no 5 | october 2013
n o 7 | ndre c2 e| mabperri l22001 132
At home in two countries Marcia Grimes – from a small town in the US to a large city in Sweden Inequality in research
Plans for new centre
Letter to the editor
Men are published most
Humanities and arts in one place
Many threats to academic freedom
page 4
page 6
page 15
UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG
2
Vice Chancellor
A magazine for employees of the Universit y of Gothenburg
The University makes our knowledge city stronger
december 2013 E d i to r - i n C h i e f a n d P u b l i s h e r
Allan Eriksson 031 - 786 10 21 allan.eriksson@gu.se E d i to r a n d V ic e P u b l i s h e r
Eva Lundgren 031 - 786 10 81 eva.lundgren@gu.se P h oto g r a p h y a n d R e p r o d u c t i o n
of the University to help in the development of Gothenburg, the knowledge city? There can be different opinions. If you ask me, I say it’s obvious. It would be strange if the University, whose greatest task is to create and spread knowledge, didn’t take that responsibility – especially since many of our students give Gothenburg as one of the reasons why they chose GU. A competitive Gothenburg promotes the University in the same way that a strong university is good for the city. A timely example of how the University can contribute to the city’s attractiveness is our plans for the area around Näckrosdammen. There we want to gather the Faculties of the Fine, Applied and Performing Arts and the Humanities and the University library. With that, we also lay the groundwork for a knowledge park for the arts, humanities and culture, Park for Humanities and Arts. The common proposal that the University of Gothenburg recently presented together with the real estate office Göteborgs Stad, Higab and Akademiska Hus also plans for business, housing and tourism in the area. There has been a great deal of interest in the proposal, and some emotion as well.
Johan Wingborg 031 - 786 29 29 johan.wingborg@gu.se
I s it t h e ro le
B e h i n d o u r pl a n s for Näckrosdammen are primarily of course the needs of these activities. But I also see a fantastic opportunity here to raise the significance of the arts and humanities. In our growth-oriented development of society, which doesn’t apply only to Sweden, the greatest focus has long been on the natural sciences, technology and economics. The areas of the humanities and arts have had a more modest role and their importance for sustainable social development has largely been ignored. Another large and strategically important project that has been started has to do with the University’s future activities in and around Medicinareberg, the Vision 2020 – Medicinareberg project. This includes Sahlgrenska Academy together with the Science and Social Science Faculties. With our own vision as a starting point, the results of that now ongoing work will lay the foundation for further cooperation with the city, the region and external actors nationally and internationally. Cooperation with Chalmers is important in our work to strengthen Gothenburg as a knowledge city. But our cooperation, which has become considerably stronger lately,
G r a p h ic F o r m a n d L ayo u t
Anders Eurén 031 - 786 43 81 anders.euren@gu.se
T r a s l at i o n
Janet Vesterlund address
GU Journal University of Gothenburg Box 100, 405 30 Gothenburg Foto: Johan Wingborg
e-post
gu-journalen@gu.se
also touches upon issues on a national and an international level. One of them has to do with research infrastructure. In the research proposition that was issued in 2008, it was stated that universities must take greater responsibility for investing in the research infrastructure. The Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, which was earlier an important financer of infrastructure, has decided to no longer make investments of this type. At the same time, Sweden has started important investments in research infrastructure. To date, Vetenskapsrådet has distributed means for infrastructure of national significance, a new example being SciLifeLab in Stockholm and Uppsala. Forms for the distribution of resources in the future are being considered now. Ag a i n st t h at background, the University of Gothenburg and Chalmers have decided to take a common grip on the management, guidance and financing of the future research infrastructure. For example, who has the long-term responsibility and can there be a risk that the large federal infrastructure investments will lead to less opportunity for other initiatives in infrastructure? These were a couple of the questions that were discussed on December 16 at an open seminar that has provoked much national interest. Finally, I want to thank you all for your good efforts and great enthusiasm in the change work that has characterized our university during 2013. Have a pleasant Christmas and a wonderful New Year!
Pam Fredman
internet
www.gu-journalen.gu.se I SSN
1402-9626 Editions
5900 issues
7 issues/year The next issue will come out in mid-February 2014 Deadline for manuscripts
January 24, 2014 M at e r i a l
The Journal does not take responsibility for unsolicited material. The editorial office is responsible for unsigned material. Feel free to quote, but give your source. C ov e r
Marcia Grimes, Associate Professor of Political Science Photography: Johan Wingborg
Reg.nr: 3750M
Reg.nr: S-000256
Contents
GUJOURNAL 7 | 2013
10 From the Vice-chancellor
2 The city’s development is also our responsibility! news
4 Male networks injure female competence. 6 A globally unique effort, according to Pam Fredman.
12
7 Collecting the arts in one place is a fantastic opportunity, says Ingrid Elam.
Fights corruption
8 Kerstin Johannesson proposes all marine research to be gathered at one centre.
Global meetings
9 Green tips from the dietician responsible for Sweden’s best dietician program.
One of the world’s worst problems, according to Marcia Grimes.
Highlights from this year’s Global Week.
10 Success for Global Week. profile
12 Corruption damages societies in their foundations, says Marcia Grimes.
16
debate
15 Marie Demker gives suggestions for new ways to improve women’s conditions in research. report
16 GOArt organs in an American competition.
GU in US competition GOArt’s last organs are now in the USA. photo: © Cornell Univer sit y Photogr aphy photo: Malin Arnesson
7
New centre at Näckrosen A unique project will collect the humanities and the arts in one place.
Marine profile
8
Important for the whole University, says Kerstin Johannesson.
Editorial office: Threats to our freedom of speech N e w p u b lic management threatens academic freedom. That is what Jens Stilhoff Sörensen at the Department of global studies writes in a letter to the editor in this issue of GU Journal. And some of the examples he lines up are rather alarming: for instance the strange case of Professor Ulfur Arnason at Lund University, who was thrown out after criticizing cutbacks in his subject, Biology. And at the University of Gävle, the vice-chancellor has tried to restrict employees’ freedom of speech.
In another letter political scientist Marie Demker discusses how research problems can be formulated in cooperation with the general public. This could also increase women’s possibilities to receive more funding, suggests Marie Demker. B ec au s e to day women are disadvantaged when it comes to both funding and publishing. In an article in this issue we present a report from the University library that shows that men have bigger networks than women
and therefore publish more often. According to Pro-Vice-Chancellor Helena Lindholm Schulz we have a norm and evaluation system that often benefits men. T wo n e w c e n t r e s are being discussed at the University. The purpose of one of them is to collect humanities and art into one campus, Näckrosen. This would mean a unique possibility for the whole city, says ViceChancellor Pam Fredman. The other centre is proposed by
Kerstin Johannesson, Professor of Marine Ecology. She suggests that all marine research, weather in natural or social sciences or in medicine, is united in a cross-faculty centre. We hope you enjoy this issue. Keep contacting us! A very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
3
4
News
Norms benefit male rese It isn’t only that men publish more than women. They also have larger networks, which in turn gives them higher impact. The differences are biggest at Sahlgrenska Academy and the Faculty of Science, according to a new report about gender and scientific publications. “ I ’ m n ot s u r pr i s e d. The investigation confirms the picture we have,” says Pro-Vice-Chancellor Helena Lindholm Schulz, who ordered the investigation from the University library’s Digital Services. A problem that goes together with publishing is that women are disfavoured in the fight over the big grants. This becomes particularly clear when calls are made for excellent researchers; few applications that apply to women come in to Vetenskapsrådet and other financers, Helen Lindholm Schulz says. “Vetenskaprådet has started to examine this is in a very open way, which is positive. The Government’s goal to have more female professors has also been a
catalyser for intensified work on equality at schools.” The goal at GU is for at least 40 percent of all newly recruited professors to be women during the period 2012–2015. “These efforts will be evaluated so that it doesn’t turn out to be a one effort thing. But it isn’t enough to achieve equality only among professors. We have to make sure that the distribution of resources is also more equal.” S h e p o i n t s o u t that the report Jämställda fakulteter? (Equal Faculties?), which came last year, puts its finger on an important question, namely that the norm and evaluation system often benefits men. The Work Environment
Barometer also confirms the picture of women experiencing that they don’t have the same conditions and possibilities as men, and this pattern becomes stronger the longer that women have worked. “ W e n e e d to dig deeper into the question and get more knowledge. Why is it that young, talented women don’t publish as much as men? Aren’t the things that women do in academics valued as highly? Are there any differences between men and women in the part of the faculty grant that’s distributed on the grounds of performance?” Helena Lindholm Schulz thinks that the causes are complex and structural. A conceivable explanation is that women in the age between 30 and 40 years both have children and pursue their career. “Women still have the primary responsibility for home and
Helena Lindholm Schulz, Pro-Vice-Chancellor
Annette Granéli, researcher
family. A research career isn’t so simple to combine with the years when children are small.” But according to Helena Lindholm Schulz it’s high time to act. “We can’t sit and wait. We know enough already to take action. At the same time, it takes time to influence norms and values. For me, it’s very much a managerial question.” Another trend is today’s focus
GUJOURNAL 7 | 2013
5
»Research is weakened by poor equality. Strong equality leads to strong research.« Annette Granéli
research that’s behind women not having the time to publish,” says Susanne Baden. Marie Demker, Pro-dean at the Faculty of Social Sciences, thinks that the results are a bad sign. “These are questions that researchers often discuss. Many of us are worried about the lack of diversity in the future if we so clearly focus on publishing. I recognize men having bigger networks from my time as equality representative at the beginning of the 1990s.” Physics researcher Annette Granélli, a member of Sweden’s Young Academy, says that the basic problem is that women and men do not have the same conditions.
Illustr ation: Kicki Edgren Nyborg
archers on bibliometry and publications, which is often the only thing that counts when researchers seek external grants. “We’re captured in a system,” says Helena Lindholm Schulz. “At the same time, it’s positive to publish internationally, even if we also have to be careful of the act of writing slowly, the deep management of a problem, writing books and monographies.” D e s pit e t h i s , Helena Lindholm Schulz thinks that equality has gotten stronger in recent years. “A sign of change is that there are now more female vicechancellors than ever before.” Why is it that women don’t publish as much as men? The Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences wants to find out, and a pilot study was done in the spring on the degree of publication among younger researchers who had earned their doctorates in the age category up
to 44 years. There was no large difference among the professors, but young men published 3.5 times more articles than women during the period 2008–2012. “Dear lord! That’s unbelievable. How can that be? Now we hope that the questionnaire will give us an answer to why it’s so imbalanced,” says Professor Susanne Baden, who together with Head of Department Ingela Dahllöf is a leader of the equal treatment group. A s a r e s u lt o f this study, a questionnaire investigation is being done now at four departments. At the Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, about 70 of over 100 researchers with PhDs have answered the questions. “That’s a very good response rate. We want to find out for instance how large networks researchers have, how many interruptions there are during the career or if it’s other work than
“ T h e y d o n ’ t h av e the same support, not the same networks, not the same research resources. That’s the reason why men, to no one’s surprise, often have greater research success. Women have non-events to a great extent, where they don’t get cited, don’t get support, don’t get listened to, don’t get considered, aren’t invited to networks or conferences and aren’t included. Each individual event can’t be called a
discrimination but altogether they make women’s merit opportunities worse. These non-events can be decisive early in a career.” She feels that an important part of the solution is to view and manage this difference like a quality problem and not directly as an equality problem. weakened by poor equality. Strong equality leads to strong research,” says Annette Granéli, who suggests broadly announced positions for younger researchers, transparent evaluations and employment according to the tenure track model. Another suggestion is a starting appropriation that is financed with a base appropriation. “That way, women and men get equal possibilities to gain merits, publish, pull in large grants and achieve breakthroughs, and then we’d be able to break the negative spiral of network dependence and nepotism that leads to immobile researchers, regimentation and unequal research environments.”
“ R e s e a rc h i s
text: allan eriksson photo: Johan Wingborg
facts The Genus, produktivitet och samarbete (Gender, productivity and cooperation) report was compiled by bibliometrician Bo Jarneving at the University library’s Digital Services. In this report he investigated how many men and women publish and are cited and how big their research cooperation is. Nearly 40 000 articles in GUP, the bibliographic database at GU (during the period 2004–2012), were run together with personal information. The results show that men publish somewhat more than women, but the differences are big primarily when studying the period of “continuous research activity”. Men then have a somewhat higher mean value. This is valid for GU as a whole, but if the results are broken down to the faculty level, the differences are bigger in certain areas. In the natural sciences, the mean value for men is twice as high as for women. Especially at Sahlgrenska Academy and the Social Science Faculty, men publish more than women. The only exception is the School of Business, Economics and Law, where women publish more.
How is research cooperation? The report shows that women and men participate in cooperative projects of about the same size, reflected in the number of authors. The trend over time is clear: since 2004, research cooperation has increased the whole time but men publish more and have larger networks, just because they are more active. Bo Jarneving also investigated the number of citations and the measure that is usually called impact. Here, citation data from Web of Science were used, which primarily measures publications in the natural sciences and medicine. During the period 2006–2012, men had a mean value of 1.17 and women a mean value of 1.04. “At both Sahlgrenska Academy and the Science Faculty there are considerable gender differences. Men tend to generate higher impact than women. The results are harder to interpret for the other faculties because of a smaller data base,” says Bo Jarneving, who thinks that one should be careful about drawing too large conclusions from the report’s results.
6
News
”A proposal that will lift arts and the humanities” Pam Fredman about the plans for a cohesive campus
Performing Arts reviewed the organisation, ideas came about collecting all artistic activities at Artisten, the University library and Humanisten. A pre-study was done in the spring of 2011 by Akademiska Hus. The knowledge park for the arts, the humanities and culture is said to be unique. But how unique is it actually? “After having made an analysis we came to the conclusion that there isn’t anything equivalent to this in the world,” says Agneta Olsson. “Gathering the arts and the humanities to what there is already in the geographical area, and to all the cultural institutions around Korsvägen and Götaplatsen, is unique. Now we want to refine and develop it even more.”
Gothenburg city architect Björn Siesjö and University Vice-chancellor Pam Fredman at a press conference on November 26 when they described plans to gather the arts, culture and the humanities at Campus Näckrosen.
A unique mobilisation for the arts, the humanities and culture – those are the words that describe project Campus Näckrosen. T h e co r e o f Campus Näckrosen is that GU gathers its art and humanities faculties, together with a new University library building, in the area around Näckrosdammen. The proposal was presented on November 26, first at a press conference and later in the day to the public at Vasaparken. “It’s fantastic that we can now present a proposal for how it can be, even if it’s only a concept sketch as yet. But we’re not the ones who build the buildings – we’re the ones filling them with contents,” says Vicechancellor Pam Fredman. The project leader Agneta Olsson, earlier the head of the University library, explains that the original thoughts about Campus Näckrosen were formed in the spring of 2011. “When the Faculty of Fine, Applied and
»Our diversity is our great strength, and if we can lift both the humanities and the arts, GU will be even stronger.« Pam fredman
Fo r Pa m Fr e d m a n , the vision is to build a knowledge park for the arts, the humanities and culture. “With this initiative we lift the importance of the humanities and the arts in society. It isn’t just an effort for students and researchers but an effort to bring together the public and the University. I’m sure that this will strengthen Gothenburg as a culture and knowledge city and increase the attraction of the University.” Pam Fredman says that focusing on the arts and humanities isn’t actually anything new. “The arts and the humanities have always been areas in the University. Today the University of Gothenburg has great diversity. I think it’s important that we bring forward topics that otherwise don’t get very many resources for education and research. Our diversity is our great strength, and if we can lift both the humanities and the arts, GU will be even stronger.” T h e n e x t st e p is now for Akademiska Hus to submit a blueprint to the city planning office. “Then the city, politicians and the public have to say what they think,” says Agneta Olsson. “At GU we have to work now to get as good activities as possible in the buildings. If we can get a really good concept, things will happen in the area which will make it into a tourist magnet.” The hope is that everything will be completed for Gothenburg’s 400 year anniversary in 2021.
Project leader Agneta Olsson.
Text: Allan Eriksson Photo: Johan Wingborg
News
GUJOURNAL 7 | 2013
7
sketch: cl audius pr zedmojski
The first sketch of the area.
We have to plan for the future, says Dean Ingrid Elam.
We can’t let costs soar Gathering all the arts in the same place is a unique opportunity and the best way to equip ourselves for the future, according to Dean Ingrid Elam. But she’s worried about costs. “It mustn’t be more expensive than it is today. I’m completely adamant on that point.” W h e n I n g r i d E l a m became Dean in September last year, she took over the Campus Näckrosen project. “There had already been plans when I cam here. But I became enthusiastic as soon as I got involved in the project. It sounded very exciting. I have good experience myself of gathering activities that should be connected but that aren’t. Something happens when things are gathered geographically.” Ingrid Elam was first worried that the project would take a very long time.
“But I don’t think so any more. We have to plan for the future. What will our artistic education programs be like in ten years? We don’t know anything about the future and how the arts will develop.” Today the Faculty of Fine, Applied and Performing Arts is spread out over four locations: Akademin Valand, Artisten, the School of Design and Crafts (HDK) and the film program. The plan is to gather all these activities around Näckrosen, where Artisten already is. The concept sketch as it is today is to empty the University library and create an open first floor with glass walls. The departments will have their own spaces on the other floors. But the redevelopment of the library must not lead to increases in leasing costs. The estimated total needs are 20 000 square meters, which is less than today. “New construction always costs more than you think, but the library isn’t just
a fun idea but also a cheaper solution. There have to be reasonable calculations. There will be somewhat less floor space than we have today, but the current premises are far from being appropriate for their activities. We now have to pay for all the big staircases and unnecessarily large rooms,” says Ingrid Elam, who also points out that the lovely buildings that currently house activities are closed to the people of Gothenburg. By gathering the Faculty, Ingrid Elam also sees possibilities for cooperatively using workshops. “We have to think new when we gather. We won’t be able to afford everyone having their own workshop. Even though there may be strong opposition to this at first, it’s creative people who work here, so I’m convinced that it will work.” Ingrid Elam says that the project is not about putting together three departments. “Moving together doesn’t mean a total mixing up of our educational programs. We’ll keep the specific art programs and protect the trademarks that the different departments have. It’s important that our employees feel that they’ll be moving to something that’s better than today. Otherwise we won’t be able to get them to go along with it.” H ow m u c h s u pp o r t for this project do you have among your employees? “I can’t deny that our employees are worried. This project has been managed from the top up until now, by the University management and the Faculty management. It isn’t a need that has grown from the bottom, so I think we have a lot of work in front of us. We have to explain the idea to our employees and what advantages there are. Today I think that people are worried about what this will mean.” The plan is to create a campus for the arts and humanities. But is there an obvious interaction with the humanities? “No, the proximity between the humanities and the arts isn’t great today. I’m a humanist myself and think that it’s sad there’s so little exchange. There are of course those that would rather be in the Chalmers area or on Heden but there isn’t much room in the city to build on. And Artisten is already located there. We have to make a virtue of necessity. Moving together can be a forced marriage if we don’t work on it. I believe that it requires mutual respect for each others’ subjects and knowledge traditions. But we’re interested in the same basic question: What is a human being?”
text: Allan Eriksson photo: Johan Wingborg
8
News
»GU has the potential to become leading in Europe«
A marine center would lift the entire University, says Kerstin Johannesson.
In a little over a year, the University of Gothenburg will have a faculty collaborative marine centre. That’s what Professor Kerstin Johannesson hopes, at least. “Gathering all marine activities into one single unit would give the whole University a lift,” she says. To day t h e m a r i n e activities at the University of Gothenburg are split up and unclear. On the one hand, there are six common faculty marine centres. On the other hand, there’s no marine department that can take strategic decisions. “For about ten years there were about a dozen heads of departments and subject representatives in the marine area. Today, after all the combining of departments, there isn’t one left,” says Kerstin Johannesson, Professor of Marine Ecology, who has investigated marine activities at the University of Gothenburg. Still, she points out, GU has the potential to be a leader in Europe in this area. It partly has to do with natural sciences.
it comes to coastal research and polar research we’re very strong, even internationally. We’re also the most successful university in research in the Baltic Sea, which might be unexpected for many people. Our infrastructure with two field stations and, in about a year and a half, a new well equipped research ship also give us outstanding conditions for further developing research and “ P r i m a r i ly w h e n
education.” But the University of Gothen burg also has marine research in other areas of science. to also have a large number of people in medicine, social sciences, economics and the humanities that are interested in the ocean environment,” Kerstin Johannesson explains. “It has to do with profitable fishing, tourism, ocean planning, spreading of resistant bacteria on the hulls of ships and a lot more. And our field stations and ship could be used by other people than natural scientists.” A cross-disciplinary research school started two years ago where doctoral students from the marine area work together in pairs with doctoral students from other disciplines. “It hasn’t only been stimulating for the doctoral students. Three pairs of supervisors have also gone on to seek grants for new directions that they’ve developed together.” But according to Kerstin Johannesson, the organizationally split marine area makes it diffuse. “The host for the Havsmiljöinstitut’s office for example has, paradoxically
“ It ’ s pr e t t y u n i q u e
enough, led to less visibility for our outreaching activities since we’ve chosen to support the institute’s name at the cost of our own.” Thus Kerstin Johannesson suggests that all current marine centres be combined into a single unit. “This also goes for GU’s part of Lighthouse, which we run together with Chalmers, and the coordination of the Havsmiljöinstitut. These activities, like Aquaculture Centre West, however, will keep their names. Mare Novum, the Centre for Ocean Research and Sven Lovén centre for marine sciences should also be a part of the centre, but I suggest that these names disappear. The centre should be placed somewhere outside the Science Faculty and have a webpage on a university-wide page.” Acco r d i n g to the new organization of the University of Gothenburg, all centres must have a host department. That’s a reason why Kerstin Johannesson also suggests that all marine activities at the Science Faculty be gathered into one department. However, the Science Faculty said no to the suggestion in September.
»A clearer marine profile would attract researchers and students to other parts of the University as well.«
“That’s true. My impression though is that it wasn’t so much the proposal itself that they were against but the way of going about it, that is, that the personnel got information just before summer holiday and that the reorganization would be finalized already on January 1 next year. About fifty marine researchers have now written letters to the management where they request that the question be taken up again.” K e r sti n J o h a n n e s s o n doesn’t think that a new centre would mean any greater increases in costs, except in terms of the infrastructure. “To start with, the Faculty of Science will take responsibility for the largest part of the cost,” Kerstin Johannesson thinks. “But if the centre develops the way I hope, and more and more activities are brought into the marine part, the costs will be distributed more equally over the faculties. There’s a big interest in bringing the marine activities forward, among researchers in other areas, too,” says Kerstin Johannesson. “The University of Gothenburg needs a few strong areas that bring attention to the whole school. A clearer marine profile would attract researchers and students to other parts of the University as well.”
Text: Eva Lundgren photo: Malin Arnesson
Marine C entre at th e U niversit y of Gothenburg Kerstin Johannesson was given the task by the Vice-chancellor in April 2013 of investigating how the marine activities at the University of Gothenburg should be organized. The investigation has now been completed. Its message is that the marine centre at the University of Gothenburg be set up to replace the following six centres: Aquaculture Centre West, Sven Lovén centre for marine sciences, Centre for Ocean Research, Mare Novum, the offices of the Havsmiljöinstitutet and GU’s part of Lighthouse. The following names would
disappear: Mare Novum, Sven Lovén centre for marine sciences and Centre for Ocean Research. The new centre would be given offices and a webpage at a place that is considered to be common for the whole University. At the same time, a marine department would be formed at the Science Faculty as a host department for the centre. According to the proposal, the new organization would be completed on January 1, 2015. Read the proposal at: www.havsmiljoinstitutet.se/
Christmas tips
GUJOURNAL 7 | 2013
Dietician’s advice for Christmas Would you care for some strawberries with cream and green peas? Henriette Philipson, in charge of Sweden’s best dietician program, wants us to rethink about our habits, for example why vegetables aren’t seen as candy. D o i n g r e s e a rc h on food isn’t the easiest thing. For example, do you remember what you ate for breakfast 20 years ago? “Probably not. But it can anyway affect how you feel today,” says Henriette Philipson. She is in charge of the program for the dietician education, which got the highest marks in the Swedish Higher Education Authority’s evaluation this autumn. “We probably got such high marks because we’re at the Sahlgrenska Academy, with close cooperation with the hospital. We accept 37 students each fall to the threeyear education program and about a third go on to do a Master’s too.” Food interests most people. But as overweight, diabetes and other illnesses that come with good living increase, it’s also become more important to keep an eye on what we eat. “It doesn’t only have to do with explaining what we shouldn’t, but also what we should eat,” says Henriette Philipson. “A teenager who for example drinks Coca Cola every day may take in 500 calories in that way. It isn’t enough then to stop drinking soft drinks. He or she also has to learn a good way to take in these calories.”
are good for us. We learned that as children. But why do we have such big problems with overweight? “Knowledge and behaviour are simply two different things. We live in a 24-hour society with access to food the whole time. There are cafes all over and it’s hard to resist.” But it also has to do with how we’ve learned to understand food. Why do we indulge ourselves a piece of chocolate cake or a sweet bun when we need encouragement instead of a yummy fruit or vegetable? “Certain habits have however had a breakthrough,” says Henriette Philipson. “For example, nuts are now being used more frequently as a snack, which is good, since they contain healthy fat. But salted peanuts contain as much fat today that they did 30 years ago, when they were considered unhealthy, so we have to eat moderately.” V eg e ta b le s a n d fr u it
A n ot h e r r e a s o n for today’s welfare diseases is that we get too little exercise. “In earlier times, it was physically exerting to scour and wash. These days we don’t even have to get up from the sofa to answer the telephone. We choose schools for our children that are so far away that they have
Henriette Philipson says that vegetables are also candy. She’s in charge of Sweden’s best dietician education program.
to be driven there and we think that swings, climbing equipment and playing in the forest are dangerous. So they stay inside with their computer games.” The occupation of dietician has existed in England since the 1920s. But the education didn’t start in Sweden until about 30 years ago. Now there are about 1 600 dieticians in the country that work in a field that’s becoming increasingly broad. community dieticians for schools and homes for the elderly, they can work in the pharmaceutical or food industries or be food coaches in shops that give inspiration for healthy and good food.” They can also be business owners. “For example, one of our previous students is the woman behind Lina’s Grocery Bag,” says Henriette Philipson. That’s why we’re about to start up a new course in cooperation with Sahlgrenska Academy’s unit for entrepreneurship.
“They can be
What are you best tips for Christmas?
“Don’t forget the vegetables! Kale soup and kale pie, like Brussel sprouts, are a must for me!”
»For example, nuts are now being used more frequently as a snack, which is good, since they contain healthy fat.« DIETICIAN PROG RAM The dietician program at the University of Gothenburg received the highest marks in three of eight degree goals at the Swedish Higher Education Authority’s evaluation this autumn, which is best in the country. The following goals received “very high goal fulfilment”: • The student shall show knowledge about relevant ordinances. • The student shall show the ability to independently and in cooperation with the patient examine and evaluate nutritional intake, nutritional condition and nutritional needs. • The student shall show the ability to prevent, investigate, evaluate, treat and assess dietary and nutritionally related problems, symptoms and diseases. The other goals were judged to have high quality.
Text: Eva lundgren photo: Johan Wingborg
9
10
Global Week
Some 30 open events and a record number of international visitors made Global Week 2013 into a big success. For films from special lectures and more information: www.globalweek.gu.se.
Reports from all corners of the world To think free is big, but to think new is bigger, said Charlotte Petri Gornitzka, Director-General of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Sida. On 11 November, she opened this year’s Global Week at the University of Gothenburg by talking about how the world is actually in better shape than many people think. M o st Sw e d e s h av e an outdated view of the condition of the world, said Petri Gornitzka during this year’s Annual Lecture on Global Collaboration in the University of Gothenburg’s main auditorium. “The average life expectancy in the world is about 71 years. Young women get an average of seven years of schooling, 84 per cent of all adults can read and about 800 million of Africa’s one billion people have a mobile phone. The world is in better shape than many people think. We are more connected with each other and are interacting and cooperating more than ever.” However, there is still a lot of suffering in the world. One billion of the world’s roughly seven billion people are extremely poor. But we should be able to solve this problem by 2030, Petri Gornitzka told the audience. “Having a realistic view of the world is important for many reasons. For example, with a false view, we might miss many potential trade partners. Also, Swedish taxpayers should know that they have in fact
contributed to a better world, for example through Sida’s work.” Yet development assistance is no longer the most important way to increase the prosperity of developing countries. “In 2011, the total development assistance from the rich to the poor world amounted to 126 billion USD. This may sound like a lot of money but represents only 10 per cent of the flow of money to developing countries. Foreign investments and transfers, where people from poor countries work in rich countries and send money home, make up the remaining 90 per cent.” Petri Gornitzka also shared some specifics about the Swedish development assistance.
photo: All an Eriksson
The world is a better place than many think
“ I n 2 0 11, 1. 5 m i lli o n people were given access to drinking water, 2.8 million destitute people received food assistance, 30 million children were given vitamin A supplementation and 43 000 women were enabled to give birth in a healthcare facility instead of at home – and all of this in just one year.” In 2050, the world’s population is expected to have reached 9–10 billion people, of which 85 per cent will live in the developing countries and one-fourth in Africa. “I want to challenge you students in particular to do your best to make the world a better place. One way to do this may be to take advantage of Sida’s scholarships and do field studies in foreign countries,” said Petri Gornitzka.
Women’s rights are connected with economic growth and environment issues. It is even an important key to tackling world hunger and poverty, said Neguest Mekonnen, head of Ethiopia’s Hunger Project, during Global Week. T h e H u n g e r P roj ec t has invested in the country in order to improve the food production, strengthen health education and support new incomegenerating activities. The support includes provision of microloans to enable women to engage in animal keeping and commerce. Country Director Mekonnen gave a brief introduction of her country: over 80 million citizens, of whom over 80
photo: All an Eriksson
Quest for Equality per cent live in rural areas and rely on farming and raising cattle. There is rapid population growth: the total number of Ethiopians is expected to reach 120 million by 2020. Over 24 million people live below the poverty level. Ethiopia boasts high economic growth: In the last 10 years, the country’s GNP has increased by 11 per cent annually. Health and literacy continue to improve. The country is predicted to reach the UN millennium goals before 2030. “Ab s o lu t e ly. I’m convinced it will happen,” said Mekonnen. “But even if there are positive signs, many challenges still need to be overcome. Seventy per cent of the country’s women live
below the national poverty level. Women make less money than men and one-third of the women get married before age 21. Many women are forced to work 20 hours a day, in activities that do not generate any income. Although it is illegal, women are also often discriminated in the workplace. The fact that work in the informal sector is not included in the GNP is one reason why women’s work seems invisible. Her message was as simple as it was powerful. “Give the women power over their lives. You don’t need to ask them what they want. They already know.”
Global Week
GUJOURNAL 7 | 2013
11
Germany World Leading in Renewable Energy
photo: All an Eriksson
African Languages Won the Audience’s Vote The lobby and top floor of Sprängkullsgatan 19 in Gothenburg were filled to capacity. A group of upper secondary students from Kungsbacka had showed up to study the rhetorical punches that the researchers were about to deliver during their 3-minute presentations of their work. This year five researchers from different departments at the University of Gothenburg, gave presentations on a wide range of topics. Julia Forsberg, PhD student in linguistics, talked about how heroin abuse affects a person’s speech, and how the effect partly depends on how the drug is administered. Deborah Fronko analysed a play by Carin Mannheimer in the light of Julia Kristeva’s philosophy. Diana Cervantes talked about stem cells and colorectal cancer and Jason Chien compared the human brain with the brain of a worm. The winner was linguist Laura Downing who talked about why African languages are so exciting. Two thousand of the world’s 6 000 languages are found in Africa. Downing has spent more than 20 years studying the Bantu languages. She gave several examples of the click sounds characteristic of the Khoisan languages, which are spoken in southern Africa. “I did this because I think African languages should be part of Global Week. I have lectured a lot in the past, and maybe that gave me an edge. I had a great time and it would be fantastic if my short presentation could make students interested in studying African languages.”
Love in 29 languages How do you say ’I love you’ in French, Bulgarian and Nepalese? Ask Aarne Ranta and his research team. The name of the solution is Grammatical Framework. “Different languages work in different ways,’ said Ranta, professor at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, when he and three colleagues talked about their translation project during Global Week at the University of Gothenburg. “Take for example the sentence ‘I love you’. The word “I” indicates the subject. In Chinese, in contrast, it is the order of the words, subject–verb–object, that reveals who is in love with who.” And ‘I love you’ can refer to both one and several persons, but in Swedish you have to be more specific.” The main idea of Grammatical Framework is to create an abstract syntax tree where each sentence is analysed morphologically, syntactically and semantically, and in that way gives the correct translation.
Photo: Pressbild, Eric Bl ack
Heart of Sky, Heart of Earth “Strong financial interests have strong effects on the environment and minority peoples across the world, says Anna-Karin Larsson, head of the event committee of the Society of International Affairs in Gothenburg. In the film Heart of Sky, Heart of Earth, Maya Indians talk about their struggle against multinational companies and the right to live traditionally. The film shows how multinational businesses have cut down rainforest and how the environment has been affected. It shows the negative effect of gold mines on the water supply. The air is polluted by mine dust. And the Indians protests are met with strong resistance.
photo: News Øresund.
I s it b ec au s e G e r m a n y is such a windy and sunny place that they invest so much in wind and solar power? Robert Henry Cox, professor at the Department of Political Science at the University of South Carolina, asked the question during a lunch seminar. Searching for an answer, he showed a heat map of USA and Spain. “The sunniest areas in the U.S. are found in southern California and Arizona, which are also areas with a great deal of technological development. This seems perfect for development of solar power, doesn’t it? But Germany? Even Alaska gets more sun than Germany, in spite and its northern location, since Alaska is less cloudy than central Europe.’ One explanation is that the German industry has largely been outcompeted by cheap products from for example China. This has increased the pressure on technological development in the country, including in the field of sustainability. ‘All of this, in combination with Germany having one of Europe’s oldest and most successful green parties, has resulted in 86 per cent of the Germans supporting continued investments in renewable energy and 71 per cent believing that climate change is the most important issue on the environmental agenda.’
photo: helena svensson
Colleagues Learning from Each Other “A great opportunity to network and meet new people,” says David Myatt from Great Britain, who is one of about 60 colleagues from foreign countries visiting the University of Gothenburg during Global Week. This year, the Sahlgrenska Academy had arranged a special program for a group of about 25 persons from mainly European higher education institutions. One of them was David Myatt from Keele University in Staffordshire, England. “The arrangement and program have been fantastic! I know first-hand that a lot of work goes into this type of event; Keele University has hosted visits from many countries, including Russia, Saudi Arabia and Sweden. Global Gala, the big party held Thursday, was a real surprise with traditional dancers, a boys’ choir and Swedish food. We all had a great time.”
12
Profile
Not afraid of silly questions Murray, Kentucky, USA – a small community of only 15 000 residents – but with a hundred churches. Here Marcia Grimes grew up, and when she was young she wanted nothing more than to leave. But today she feels a certain gratefulness for her free childhood, far from the stress of a big city, without worries other than snakes and hot summer days. She’s a new Associate Professor of political science.
Murray is a small community it has a university. It was there that Marcia Grimes’ father, originally from Massachusetts, was a professor. Her mother, who was a nurse, was even more unusual – from Orsa in Dalarna, Sweden. “There are about a hundred churches in the town and many different parishes. We were among the few who weren’t religious and people sometimes saw us as heathens. But I was good at sports and that made up for it a bit.” Marcia Grimes receives me in her room at the Department of Political Science. She is busy with meetings, teaching and research. A student sticks her head in and asks when the next seminar is and a colleague calls to remind her about a meeting at five o’clock. But it wasn’t particularly obvious that she was going to wind up at the Department of political science at Språngkullsgatan 19, she tells me. ven though
I studied social anthropology and Latin American studies. After my Bachelor’s degree I moved to Ecuador and worked there as an English teacher for two years. I lived in a nice neighbourhood but still the roads were bumpy, the telephone didn’t work well and there was water in the tap only every third day. When I asked people why things were like that they said
“ I n t h e US
that the water sometimes simply was stolen in big tank trucks and sold instead of being delivered to the households. ‘Why don’t you go to the police?’ I asked, and people thought I was sweet and naïve.” W h e n M a rci a G r i m e s went on to Master studies in the US she became irritated over there being so much discussion about how well the democratic parties in Latin America work or whether they are centred on persons or ideologically governed – things that weren’t very important in Ecuador. “I thought that people should concentrate on concrete problems instead, like corruption or clientelism, that is when people for example promise to vote for a certain candidate to get something in return, like a new job or to be part of a welfare program.” Marcia Grimes got a good deal of experience of Sweden early on. She spent several summers with family here and she was an exchange student in Lund at the beginning of the 1990s. But then she thought it was pretty hard breaking into the Swedish society. “I met my husband in the US, but he
grew up in Sweden and he suddenly got a job in Gothenburg. So we moved here and this time everything went very easily. I found out at the employment office that the Centre for public sector research was looking for a research assistant and fourteen days later I had a job.” Among other things, Marcia Grimes learned to ask silly questions. “Since my mother was Swedish, I didn’t have any problem with everyday language.
13
GUJOURNAL 7 | 2013
But I couldn’t write and I didn’t understand things like irony at all. But it’s actually pretty nice not to always understand everything and be able to ask questions, a little like a child. I experienced something similar when I was doing research in Honduras, El Salvador and Panama four years ago. First I was irritated over all the things that were new and awkward, but after a week something almost physical happened to me. I felt like I didn’t have to know about eve-
rything, I could go with the flow anyway. Having knowledge about how something works in a society is of course very practical but it means a limitation too. You begin to think that what lies behind the very familiar is dangerous or wrong. That’s why it’s important sometimes to exchange security for something completely different.” It was Bo Rothstein and Sören Holmberg who led Marcia Grimes into the research line that had aroused her interest for politi-
cal science many years earlier: corruption. “Corruption causes more misery than one might think. People who live in corrupt countries are for example unhappier and have considerably shorter lives than the populations of less corrupt societies,” says Marcia Grimes. “Corruption is also very difficult to change. Even if most people realize that a corrupt society is bad, it’s complicated to build up a large organisation that functions
14
Profile
well. It’s like a potluck dinner: if somebody comes with empty hands, it’s noticed right away. But the bigger the potluck dinner, the greater the risk that people sneak in that don’t contribute anything at all. And if others don’t come with anything, why should I? So the question is actually not why corruption exists but why some countries, for example in Scandinavia, have so little corruption. The development here came during a relatively short period in the middle of the 1800s, before the countries became democratic, and hopefully a weak democracy isn’t a condition for working against corruption. A democratic country that has managed to decrease corruption is for instance South Korea. But we don’t really know what caused the Nordic development.” studies is how the civil society in different parts of the world can counter corruption. “For a civil society to be able to act strongly, three conditions have to be fulfilled: free media, a transparent state and a high degree of political competition. In other cases it’s hard for civil organisations to have an influence on power, even if it can happen. Some countries have set up anticorruption authorities but it doesn’t seem to work very well because ironically enough the most corrupt countries often have the strongest anti-corruption laws.” A project that Marcia Grimes is involved in shows that the proportion of female politicians in a parliament is strongly correlated to a small degree of corruption. “Most studies have been done on the federal level. But I did an investigation of Mexico together with Lena Wängnerud that shows the same thing: in communities with many female politicians there is considerable less corruption. Are women more honest than men? Marcia Grimes says that it isn’t that simple. “It sooner has to do with when new groups come into politics, possibilities are created for change. More female politicians can also be a consequence of a general political development.”
Marcia Grimes News: New Associate Professor at the Department of Political Science. Works with: Corruption research, teaching at the Master’s program International Administration and Global Governance. Lives: In Majorna, Gothenburg. Family: Husband David Storek. Most recently read book: Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. Favourite food: Vegetarian, except for beets. Interests: Squash and other physical activities, walking and physical training with a lot of coffee breaks.
W h at M a rci a G r i m e s
T h e r e i s n o simple way to act against corruption, regardless of country or culture, according to Marcia Grimes. “But tackling corruption is an important part in achieving other things also. When I worked in Ecuador for example, several of my students worked extra as high school teachers. It happened quite often that they didn’t get paid and that wasn’t because of a lack of money. The money just disappeared somewhere else.” Maria Grimes has now lived in Sweden for 15 years. When I ask whether she feels most Swedish or American she doesn’t really know what to say. “It’s probably not so important to me. But I have pretty Swedish ideals. I can’t understand people who want to meddle in how other people live their lives, as long
»Working together with students from other cultures can be difficultbut just for that reason it’s worth doing.«
as no one is hurt. And I like collective solutions, like paying taxes to make things better for people whose lives are hard. But even if I come from a small town in the American south, where for instance it is fully accepted to believe in intelligent design, I don’t feel that Americans are as conservative as Swedes often believe. Of course there is a lot of opposition to the healthcare reform, for example, but it has to do among other things with technical problems that are still an irritation. In the US the debate often becomes confused because many media channels sympathize with a political party and therefor give conflicting pictures.” In addition to being a researcher, Marcia Grimes also teaches in the Master’s program International Administration and Global Governance with students from several developing countries, among others. “Working together with students from other cultures can be difficult but just for that reason it’s worth doing. In spite of the fact that we don’t want to, we have lots of ideas about how other people are and it’s important not to be too judgemental, either toward other people or toward oneself. If instead we become aware of our prejudices and learn to laugh at ourselves, maybe we can get somewhere.”
It is that insight that has gotten Marcia Grimes to start to appreciate her upbringing in the small town of Murray. “I used to think that people there were limited; racism and homophobia were common, for example. But at the same time I realize that I’m privileged. I also visited France, Spain and Austria, in addition to Sweden, when I was a child since my father had summer courses there. In my home town there are people who’ve never travelled particularly far or met different ideas. How should they understand other people’s way of thinking? And there’s a lot of generosity and kindness in the American South too.” K e n t u ck y i s sometimes called The bluegrass State. Bluegrass isn’t just a type of grass. It’s also a kind of folk music. “I played the violin as a child but I never cared about bluegrass. But even that’s something that I’ve started to appreciate in recent years. I also like Swedish folk music. Maybe it’s in the genes if you have a mother from Orsa. There’s school room down here where you can play folk music on Friday evenings. But it’s at the same time as squash.” In addition to squash and running, Marcia Grimes likes to convince herself that she sews. “A national quilt festival is held in a town near Murray every year and I’ve collected different kinds of cloths to start to sew myself. I haven’t really started yet but I might get time for it sometime – because quilting, like bluegrass, is Southern culture.”
Text: Eva Lundgren photo: Johan Wingborg
Debate
Academic freedom is increasingly threatened T h e r e a r e i m pe n d i n g threats against freedom of opinion. The clearest example is when the freedom of communication and opinion guaranteed in our constitution is restricted at our workplaces. Freedom of communication exists so that employees will be able to alert the media of offences in the public sector and is therefore central to a functioning control. But it includes only public employees, and thus a gradually dedemocratisation takes place when the public is made private or is outsourced. In profit-seeking and competitive companies, only loyalty applies. But freedom of communication and opinion is also threatened in the public sector. The new control philosophy that goes under the name of new public management (NPM) means in short that the public sector is managed as a collection of companies that are run for profit or that receive grants on the basis of marketimitating premises. Beyond smashing the very idea of public service for the benefit of market and client thinking the result is a transformation of the ethics of officials to the logic of salesmen and lobbyists. As a public employee, one now represents a special interest where one must think about one’s authority’s trademark and the direct economic punishment or reward that is connected to it. With that, there is a built-in incentive in the system that acts as a slow poison. Gradually, but effectively, it erodes the basis of democracy and slowly transforms public activities until they are no longer recognizable. A focus on economics replaces the vision of democracy. NPM got an especially devastating effect when it was combined with the autonomy reform (of 2000). This abolished collegial governance and made vice-chancellors into de facto autocrats. At a university, if anywhere, it is necessary to freely test hypotheses, arguments, reasoning and ideas in the search of knowledge. Without freedom of opinion, the activity of running a university becomes meaningless. Le t m e g iv e a n example of the seriousness of the situation. The case of Arnasson in Lund has to do with a professor who, faced with cutbacks in his subject, chose to criticize them internally and defend the subject. The critical professor was thrown out of the university by the vicechancellor, a method made possible as all collegial influence was abolished by the government. But Arnasson must at least be protected by the constitution, you may think. Does he not have freedom of speech? Not Arnasson. He found out that his case could be rejected by both the Swedish higher education authority, courts and the Office of the Chancellor of Justice without his version being heard. In other words, none of the country’s law enforcement institutions took the constitution seriously, not even the human right that states that both parties in a case shall
be heard before anyone is punished. He quite simply experienced the collapse of the rule of law: he stood outside the law. The case is hardly unique. At the University of Gävle, a number of professors experienced a vice-chancellor who introduced communication limitations for all employees and freely fired her critics. The combined effect is that academic freedom has never been more threatened than now. Unfortunately, the opposition offers no help. The Social Democrats took the initiative in new public management and the economics that is now driven by the Alliance. But why should an employer or a vicechancellor not require loyalty and silent critics? Why is freedom of speech so important? A classic argument made by the philosopher John Stuart Mill is the truth argument that, simply put, says that since we can never be completely sure that we know everything, we must be open to reevaluating our understanding. This demands a free formulation of ideas and arguments that can be tested openly. The truth argument is good, but too narrow. Sometimes a person wants to express something without any requirement for seeking the truth. Mi ll h a s a fu r t h e r argument: that the risk of self-censorship is a threat to man’s freedom. Under the pressure of an employer or a general opinion, we risk censoring ourselves. But if we say only what we believe that the power likes to hear, we do not have freedom of opinion. The devastation of academic freedom at universities and the introduction of authoritarian workplaces hits right at the heart of democracy. The immediate effect is that we get a culture of silence with self-censorship and arbitrary prohibition of opinion that lies outside of the law. If we do not react, we are responsible for having bereaved the next generation of the possibility to grow up with freedom of opinion and democracy. We have gotten a Sweden that is more frightened, more silent and emptier.
Jens Stilhoff Sörensen
LECTURER AT THE DEPARTMENT OF GLOBAL STUDIES AND REPRESENTATIVE OF ACADEMIC RIGHTS WATCH (www.academicrightswatch.se).
The chronicle is based on excerpts from two longer essays given in Obs on P1..
15
Another way to create equality R e s e a rc h fu n d s are distributed unevenly. That is a fact. However, it isn’t allowed to be endlessly uneven. The Government has now decided to investigate how faculty funds are distributed among women and men. Minister of Equality Maria Arnholm says in the Government’s press
release that: “Equal conditions in academics are a requirement for achieving the research policy goal that Sweden shall be a prominent research nation. It shall be the researcher’s competence and not sex that decides whether he or she will be granted funds or not,” Maria Arnholm concludes. At the same time, we know that, of the external research funds from Vetenskapsrådet, for example, less than 10 percent is granted to applications at all. And here men have a higher degree of grants than women (even given the proportion of applications) and we also know that women’s independence is questioned more than men’s. I think that the system of distribution itself together with the influence of performance in terms of publications create a research culture that, everything else being equal, more often benefits men than women. But not only that, it probably also benefits a certain mono-culture in the use of concepts, choice of method and issues. G r e at B r ita i n has tested something called Sciencewise that means cooperation between the public and researchers in discussing societal changes on a scientific basis, which can give research questions with great relevance for society. The following is taken from the research blog of the London School of Economics: “There are also signs that Sciencewise is being more creative about the projects it supervises and funds, allowing for novel partnerships to emerge and helping to foster the development of more responsive, context specific methods of citizen engagement.” The thought that research problems are formulated in relation to social relevance isn’t new, but bringing about creative and open conversations between researchers and the public on these questions is a new way of thinking about research financing. In some way I think that this type of structural change that – together with regular equality policy in academics – would seriously change women’s and men’s possibilities to do research on equal conditions, and take advantage of resources on equal conditions. We don’t have the answers, but we have to start to ask the questions in a new way.
Marie Demker
Pro-dean of the Facult y of Social Sciences Re ad more on the de anblog: ht tp://samfakdek an.blogg.gu.se/
16
Report
Two organs from GU in inte photo: © Cornell Univer sit y Photogr aphy
One of USA’s most recent organ competitions was held at the end of September: the Westfield Organ Competition. No Swedes participated, neither in the competition nor in the jury. Nevertheless, the University of Gothenburg was at the centre of events. Both organs that were used were built here, at the Göteborg Organ Art Centre. e st fi e ld C e n t r e at Cornell University regularly arranges competitions for different keyboard instruments. This year the Centre did it together with the Eastman School of Music, Rochester, New York. The competition had 12 participants from seven countries whose performance was judged by an international jury. The organs were the last two instruments constructed by GOArt’s organ workshop before it closed in 2009. “The organ in Christ Church close to the Eastman School is a copy of an instrument that stands in Dominican Church in Vilnius, built in 1776 by Adam Gottlob Casparini. And the organ at Cornell University is built in the famous organ builder Arp Schnitger’s style, just like the organ at Örgryte New Church,” Paul Peeters, assistant researcher at GOArt, explains.
Annette Richards, organist at Cornell University, has been the driving force in the organ construction there. are made here in Gothenburg, but much of the rest has been manufactured by an American organ builder. Annette also used an ordinary woodworker who built kitchen cupboards in her own kitchen and who thought it could be an interesting project. With the help of GOArt’s organ researcher and organ builder Munetaka Yokota, he did a fantastic job, in spite of the fact that he’d never done anything like it before. Thus Annette did the same thing that Arp Schnitger did 300 years before her – used local craftsmen. That’s one reason why organs are a little different depending on where they were built: the organ at Cornell University, which was built according
“ Pi pe s a n d k e y b oa r d
to the documented Schnitger organ in Charlottenburg’s palace in Berlin has a more mixed style than the purely northern German organ in Örgryte, which is in fact owned by the University of Gothenburg. It’s based on the Schnitger organs in Hamburg Jacobi Church and the cathedral in Lübeck. Neither of these two original organs still exist, however.” But why build an instrument according to methods that are several hundred years old?
“That’s a good question,” Paul Peeters admits. “Traditions from the late 1800s and early 1900s dominated music instruction for a long time. But the so called HIP movement, historically informed performance practice, started in the 1960s and also became popular in the USA. People began to realize that the instrument sets limits for what can be done, for example how quickly you can play or what fingering is most suitable. It isn’t wrong to play Bach on an instrument from the 21st century. But if you want to understand how Bach himself intended his work, you have to choose an instrument similar to the ones that existed
GUJOURNAL 7 | 2013
17 photo: Jason Koski, Cornell Univer sit y Photogr aphy
Both the organ at Cornell University and the organ in Christ Church, Rochester, are built by GOArt. Winners of the international competition are Dexter Kennedy (third prize), Malcolm Matthews (first prize) and Atsuko Takano (second prize).
rnational competition photo: NY ©Andy Olenick, Fotowerks Ltd.
in his time. A respect for past times’ aesthetic choices has grown and now enriches our music culture.” The organ competition has attracted a lot of attention in the US. And organ building has led to new knowledge that could hardly have been gotten in any other way. Why for example is the alloy of lead and tin that the pipes are made of often cooled on a bed of sand?
“Lead is actually pretty soft, but the sand makes it harden during cooling,” Paul Peeters explains. “EU has just pushed through harder restrictions with regard to lead in electronics, which I’m sure is good. But we’re working on not having these regulations apply to organ pipes. They hardly become worn out and get thrown away. They’re expected to last for centuries. For instance, it took us two years to research sand casting and then be able to manufacture such pipes. There are still organ pipes from the 1400s that have a high lead content. After 600 years, they’re still perfect. Talk about sustainability!” The method that GOArt used, learning by
»A respect for past times’ aestheticchoices has grown and now enriches our music culture.« Paul Peeters
building, can also serve as an example for other research in the arts, says Paul Peeters and shows an article recently published about GOArts’ research in an international anthology. “We’re now a part of the Academy of Music and Drama and our research is being used in teaching.” Even though GOArt isn’t building organs any more, another kind of research is in full swing. An example is the EU cooperative The Collapse Project about corrosion in organ pipes. Another project is looking at how the climate changes can lead to mould in churches and therefore also in organs. “And together with several foundations in the Swedish Church, we’re doing an
organ inventory. In the framework of our large research and documentation project we’re making up to 50 measurements on each pipe, and since organs can have as many as 3 000-4 000 pipes that’s quite a lot of work.” But, back to the competition – who won?
“The first and third prizes went to Americans, Malcolm Matthews and Dexter Kennedy. But second place went to a Japanese woman, Atsuko Takano. And in three years it’s time for a new competition,” says Paul Peeters. Eva Lundgren