Hope in Hopeless Situations: Agency and Meaning in Conflict, Displacement and Climate Change

This is a 6-part seminar series hosted by Campion Hall in Trinity Term, led by Dr Hiba Salem (Pedro Arrupe Fellow in Forced Migration Studies at Campion Hall and the Refugee Studies Centre) and Dr Nick Austin (Theological Ethicist at Campion Hall and the Faculty of Theology and Religion).
For more information, see: www.campion.ox.ac.uk/events/campion-hall-research-seminar-hope-hopeless-situations

ABOUT
This seminar series covers understandings of hope from varying disciplines, including education, theology, anthropology, and ecology. The series will bring together academics as well as practitioners to enable an exchange of insights, exploring the theme of hope across varying contexts and applications. Learning from these situations, this series aims to inspire hopeful responses within our own work and responses to today’s challenges. The series will examine:
1. What are the meanings of hope, and how are they generated and maintained in challenging situations?
2. How can hope help individuals and communities imagine and define alternative futures?
3. How can these understandings of hope enrich our own work and enable action-oriented responses to uncertainty?

This seminar is open to Graduate Students and Academics in the University of Oxford and other invited Academics. Participants should commit to attending the majority of the six seminars. Participants will receive a paper of 3,000-5,000 words a week in advance of each seminar, and are asked to read in advance.

SCHEDULE
Week One, 25 April: Dr David Johnson on “Hope, dreams, and aspirations of students in the aftermath of the civil war, Ebola, and floods in Sierra Leone.”

Week Two, 2 May: Dr Nick Austin on “Practising Hope: Accompaniment and the Vices and Virtues of Hope.”

Week Four, 16 May: Dr Hiba Salem on “Creating Meaningful Spaces as Syrian Refugee Youth: Hope in Protracted Displacement.”

Week Six, 30 May: Dr Aliya Khalid on “Education, agency and hope: Mothers’ aspirations for their daughters’ education in contexts of socio-economic constraint.”

Week Seven, 6 June: Dr Séverine Deneulin on “Hope in contexts of socio-ecological destruction: Reflections from Latin America’s infrastructure and extractive projects.”

Week Eight, 13 June : Dr Maria Jose Ventura Alfaro on “Hope in the shaping of Feminist Futures: Exploring women’s movements in Mexico City.”