In an authoritarian regime, vote buying can therefore be a sign that the country is moving towards a more developed democracy.”

Data on the democratic development is of course interesting for social scientists of different kinds. But even mathematicians work with V-Dem, and, perhaps unexpectedly, so too does an evolutionary biologist.

“ IT M AY S O U N D

“ PAT R I K LI N D E N FO R S , based at Stockholm University, uses evolutionary models to explain social development,” explains Staffan I. Lindberg.

The person responsible for the

conference programme is Natalia Stepanova, who also coordinates V-Dem’s vast network. Recently, she has also worked on V-Dem’s website, where you can follow the developments in graphs from various states and regions, and make comparisons over both time and between countries.

“We also publish the Graph of the Week on Facebook, which has 2,000-3,000 followers, and publish short articles on current topics. On 8 March, we wrote, for example, about women’s rights in the Middle East, which was translated into Arabic and was followed by 1,500 people.” data is used not only by academic researchers but also in a variety of other contexts, explains Project Coordinator Josefine Pernes.

“The EU, OECD, Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, UNDP, International IDEA and many others have made use of and benefited from our database, which is unparalleled in the world in terms of democracy research.

A N D V- D E M ’ S

EVA LUNDGREN

PHOTO: JOHAN WINGBORG

Effective Support for Democracy?, which will take place from 26 to 28 May, will reveal entirely new facts about the state of democracy in 173 countries around the world.

Approximately 2,600 experts have been engaged in the collection of 15 million facts about the world’s countries from 1900 to 2012.

“For some sixty countries, we actually have data right up to 2014,” explains Staffan I. Lindberg, research director at the V-Dem Institute. “The last day of the conference, on May 28th, will be open not only to researchers and students, but also for journalists and the interested public. On that date, some twenty leading academic researchers will hold super short lectures, of perhaps five minutes each, where they will present results that have never been seen before.”

T H E CO N FE R E N C E

GENDER EQUALITY Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Iraq

0

Can vote buying be part of a country’s development towards democracy? Yes actually. And this is one of the many findings of the Varieties of Democracy Project (V-Dem) which will be presented on 28 May. Anyone and everyone interested is invited to attend.

Staffan I. Lindberg has organized the conference Supporting Democracy – how?

FACTS On 28 May, some twenty international experts will discuss, in short presentations, the latest news from the Varieties of Democracy Institute – V-Dem. Everyone with an interest is welcome.

Time: 1:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Location: Vasaparken, the main building.

Graphs and other facts about the world’s development of democracy can be found here: https://v-dem. net/.

Please visit our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/vdeminstitute.

News

GUJOURNAL 3 | 2015

PHOTO: ALEX ANDER NIKOLIS

In the spring of 2014 students from Kungälv visited the concentration camp Treblinka.

The institute for tolerance will soon be up and running Planning is in full swing for the new national institute for tolerance located at the University of Gothenburg.

The precise name the institution will be known by hasn’t been decided yet, but it will certainly contain the name Segerstedt.

T H E CO O R D I N ATO R I S Pro-ViceChancellor Helena Lindholm Schulz. “It is extremely gratifying and flattering that we received this responsibility,” remarks Helena Lindholm Schulz. “It is completely in line with our involvement and commitment, as we are actively engaged in very relevant research on these issues.”

That the Institute landed in Gothenburg was largely due to that the acclaimed Tolerance Project in Kungälv was developed in joint collaboration with the University of Gothenburg. This year already, GU receives SEK 5,000,000 from the national government to establish the Institute, which will focus on the issues of how racism and violent extremism can be counteracted, and how diversity, dialogue and co-existence can be promoted.

“Although the name the Institution will have has not been

fully decided yet, “Segerstedt” will be a part of its name, in memory of Torgny and Ingrid.

These are Gothenburgers whom we associate with a strong commitment to justice and equality.”

C H R I ST E R M AT T S S O N , a teacher in Kungälv as well as a doctoral student at the Department of Education, Communication and Learning, to will be in charge of the Institution’s activities during its building-up. He was involved in the development of the Tolerance Project in Kungälv, which among other activities is successfully used in schools in more than 20 different municipalities to counteract racism and extremism among young people.

The scientific advisor is Professor Roger Säljö, outgoing Dean of the Faculty of Education.

According to Helena Lindholm Schulz, organisationally the

Institute will resemble the Swedish Secretariat for Gender Research.

“One task will be to continue sharing experiences, good examples, and knowledge within the context of the Tolerance Project. In addition, the Institute is planning to launch a series of seminars in the autumn where we will invite academic researchers from all over the country to participate.”

»It is completely in line with our involvement and commitment ...« HELENA LINDHOLM SCHULZ

The responsibility the national government has placed on the Institute is formulated in a rather loose way, points out Helena Lindholm Schulz. freedom to formulate our responsibility freely and independently. The Institute

“ W E H AV E T H E

will not be conducting its own research. Instead, within its latitude, we want to widely disseminate research results, knowledge, contribute with research communication as well as to coordinate research activities. And the Institute will not be working exclusively for GU, but rather share knowledge and experience to the entire society at-large.

Joint collaborative efforts with other universities and academic institutions around the country, as well as with a wide variety of other parties in the community, will be important.”

T H E G OV E R N M E N T will also award funds in a national competition for a national research programme within the field.

The formal inauguration will take place in the university’s auditorium in August, almost 20 years to date from the violent death of the 14-year-old boy, John Hron who was beaten to death by four youths with connections to a racist extremist group.

ALLAN ERIKSSON

5

6

Profile

With African lexicon in her suitcase Before Laura Downing came to Gothenburg three years ago, she had managed to stay in twenty different cities around the US and Europe.

“Each family has a wandering star, and in mine, it happens to be me,” she explains.

Her area of research, African languages, was chosen by her because she likes to take the side of the underdog.

F T H E A PPROX I M AT E LY 6,000 languages presently spoken in the world, about 2,000 are found in Africa but only a few hundred in Europe. For a linguistic researcher, Africa should therefore be something of an El Dorado to mine linguistic treasures from.

However this is not the case, explains Laura Downing, Professor of African Languages.

“When linguists want to say something in general about human language, what they are saying is invariably based on the same ten languages, almost all of which are European, and perhaps Japanese and Chinese. African languages are almost never included.”

T H I S LE A D S TO incorrect language theories. One example is the attempt to find something that is common to all languages in the entire world.

“If I ask a question, for instance ‘Who came with you to the party last night?,’ you might answer saying that ‘It was John who did.’ When you answer, you emphasise the name John, and many linguists are of the opinion that this particular manner of speaking is something that applies to languages in general, that one emphasises what is most important in a sentence. However, there is not a single African language that works that way.”

That African languages are so unexplored that and there is a dearth of research concerning them, was a motivating factor

for Laura Downing, some 30 years ago, to decide to study them. And that she became interested in languages, was due to her childhood experiences.

Laura Downing was born in the US, on Long Island, New York, and since her father served in the Air Force and was stationed in so many various places, the family moved again and again. high school, we had already lived in six different places, both in the US and overseas. But what probably had the most significant impact on me was my teenage years in Germany. I was 13 years old when we moved there, and for the first time in my life I lived in a country where I experienced everyone speaking a language other than English. From this I understood that the world is quite complicated, and that language is the key to new cultures.”

When she began to study at the University of Georgia (USA) she wavered back and forth between language studies and a literature major.

“I love literature but I also love logic, grammar and trying to understand contrasting systems. And I thought it was strange that the interest in African languages was so negligible. For instance, when I explained that Kilolo seemed fascinating, as a response I would hear that it had already been studied, that there already was a fiftyyear-old description of the language. But we don’t hear people speaking like that when it comes to other languages; for instance no one would say that it is meaningless to

“ W H E N I FI N I S H E D

study Swedish because others have already done so. So as I love to take the side of the underdog, African languages became my field of research. The result of which being that in 1990 I received my Ph.D. at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a dissertation on the tonal phonology of Jita, which is spoken in Tanzania.”

A FR I C A N L A N G UAG E S can be divided into four basic groups: Afro-Asiatic, NiloSaharan, the Niger-Congo languages and Khoe-San. Additionally, Indo-European and Austronesian languages are also spoken in Africa.

At the University of Gothenburg, language courses are given in Somali, an AfroAsiatic language with many loan words

GUJOURNAL 3 | 2015

from Arabic, and contrastive analysis were given. But otherwise, it is the Bantu language that by tradition is studied here.

T H E R E A R E PE R H A P S as many as 500 Bantu languages, the best known being Swahili, explains Laura Downing.

“The languages I devote myself particularly to are the Chichewa, Tumbuka and Zulu, which are part of the Nguni group.

These languages are unique in several ways.

Instead of two to three genders, which we are used to from European languages, they have 10-15 noun classes which affect the conjugation of adjectives, numerals and verbs. For example, the word kitu means ‘thing’ in Swahili. Kitu kikubwa hiki kilianguka means ‘this huge thing fell’ where

ki is repeated multiple times to fit into an alliterative pattern.”

Though this does not apply to Swahili, most Bantu languages also have a complex tonal system as well as significantly many more tenses than European languages, especially when it comes to elapsed time: the verb is conjugated depending upon, among other things, if something happened just now, earlier today, yesterday or a few weeks ago.

“Why these languages have so many tenses is a difficult question to answer.

Perhaps this is linked to the fact that oral storytelling is of such importance in African culture and the need to keep track of the sequence of events. But that many languages are so complex makes one ponder the

old philosophical question of how people actually think: if we immediately know exactly what we want to say, we have chosen the tenses, tones and endings before we start to speak, which I suppose sounds quite complicated. Or do we decide the various forms as we speak? But how do we get the beginning of the sentence to appropriately match the end?”

S O M E BA N T U L A N G UAG E S , such as Xhosa and Zulu, also have a click sound, which otherwise is a distinctive feature of the nearby Khoisan languages.

“The explanation may be related to the custom of hlonipha, that is replacing certain sounds with something else. In some societies, for example, it has been taboo to

7

8

Profile

LAUR A DOWNING PROFESSION: Professor of African Languages.

PL ACE OF BIRTH: On Long Island, New York.

RESIDES: On Hisingen.

FAMILY: Single.

INTERESTS: Walking, literature, art, film and music – African world music, jazz and classical.

RECOMMENDS THE AUTHORS: Hilary Mantel and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

RECOMMENDS THE FILMS: Rebelle, about a young girl who becomes a child soldier in Congo Kinshasa, and Timbuktu, about Islamist terror in Mali.

TIP FOR A BOOK ABOUT AFRICAN L ANGUAGES: An introduction to African Languages

by G. Tucker Childs.

FAVOURITE FOOD: Curry with coconut milk and sweet potatoes.

BEST/WORST SIDE: Best: openness to new people and experiences; Worst: impatience.

utter words that started the same way as the chief’s name. In such situation one then used instead a click sound from a language spoken in the vicinity. Later on the taboo has been long forgotten, but the sounds stayed. Certain clicks are easy to learn. But very beautiful sound that Miriam Makeba makes in her famous rendition of ‘The Click Song,’ I myself have unfortunately not succeeded in mimicking.”

Bantu languages also contain many “idiophones.”

“Comic books are full of utterances such as “bang,” “boom,” “splash”... Also, when we talk, we make similar sounds, such as “wham” or “oops.” In the Bantu languages, approximately one-third of the vocabulary consists of this kind of ideophone. On the other hand, in European languages these exclamations are not regarded as words at all. Perhaps this is due to our long tradition of putting things in writing; the written language of course has higher prestige and preferably becomes a little more proper.”

O N T H E OT H E R H A N D however, the Bantu languages basically have only three words for colours – white, black and red – something which always amazes Westerners.

“But most languages actually have very few words for colour, so here it is the Indo-European languages that are diverge from the norm,” explains Laura Downing.

»One summer day in Zomba, Malawi, I was stopped on the street by a man who wondered why I was out walking instead of going by car.« “For instance, instead of ‘green,’ one says that the object resembles grass or leaves.

But even here one can use an ideophone in order to describe that something for instance is really dark.”

To study languages that are not yet described involves rather painstaking fieldwork. For Laura Downing, this has involved countless trips – to Malawi, to Zimbabwe, to South Africa. go like this: my colleagues and I record and make notes concerning individual words, entire sentences and conversations. Often the informants repeat the same thing over and over again several times so that we can transcribe them properly. Then later we carefully listen to the tapes and analyse them.”

Similar with the situation in several other parts of the world, many small African languages are under threat of extinction, such as the 27 Khoisan languages, which

“ T H E FI E LDWO R K ST U D I E S

today together have no more than about 400,000 speakers in total.

“People move to cities and adapt themselves to the life there. The situation is not improved by the fact that former colonial languages have higher status than the local languages. This has a detrimental effect on universal literacy in all African cultures; as is well known, one learns best in their own first language.”

Laura Downing emphasises that actually the meetings with the people in Africa is what is most fascinating.

“Things that are so obvious to us that we do not give any consciously thought about could be precisely what people there see as important. For example, Africans often point out that Europeans are those who have a stove in their home and who drive in car between different places. And that Westerners are perceived as being different also means that I, for example, cannot stand by the roadside and wait for a minibus, which by the way has room for eight people but is often filled with twenty passengers.

The minibus does not stop for me because Africans cannot imagine that a Westerner would want to like to bump along in that way. One summer day in Zomba, Malawi, I was stopped on the street by a man who wondered why I was out walking instead of going by car. ‘White people don’t walk,’ he said.”

B U T WA LK I N G I S something Laura Downing does as often as she can, and over the years she has been able to take quite a number of walks around town. Laura Downing has lived in 21 different cities, most recently before Gothenburg in Berlin, where for 12 years she worked at the Zentrum für Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft/Centre for General Linguistics, and prior to that she has never stayed so long in one place.

Nowadays she lives off Kvilletorget on Hisingen, and she still likes best to bike or walk all the way to the Faculty of Arts.

“Gothenburg is of course much smaller than Berlin, but equally pleasant. There are many opportunities to listen to music here, including at the wonderful concert hall.

And the film festival is fantastic, not least for all the not usually seen movies, including from Africa.”

Have you finished moving around, and will stay in Gothenburg?

“I don’t know just yet, but right now this is my home. I have a whole bunch of things that I really like, but nevertheless I usually get rid of most things when moving, so in fact they really can’t mean so much. In Berlin, I once took a taxi with a driver who told me that he came from Ireland but for some unknown reason he wound up staying in Germany. He said that every family has a wandering star that is restless and can’t stay in the same place for very long. In his family, it was he; and in mine, it’s me.”

TEXT: EVA LUNDGREN PHOTO: JOHAN WINGBORG

Thesis

GUJOURNAL 3 | 2015

Doctoral degrees in Gothenburg and Antwerp That Markus Johansson just obtained his Ph.D. in political science at the University of Gothenburg may not seem as out of the ordinary. However when he defended his dissertation on 24 April, he also received a Ph.D. from the University of Antwerp. ”To engage in doctoral studies at two universities simultaneously is, as far as I know, quite unique.”

IT WA S I N 2 0 1 2 that Markus Johansson spent six months at ACIM – the Antwerp Centre for Institutions and Multi-Level Politics at the University of Antwerp, and at first it was mostly about getting some international experience.

“But my academic supervisor there, Professor Jan Beyers, was interested in my dissertation research and suggested a more formal form of cooperation. And of course I thought that sounded interesting.”

The result was that Markus Johansson enrolled as a doctoral student also at the university in Antwerp. And although he conducted the bulk of his research here in Sweden, he has been in continual contact with colleagues in Belgium during his dissertation work and even conducted interviews for the dissertation during his stays there.

administrative differences between the countries: for example Belgium has a system where students receive credits for various activities, not only for courses. A bit of additional administrative work has therefore been necessary, but so it always is when embarking upon something new.”

One difference is that in Belgium the doctoral advisors are referred to as promotors.

“I think that is nice. I had three promotors; besides Jan Beyers also Daniel Naurin and Martin Sjöstedt at GU.” The dissertation was written in English, but with a summary in Swedish and in Dutch.

But what is the dissertation actually about? It is about the negotiations in the

“THERE ARE SOME

Council of the European Union (or the Council of Ministers), and about its relationship to the internal policies of the Member States.

“In international negotiations, a country can try to derogate from an agreement if they know that it will not be accepted by domestic public opinion. And that the policies which the country adopts should have the support of its citizens is of course important for democratic reasons. But a negotiator who finds it difficult to accept a certain unfavourable decision, with reference to the citizens of his country, finds himself or herself in a very strong negotiating position.”

W IT H I N T H E EU, Member States are however bound by common rules that make it difficult to derogate from an international agreement that has already been entered into.

“I argue that EU negotiators should therefore not be able to threaten to deviate from established agreements simply because there will be protests from public opinion back home.”

Instead of threatening, EU ministers can get what they want via some sort of logrolling.

“They exchange support on various different issues: if you support me in this, I can do the same for you later. The chances of success increases if one represents a larger Member State, or one is working on an issue that requires unanimity.”

A S I M U LTA N EO U S defence of a dissertation at two separate universities in two different countries is something quite unique, remarks Markus Johansson.

“In any case, I haven’t heard of anything similar. But hopefully this will be seen a first step towards increased internationalisation and cooperation across borders.”

TEXT: EVA LUNDGREN PHOTO: JOHAN WINGBORG

MARKUS JOHANSSON NEWS: Recently defended his dissertation on 24 April at the University of Gothenburg and the University of Antwerp: Negotiations as Usual. Putting Domestic Constraints on the Table in the Council of the European Union.

AGE: 30 years old.

FAMILY: Partner Frida.

INTERESTS: Our dogs and renovating a cottage.

9

10

Ongoing thesis

GEORGIA AITAKI AGE: 28 years old.

LIVES IN: Gothenburg.

FAMILY: Mother, father and brother – In Greece.

WORK: Doctoral student at JMG – Department of Journalism, Media and Communication.

PREVIOUS EDUCATION: Bachelor’s degree in Media and Communication Studies from the University of Athens and a MLitt in Film and Television Studies from the School of Culture and Creative Arts at the University of Glasgow.

Georgia also has a second master’s degree in Literary and Cultural Studies from the University of Groningen.

DOCTOR AL RESEARCH UNDERWAY: Working title: Private Television, Publishing Culture, which aims to study Greek TV fiction produced between 1989-2012 and broadcast by private television channels.

GUJOURNAL 3 | 2015

11

Greek tragedy as a TV comedy In the economic crisis in Greece, television jumps in and makes entertainment out of the country’s insolvency. But can the television comedies also help the Greeks to understand and deal with the crisis?

That is something a new dissertation will try to provide some answers to.

H E P O P U L A R C U LT U R E has always been an efficient reflection of society. And here, television fiction with its short, quick format instantly has the ability to pick up new trends and ideas, take the temperature of the times, comment on and perhaps even attempt to explain it.

A current example is the Swedish SVT series Blå ögon - Blue Eyes which deals with the xenophobic Trygghetspartiet (Security Party) which unavoidably gets viewers to relate to today’s political situation in Sweden. Another is the US TV drama series The Wire, that has been praised for providing a realistic picture of life in Baltimore. The programme is a critical commentary about how the social structure collapsed and how society has left the residents in the lurch. Something that has become frighteningly clear during the spring riots in the real Baltimore.

That Greek television also embarks on portraying the situation in Greece is natural. Since the economy crashed altogether sometime around 2010, the situation has been dealt with in a number of television dramas.

“I have lived abroad for many years and my experience with the crisis has entirely been via the news media. In this way, I have a distance from the situation, which has been very useful in my research,” comments doctoral student Georgia Aitaki.

G EO RG I A A ITA K I I S currently studying how issues of economic and social political nature in Greece have been particularly formulated within television fiction there. Her doctoral thesis at the Department of Journalism, Media and Communication (JMG), has the working title Private Television, Public Culture.

Via combining media, television studies and cultural studies, the dissertation will highlight how fictional stories can help citizens understand public issues and additionally study if television fiction also plays an ideological role.

“For me, comedy shows on television are not simply entertainment. They may also have a meaningful content that shows how it is to be a person in a specific time in history and show different ways of how to deal with it,” explains Georgia Aitaki.

Most likely she will study three TV series, produced between 1989 and 2012, in-depth. The starting point is when private television stations emerged in Greece and the end point is the year that established the country as the centre of the crisis in the Eurozone. So far, Georgia Aitaki has mainly worked with the television comedy Returning Home that appeared on the private station Mega Channel for

two seasons after the outbreak of the crisis.

“After the crisis began, the international news media has accused the Greeks of being lazy and corrupt. I wanted to see how the Greeks chose to portray themselves in the form of comedy,” she explains.

To her surprise, Georgia Aitaki found exactly the same stereotypes as was seen in the international press used in Returning Home. that the programme would offer some form of guidance or assistance for people to move on, despite the crisis. But instead, they use only stereotypes, in terms of gender roles, views on homosexuals, and the image of Greeks as lazy and dishonest.”

The title in Returning Home is aimed at the young people who were forced to move back home

“ I H A D E X PEC T E D

The girlfriend Angela begins to control the family, she confiscates their car, cleans out their refrigerator and talks about how the food they buy is far too expensive. When they can not pay back the loan, they are forced to sell their house.

B U T T H E Y TA K E the house back through blackmail, relates Georgia Aitaki.

“The moral of the story is very problematic for me. There is no sense of justice at all; crime is the only thing that pays off.”

Her conclusion is that the various popular TV comedy series reinforces viewers being stuck in their old patterns and encourages a resignation that nothing will ever get better.

“Humour and satire can be problematic as it often plays with stereotypes. Instead of helping viewers to evolve, to move on and solve problems, this series has the opposite function. It pauses the entire society; does not allow people to move on,” she observes.

Why do you think it does this?

“That’s what I’m trying to understand myself.

Perhaps it’s simply due to that relying on stereotypes provides some level of comfort at a time of unrest. Or that Greeks somehow are always been caught between East and West, between the modern and the traditional.”

“We don’t really know what we should be. Are we Europeans? Or we are Greeks? Do we modernise ourselves. Or do we keep our old traditions? Is it at all possible for the two opposites to unite and find some kind of unity?”

Perhaps Georgia Aitaki will find clearer answers in the upcoming TV series she will be studying. Her doctoral fellowship extends for another three years, something she is very happy about, both due to that she very much enjoys being in Gothenburg and as the situation in her home country is still so unstable.

The Greek comedies that Georgia Aitaki has examined are full of stereotypes.

to live with their parents after the economic collapse in the country. In the series, the family finds itself in a situation where it is compelled to ask their son’s girlfriend for a loan. The girlfriend is German and named Angela (a barefaced wink to the real-life German Chancellor, Angela Merkel).

S PE A K I N G O F PR E J U D I C E S and stereotypes, she thinks that the Greeks’ image of Swedes as “attractive but cold” is far from true. Welcoming, considerate and helpful, that’s’ the image of Swedes in her mind.

“Moreover, you are very well organised and of course you must be as the weather makes it so difficult to be spontaneous.”

Being organised is not synonymous with boring, in her view. Especially not when it comes to the government and exercise of public authority, where the Swedish variant beats the Greek version by far “For example, I have very positive experience with dealing with the Swedish Tax Agency,” reports Georgia Aitaki laughing. “I just love the Swedish Tax Agency!”

TEXT: KARIN FREJRUD PHOTO: JOHAN WINGBORG

12

Report

Aristotle lives on “2300 years after his death, Aristotle still feels modern,” explains Ana Maria Mora-Marquez. She is one of several international researchers recruited into the programme Representation and Reality that specifically examines ancient and medieval philosophy.

The programme has received SEK 33 million from the Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation and will run until 2019.

A N A M A R I A M O R A- M A RQ U E Z grew up in the small town of Armenia in the Andes, Colombia. When she was 16, she moved to Bogotá, where she eventually began to study philosophy and mathematics at the private university Universidad de los Andes.

“After receiving my undergraduate degree, I was a mathematics teacher at the secondary and university level for three years, but also the co-founder of the university’s Latin translation group that interprets medieval philosophical texts into Spanish.

In 2004 I moved to Paris, where I received my Ph.D. in 2009.”

PH I LO S O PH Y ST U D I E S vary quite a bit between different countries, explains Ana Maria Mora-Marquez. What attracted her to France was the strong historical tradition there, and that it simply wasn’t possible to study medieval philosophy in Colombia.

“I began my postdoctoral position in 2010 at the University of Copenhagen, and it was from there that I was recruited to the University of Gothenburg in August 2013.”

The programme Representation and Reality has attracted researchers from quite a number of countries, in addition to Colombia, also Denmark, Iran, United States, Greece and Finland.

The idea is that everyone should contribute with their particular spe-

cialty, such as Greek, Arabic or Latin Aristotelianism, or, in the case of Ana Maria Mora-Marquez, Aristotle’s logic and theory of knowledge and how this was regarded in the Middle Ages.

But does Aristotle really have any significance today?

“Yes, I think so. It is important to know where the ideas that created our modern societies originate from. And today, when academic researchers are so specialised that they barely have any decent overview over even their own field of research, it is interesting that philosophers of the past, not the least Aristotle, were able to actively engage in all forms of human knowledge: his writings deal with physics, biology, zoology, metaphysics, logic and poetics, not to mention rhetoric and politics. And his influence on posterity has been enormous. In Europe in the Middle Ages, he was the great philosopher, and an important part of every learned person’s education was to write commentary on his texts.

»The Latin translations have therefore been influenced by the Arab translations, and how this happened is one of many areas which we will study in more detail.«

E V E N I N T H E Arab world, Aristotle has ANA MARIA MORA-MARQUEZ played a major role.

“Several works were actually translated into Arabic during the early Middle Ages, before they even existed in Latin. For example, De Anima and Parva Naturalia could be found in Arabic interpretation with commen-

tary already in the ninth century; the Latin equivalents didn’t arrive until 400 years later. The Latin translations have therefore been influenced by the Arab translations, and how this happened is one of many areas which we will study in more detail during the course of the project.”

A R I STOT LE A L S O H A D a pragmatic approach to his studies that feels surprisingly modern, remarks Ana Maria Mora-Marquez.

“When he, for example, describes language, he is not particularly interested in how a perfect language would look like, but focused instead on language as a means of human communication. Among other things, he makes a detailed analysis of the art of persuasion, points out linguistic ambiguities, and gives advice on how to argue. In De Anima, he writes about psychology, how living creatures, not only humans, perceive reality with all of their senses and discusses what it means to have intellectual knowledge. He believes that dreams come from the experiences that occur during the day and points out that any resemblance to everyday experiences is simply due to chance.

And the idea that the soul is the living body’s form still feels contemporary.”

In general, Ana Maria MoraMarquez thinks that there is great

13

GUJOURNAL 3 | 2015

»Yet the questions that interested ancient and medieval philosophers remain current today.« ANA MARIA MORA-MARQUEZ

value in the study of ancient times’ thoughts and ideas.

“Aristotle is of course still studied within the field of philosophy, but not in an especially systematic manner. It is quite simply difficult to find researchers who know ancient Greek, Latin and Arabic, and who are also philosophically schooled. Yet the questions that interested ancient and medieval philosophers remain current today: What is the meaning of a good act?

What is the importance of language?

What is knowledge?

The Representation and Reality programme has, among other activities, arranged several workshops and two conferences. Several lectures have also been recorded and posted on the programme’s website.

A N A M A R I A M O R A- M A RQ U E Z still lives in Denmark, which means a lot of commuting back and forth.

“I’m in Gothenburg for about one week, once a month; otherwise I spend time with colleagues here via e-mail and Skype. But my partner, who is Danish, and I hope to move here in a few years’ time. I like Scandinavia, except in the winter when I always go home to Colombia.

My home country has so many problems, not least the great social differences where different classes lack much contact with each other.

But after a strong military campaign against FARC guerrillas, the country feels safer than it has in 50 years. It is easier to travel there, which I love to do, the nature is breathtakingly beautiful.”

TEXT: EVA LUNDGREN PHOTO: JOHAN WINGBORG

RE PRE S E NTATION AN D REALIT Y The Representation and Reality programme, based at the Department of Philosophy, Linguistics and Theory of Science, is funded by a SEK 32.7 million grant from the Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation and will run from 2013 to 2019. The project is international and deals with exploring ancient and medieval philosophy with a focus on Aristotle.

A conference is to be held 14-16 June.

The project manager is Christina Thomsen Thörnqvist, Associate Professor of Latin.

For more information: http://representationandreality.gu.se/.

14

In the field

Searching for life on the bottom of deep oceans Four kilometres down in the sea, Thomas Dahlgren is searching for animals.

“So far, we know very little about deep sea ecosystems and wildlife – or how the large multinational corporations’ hunt for valuable metals will impact them. The identification and mapping of biodiversity is therefore vitally important. It is also fantastically exciting to meet these individuals!”

What does the word “field” mean in your research?

“It means the on-site collecting of animals for systematically describing and naming the biodiversity of the deep seas. In the long term, it is to see how those organisms and their environment are affected by the mineral excavation and discharges.

Companies want to access valuable metals, for example copper, nickel and cobalt, which are contained in the polymetallic nodules, a type of clump in which living organisms also live. In order for the exca-

vations, if they actually get underway, to occur without too extensive impact on the environment, we need to know what is living there. I have recently returned from a 42-day long expedition with some thirty international researchers. We were in the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone in the Pacific Ocean, an area 10 times the size of Sweden. San Diego in California was our starting port, and we were out for four days.

We have covered a small part of the area of about 4,000 metres deep. The environment is rich in species of animals that live far apart. The lack of energy means that the animals are small; those I work with are about 0.5-10 millimetres. Often they have beautiful colours, huge eyes and antennae.”

What are your methods and approach, and how do you work with it? What are the shortcomings?

“On the boat, it is to collect, cool down, sort, select, photograph, preserve and bring back to the laboratory, in order to describe DNA and to name species. When we take

»Often they have beautiful­ colours, huge eyes and ­antennae.«

samples, we use a ”seabed surface scraper”.

Sediment grab sampler in order to find out the number of animals per unit area, and a bottom scraper (aquatic dip net) which is towed along the bottom. Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV) which videotape or pick up the bottom segment or Remotely Operated Underwater Vehicles (ROV) with gripper arms are other tools.

We are exceptionally careful when handling the animals in order to obtain as good material as possible. Unfortunately, previously collected materials are in poor condition, which makes it difficult for us when we are faced with species identification, or when we want to compare the find to see if it is a new species. No DNA, no photographs, but only rough drawings also complicates the work. We reckon that most of the approximately 500 species we have found so far were previously unknown.”

How do you prepare for your fieldwork?

“We usually refer to it as an ‘expedition.’

The last trip took us three years to plan, of

GUJOURNAL 3 | 2015

15

»At night it is pitch-black dark, and sometimes we hear just the wind howling and the sea roaring – it can be tough.« THOMAS DAHLGREN JOB: Taxonomist, systematist (classifies organisms), researcher and associate professor in the Department of Biology and Environmental Sciences (soon the Department of Marine Sciences) and researcher at the Uni Research research institute in Bergen.

AGE: 51 years old.

INTERESTS: Likes being out in the woods.

HIDDEN TALENT: Felling trees with a chainsaw. Owner of two Husqvarnas.

AUV = Autonomous Underwater Vehicle, a torpedo-like robot which travels underwater.

ROV = Remotely Operated underwater Vehicle, an underwater robot or remotecontrolled unmanned submarine that can be equipped with various instruments and tools such as cameras, gripping arms and saws.

us a rented refrigerated container so we can arrange to have cold seawater available.

There are often complications in one way or another. As protection for the strong sun, I bought a party tent and, as with all equipment, lashed it down onto the deck. Every day we make up a 24-hour schedule to plan what must be done and by whom. We operate around the clock in twelve-hour shifts.

A life jacket, helmet and steel toes on one’s shoes are absolute requirements in order to avoid injury from unfixed objects such as ropes and cables or heavy objects that can fall, especially when the wind blows. At night it is pitch-black dark, and sometimes we hear just the wind howling and the sea roaring – it can be tough. If there is a storm, we stay inside.”

$50,000 per day, plus the researchers’ salaries, they are conducted on far too few occasions. It is difficult to obtain the money.”

Have there been any social consequences for your research and at home?

How are the expeditions valued within your field?

“I have established new valuable contacts and built networks within my own field, but also, I have learned a lot that is very new to me. On the boat everyone helps out with what has to be done and we become close to each other. My wife also comes along with me as a researcher and therefore this all requires considerable planning at home domestically before an expedition.”

“Field work is something I long for, but while at sea I miss my family, the smells and sounds of being on land. On-board, the smell is mostly diesel oil. You do not see land, nor any other vessels, except possibly a fishing boat.”

“Expeditions are absolutely essential in order to conduct deep-sea research, but as they are exceptionally expensive, around US

TEXT: HELENA SVENSSON PHOTO: JOHAN WINGBORG

PHOTO: ADRIAN GLOWER

which we spent the last six months on the detailed planning. What this also includes is to obtain the permits and permissions required, for instance to transfer animals through different countries. Governmental officials are rarely familiar with the scientific researchers’ needs in terms of transportation. It is also essential to carefully plan what to take with, as the space on the boat is severely limited.”

What difficulties have you encountered?

“One difficulty is the depths. It is time consuming to get an overview and if there are any maps, they are inadequate. At sea, sometimes satellite phones work sporadically, so the contact with land becomes more difficult, but e-mails and twitter accounts are used extensively. For proper handling of the animals, which are brought up from a water temperature of 1–2 degrees Celsius to a surface water temperature of around 28 degrees, cold water must be available. As the ship is not specially equipped or adapted to our activities, we tend to have with

Thomas Dahlgren standing by a remote-controlled underwater robot equipped with cameras, grippers and saws.