Sustaining, Knowing and Living the Blue - Research Conference - IPL - NTNU
Sustaining, knowing and ‘living’ the Blue? Coastal communities as places to belong across generations
Department of Education and Lifelong Learning, NTNU, and NTNU Oceans welcome abstracts for the interdisciplinary conference Sustaining, knowing and ‘living’ the Blue? Coastal communities as places to belong across generations

Second call for abstracts
This interdisciplinary conference is related to the research project; Valuing the past, sustaining the future. Education, local knowledge and identities across generations in coastal communities at Department of Education and Lifelong Learning, funded by Research Council Norway. The project is conducted by a team of interdisciplinary researchers from five countries and it is part of NTNU Oceans. The overall aim of the conference is to create a dialogue between different disciplines and research traditions related to the marine environment with the wish to provide a critical, renewed and deeper knowledge base about the shifting and dynamic interplay between education (non-formal and formal), society and working life, bridging past-present-future. Children and young people are a particular focus of investigation, but we believe a broad scope, and a contextual and relational perspective is fruitful as a source of knowledge to inform and critically renew policies and practices.
The conference welcomes contributions from different disciplines and fields such as (but not limited to) history, sociology, geography, anthropology, marine sciences, comparative literature, rural studies, gender studies, in addition to education and childhood and youth studies.
The conference concept
The ocean nurtures 80% of life on our planet. Coastal landscapes have been a home for people worldwide for centuries, earning a living in close interaction with the seas. Children were brought up to be of use in closely knitted families and communities, learning essential skills and knowledge from an early age, of key importance for making a living in rugged coastal landscapes. Growing up to be ‘coastal’ or an islander was closely connected to overall moral values of working together for a common good in mutually interdependent communities.
Coastal communities are characterized by being in transition with regard to economies, working life, demography, and social-cultural life. While many coastal communities are facing challenges in relation to depopulation, declining employment opportunities in the fishing sector, and depletion of fish stocks, others are prospering economically due to new ways of using marine resources, such as fish farming production. Rising sea and ocean levels as well as other changes brought about by climate change, pollution and new contested ways of using sea resources to make a living, raise questions of economic, environmental, social and cultural sustainability of coastal communities.
Children and young people are important but often overlooked actors in creating sustainable livelihoods, economies and knowledge in coastal communities for the future. Children’s and young people’s lives and education today are connected to growing up in societies characterized by rapid transition calling into question what it means to be coastal.
Education is seen as key to enter sustainable economies worldwide, as a ticket for individuals to succeed in the labour market, and as a tool to promote life quality. However, the relationship between education and sustainability more broadly beyond economic growth is debated. Moreover, the interconnection between education, work, everyday life, and life quality in coastal communities remains to a large extent unexplored. Historically, children, and young people learnt through work and responsibilities as part of social and economic reproduction of the wider family and community. We witness shifting and competing forms of knowledge, and an increasing valuing of formal education as a key for future (working) life.
Many coastal societies today are characterized by ethnic diversity, creating complex dynamics in relation to inclusion and exclusion. These and other changes have wide ranging implications for present everyday life and future development of inclusive and sustainable societies for present and future generations.
Here, you can download the call as a pdf file.
- Dr. Rachel Donkersloot is an anthropologist with broad policy and research expertise in rural fishing communities across the North Pacific and North Atlantic. Her work concentrates on issues of fishing community sustainability, equity, rural well-being, Alaska Native livelihoods, marine resource governance, and contemporary youth in the Global North, and incorporates and respects diverse forms of data and knowledge that can improve management and decision-making processes. Dr. Donkersloot is strongly committed to collaborative solutions-orientated projects in ethical partnership with Universities, communities, non-profit organisations, Indigenous Tribes, and other civil society organizations across Alaska. Her excellent work has been published and produced widely within and outside the world of academia, including ethnographic filmmaking. She has been invited to present her work to such decision-making bodies as the Alaska State Legislature, North Pacific Fishery Management Council, and the House of Commons Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans. Rachel currently serves as Affiliate Faculty at the College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and was recently appointed by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council to serve on the Local Knowledge, Traditional Knowledge and Subsistence Taskforce. She currently lives in Aniak, Alaska with her family and manages her own research and consulting firm, Coastal Cultures Research.
- Professor Svein Jentoft is a sociologist and a Professor Emeritus at the Norwegian College of Fishery Science, Faculty of Bioscience, Fisheries and Economics, UiT- the Arctic University of Norway. He is current Editor in Chief for Maritime Studies and a co-editor of the Mare book series on Springer. Throughout his career his work has focused on social and political issues related to fisheries and marine affairs, specialising in small-scale fisheries management, law, corporate and interactive governance, environmental resource management and co-management, through socially and culturally informed solutions. He has published widely with over 25 books, numerous book chapters and hi-index articles. His work has had a global impact in multidisciplinary fields pertaining to fisheries, including more holistic approaches to public participation, decentralization, participatory management and comparative research.
- Michael Corbett is a Professor of Education in Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada. His original and critical research focuses on the dynamic and ambivalent relationship between life in rural coastal communities and the structures and processes of schooling. He has worked with rural communities and schools in Australia and Canada as well as doing international comparative work in Norway and Finland. Corbett’s 40-year career as an educationalist began as a public-school educator an Indigenous community in northern Manitoba and in several Atlantic coastal communities in Nova Scotia. This experience has shaped his scholarly focus on the uneven development of modern education systems throughout the world, and particularly in the rural Canadian context. Corbett’s research stands at the intersections of rural outmigration, youth educational decision-making and learner identities. The positioning of rural learner identities is informed by key concepts of space, place and (im)mobilities in his work, and how these local educational processes are shaped by the politics of global educational assessment and standardization. He has published widely with over 200 scholarly contributions including authored and edited books, scholarly articles, reviews, book chapters, reports, conference presentations and invited addresses.
Findings from the 5 countries in the collaborative research project will be presented by key partners in plenum; Spyros Spyrou, Eleni Theodorou, Dympna Devine, Aoife Crummy, Firouz Gaini and Anne Trine Kjørhiolt, in addition to session presentations from participants in the research group.
The anthology Valuing the Past, Sustaining the Future. Exploring Coastal Societies, Childhood(s) and Local Knowledge in Times of Global Transition, edited by Anne Trine Kjørholt, Sharon Bessel, Dympna Devine, Firouz Gaini and Spyros Spyrou will be launched at the conference.
Submission of abstracts:
Abstracts of 250-400 words to be submitted by January 31st, 2023, to the conference secretary Kari Vikhammermo.
Please include author’s name(s), affiliation(s) and contact information
Paper presentation: 20 min excl. discussion
Important dates:
January 31st, 2023: Deadline for submission of paper proposal abstracts
March 6th, 2023: Preliminary programme
April 1st, 2023: Early-bird registration
Streams
It has been argued that; ‘Children living in coastal communities, at the water’s edge, between the sea and the hinterland, have an everyday life with the view of the ocean promising ‘an endless horizon’. Coastal childhoods are shaped by close interaction with the sea and the oceans in everyday life, in communities characterized by rapid transition with regard to economies and working life, livelihood, identity formation and intergenerational relations. While children in the past grew up to ‘be of use’ within interdependent intergenerational communities, it has been argued that children today are brought up to be ‘authentic and unique self’, putting a high pressure on humans, and challenging a sense of community.
This stream focuses on childhoods as these are lived, practiced, experienced and remembered, in close interaction with the sea and the coastal landscapes. Everyday lives, relations between and across generations through time, in various coastal communities will be of interest.
- Growing up to be coastal; relational perspectives and memories of childhood
- Historical and contemporary perspectives on children, gender, family - and community life
- Exploring and dreaming the coast and the seascape through play and leisure
- Exploring the sea and the coast through children’s literature
- Children and young people; Individualization, diverse identities, values and lifestyles
- Learning to care for the sea and nature
- Material culture, emotions and the embodiment of waterborne identities
- Post-Covid era in coastal communities
- Researching coastal childhoods; theoretical perspectives and methodologies
Coastal livelihoods, work and economies changing over time have created new dynamics between ‘traditional’/local forms of knowledge, formal education and scientific knowledge contributing to the formation of a variety of marine epistemologies, often revealing different values and interests among people (gender, ethnicity, age, lifestyle).
This stream focuses on the role of knowledge and education in transition across generations, to shed light on how various forms of knowledge, such as local knowledge, environmental, and indigenous knowledge, have been/are transmitted and transformed from older generations to younger through intergenerational practices, - or neglected and being lost. Provokingly we may ask: Is contemporary formal education valuing individualized, theoretical and abstract knowledge promoting ‘urban lifestyle’ essential to sustain coastal communities? What is ‘blue education’? To what extent are the insights of earlier generations of coastal people still relevant to us?
Different forms of knowledge are closely intertwined with values and particular ways of living also reflected in marine policies and politics. Important questions are how the different forms of knowledge frame the human-ocean relationship in different ways and inform decisions about how to meet future challenges.
- Blue education? Changing working life and the dynamics of various forms of knowledge
- Children and work, contesting contemporary formal education?
- Place-based and intergenerational learning; past, present, future
- Marine epistemologies; competing interests with regard to resources and spaces?
- Indigenous knowledge and cultures; transmission and co-creation across generations
- Sustainable education? Coastal landscapes as places to explore, play and learn from early childhood and beyond (gender, culture and ethnic diversity)
- Youth in coastal communities: gender, occupational aspirations, education, work (im)mobilities
- Learning to leave? ‘Stayers’, ‘movers’ and early school leavers
Social practices as part of livelihoods in coastal and marine environments shape individual and collective well-being. Sense of place and belonging, derived through close interaction with the oceans and the sea environment, has been described as an integral component of well-being and health. Furthermore, being of use, and abilities and feelings of contributing to a wider community is essential to promote well-being among children and young people. There is a close interconnection between cultural vitality, creativity and well-being aimed at socially sustainable blue communities.
This stream welcomes contributions that in different ways engage with questions of how different blue livelihoods are related to health. What are the elements and factors that promote and enable individual and collective health and well-being among children and youth? What is needed in order for ‘blue growth’ to contribute to a more just and equitable distribution of marine resources, and thus well-being among different groups and generations?
- Being ‘new’, feeling included and valuing the blue? Well-being and sense of belonging among migrants (children, youths and adults)
- The coast as home and place to belong or not belong for a diverse population (gender, ethnicity, age)
- Placemaking, identities and belonging in coastal communities across generations and gender
- ‘The bodies in the sea’, and ‘the sea in the bodies’ Nature, the seascape and well-being
- Health, well-being, equity and justice related to different livelihoods and economies
- Coastal identities, values, and cultural knowledge as sources of health and well-being?
- Growing up to be coastal: Intergenerational communities of work as health promotion?
- Being responsible and connected, feeling well? Work as a source of well-being for children
Small-scale fishing is traditionally anchored in and promotes moral values of community thinking, promoted within mutual interdependent and intergenerational communities of work. Fishing has been described as a ‘way of life´, influencing how the community understands and makes sense of the world. Coastal communities are in transition. What new livelihood opportunities are made available in the blue economy, and what are the roles of children and youth in new ways of living blue? Is knowledge, ways of living, skills and values of previous generations, vital for present education, identity and connectedness among generations, as well as for sustainable futures? How can new ways of living and thinking blue further develop community values, solidarity and interconnection between different generations? What do a blue economy and blue growth mean for the diversity of people living on the coast, and for children and young people?
- ‘Blue economies’ in transition. How can new thinking, new ways of using resources and making a living from oceans and the seas, contribute to economic, environmental, social and cultural sustainability?
- Contesting blue economies and blue growth? Tensions, different values and interests
- Preserving, protecting and developing the oceans, the seas and marine environments Challenges to environmental sustainability. Youth engagements
- Promoting inter-and intra-generational justice, cohesion and socially inclusive coastal communities
- Cultural heritage and collective social memories as sources of identities, belonging and cultural sustainability
- Food and meals as a lens to explore coastal communities in transition
- Valuing the past, sustaining the future? The cost of individualization and risk of deskilling of local knowledge with regard to young people’s identity and sense of belonging
Organisers
Hosts:
Department of Education and Lifelong Learning, NTNU
NTNU Oceans
Scientific Committee:
Professor Anne Trine Kjørholt, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, NTNU, Head of Committee.
Professor Sharon Bessell, The Australian National University
Professor Firouz Gaini, University of Faroe Islands
Professor Spyros Spyrou, European University Cyprus
Associate professor Eleni Theodorou, European University Cyprus
Professor Dympna Devine, School of Education, University College Dublin, Ireland
Dr. Aoife Crummy, School of Education, University College Dublin, Ireland
Conference Secretariat:
Senior advisor Anita Oxaas Karlsen
Advisor Kari Vikhammermo
Department of Education and Lifelong Learning
Postboks 8900, Torgarden
NO-7491 Trondheim
Facts, schedule and location:
Submission of abstracts:
Abstracts of 250-400 words to be submitted by January 31st, 2023, to the conference secretary Kari Vikhammermo. Please include author’s name(s), affiliation(s) and contact information Paper presentation: 20 min excl. discussion. The organizers are exploring the possibilities of a peer-reviewed publication following the conference.
Important dates:
January 31st, 2023: Deadline for submission of paper proposal abstracts
March 6th, 2023: The program for the conference is announced. Conference registration opens.
April 15th, 2023: Closing of conference registration.
Conference Dates and Location:
The conference will take place in Trondheim June 15-16th, 2023 at Britannia Hotel.
Conference fee includes lunch both days.
Registration; ‘Early Bird’ by April 1st, 2023: 200 Euro
Registration after March 1st April 2023: 250 Euro
Student fee: 80 Euro
Conference Dinner: 1055 NOK (approx. 105 Euro)
Programme
The preliminary conference programme is now announced.
Pre-excursion/fieldtrip:
June 14th, 2023 - a field trip to the archipelago outside Trondheim will be arranged for early arriving participants. More information and fee will be announced.
Accomodation:
Britannia Hotel: 1895 NOK conference offer (approx. 190 Euro)
Nidaros pilegrimsgård: 890-1290 NOK (approx. 89-129 Euro)
Research project organization
Project description
Valuing the past, sustaining the future
Children and young people represent the key to create sustainable coastal communities in the future. The pilot programme on Norway as a sea nation: Coastal communities, generation, sustainability, aims at establishing a deeper knowledge base of the dynamic interplay between coastal communities in transition, knowledge production, identities and working life. Childhood and intergenerational relations represent a particular focus of investigation.
Across generations and five countries, the programme explores work, every day life and knowledge among children and their families, with a particular focus on how informal learning and local knowledge are experienced, transmitted, shared and practiced by children of diverse ethnic origins. Innovative models and practices will be developed for intergenerational and intercultural transmission of knowledge in schools and communities, in collaboration with local communities and businesses.
The research is innovative by applying a comparative and multigenerational methodological approach, aimed at in-depth understanding. Case studies will be conducted with young people who have a higher drop-out tendency, including vocational, migrant and indigenous students in addition to ethnic Norwegian students in general studies. Biographical approach will be employed, exploring narratives of education, knowledge and work among youth (15-18 years), their parents and grandparents.
- Beyer Broch, H. (2022). Identity and life quality: Shaping one's place on a small island in a fishing community. Children's Geographies, (ahead-of-print), 1-12.
- Bessell, S. (2021). Childhood and belonging over time: Narratives of identity across generations on tasmania's east coast. Children's Geographies (ahead-of-print), 1-15.
- Crummy, A., & Devine, D. (2021). Childhood(s) through time: An intergenerational lens on flexible narratives of childhood in irish coastal communities. Children's Geographies, (ahead-of-print), 1-16.
- Eliassen, Knut Ove; Meiner, Carsten; Messelt, Christopher. (2020) Stranden - forord. K&K: kultur og klasse. vol. 48 (130).
- Gaini, F., & Sleire, K. (2022). The wave cannot catch me: Children, place and local knowledge in the Faroe islands. Children's Geographies, (ahead-of-print), 1-12.
- Hjorthen, Sofie L., Sund, Erik, Kjørholt A.T., Engevold, M.H., Krokstad, S. (2021) Public health in restructuring coastal communities: Generational trends in self-rated health following the decline in small-scale fishing. The HUNT study, Norway. Journal of Rural Studies 88, 307–316.
- Kjørholt, A.T. (Ed.), Bessel, S., Devine, D., Gaini, F., Spyrou, S. (forthcoming 2022) Valuing the Past, Sustaining the Future? Exploring Coastal Societies, Childhood(s) and Local Knowledge in Times of Global Transition. Anthology. Springer Mare Publication Series
- Kjørholt, A. T., & Bunting, M. (2021) Places to belong? narrating childhood(s) and the coast as a home across three generations in a community of islands. Children's Geographies, (ahead-of-print), 1-15.
- Kjørholt, A.T., Devine, D., Spyrou, S., Bessell, S., Gaini, F. (forthcoming, 2023). Changing Childhoods in Coastal Communities. Children's Geographies.
- Maharja, C., Praptiwi, R. A., Richter, I., Crummy, A., Devine, D., Gajardo, L. J., Thu Ha, N., Johari, S., Justine, E. V., Kjørholt, A. T., Thao, L. N., Wulandari, P. (forthcoming, 2023). The People of The Seas and the Seas of the People. In Maharja, C., Praptiwi, R. A., Richter, I., (Eds.). Oceans and Human Health. Elsevier.
- Messelt, Christopher (2022) Båten, fiske, fyret, naustet, stranden. Fem topos fra den norske kystromanen. Norsk litteraturvitenskapelig tidsskrift. vol. 25 (1).
- Messelt, Christopher (2020) Den norske litterære stranden. K&K: kultur og klasse. vol. 48 (130).
- Spyrou, S., Theodorou, E., & Stylianidou, N. (2021). Fishy childhoods in space and time: Intergenerational continuities and changes. Children's Geographies, (ahead-of-print), 1-13.
- Professor and Director of Children's Policy Centre, Sharon Bessell, Australian National University.
- Professor Dympna Devine, Director of School of Education, University College Dublin.
- Professor and Director of the Center for the Study of Childhood and adolescence, Spyros Spyrou, European University Cyprus
- Professor Firouz Gaini, University of Faroe Islands
- Professor Anne Trine Kjørholt, Norwegian Centre for Child Research, NTNU
The members of the management team also act as a core research team. They are responsible for joint development of the project according to the aims and planned activities, besides being Principal Investigators for case studies in their respective countries.
- Professor Nina Volckmar, Department of Education and Lifelong Learning (IPL), NTNU
- Professor and head of department Mette Bunting, University College of Southeast Norway
- Associate professor Eleni Theodorou, European University Cyprus
- Professor Emeritus Harald Beyer Broch, University of Oslo
- Dr. Aoife Crummy, University College Dublin
- Dr. Aoife Crummy (2022) A sea of change: Intergenerational perspectives on transitions of learning, identity and belonging in small Irish coastal communities. Doctoral thesis, University College Dublin, School of Education
- PhD candidate Miriam Hjeldsbakken Engevold, Department of Health Sciences Gjøvik, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. PhD project Experiences of health and wellbeing across three generations in a costal and a inland rural community.
- PhD candidate Sofie Lauvås Hjorthen. Department of Public Health and Nursing, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, NTNU. PhD project Health in coastal communities: Generational and social inequalities in health during times of societal restructuring. The HUNT Study, Norway.
- PhD ccandidate Tobias Johansson, Department of education and lifelong learning, Faculty of Social and Educational Sciences, NTNU. PhD Project Intergenerational and place-based pedagogical models in Norwegian coastal communities.
- PhD candidate Christopher Messelt, Section for Comparative Literature, Department of Language and Literature, Faculty of Humanities. PhD Project Båten, fiske, fyret, naustet, stranden. Fem topos fra den norske kystromanen.
- PhD candidate Inger T. Pedersen, Department of education and lifelong learning, Faculty of Social and Educational Sciences, NTNU. PhD Project Life stories about everyday life, local knowledge and identity in three generations in a coastal Sami community.
- Mphil Malin Arnesen Nilsen (2022) Childhood and 'Island Living'. Narratives of Everyday Life and Belonging across Generations in a Small Island. Master's thesis. Department of Educational and Lifelong Learning, Faculty of Social and Educational Sciences, NTNU.
- Professor Emerita Allison James, Childhood Studies, University of Sheffield.
- Professor Emeritus David Buckingham, Media Studies, University of London.
- Professor Emerita Ellen Schrumpf, Childhood history, University College of Southeast Norway.
- Professor Emerita An-Magritt Jensen, Demography, Department of Sociology and Political Science, NTNU.
Annual meeting with MT to act as a critical friend and expert in all work packages.
Consultancy group and partners
National consultancy group
Key contacts to educational and business sector in coastal communities:
Collaborative partners
- NTNU University Museum, Head of Section Randi Wenche Haugen.
Experts on drop-out research
- Associate Professor Geir Moshuus
- Professor Mette Bunting, University College of South-Easter Norway.
Education, knowledge and identity across three generations in coastal communities
Education is seen as a key to ensure sustainable economies worldwide, as a ticket for individuals to succeed in the labor market, and a tool to promote life quality. This project addresses education, knowledge and identity formation among children across three generations (as perceived by youth, parents and grandparents) of diverse ethnic backgrounds in coastal communities in five countries (Norway, Australia, Cyprus, The Faroe Islands and Ireland). It involves basic research with the expected impact of providing a deeper knowledge base about the shifting and dynamic interplay between education (non-formal/formal), society and working life, bridging past-present-future.
High drop-out rates may indicate that some children and youth see formal education and schooling as irrelevant for future working life. During the last decades schools have gradually become more theoretical and adapted to the national job market at the expense of local knowledge transferred within communities. One consequence of disconnecting local knowledge from formal education is that students may fail to see the relevance of what they are learning. The point of departure for this project is that education is contextual and dynamic, conceptualized in a broad sense, including informal learning, life skills and local knowledge derived through everyday social practices. Furthermore, learning processes are intimately connected to social relations, identity formation and perceptions of social value and belonging.
The aims and scope of this project call for an interdisciplinary approach, mobilising a wide range of national and international experts. The project utilizes a comparative qualitative methodology, conducting interviews and doing fieldwork across three generations, supplemented with applied research, providing a basis of new empirical knowledge to contribute to evidence informed policy and action
Valuing the past, sustaining the future is a research umbrella funded by the Research Council of Norway (2016-2023), 1.2 million Euro.
Valuing the past, sustaining the future is part of the research project Norway as a sea nation. Coastal communities, generations, sustainability, a part of the NTNU Oceans, one of four strategic research areas 2014-2023.
Blog entry
Havlandet Norge (in Norwegian)
Anne Trine Kjørholt, professor of child research
Conferences and seminars
Events
In media
Frøya.no: Stort internasjonalt prosjekt til Frøya