The Big Layered Cake: towards the conceptualization of neighborness

The proposed project is a continuation and development of the ongoing project "The layered cake of neighborness", which is being implemented by the team of Russian and Finnish scientists with the support of the Kone Foundation. Based on the gained research experience, and extending it, we propose the elaboration and implementation of a research and educational program with the goal to assemble and shape the studies of neighborness as a distinct interdisciplinary research field of social sciences, tailored for the joint work with artists and broader publics. The program will be developed along three major lines: 1) research: the сontinuation of work in the ‘old’ project themes and expansion of ongoing research by a new research project ‘Primus inter pares’: multispecies neighboring in Russia and Finland; 2) education: the elaboration and implementation of a number of education activities, academic and public (‘neighborness course’ for Russian and Finnish participants, online academic course, short online entries); 3) public dissemination: the translation of the gained results to non-academic languages (ex., art) and making them accessible to broader audiences (exhibition, theater performance, ‘neighborness encyclopedia’ project). The project targets to the assembling of the field of neighborness studies as a crossroads of social sciences, art, and education and in this endeavor will rely upon qualitative methodologies.