Oscar Hemer

Per-Markku Ristilammi

Maja Povrzanović Frykman

Conviviality has lately become a catchword not only in academia but also among political activists. This open access book discusses conviviality in relation to the adjoining concepts cosmopolitanism and creolisation. The urgency of todays global predicament is not only an argument for the revival of all three concepts, but also a reason to bring them into dialogue. Ivan Illich envisioned a post-industrial convivial society of 'autonomous individuals and primary groups (Illich 1973), which resembles present-day manifestations of 'convivialism. Paul Gilroy refashioned conviviality as a substitute for cosmopolitanism, denoting an ability to be 'at ease in contexts of diversity (Gilroy 2004). Rather than replacing one concept with the other, the fourteen contributors to this book seek to explore the interconnections - commonalities and differences - between them, suggesting that creolisation is a necessary complement to the already-intertwined concepts of conviviality and cosmopolitanism. Although this volume takes northern Europe as its focus, the contributors take care to put each situation in historical and global contexts in the interests of moving beyond the binary thinking that prevails in terms of methodologies, analytical concepts, and political implementations.

Conviviality at the Crossroads

Jonas Frykman

Some objects stand out as personal and important to us. A packed suitcase, an inherited vase, the remains from a humanitarian aid packet – things can be stored with affects. In Sensitive Objects the authors focus on material culture and on practice – on what affect does. Some of them place the issue of sensitivity in a wider frame of professional interest in innovation and culture-tourism. The volume is a contribution to the upcoming field of ‘affect research’ that has so far has been mainly explored in psychology and cultural studies. In their texts ethnologists and anthropologists involved show how established ways of analysing culture benefit from achievements in this field. They use fieldwork to examine how people project affects onto material objects and explore how objects trigger affect. The editors hope that this book will be read across disciplines, not only to promote the value of ethnographic work, but also to incite further theoretically informed creative empirical approaches to affects and material culture.

Maja Povrzanović Frykman

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