Diverse & Divergent Approaches to Peace and Gender in the Nordics and Beyond, 1980s to Present

PROGRAMME

9.45 – 10.00 Opening of the workshop and presenting the organizing network

10.00 –11.30 Panel 1: Gender and Peace Quests in Global Conflicts and Conflict Resolution

Rósa Magnúsdóttir (University of Iceland, Iceland): Gendering the Summit: The Nuclear Threat and Transnational Peace Activism around the 1986 Reykjavík Summit

Yulia Gradskova (Södertörn University, Sweden): Feminist approaches to war and militarism through historical and contemporary examples

Annette Lyth (Karlstad University, Sweden): The Grammar of Emergency – Crisis Bias, Gendered Visibility, and Permanent Militarisation

11.30 – 13.00 Lunch (self-funded)

13.00 – 15.00 Panel 2. Gender and Grassroots Peace Activism in Europe

Vilja Myllyviita (Tampere University, Finland): Mobilising Peace Across Divides – Finnish Feminist Participation in the 1987 World Congress of Women in Moscow

Rachel Pierce (KvinnSam, Sweden): Peace photography – Documenting the Swedish women’s peace movement

Sanela Bajramović (Örebro University, Sweden): Mobilizing transnational women’s networks for peace: The case of The Great Peace Journey 1984/5–1988

Hannah Yoken (University of Jyväskylä, Finland): Gender, Peace & the Social Contract: The Positioning and Demands of Naiset rauhan puolesta in 1980s Finland

15.00–15.30 Coffee break

15.30–17.30 Panel 3: Individuals and Organisations Acting for Peace

Irina Gordeeva (Centre for Contemporary History Potsdam, Germany): Soviet-American Citizen Diplomacy as a Cold War Peace-Making Practice – Achievements and Challenges in the Experience of American Peace Activist Gale Warner (1960–1991) ONLINE

Valgerður Pálmadóttir (University of Akureyri, Iceland): Ideas about upbringing towards peace and conflicts regarding peace education in schools during the Cold War in Iceland

Heidi Kurvinen (University of Bergen, Norway): Music, Peace, and Solidarity: Arja Saijonmaa and the Great Peace Concert in Oslo, 1994

17.30–18.00 Final discussion and next steps for future collaboration, followed by an informal get‑together at Kulturhuset’s restaurant (self-funded)

The workshop is organised in collaboration with the University of Bergen and the Gender and Peace in the Nordics network. It will take place in the seminar room of SapienCE, Sydnesplassen 12/13, 4th floor, and online. The workshop is part of a three-part series; the first event was held at the Swedish Labour Movement’s Archives and Library in Huddinge, Sweden, in February 2026.

The Gender and Peace in the Nordics network explores gendered approaches to peace, carried out in the Nordic region from the early Cold War up to the present day. It brings together humanities scholars and social scientists interested in analysing the ways in which established approaches to conflict and security have been refined and challenged via gendered peace activism. More information about the network: https://kvinnsam.ub.gu.se/forskning-och-natverk/natverk/gender-and-peace-in-the-nordics-a-research-network