Shults has followed the Ph.D. programme in Social Sciences, with specialisation in Global Development and Planning.
- Trial lecture starts at 10:00
- Public defence starts at 12:00
Title of trial lecture: "Design an empirical project to assess your theories on the nature of solidarity produced by CIGS. Such a project might exploit differences among CIGS, or differences between CIGS and other voluntary action."
Disputation chair:
Morgan Storm Scoville- Simonds
Assessment committee:
- First opponent: Professor Matt Baillie- Smith ved Northumbria University, UK
- Second opponent: Associate professor Alison Youatt Schnable ved Indiana University, US
- Head of committee: Professor Oddgeir Tveiten
Supervisors in the doctoral work:
- Associate Professor Hege Wallevik, IGUS, UiA
- Associate Professor Hanne Haaland, IGUS, UiA
- Professor Odin Lysaker, UiA
Summary
Global Solidarity and the Ethics of Personal Aid
A lack of trust in governments and larger NGOs has increased the appeal of folk engagement in which “ordinary people” address global poverty and humanitarian crises directly by starting their own initiatives. This thesis explores the tension between the extraordinary motivations of these ordinary people alongside the potential for unintended negative effects.
To this end, philosophical perspectives on interrelated aspects of global solidarity are brought into conversation with the concerns of an international research community that has been studying Citizen Initiatives for Global Solidarity (CIGS). By researching CIGS in the contexts of Lesvos, Norway, and Uganda, this analysis details the opportunities offered by global solidarity for projects of self-construction, the development of reflexivity, and the creation of collective, translocal senses of identity.
These opportunities are considered alongside the risks of reproducing neocolonial and neoliberal patterns of affect that emphasize the agencies of outsiders with good intentions at the expense of those most affected by crisis and inequity.
Through operationalizing global solidarity in a CIGS context, problematizing that operationalization, and developing a CIGS-oriented ethics of personal aid, this dissertation offers conceptual clarity and develops new, empirically informed concepts.
How to follow online
The defence is open to the public. To follow the trial lecture and the public defence online, please register on Zoom.
We ask online audience members to join no earlier than 10 minutes in advance. After these times, you can leave and rejoin the meeting at any time.
Opponent ex auditorio:
Deadline for the public to pose questions is during the break between the two opponents. Questions ex auditorio can be submitted to Morgan Storm Scoville- Simonds.