Some of the participants from left to right: Anna Berglund, Emelie Gripsborn, Sonja Skurikhina, Karin Mattisson, Fia Sundevall and Felicia Linde Jaeckel. Photo: Viola Müller.

Students from Stockholm University recently attended the academic conference 'Historicising Coercive Social Processes' in Prague, with all expenses covered by the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST). Having recently enrolled in their respective master's programmes, the students were provided with the opportunity to interact with scholars from around the world, and dive into international academic discussions and cutting-edge research within the field of coercion in labour relations across various time periods and geographical locations.

The conference was attended by researchers from different disciplines and it was especially interesting to see historians, sociologists and anthropologists discuss their methods and results and benefit from each other’s research areas. / Anna Berglund

The students come from a range of academic backgrounds, representing three different master’s programmes at Stockholm University:

Master's Programme in Global Political Economy
Master's Programme in International Relations
Master's Programme in Historical Studies, with specialization options in History, Economic History, or History of Ideas

The first two programmes are hosted by the Department of Economic History and International Relations, while the third is offered by the Department of History. The Master Programme in Historical Studies is also conducted in cooperation with the Department of Economic History and International Relations as well as the Department of Culture and Aesthetics.

I have never worked with the concept of coercive work before, but I realized that some of my earlier research, which I conducted in my Bachelor Studies, such as care work and its impacts on gender inequality, has in fact a relation to coercive labour. / Felicia Jäckel

The academic conference was arranged by WORCK (World of Related Coercions in Work, worck.eu) and Fia Sundevall, the Department of Economic History and International Relations’ Master’s Level Director of Studies was one of its organizers.