By Kristine Frahm
Professor MSO (professor with special assignments) Henrik Kaare Nielsen has his office on the 3rd floor in the main building of Kasernen (The Barrack), home of The Aesthetic Studies at Aarhus University. Aside from his work as a researcher and a teacher at the Section for Aesthetics and Culture, he is also the coordinator of CESAUs research group Culture and Society. CESAU went up the stairs and met him at his office to learn about his and the research group's interdisciplinary take on sociology.
CESAU: How do you work with sociology in the research group Culture and Society?
Henrik Kaare Nielsen (HKN): When it comes to culture and society, the field of sociology deals with interpersonal constitution of meaning and interpersonal relations, that is social interaction and the meanings we associate with it.
In the research group we let the interests and the needs of its members be the casting vote. At our first group meeting I opened with a presentation called ”What is critical sociology?”. Here I sketched out my take on the field and got both positive and critical feedback from the other group members.
At the meetings other members of the group have presented works in progress. For example, Anna Marit Waade, professor at The Department of Media Studies, works with Scandinavian detective novels in the context of images and critiques of society represented in authorships such as the one of Henning Mankell (Swedish writer, ed.).
CESAU: What will happen on your next meeting scheduled for April 13th?
HKN: Ejvind Hansen, head of reasearch in the field of journalistic philosophy at The Danish School of Media and Journalism, opens with a 30-60 minute presentation on mobile media and public, followed by a free discussion for an hour to an hour and a half.
CESAU had a chat with the aforementioned speaker Ejvind Hansen on his upcoming presentation and his interest in the research group Culture and Society
In the paper that will form the basis of Ejvind Hansens presentation, he makes a historical account of the democratic public, from the oral to the written, and further on to the public of mass media, the emergence of the internet and finally the public of mobile media.
”With the internet people talked about two separate spheres: a public one on the internet and a public one in the real world. With mobile media the separation of the public into a physical and a virtual one is not that obvious anymore,” Ejvind Hansen notes.
The members of Culture and Society can hear more about this on April 13th. And Ejvind Hansen is looking forward to sharing his knowledge with like-minded people.
”I have the need to keep my philosophy sharp by participating in more geeky environments of research”, he tells us with a twinkle in his eye.
Ejvind Hansen has a background as a philosopher at Aarhus University, and it is this background, that gives ham an edge and a uniqueness amongst the other researchers at The School of Journalism. And it does take som geekiness to maintain the edge of the research group.
The research group Culture and Society is a composite crowd. Law, Political Science, Musicology, Aesthetics and Culture, Media Studies and Journalism are only some of the subjects represented in the group.
CESAU: What will an aesthete gain from meeting with someone from The School of Journalism or Political Science?
HKN: The starting point is, we're all interested in the correlation and interplay between culture and society in one way or another. It is always interesting to hear how other researchers approach the questions in that field.
One can hope that some common interests will develop along the way, exceeding the initial interest of: ”What do you do?”. Provided this happens, we envision making a publication, a seminar, a big conference, or something similar together. It might also be that 3 people start to develop a common interest. And then it might happen – without this beeing tragical – that the group divides so that you get smaller and more homogenous research groups. But initially all this is music of the future.
CESAU: What is your motivation for being coordinator of the group?
HKN: I think CESAU is a really good initiative, and I want to support that. I want to be a part of starting it up in ways that will interest my colleagues here at The Aesthetical Studies, and of course also in greater circles.
CESAU: What is the topic of your research at the moment?
HKN: I am doing a project on tendencies of aestheticization in society generally. More specifically how this tendency is making its mark in the field of politics, along with the consequences this might have on the culture of democracy.
The project is sociological in that I look into how the shapes of everyday life, including the shape of social interaction, are becoming increasingly more profiled as shapes. Still greater parts of our everyday lives appeal to our senses and emotions. This is what the notion of aestheticization means. Our physical sorroundings have always been shaped, but in the present it becomes ever more intrusive as shape.
When it comes to politics, the notion of aestheticization touches on the whole question of how politics should represent themselves in the media.
During last summer we had a big fuss about Helle Thorning-Schmidt's tax-evasion case and Lene Espersen's travelling. What stood out in the public as the heart of matter was how the politicians handled their cases in terms of shape. In this way politics becomes increasingly performance. How one behaves becomes more determining than political substance, or lack thereof.
CESAU: Is this something you intend to present in the CESAU research group?
HKN: Yes, definitely. Without a doubt.
CESAU: What can we expect from the research group Culture and Society, if we wish to participate?
HKN: You can expect a vivid and debating forum. If you feel like it, you can present your own ideas and projects, and in this way be a factor in developing the group in the direction of whatever it becomes. You can influence the group's decision on whether to host a seminar, make a publication together, or maybe apply for funding for a more ambitious project.
