The EHLN working group, Arctic and Indigenous Labour, aims to bring together scholars interested in the historiography of Indigenous labour in settler colonies, both within and outside Europe.
Many labour historians associate Indigenous history with non-European history. However, to date, only Norway and Denmark are among the 23 countries that have ratified the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention No. 169 of the International Labour Organisation. While appearing as models for labour relations worldwide, scholars have paid little attention to the working and living conditions of Indigenous people in the Nordic countries. Although the process of industrialisation in the Nordic countries is rooted in settler colonialism, this aspect has not been a significant part of labour history.
There are good reasons for labour historians to consider the synergies that emerge from combining labour history and Indigenous history, as our colleagues from other parts of the world have demonstrated.
- The synergies are first conversations about dispossessive commons and capitalism.
- Secondly, perspectives in labour history that go beyond wage labour and address the topics of feminist labour history, unpaid labour, as well as race and racialisation in settler colonialism and forced labour.
- Thirdly, it refreshes old and new insights about work culture, customs, rituals, kin and community and culture as it is lived out in changing capitalism.
- And fourthly, it emphasises the interaction between Indigenous histories and the strong political protests among Indigenous people.
The Working Group offers a meeting space for labour and Indigenous historians to exchange ideas about theoretical frameworks, specific methods, and areas of blind spot in labour history.
With this call for papers, we invite you to submit proposals for papers, panels, or workshop ideas by September 1, 2025, to silke.neunsinger[at]arbark.se
We also encourage the inclusion of Indigenous scholars and activists in the planning and implementation of your activities at the ELHN.
The proposal should include a title, a short abstract (maximum of 300 words) for each paper, biographies of the participants, their affiliations, and contact details. If you wish to submit a panel, please send an abstract for the entire panel, as well as for each presentation included. For any other format, we require abstracts, names, affiliations, and contact details of participants. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions or suggestions. We are looking forward to your submissions!
Silke Neunsinger, Inger Jonsson & Åsa Össbo