Eeva Houtbeckers

Aalto University · Department of Design

The aim of this research network is to discuss work, working life, and labour politics from the perspective of environment. Potential themes for inquiry: - The greening of work - The environmental impacts of “immaterial labour” - The experiences of natural and built environments at work - The work of non-human animals - Environmental agency in working life - Labour unions and environmental politics - The transition to sustainable economy from the perspective of labour - Theories of work in the Anthropocene, Capitalocene, Plutocene or other notions - Rethinking work from indigenous perspectives

In my doctoral studies I focused on social entrepreneurship in Finland. I followed four cases over time in sectors addressing sustainability challenges, namely up-cycle design, veganism, open data, and co-working. I defended my dissertation on 28 October, 2016. My dissertation 'Mundane social entrepreneurship - A practice perspective on the work of microentrepreneurs' is available as a open access PDF at https://aaltodoc.aalto.fi/handle/123456789/24394

Critical Entrepreneurship Studies (CES) forms a diverse community united by the desire to think entrepreneurship differently, transgressing the boundaries imposed by dominant paradigms (Tedmanson et al., 2012). Specifically, CES questions hegemonic notions of entrepreneurship in academia as an epistemology of knowing/representing individuals and as the practice of particular social and economic activities. For instance, we have seen the shift from critique of enterprise discourse (du Gay, 2004) to the critique of the "dark side" of entrepreneurship (Jones & Spicer, 2009) and onto more affirmative critiques (Weiskopf & Steyaert, 2009). This critical shift requires not only a radical re-imagining of entrepreneurship theory and research but re-imagining entrepreneurship from communities that so far have been unable to contribute to these dialogues. Such conversations, we believe, may provide not only a voice but the radical alternatives required to re-shape the meaning of entrepreneurship. Henceforth, to this end, we ask the following bold questions, “Why should we use the concept of entrepreneurship?” and “Who benefits from its use and who is left out?” and “How do we re-imagine entrepreneurship?” For this purpose, we invite here radical papers that could, for example, try to renounce the idea of entrepreneurship – even to realize its usefulness. Equally, we promote ideas that are not configured within the epistemological western traditions but from other regions and cultures that challenge the perpetuation of entrepreneurship. We also encourage contributions that do not ‘frame’ entrepreneurship under our traditional academic language but add value through other meaningful communicative sources, such as short films, photography, and short stories. We also invite studies making use of various theoretical approaches, including but not limited to post-colonial and feminist perspectives and critiques. The persistence of the Critical Entrepreneurship Studies stream (since 2009) and most relevant the inequalities experienced currently around the world by various communities tells the urgent need for critical thinking on entrepreneurship. Hence and in line with the 10th Critical Management Studies conference’s aims, we would like to add a stream triggering revolutionary breakthroughs in our ontological, epistemological and methodological repository in critical entrepreneurship studies. The deadline for submitting the paper abstract is: 31st January 2017. Decision for acceptance to the stream will be communicated to the authors latest by 15th February 2017. Abstracts should be between 500-700 words (excluding references) and should be submitted to Banu Ozkazanc-Pan at banu.ozkazanc-pan@umb.edu and Piritta Parkkari at piritta.parkkari@ulapland.fi.