Seminar: Stijn Sieckelinck – Social strategies for resilient identities

SOCIAL STRATEGIES FOR RESILIENT IDENTITIES: Authoritative Alliances as practices of re-radicalisation, 2017-2021

Abstract

In their reaction to terrorist violence, governments are expected to use force based on their monopoly on violence (and threat of violence). Deterrence and repression are generally thought to be most effective in immediate reaction to violence and are employed to strengthen the position of democratically elected governments in specific times of great societal concern. However, less is known about its effects in the longer term and few studies have been conducted on its impact on preventative work in educational or care settings.

In this research project, the schools’, youth work’s and religious(ly) inspired institutions’ possibilities and limits of reacting from an educative and collective (with parents and police) approach against (possible) developing radicalisation (expressed offline or online) are explored. Is there an alternative to the authorities’ threat with force in the early stage of interest or engagement? What does the more authoritative response exactly look like in different social-educational contexts? What are the consequences for cooperation between actors from different sectors? In dealing with these questions, special attention is paid to how social media and internet impact the relationships.

Bio

Stijn Sieckelinck is an Assistant Professor in the department of Youth, Education and Society, at the faculty of Social Sciences (Utrecht University). He holds a PhD in Social Educational Theory. His academic work centers around philosophy, social pedagogy, multiculturalism and youth governance. Research and consultancy interests lie in the broad field of education, governance and professional improvement, but with a particular focus on radicalisation, conflict resolution, and political education across an array of national and international contexts.

After previous books on youth and ideals in “The best of youth. A philosophic-pedagogical perspective to youth and their ideal(ism)s” (2009), “Ideals Adrift. A pedagogical view on radicalisation” (2010), and “Unauthorized Authority. How citizens cope with the authority crisis” (2013), he has co-edited with Micha de Winter a research report called “Formers & Families. Transitional Journeys in and out of Extremisms in the UK, Denmark, and the Netherlands” (2015). He is currently working on a very exciting and urgent book: The power of reradicalisation as philosophy and strategy against extremism (forthcoming).