About the group.
The research group ESPACE focusses on normative studies of practices in a contemporary and historical perspective.
ESPACE works with approaches that renew the relationship between research, theory, and education. The group focuses on normativity and practices in the areas of interaction between the fields of education, health/social care and faith/view of life in the plural Norwegian society.
Theoretically, normative interpretations of space in the tradition of Michel Foucault and Henri Lefebvre play an important role, but also various ethical variants of phenomenology are central, in addition to other relevant approaches.
In the years 2017-2019, professor emeritus Trygve Wyller led the Nordhost research group. This means that research into migration, ethics and citizenship is clearly present in ESPACE in addition to disability studies, gender and religious pedagogy.
From 2020, the group was led by associate professor Kaia Rønsdal. Her PhD thesis further develops important perspectives on space and ethics. During her postdoc period, she was connected to the research group Nordhost, and during that period she published works on migration and hospitality.
From 2026, the group is led by associate professor Birgitte Lerheim.
The group's members have all completed their dissertations at the Faculty of Theology, or in a close connection through supervision. During the past five years, six of the members have defended dissertations in the catchment area for the group's subject area, three of which have been published internationally.
In 2017 the group published the anthology “Rom og etikk. Fortellinger om ambivalens” (Space and ethics. Narratives of ambivalence). This publication addresses ethics in encounters with humans, strange and familiar. The chapters discuss situations where humanity is at stake, such as encounters with irregularised refugees, street people, new practices for inclusion and equality for disabled people, dementia care, children as next of kin, among other examples. The chapters contribute to concretises what the challenges are and how they can best be met. The book applies to students and researchers in the fields of professional ethics, care, and welfare studies. The contributions enter a universal debate about what is ethically important in the margins of welfare societies, and aims to direct attention toward inclusive, spatial practices.
The group’s second publication “Makt, motmakt og praksis. Bidrag til Kritisk refleksjon innen diakoni og velferd» (Power, counterconduct and practice. Contributions to critical reflections in diaconia and welfare) (2022) has its starting point in Michel Foucault’s creative concept counter conduct. He developed this term late in his life as critical reflection to his famous work on pastoral power. The publication has particular focus on what voices, bodies and practices are expressing the critical counter conduct today, what it is about and where it is rooted.
Activities 2024
The group is working on its third joint publication. This is a further development of the previous ones and will be written in English. The current working title is Phenomenology and Performativity. One purpose of these publications is for the authors to reflect on/from our Nordic situatedness, ourselves, in/from practices and contexts. The chapters will continue and strengthen the phenomenological exploration and emphasis, enriching and complicating ideas about performativity. There is already contact with possible international publishers.
Espace is organizing a book launch on 19th of November to mark two book releases from TF candidates David Stiles-Ocran and Meshack Njinga, both of whom have worked in contact with ESPACE's field and have a professional profile that has played an important role in the development of the projects.
In week 51, 16th to 21st of December, ESPACE is hosting, together with the research group Biblical Cultures and their reception, for The 2024 PhD Winter School in Religion and Theology, with the theme "Embodiment and Positionality". The focus of the winter school is questions, such as: How and why do our embodied, intersectional positions as researchers contribute to both maintaining and challenging research? How does the material we study, for example texts, artefacts, people, or places, shape us, challenge us, or change us? Why and how do these reflections matter? Read more about the research school.
Academic programmes and courses
Spatial aspects and ethics are part of many courses at the Faculty of Theology. One basic course taught in English is «Borderland Religion and Migration” (TFF4007)