2018/2019

In Sync

How Synchronisation and Mediation Produce Collective Times, Then and Now

Social Sciences

Principal investigators

Helge Jordheim

Professor
University of Oslo (UiO)
Year at CAS

Espen Ytreberg

Professor
University of Oslo (UiO)
Year at CAS

Abstract

The InSync project produced theoretical and conceptual insights into the ways media enable so-called synchronisation, and in so doing, help constitute social collectives. To put it more simply: we live together by the ways we understand time together, and media are our main means of arriving at that joint understanding. Some key premises for InSync's inquiry were known beforehand: conceptual history tells us that time is essentially plural, the social sciences suggest that some kind of order must be imposed on this plural time for social collectives to be formed, and media studies has charted some of the ways that media order time. InSync pursued these issues via the concept of "synchronisation", applying it to a wide range of media and cases old and recent. The project was able to uncover the pervasiveness of mediated synchronisations, the forms of socially situated work that go into them, the crucial role of scales and scaling, and how the production of collective social and political times both engages and suppresses the times of nature. The strongly interdisciplinary nature of the project led to an emphasis on establishing the project as a meeting point, by hosting frequent academic events with a broad range of collaborators.

Fellows

Sine Halkjelsvik Bjordal

PhD Candidate
University of Oslo (UiO)
Year at CAS

Leonoor Zuiderveen Borgesius

PhD Candidate
University of Oslo (UiO)
Year at CAS

Geoffrey Bowker

Professor
University of California, Irvine
Year at CAS

Bodhisattva Chattopadhyay

Researcher
University of Oslo (UiO)
Year at CAS

Staffan Ericson

Associate Professor
Södertörn University
Year at CAS

Thomas Hylland Eriksen

Professor
University of Oslo (UiO)
Year at CAS

Jon Inge Faldalen

Lecturer
University of Oslo (UiO)
Year at CAS

Lucian Hölscher

Professor Em.
Ruhr-University Bochum
Year at CAS

Rana Issa

Assistant Professor
American University of Beirut
Year at CAS
profile image illustration

Stine Alling Jacobsen

PhD Candidate
University of Oslo (UiO)
Year at CAS

Anne Jerslev

Professor
University of Copenhagen
Year at CAS

Rich Ling

Professor
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Year at CAS

John Durham Peters

Professor
Yale University
Year at CAS

Stefan Tanaka

Professor
University of California, San Diego
Year at CAS

Einar Wigen

Associate Professor
University of Oslo (UiO)
Year at CAS

News

On January 23rd, The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters hosted a 'lunch seminar' for its members, featuring a lecture by Sine Halkjelsvik Bjordal, a former fellow of the CAS project 'In Sync: How Synchronisation and Mediation Produce Collective Times, Then and Now', led by Helge Jordheim and Espen Ytreberg (both professors at the University of Oslo) in 2018/2019. In this seminar, Sine shared her insights on Norwegian stave churches.

Former project leader at CAS, Helge Jordheim, was recently awarded the ‘Gad Rausings pris för framstående humanistisk forskargärning´ for his innovative and influential research in the field of cultural history. Jordheim's research connects the past, present, and future by exploring how past concepts of nature, time, and politics can contribute to understanding current crises and dilemmas. We talked to project leader Helge about his time at CAS!

Helge Jordheim, a former project leader at CAS, has been awarded the ‘Gad Rausings pris för framstående humanistisk forskargärning´ for his innovative and influential research in the field of cultural history. Jordheim led the research project 'In Sync: How Synchronization and Mediation Produce Collective Times, Then and Now' together with professor Espen Ytreberg in 2018/2019.