Conferences

Rhetorical Citizenship and
Democratic Education
in the Baltic Sea Region

6–8 May 2026

Södertörn University, Stockholm

Democracy across the Baltic Sea region faces mounting pressures from polarization, disinformation, and declining civic trust, leaving young people uncertain about meaningful participation and teachers without concrete strategies for schools’ democratic mission. This conference highlights the civic potential of rhetorical education in secondary schooling, focusing on how argument literacy and deliberative agency are cultivated in classrooms, particularly through language instruction. Bringing together researchers and teachers, it offers an interdisciplinary forum to examine how rhetorical competencies are mobilised in policy, curriculum, and practice. The Baltic Sea region provides a crucial context for this dialogue, where differing national approaches invite comparative analysis and mutual learning.

Call for Papers (submissions closed)

The Conference

Venue

Södertörn University, Stockholm, Sweden

Getting here:
Take an SL commuter train from Stockholm City towards Södertälje or Tumba (approximately 19 minutes).

Alternatively, take a Mälartåg regional train from Stockholm Central (approximately 10 minutes).

Get off at Flemingsberg station. When you exit the station, turn right. Campus Flemingsberg and Södertörn University are located at the top of the long escalators.

Programme

Preliminary programme (to be updated):

Wednesday 6 May 2026
11:00–13:00 Registration
12:00 Lunch
13:00 Opening remarks
13:30 Keynote: Mika Hietanen, ”Critical Doxic Literacy: Educating for Civic Reasoning in a Digital Age”
14:30 Paper presentations
15:30 Coffee break
16:00–18:00 Paper presentations

Thursday 7 May 2026
09:00 Coffee and informal gathering
10:00 Paper presentations
12:00 Lunch
13:00 Presentation of the DEMORHET/READy research project networks
14:00–16:30 Panels and presentations
19:00 Conference dinner

Friday 8 May
09:00 Coffee
10:00 Final presentations and discussion
12:00 Lunch
13:00–14:00 Next steps, closing remarks, and farewell

Sessions and Abstracts

Abstracts will be published here once registration has been completed.

Session 1 (Wednesday 6 May 14:30–15:30)

Lihong Huang, Bryony Holskins & Jens Bruun, ”Fostering democratic citizenship in the Nordic and Baltic countries”
Kaarel Haav, ”Which civic and rhetorical concepts are vital in politics and education?”

Session 2 (Wednesday 6 May 16:00–18:00)

Kristel Jakobson-Pallo & Siret Siim, ”Preparing First-Time Voters: Civics Education, Street-level Bureaucracy, and Active Citizenship in Estonian Upper-Secondary Schools”
Anders Sigrell, ”Rhetorical Exercises for Democracy”
Christina Matthiesen, ”The Case of Rhetoric as an Elective Course in Upper-Secondary School”
Barbro Wallgren Hemlin ”Legal rhetoric in action – the criminal trial as teaching material”

Session 3 (Thursday 7 May 10:00–12:00)

Anette Mansikka-aho, ”A Foucauldian Analysis on the Potentials of Intergenerational Climate Conversations”
Lennart Hellspong & Lisa Källström, ”Democratic Dialogue in Education: Cultivating Rhetorical Citizenship”
Sonja Helkala, ”Political emotions in democratic education in Finnish schools”
Christoffer Wärn, ”Demokrati i finländska gymnasier under 2000-talet – Synen på demokratifostran, delaktighet och retorik i den finländska gymnasieutbildningens läroplan”

This session includes online participation by some presenters.

Session 4 (Thursday 7 May 14:00–16:30)

Abigail Gometz & Karl Peterson, ”Teaching Democracy through Totalitarianism: An Experiential, Intercultural Approach”
Joanna Nowakowska, ”From Alarm to Affirmation: Toward a Language of Ecological Care”
Pille Raudla-Loode, ”Creative Work as a Developer of Thinking and Self-Expression at Audru School”
Claire Hogarth, ”Bridging School and Civic Life Through the Problem-Solving Proposal”

Session 5 (Friday 8 May 10:00–12:00)

Shane Crombie, ”Rhetoric and Social Change: Advancing Democratic Competencies in Higher Education”
Siret Siim, ”Lessons in Security: How Estonian History and Civics Teachers Frame National Security and Defence”
Stefan Rimm, ”From Apathy to Agency: Moral Imitation and Political Exemplarity in Upper-Secondary Education”
Concluding Discussion

Organising Committee

Dr Stefan Rimm, conference chair
Senior Lecturer in Rhetoric, Södertörn University
stefan.rimm@sh.se
https://www.sh.se/kontakt/forskare/stefan-rimm