Registration latest 10. October 2025

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External teachers

Lovise Haj Brade (Mitt University)

Camilla Andersson (KTH Royal Institute of Technology)

Prerequisites

Enrolled as a Ph.D. student at a Danish or foreign research institution

Course form

The course begins with an introductory lecture by Jo Krøjer and Marta Padovan-Özdemir.

The course is then organized around the three themes mentioned below. Each theme begins with three short research presentations by the lecturers. This is followed by a session where 1/3 of the participating PhD students present their short papers and receive feedback from the other PhD students and the three lecturers. This takes place in three parallel groups.

Day 1:

9-10 Welcome and introductory lecture

10-10.15 Break

10.15-12.35 Three short lectures I (incl. 2 short breaks)

12.35-13.30 Lunch

13.30–14.45 Feedback session I (two presentations in each of the three groups)

14.45-15 Break

15-15.30 Fireside talk with today's three researchers

Self-paid dinner with lecturers and PhD students.

Day 2:

9.30-11.50 Three short lectures II (incl. 2 short breaks)

11.50-12.45 Lunch

12.45-14 Feedback session II (two presentations in each of the three groups)

14-14.15 Break

14.15-15 Fireside talk with today's three lecturers

Day 3:

9.30-11.40 Two short lectures III (incl. 2 short breaks)

11.40-12.30 Lunch

12.30-13.45 Feedback session III (two presentations in each of the three groups)

13.45-14 Break

14-15 Final panel discussion based on a recap of discussions from the feedback groups.

Course days

Premises: Awaiting

Monday 10th November: 9.00 - 15.30 Dinner afterwards

Tuesday 11th November: 9.30 - 15.15

Wednesday 12th November: 9.30 - 15.00

Participation requirements for obtaining ECTS

The participants must submit a short paper (3-5 pages) one week before the start of the course (03.11.25, 10 am CET). Upload your short paper in Teams in the designated folder. Each participating PhD student submits a short paper of 3-5 standard pages, which briefly describes the PhD project and research questions and then reflects on and discusses the PhD project within the three themes with special emphasis on one of them, possibly with inclusion of the course literature. Additionally, participants are expected to present their papers with a 10-minute oral presentation and provide feedback to each other.

3

Contents

The course is aimed at PhD students with an interest in norm critique, norm-critical interventions, and the significance of norms for (in)equality, (in)justice as well as inclusion and exclusion in various societal contexts such as educational practice, urban planning, sustainable transition, innovation, working life, and management.

Norm critique – and particularly norm-critical pedagogy – is a Nordic phenomenon which initially grew out of Swedish activist and educational circles. Later, the norm-critical approach to equality and social change has spread to the rest of the Nordic countries, and in Sweden it has even become a state-approved approach in diversity and equality work. At the same time, norm critique has encountered political and public opposition and has been criticized for being yet another strand of identity politics and, thus, undermining society. Hence, it becomes even more important to consolidate the theoretical basis for norm-critical research, which more and more PhD students and researchers are conducting.

Originally, norm critique draws on Freirean liberation thinking, feminist theory, critical gender studies, intersectionality, queer theory, and critical race theory. But only recently has there been research interest in disentangling, developing, and discussing the theoretical basis for norm critique in research across disciplines.

The PhD course taps into these current theoretical, methodological, and analytical discussions of how norm critique can offer new ways of studying inequality and how norm critical research practices can revitalize a feminist and anti-racist ethical imperative of social change and refurbish the social obligation of research.

The course is organized around three themes:

The theoretical foundation and epistemology of norm critique:

• Modern legacies and postmodern possibilities (Krøjer)
• Norms, normalcy and norm violations (Padovan-Özdemir)
• Firstness and otherness (Brade)

Norm-critical methodologies:

• Queering as a strategy (Just)
• Critical design (Hagbert)
• Cabinet of Rarities (Padovan-Özdemir)

Norm-critical ethics:

• Heterotopic horizon of change (Padovan-Özdemir)
• Feminist ethics of care (Krøjer)

In this way, the participants get the opportunity to sharpen the distinction between norm critique in practice/activism and norm critique as a research approach and perspective, while at the same time being able to observe and relate to the ethical basis of norm critique.

PhD students from Danish Universities (excl. CBS): 0 DK

PhD students from non-Danish Universities (incl. CBS): 3.600 DK

Maximum number of participants

18

Introductory lecture by Marta Padovan-Özdemir & Jo Krøjer

Mandatory readings:

Kumashiro, Kevin K. Troubling Education: Queer Activism and Antioppressive Education. New York: Routledge, 2002, pp. 31-76.

Martinsson, Lena, & Eva Reimers. “Introduction”. In Norm Struggles: Sexualities in Contentions, edited by Lena Martinsson & Eva Reimers, 1. edition., Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publ, 2010, pp. 1-13.

Optional readings:

Padovan-Özdemir, M. (2025). “Norm Critique”. In F. Dervin, H. R'boul, & N. Chen (red.), The Concise Routledge Encyclopaedia of New Concepts for Interculturality (1 udg., pp. 159-164). Routledge.

Raffnsøe, Sverre, Dorthe Staunæs, og Mads Bank. “Affirmative Critique”. ephemera 22, no. 3 (2022): 183–217.

THEME I: The theoretical foundation and epistemology of norm critique

Marta Padovan-Özdemir: Norms, normalcy and norm violations

Mandatory readings:

Ernst, Waltraud. “The Normal and the Abnormal: Reflections on Norms and Normativity”. I Histories of the Normal and the Abnormal: Social and Cultural Histories of Norms and Normativity, redigeret af Waltraud Ernst, 1. udg., 1–25. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2006. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203028254.

Goffman, Erving. Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity. Penguin Modern Classics. Dublin: Penguin Books, 2022, pp. 127-139.

Optional Readings:

Ahmed, Sara. Living a Feminist Life. Duke University Press, 2017, pp. 115-134.

Bicchieri, Cristina. “Norms, Conventions, and the Power of Expectations”. I Philosophy of Social Science: A New Introduction, edited by Nancy Cartwright & Eleonora Montuschi, First edition., Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015, pp. 208-229.

Reimers, Eva. “Education as Products and Productions of Norms”. In Social Theory and Health Education, edited by Deana Leahy, Katie Fitzpatrick, & Jan Wright, 1. edition., Routledge, 2020. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351048163-16, pp. 172-181.

Lovise Brade: Firstness and otherness

Mandatory readings:

Brade, L. (2015) “”Just So You Know; I'm Absolutely Completely Normal!”—An Empirical Investigation of Firstness”. NORA: Nordic Journal of Women's Studies. Sep2015, Vol. 23 Issue 3, pp. 170-186. DOI: 10.1080/08038740.2015.1045939

Pease, B. (2016) ”Interrogating privilege and complicity in the oppression of others” in Pease B. (ed.) Doing Critical Social Work. Transformative Practices for Social Justice (1 udg.) Routledge, London

Optional readings:

Tanchuk, N., Rocha, T. & Kruse, M. (2021) ”Is Complicity in Oppression a Privilege? Toward Social Justice Education as Mutual Aid.” Harvard Educational Review. Fall2021, Vol. 91 Issue 3, pp. 341-361.

Jo Krøjer: Modern legacies and postmodern possibilities

Mandatory readings:

Lather, P (1992): Postmodernism in the Human Sciences, Kvale, S. (Ed), Psychology and Post Modernism, London, Thousand Oaks.

Hølge-Hazelton, B., & Krøjer, J. (2008). (Re)constructing strategies: a methodological experiment on representation. QSE. International journal of qualitative studies in education, 21(1), 19-25. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518390701768849

In connection with: Krøjer, J., & Hølge-Hazelton, B. (2008). Poethical: breaking ground for reconstruction. QSE. International journal of qualitative studies in education, 21(1), 27-33. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518390701768773

Optional Readings:

Lather, P. (2017). This IS Your Father’s Paradigm: Government intrusion and the case of qualitative research in education, (Post)Critical Methodologies: The Science Possible After the Critiques, pp.273-288 https://www-taylorfrancis-com.ep.fjernadgang.kb.dk/reader/read-online/54df9dad-e462-4230-9607-05483cce9571/chapter/pdf?context=ubx

Richardson, L. (2002): The Metaphor is the Message. Bochner, A. & Ellis, C. (eds.) Ethnographically Speaking, New York, Alta Mira Press

THEME II: Norm-critical methodologies

Sine Just Nørholm: ‘Queering as a strategy'

Mandatory readings:

Butler, J. (1993): Critically queer. GLQ, 1: 17-32.

Christensen, J. F. (2020): Weird ways of normalizing: Queering diversity research through norm critique. In: Just, S.N., Risberg, A. & Villesèche, F. (Eds.), The Routledge Companion to Organizational Diversity Research Methods (pp. 59-72). New York: Routledge.

Optional readings:

Christensen, J. F. , Just, S. N. & Schwarzkopf, S. (2025): Productive tensions of corporate Pride partnerships: Towards a relational ethics of constitutive impurity. Journal of Business Ethics, 198: 345-363.

Just, S. N., Muhr, S.L., & Burø, T. (2017): Queer matters: Reflections on the critical potential of affective organizing. In: Pullen, A., Harding, N. & Phillips, M. (Eds.), Feminists and Queer Theorists Debate the Future of Critical Management Studies (pp. 203-226). Bingley: Emerald.

Plotnikof, M., Muhr, S. L., Holck, L. & Just, S. N. (2022): Repoliticizing diversity work? Exploring the performative potentials of norm-critical activism. Gender, Work & Organization, 29(2): 466-485.

Camilla Andersson: Norm Critical Design

Mandatory readings:

Mazé, R., & Redstrom, J. (2007a). Difficult Forms: Critical Practices in Design and Research. In IASDR07 proceedings: Emerging trends in design research (pp. 1–18). Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Wikberg Nilsson, Åsa & Marcus Jahnke (2018). “Tactics for Norm-Creative Innovation”, She Ji: The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation, 4(4), 375-391.

Optional readings:

Andersson, C., Maze, R., & Isaksson, A. (2019, June 2–4). Who Cares About Those Who Care? Design and Technologies of Power in Swedish Elder Care. Proceedings of the 8th biannual Nordic Design Research (Nordes) Conference: Who Cares?, Espoo, Finland. https://archive.nordes.org/index.php/n13/article/view/482/453

Ehrnberger, Karin, Räsänen, Minna, Börjesson, Emma, Hertz, Anne-Cristine & Sundbom, Cristine (2017): “The Androchair: Performing Gynaecology through the Practice of Gender Critical Design”, The Design Journal, DOI: 10.1080/14606925.2016.1261510

Prado de Oliveira Martins, L., & Oliveira, P. (2014, February 4). Questioning the "critical" in speculative & critical design. Medium. Retrieved November 28, 2021, from https://medium.com/a-parede/questioning-the-critical-in-speculative-critical-design-5a355cac2ca4

Marta Padovan-Özdemir: Cabinet of Rarities

Mandatory readings:

De Rijke, Victoria. “The And Article: Collage as Research Method”. Qualitative Inquiry 30, nr. 3–4 (marts 2024): 301–10. https://doi.org/10.1177/10778004231165983.

MacLure, Maggie. “‘A demented form of the familiar’: Postmodernism and educational research”. Journal of Philosophy of Education 40, nr. 2 (2006): 223–39.

Optional readings:

Foucault, Michel. “Nietzsche, Genealogy, History”. I Language, Counter-Memory, Practice: Selected Essays and Interviews, redigeret af Donald F. Bouchard, 139–64. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1977.

Foucault, Michel. The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences. Repr. Routledge Classics. London: Routledge, 2007, pp. xvi-xxvi.

THEME III: Norm-critical ethics

Marta Padovan-Özdemir: Heterotopic horizon of change

Mandatory readings:

Foucault, Michel, and Jay Miskowiec. “Of Other Spaces”. Diacritics 16, no. 1 (1986): 22–27. https://doi.org/10.2307/464648.

Silverman, Hugh J. “Hugh J. Silverman — from Utopia/Dystopia to Heterotopia: An Interpretive Topology”. Philosophy & Social Criticism 7, nr. 2 (1980): 170–82. https://doi.org/10.1177/019145378000700203.

Optional readings:

Bazin, Yoann, og Philippe Naccache. “The Emergence of Heterotopia as a Heuristic Concept to Study Organization”. European Management Review 13, nr. 3 (september 2016): 225–33. https://doi.org/10.1111/emre.12082.

Fritsch, Kelly. “Desiring Disability Differently: Neoliberalism, Heterotopic Imagination and Intra-Corporeal Reconfigurations”. Foucault Studies, nr. 19 (17. juni 2015): 43–66. https://doi.org/10.22439/fs.v0i19.4824.

Hetherington, Kevin. The Badlands of Modernity. Routledge, 2002. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203428870, pp. 20-38.

Jo Krøjer: Feminist ethics of care

Mandatory readings:

Krøjer, J. (2025). Caring for gender? Ethics and gender equality notions in Danish early childhood education and care. Ribers, B & Warring, N (eds.), Professional Ethics in Welfare Work and Education: Nordic Perspectives, Routledge, pp. 161-173.

Gilligan, C. (2014). Moral injury and the ethic of care: Reframing the conversation about differences. Journal of Social Philosophy, 45(1), 89–106. DOI:10.1111/josp.12050

Optional readings:

Dupret, K. & Krøjer, J. (2023). A Carefully Engaged Resercher’s Body, Lydahl, D & Nickelsen, N.C.M. (Eds.), Ethical and methodological Dilemmas in Social Science Interventions. Careful Engagements in Healthcare, Museums, Design and Beyond, Springer, pp. 243-256.