Thomas Hylland Eriksen
Encyclopedia
Thomas Hylland Eriksen is professor of social anthropology
at the University of Oslo
. He has done field work in Trinidad
and Mauritius
. His fields of research include identity, nationalism, globalisation and identity politics. Eriksen finished his dr. polit.-degree in 1991, and was made professor in 1995, at the age of 33. In the years 1993-2001 he was editor of the journal Samtiden
.
A considerable portion of Eriksen's work has focused on popularizing social anthropology and conveying basic cultural relativism as well as criticism of Norwegian nationalism in the Norwegian public debate. He has written the basic textbook used in the introductory courses in social anthropology at most Scandinavian universities. The book, "Small Places -- Large Issues" in English, is also used in introductory courses in many other countries, and has been widely translated, as has his other major textbook, "Ethnicity and Nationalism: Anthropological Perspectives". Eriksen is a frequent contributor of newspaper pieces in Scandinavia.
Eriksen has been a minor political candidate for the Norwegian Liberal Party
. In the local elections of 2011, he is a minor candidate for the Green Party in Oslo.
Between 2004 and 2010, Eriksen directed an interdisciplinary research programme, Cultural Complexity in the New Norway (CULCOM), at the University of Oslo. In a programmatic statement, he said that a main goal was to "redraw the map of Norway" to make it fit the new transnational, complex and globalised realities. A book which sums up the empirical results and theoretical perspectives resulting from CULCOM is "Samfunn" ("Society", 2010).
The EU and the Globalist Alliance *http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/2290 - free online text
Social anthropology
Social Anthropology is one of the four or five branches of anthropology that studies how contemporary human beings behave in social groups. Practitioners of social anthropology investigate, often through long-term, intensive field studies , the social organization of a particular person: customs,...
at the University of Oslo
University of Oslo
The University of Oslo , formerly The Royal Frederick University , is the oldest and largest university in Norway, situated in the Norwegian capital of Oslo. The university was founded in 1811 and was modelled after the recently established University of Berlin...
. He has done field work in Trinidad
Trinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...
and Mauritius
Mauritius
Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...
. His fields of research include identity, nationalism, globalisation and identity politics. Eriksen finished his dr. polit.-degree in 1991, and was made professor in 1995, at the age of 33. In the years 1993-2001 he was editor of the journal Samtiden
Samtiden
Samtiden is a Norwegian political and literary magazine. It was founded by Jørgen Brunchorst and Gerhard Gran in 1890. The magazine's first publisher was John Griegs forlag , and from 1900 Aschehoug . Gran was the magazine's editor from 1892 to 1925. Cathrine Sandnes has been editor-in-chief from...
.
A considerable portion of Eriksen's work has focused on popularizing social anthropology and conveying basic cultural relativism as well as criticism of Norwegian nationalism in the Norwegian public debate. He has written the basic textbook used in the introductory courses in social anthropology at most Scandinavian universities. The book, "Small Places -- Large Issues" in English, is also used in introductory courses in many other countries, and has been widely translated, as has his other major textbook, "Ethnicity and Nationalism: Anthropological Perspectives". Eriksen is a frequent contributor of newspaper pieces in Scandinavia.
Eriksen has been a minor political candidate for the Norwegian Liberal Party
Venstre (Norway)
The Liberal Party is a centrist liberal political party in Norway. The party is the oldest in the country, and has enacted reforms such as parliamentarism, freedom of religion, universal suffrage and free education. Since 2010, the leader of the party is Trine Skei Grande...
. In the local elections of 2011, he is a minor candidate for the Green Party in Oslo.
Between 2004 and 2010, Eriksen directed an interdisciplinary research programme, Cultural Complexity in the New Norway (CULCOM), at the University of Oslo. In a programmatic statement, he said that a main goal was to "redraw the map of Norway" to make it fit the new transnational, complex and globalised realities. A book which sums up the empirical results and theoretical perspectives resulting from CULCOM is "Samfunn" ("Society", 2010).
Selected works in English
- Ethnicity And Nationalism (1993/2010)
- Small Places -- Large Issues (1995/2010)
- Common Denominators: Ethnicity, Nationalism and the Politics of Compromise in Mauritius (1998)
- A History Of Anthropology (2001, with F. S. Nielsen)
- Tyranny of the Moment: Fast and Slow Time in the Information Age (2001)
- Globalisation: Studies in Anthropology (2003, ed.)
- What Is Anthropology? (2004)
- Engaging Anthropology (2006)
- Globalization: The Key Concepts (2007)
- Flag, Nation and Identity in Europe and America (2007, ed. w/Richard Jenkins)
- Paradoxes of Cultural Recognition (2009, ed. w/Halleh Ghorashi and Sharam Alghasi)
External links
- CULCOM website
- Home page on UiO
- Personal website
- What is Ethnicity? - free online text
- Minorities and the state - free online text
The EU and the Globalist Alliance *http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/2290 - free online text