Academic Interests
Regionally my research focusses on Muslim societies in East Africa and particularly on the Swahili region and Northern Sudan. Over many years I have conducted ethnographic fieldworks in Zanzibar and in the Bayoda desert in Sudan. Here at the University Museum of Cultural History I am keeper of the part of our ethnographic collections which originates in the various regions of Africa.
Thematically my research is focussed on problems related to gender and identity, rituals and religion, cosmology, aesthetics/morality and everyday parctice, social change and continuity. Fieldwork in Zanzibar and Northern Sudan has also directed my research interests towards themes like migration, mobility, multiculturalism and notions of belonging.
Through the research project Making sense through the senses—Exploring the aesthetics of ritual funded by the University Museum of Cultural History, I have in recent years focussed on the relationship between aesthetics and performativity in Zanzibar society, and particularly on understandings of magic and practices linked to relations between worldly and spiritual domains of existence.
Background
Education
- 1995: PhD: Disputation date: 00101995, Faculty of Social Science, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo, Norway
- 1989: Master: 00.12.1989, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo, Norway
Current and previous positions
- 2011–present: Professor, Department of Ethnography – SENKU, Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo, Norway
- 2003–2006: Head of Department, Department of Ethnography, Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo, Norway
- 2001–2010: Associate Professor, Department of Ethnography, Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo, Norway
- 1996–2001: Associate Professor, Department of International Development & Environment Studies, University of Life Science, Norway
Fellowships and awards
- 2021–2024 Mprint@EastAfrica Islamic Manuscript, Print and Practice: Textual adaptations in coastal East Africa, c. 1880-1929, Norwegian Research Council (NFR)
- 2019: University of Oslo; General Pedagogical Training-programme
- 2013–2016: Norwegian Network on the Anthropology of Mobilities, Norwegian Research Council, Norway
- 2015: Artic Domestication in the era of the Anthropocene, Centre for Advanced Studies, Norway
- 2000–2005: Adaptation to Climate Stress as a Livelihood Struggle: Bridging Conflict and Vulnerability Theory, Norwegian Research Council
- 2001–2004: Rural Poverty and Well-being in Countries with Internal Wars: A Comparative Study of Processes of Impoverishment, Displacement and Identity Construction, Norwegian Research Council
- 1997–2000: Forced migration of civil war victims in Africa. Resource Conflicts, Dilemmas of Return and Long Term Development Norwegian Research Council
- 1991–1994: Research Fellow, Norwegian Research Council
- 1993: Personal Overseas Research Grant, Norwegian Research Council
- 1985–1986: Personal Overseas Research grant, Norwegian Research Council
Mobility
- 2024–: Advisory Board, Pious Practices among Danish Muslims. Diversity, Devotion and Aesthetics, Catharina Raudevere, Dept. of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies, University of Copenhagen
- 2021: Invited Key Note Speaker, Contemporary Muslim Piety, Dept. of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies, University of Copenhagen
- 2017: Invited Key Note Speaker, Negotiating Gender and Sexualities in Muslim Africa, Centre for African Studies, University of Florida
- 2005: Invited Guest Researcher, Centre d’Études Africaines, École des Hautes Etudes en Sciences, France
- 2004: Invited Guest Researcher, International Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World (ISIM), Leiden University, Netherlands
- 2002: Invited Guest Researcher, International Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World (ISIM), Leiden University, Netherlands
- 2001: Guest Researcher, CCCRW, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford
- 2000: Invited Guest Researcher, Centre for Cross Cultural Research on Women, QEH, University of Oxford, England
- 1999: Invited Guest Researcher, Centre d’Études Africaines, École des Hautes Etudes en Sciences, France
- 1993: Research Fellow, Centre for Cross Cultural Research on Women, Queen Elizabeth House Oxford University, England
Supervision of graduate students and research fellows
PhD:
- 2024–: Michaeli, Raphael, Muslim Devotional Literature in the Age of Print – Mawlid texts (and context) in East Africa, Dept. of Archaeology, History, Cultural Studies and Religion, University of Bergen.
- 2021: (submitted) Vasstveit, I.K. It is written on the Forehead: Vitality and skilful manoeuvring in the daily life of Tibetan refugees in India, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo, Norway.
- 2014: Øien. M, Transforming Art Forms: Change and Continuity in and Aboriginal Society, Daly River, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo, Norway
- 2014: Rahwa Mussie Weldemichael, Negotiating Disrupted Lives – Living with Obstetrical Fistula in Ethiopia, Co-supervisor, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo, Norway
- 2012: Wallevik, H. Transgressing Economic Boundaries: gender, Commodification and Social Change in Zanzibar, Department for International Environment and Development Studies, University of Life Sciences, Norway
- 2009: Haaland, H. Narrating History, Negotiating Rights. A discussion of knowledge, land rights and matters of identity in Madjadjane, Mozambique, Department for International Environment and Development Studies, University of Life Sciences, Norway
- 2008: Rysst, M. I want to be me. I want to be cool: An Analysis of Norwegian tweenagers’ gender construction and gender play, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo, Norway
- 2002: Nyborg, Ingrid. Yours Today, Mine Tomorrow? A study of women and men’s negotiations over resources in Baltistan, Pakistan, Department for International Environment and Development Studies, University of Life Sciences, Norway
Master Social anthropology:
- 2017: Hibo Samatar, Juridical pluralism, Common Law and Globalization in Puntland, Somalia
- 2008: Kristin B. Galteland, Everyday-life and political mobilization on Zanzibar: A study of girls, their future aspirations and possibilities for wage labour, Department Social anthropology, University of Oslo, Norway
- 2008: Eli Johanne Ormberg, What motivates changing agricultural practices among small farmers in Zanzibar, Department of Social anthropology, University of Oslo, Norway
- 2007: Pernille Søland, En studie av sosiale relasjoner og moralske dilemmaer blant kvinner på Lamu, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo, Norway
- 2006: Torkel Holmen, Taraab – en studie av musikk og sosial differensiering i Zanzibar Town, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo, Norway
- 2001: Signe Gilen, Kjønnsbilledlighet og endringsprosesser i Palestina, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo, Norway
- 2001: Camilla Hansen, Fortellinger om annerledeshet (South Africa), Department of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo, Norway
- 2000: Eide, R.E. Kvinner i tiden (Mafia Island, Tanzania), Department of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo, Norway
- 1999: Olsen, E.F. Dealing with Conflicts (Zanzibar) Department of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo, Norway
- 1999: Espen Olafsen, Det magiske spillet (Tanzania), The Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, Norway
- 1997: Hilden, P. K. Telling truths: experience, practice, and religious diversity in a South-Ghanian community, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo, Norway
Master Development Studies:
- 2007: Sharma, K. Gender discrimination, education and property rights: A case of Kewalani village, Nepal, Department of International Environment and Development Studies, University of Life Sciences, Norway.
- 2007: Mohamed Husein Gaas, Flight, resettlement and the employment constraints of Somali immigrants in Oslo, Norway, Department of International Environment and Development Studies, University of Life Sciences, Norway.
- 2007: Mpaka, D.A. Factors constraining girls and women’s access to education in Morogoro Municipal District, Tanzania, Department of International Environment and Development Studies, University of Life Sciences, Norway.
- 2006: Sundvoll, C. P. Collective steps towards enhancing rural livelihoods in post-genocide Rwanda, Department of International Environment and Development Studies, University of Life Sciences, Norway.
- 2006: Gotehus, A. Crossing the river: perceptions of human trafficking among villagers in Bokea Province, Northern Laos, Department of International Environment and Development Studies, University of Life Sciences, Norway.
- 2005: Tyseer Elhadi Omer, Farming in the Desert: Institutions and Mechanisms that make Agriculture as a Livelihood Possible for Hawawir Pastoralists in Northern Sudan, Department of International Environment and Development Studies, University of Life Sciences, Norway.
- 2005: Jamila Elhag Abd Elmahmoud Hassan, Chronic conflict, and livelihoods in Heiban, Nuba Mountains of the Sudan, Department of International Environment and Development Studies, University of Life Sciences, Norway.
- 2004: Dhaubhadel, R. Participatory Forest Management: Gender and sustainable Livelihoods: Cases from the Western Terai of Nepal, Department of International Environment and Development Studies, University of Life Sciences, Norway.
- 2002: Pant, L.P. Linking Crop Diversity with Food Traditions and Food Security, Nepal, Department of International Environment and Development Studies, University of Life Sciences, Norway.
- 2002: Manal Hassan, Socio-Cultural Change among Hawawir Forced Migrants (Northern Sudan), Department of International Environment and Development Studies, University of Life Sciences, Norway.
- 2001: Gurung, S. Local Ecological Knowledge about Management of Tree Fodder Resources (Nepal), Department of International Environment and Development Studies, University of Life Sciences, Norway.
- 2001: Meela, J.T. Local Communities Participation in the Management of Coastal Resources Through Integrated Coastal Resource Management (Zanzibar), Department of International Environment and Development Studies, University of Life Sciences, Norway.
- 2000: Johnsen, K. I. Gender, Household Organization and Women and Men’s Access to and Control of Natural Resources (Nepal), Department of International Environment and Development Studies, University of Life Sciences, Norway.
- 1999: Haaland, H. Creating an Image of Poverty (Mozambique), Department of International Environment and Development Studies, University of Life Sciences, Norway.
- 1999: Bockelie, M. School System Development and Curricula Formulation (Mozambique), Department of International Environment and Development Studies, University of Life Sciences, Norway.
- 1998: Benjaminsen, G. & Hege Wallevik, Tourism in Zanzibar: A Fool’s Paradise? Department of International Environment and Development Studies, University of Life Sciences, Norway
- 1998: Homely, R.R. The Role of Women in Food production and their Contribution to Household Income, Tanzania, Department of International Environment and Development Studies, University of Life Sciences, Norway.
- 1997: Joshi, R.B. Gender Analysis in Energy Resource Management, Nepal, Department of International Environment and Development Studies, University of Life Sciences, Norway.
- 1997: Raza, T. The Role of Gender in Integrated Rests and Disease Management (Pakistan), Department of International Environment and Development Studies, University of Life Sciences, Norway
Teaching activities
- 2013: From Text to Field and Field to Text. Nordic PhD Research Course in Social Anthropology, NTNU, Norway, 11-13 September.
- 2010: Health and Recovery in Times of Disruption: Anthropological and Historical Perspectives, Bergen. Summer Research School on Global Development Challenges, University of Bergen, June
- 2005–2006: Sosialantropologiske perspektiver på materiell kultur: Representasjon og sosial hukommelse i en museumskontekst, Sos.ant.2000, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo, Norway
- 2004: Gender, Tradition and Modernity, sosant2240, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo, Norway.
- 1997–2008: Course in Development Studies at Ph.D. level. International Department of Development and Environment and Studies, University of Life Sciences, Norway
- 1996–2002: Social Anthropology, Management of Natural Resources and Sustainable Agriculture, University of Life Sciences, Norway
- 1996: Anthropological perspectives. Department of Psychology, University of Oslo
- 1993–1996: Peace Research Course at International Summer School; University of Oslo and International Peace Research Institute, on the following themes: Rituals and Identity, Engendering Anthropology, Women and Social Conflict
- 1985: Problems of Development, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo, Norway
- 1984: Women and Development, at the Department of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo, Norway
Institutional responsibilities
- 2021–2023: Curator, Collection, Permanent exhibition, Historical Museum KHM
- 2020–2021: Subject Responsibility, Memory on the Horizon, Studio photography 1960–1989, Somalia
- 2020–21: Working Group for new exhibitions, Historical Museum, KHM
- 2018–2020: Chair of Exhibition committee, Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo
- 2015–2017: Research committee, Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo
- 2014–2016: Deputy Board Member, Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo, Norway
- 2012–2014 Board member, Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo, Norway
- 2011–2014: Deputy to Head of Department of Ethnography, University of Oslo
- 2008–2010: PluRel - Religion and Collective Memory, Leadership team, University of Oslo, Norway
- 2003 –2006: Head of Department of Ethnography, Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo, Norway
- 2000–2004: Director of PhD Course in Development Studies, University of Life Sciences, Norway
- 1997–2003: Board Member, Research Committee, University of Life Sciences, Norway
- 1998–1999: Director of PhD Programme, Department of International Development and Environment Studies, University of Life Sciences, Norway
- 1996–1999: Publishing Committee, Department of International Development and Environment Studies, University of Life Sciences, Norway
Commissions of trust
- 2020–2023: Riksbankens Jubileumsfond/The Swedish Foundation for Humanities and Social Science, RJSabattical
- 2020–2021: External expert in the recruitment of a Professor of History of Religions with specialisation in Contemporary Religion, HT-Faculties, Centre for Theology & Religious Studies, Lund University.
- 2021: External Assessor for promotion to Associate Professor, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Khartoum, The Sudan
- 2020: Assessment Committee, PhD, Julie Sommer von Würden, Elimu: Education and Islamic Knowledge in Zanzibar, Faculty of the Humanities, University of Copenhagen
- 2019: International Evaluation Panel; Complete Evaluation of The Graduate School, Faculty of Humanities, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
- 2019: Convocation du comité de selection, Swahili. INALCO—Institut nationales langues et civilisations orientales, Paris.
- 2016–2018: Co-editor, Norsk Antropologisk Tidsskrift (Norwegian Journal of Anthropology), Universitetsforlaget, Norway
- 2015–2018: Riksbankens Jubileumsfond/The Swedish Foundation for Humanities and Social Science, RJResearch
- 2012–2014: Norwegian Research Council’s representative in NOP-HS, Joint Committee for Nordic Research Councils in the Humanities & Social Sciences
- 2012–2014: Board member, Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo
- 2012–2014: Chair, NOP-HS, Joint Committee for Nordic Research Councils in the Humanities & Social Sciences
- 2011–present: Norwegian Research Council, Division of Science: Publication Grants, The Humanities and Social Science
- 2007– 2010: Norwegian Research Council, Division of Social Science (FRISAM), Member of the Committee
- 2006–2009: Board of Trustees, ICARDA (International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas) Aleppo, Syria
- 2003–2005: Board of Trustees, ICARDA (International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas) Aleppo, Syria
- 1999–2001: Utredningskommisjon, Norwegian Ministry of Justice, Reviewing the Norwegian Citizenship Law
- 1997–1999: Board member, Norwegian Association for Development Research /NFU, Norway
- 1993–1999: Board member, North/South Coalition (Centre for Development and the Environment/SUM, University of Oslo, Norway
- 2020/2021: Qualifying selection committee, Professor of Contemporary Religions, Joint Faculties of Humanities and Theology, University of Lund, Sweden
- 2020/2021: Qualifying selecting committee, Associate Professor, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Tromsø
- 2019/2020: Qualifying selecting committee, Evaluation of Professor Competence, University of Tromsø, Norway
- 2015/2016: Qualifying selecting committee, Evaluation of Professor Competence, University of Tromsø, Norway
- 2013: Qualifying selecting committee, Post.doc., Department of Social Anthropology, University of Bergen, Norway
- 2012: Qualifying selecting committee, Associate Professor, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Bergen, Norway
- 2011: Qualified selecting committee Ph.D., Department of Social Anthropology, University of Tromsø Norway
- 2009: Qualified selecting committee, Associate Professor, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Trondheim, Norway
- 2006: Qualified selecting committee Ph.D., Department of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo
- 2005: Qualified selecting committee, Associate Professor, University of Lund, Sweden
- 2005: Qualified selecting committee, Associate Professor, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Bergen, Norway
- 2004: Qualified selecting committee, Associate Professor, Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo, Norway
- 2003: Qualified selecting committee, Research position, Lund University, Sweden
- 2001:Qualified selecting committee, Associate Professor, Oslo University College, Norway
- 2000: Faculty opponent: Historical-Philosophical Faculty, University of Lund, Sweden
- 2000: Qualified selecting committee, Ph.D., Faculty of Social Science, Tromsø University, Norway
- 1999: Qualified selecting committee, Associate professor, Ethnographic Museum, University of Bergen, Norway
- 1998: Qualified selecting committee, Ph.D., SUM, University of Oslo, Norway
- 1997: Faculty opponent: Historical-Philosophical Faculty, University of Lund, Sweden.
Memberships of scientific societies
- 2013–2016: Anthropos and the Material: Challenges to Anthropology, University of Oslo, Norway
- 2013–2017: Connectivity in Motion: New Studies on the World of the Indian Ocean, Max-Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle Germany
- 2011–present: Making Sense of the Senses: Exploring the Aesthetics of Ritual, Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo, Norway.
- 2008–present: Ziori–Zanzibar Indian Ocean Research Institute, Zanzibar Town, Tanzania
- 2002–2008: International Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World (ISIM), Leiden University
- 2000–present: French-English Swahili Workshop/Table Ronde
- 2004–2007: French - Norwegian Africanist Network, Maison des Sciences des Hommes & University of Oslo
- 1993–2005: Centre for Cross Cultural Research on Women, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford
- 1990–present: National Archives, Zanzibar Tanzania
- 1995–1998: Indian Ocean Network, Centre for Development Studies, University of Bergen, Norway
- 1990–1998: Department of the History of Religion, University of Lund, Sweden
Publications
Track record: The total number of publications during the career: 94
- 2024: Performance, Artefact, and Reception: Artistic and Fantastic Dimensions of Text, Arts of the Indian Ocean, University of Toronto and Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada.
- 2024: Politics, Lived Islam, and Muslim Public Discourse in Zanzibar: Reflections on Cultural Identity, Belonging and Governance, 1984-2016, in: Farouk Topan, Kai Kresse, Eirin Stiles and Hassan Mwakimako (eds,), Governance and Islam in East Africa: Muslims and the State in kenya and Tanzania, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
- 2023: Text in Rituals: Islamic East Africa, Invited Lecture, A National PhD School, Faculty of Theology, University of Oslo.
- 2023: Performance and Reception: Text in Rituals in Muslim east Africa, presented at The Life of Islamic Texts in East Africa, Mombasa –RISSEA / Fort Jesus, Mombasa, Kenya.
- 2022: Islam, Muslim Life-Worlds, and Matters of the Everyday, in: T. Østebø (ed.), Routledge. Handbook of Islamic Africa, London: Routledge.
- 2022: Occult affliction in the context of everyday life. Perceptions of calamity and its potential remedy in Zanzibar. Presented on the workshop Occult Afflictions and Public Health: Views from Africa and the African Diaspora, April 22, by Adam Ashforth, Department of Afroamerican and African Studies, University of Michigan, US & Boris Koenig, Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Afroamerican and African Studies, University of Michigan, US.
- 2021: Muslim Piety in the Context of Everyday Life. Aesthetics and Devotional Engagement in Zanzibar, Invited Lecture, Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies, Copenhagen University.
- 2020: Negotiating Memory from the Romans to the twenty-First Century: Damnatio Memoriae, Fuglerud, Øivind, Kjersti Larsen and Marina Prusac-Lindhagen (eds)., London: Routledge.
- 2020 Societal Dismay and Ideological Disarray. Political Reform and Societal Dynamics in Zanzibar Town, in Fuglerud, Øivind, Kjersti Larsen and Marina Prusac-Lindhagen (eds)., Negotiating Memory from the Romans to the twenty-First Century: Damnatio Memoriae, London: Routledge.
- 2019: By Way of the Qur’an: Appeasing Spirits, Easing Emotions and Everyday Matters in Zanzibar, in Zulfikar Hirji (ed.), Approaches to the Qur’an in Sub-Saharan Africa, Oxford: Oxford University Press
- 2018: Introduction; co-authored with Jan. K Simonsen & Ada Engebrigtsen in Movement and Connectivity: Configurations of Belonging, Simonsen, Jan. K., Kjersti Larsen & Ada Engebrigtsen eds., Oxford: Peter Lang
- 2018: This is where we Belong: Migration and Intersecting Mobilities in Zanzibar Town, Zanzibar in Movement and Connectivity: Configurations of Belonging, Simonsen, Jan. K., Kjersti Larsen & Ada Engebrigtsen eds., Oxford: Peter Lang
- 2018: Societal dismay and Ideological Disarray: Religious reform and Everyday social dynamics in Zanzibar Town, Governance, and Islam in East Africa: Muslims and the State, Aga Khan University, Nairobi, 17-18 January.
- 2018: Trans-local Experiences and Intersecting Mobilities: Reflections on motility and actual and imagined movability in contemporary Zanzibar, Declich, Francesca ed. Translocal Connections across the Indian Ocean, Leiden/Boston: Brill, pp.227-256.
- 2018: Silenced Voices, Recaptured Memories: Historical Imprints within a Zanzibari Lifeworld, in Social Memory, Silenced Voices, and Political Struggle. Remembering the Revolution in Zanzibar, Bissell, Cunningham William & Marie-Aude Fouéré eds., Dar es Salaam: Mkuki na Nyota
- 2018: “Secrecy and Sinister Intentions: Sociality and concealment in everyday-life interactions in Zanzibar,” presented at; Zanzibar: showing/hiding, saying/concealing and other (false-)secrets (Zanzibar: montrer/cacher, dire/taire et autre (faux-)secrets), arr., Altaïr Despres, Marie-Aude Fouéré & Fanny Tilmant, Université Paris Nanterre, 31 May–01 June Maison d'Archéologie et Ethnologie (MAE), Paris, France 31 May–01 June.
- 2017: Multifaceted Identities, Multiple Dwellings: Connectivity and Flexible Household-configurations in Zanzibar Town, Schnepel, B & Edward Alpers, eds., Connectivity in Motion: Small Island Hubs in the Indian Ocean World, Palgrave McMillian
- 2015: The Semantics and Rhetoric of Evil in Zanzibar, in Evil in Africa. Encounters with the Everyday, eds.
- Walter E. A. van Beek and William C. Olsen, Bloomington: Indiana University Press
- 2015: Pleasure and Prohibitions: Reflections on Gender, Knowledge and Sexuality in Zanzibar Town’, in Gendered Lives in the Western Indian Ocean: Islam, Marriage, and Sexuality on the Swahili Coast, eds, Stiles, Erin and Katrina Daly Thompson, Ohio: Ohio University Press.
- 2015: Verdifulle smykker: Refleksjoner rundt gull og kvinners personlige økonomi i Zanzibar Town’. Ta det personlig: Iscenesettelser av identitet gjennom personlig utsmykning, Marianne Vedeler & Ingunn Rørstad, eds., Museumsforlaget
- 2014: Possessing Spirits and Bodily Transformation in Zanzibar. Reflections on Ritual, Performance and Aesthetics, Journal of Ritual Studies 28 (1.)
- 2014 Bodily Selves: Identity and Shared Realities among Humans and Spirits in Zanzibar, Journal of Religion in Africa 44
- 2013: Remedies of Restoration: Evocation of Potency in Zanzibari Everyday Life Politics. In Barbara Meier & Arne Steinforth, eds, Spirits in Politics – Uncertainties of Power and Healing in African Societies. Frankfurth /New York: Campus Verlag.
- 2011: Fastens materialitet: Ramadan som bemerkelsesverdig begivenhet på Zanzibar, Norsk Antropologisk Tidsskrift, nr 3-4, Oslo: Universitetsforlaget
- 2009: Introduction in Kjersti Larsen, ed., Knowledge, Renewal and Religion: Repositioning and changing ideological and material circumstances among the Swahili on the East-African Coast, Uppsala: The Nordic Africa Institute
- 2008: Far from the Battlefield: Livelihood Revival, Settlement and Modernization among the Hawawir, Northern Sudan’, in N. Shanmugaratnam, ed., Preparing for Peace: Between Deprivation and Livelihood Revival, Oxford: James Currey
- 2007: Dialogues between Humans and Spirits: Ways of negotiating relationships and moral order in Zanzibar Town, Zanzibar, U. Demmer & M. Gaenszle, eds, The Power of Discourse in Ritual Performance: Rhetorics, Poetics, Transformations, Berlin: LIT Verlag
- 2007: Adaptability, Identity and Conflict Mediation among the Hawawir in Northern Sudan’, in B. Derman, R. Odegaard & E. Sjaastad, eds., Conflicts over Land and Water in Africa, Oxford: James Currey
- 2005: Women, Gender and Women Performers and Performing Groups: East Africa’, Encyclopaedia of Women and Islamic Cultures (EWIC), Leiden: Brill Publisher
- 2004: Kulturforskning og gjenstandssamlinger – historie og utvikling, Kristin Iveland I samarbeid med Kjersti Larsen og Arne Martin Klausen (eds), J. Bergstøl, A. A. Perminow, A.C. Eek, Kulturhistorier i sentrum, Oslo: Kulturhistorisk Museum, Universitetet i Oslo
- 2004: Women Gender and Gender Socialization: Sub-Saharan Africa, in Suad Joseph (ed.), Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures vol. 2. Leiden: Brill
- 2004: Multiculturalism through Spirit Possession, ISIM Newsletter, No.14 June, International Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World, Leiden
- 2004: Change, Continuity and Contestation: The Politics of Modern Identities in Zanzibar, in Pat Caplan & Farouk Topan (eds), Swahili Modernities Trenton NJ: Africa World Press, Inc.
- 2003: Mobility, Identity and Belonging: The Case of the Hawawir, Northern Sudan’, N. Shanmugaratnam, R Lund & K. Stølen (eds), In, The Maze of Displacement, Høyskoleforlaget
- 2002: Mobility, Identity and Perceptions of a Good Life: The Case of the Hawaweer, Northern Sudan, UKM’s skrifter, University of Oslo, 2002
- 2002: Knowledge, Astrology, and the Power of Healing in Zanzibar, Afrique-Arabie: D’une rive à l’autre, en mer Erythree, Journal des Africanistes 72 (2) 2002: 175-186, Paris, Musée de l’Homme
- 2001: Um Jawasir Project, Sudan: Irrigated Agriculture and Rehabilitation of Displaced Nomads. Ruth Haug & Josie Teurlings (eds), Successes in Rural Development, Agricultural University of Aas: Noragric
- 2000: Spirit Possession as Oral History: Negotiating Islam and Social Status, Biancamaria Scarcia Amoretti (ed.), Islam in East Africa: New Sources, Roma: Herder, 2001
- 2001: Forced to Migrate – Told to Return: The Case of the Hawaweer of Northern Sudan. Noragric Working Paper, No 23
- 2000: The Other Side of Nature: Expanding Tourism, Changing Landscapes and Problems of Privacy in Urban Zanzibar, in Vigdis Broch-Due & Richard Scroeder (eds), Producing Nature and Poverty in Africa, Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
- 1999 Kosmologi og Rituelt Liv. Finn Sivert Nielsen & Olaf Smedal (eds), Himmel og Jord: tradisjon, tendenser og teorier i sosialantropologien, Oslo: Fagbokforlaget
- 1998 Spirit Possession as Historical Narrative: The Production of Identity and Locality in Zanzibar, in Nadia Lovell (ed.), Locality and Belonging London: Routledge
- 1998 Morality and the Rejection of Spirits: A Zanzibari Case, Social Anthropology Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
- 1998 To Feel the Spirits – To Suffer the Spirits, in Impuls, Tidsskrift for psykologi no 1, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo
- 1993: Kunnskap, kjønnsidentitet og sosial endring. Ulike former for kunnskap i Zanzibar Town (Knowledge, Gender Identity and Social Change: Different forms of knowledge in Zanzibar Town), Norsk Antropologisk Tidsskrift 1, 1993
- 1991: Female Initiation Rituals in Zanzibar Town: Reflections on Gender Identity and Processes of Social Change, in A. Stølen (ed.), Gender, Culture and Power in Developing Countries, vol. 1.Centre for Development and the Environment (SUM) University of Oslo
- 1990: Unyago – Fra jente til kvinne. Utformingen av kvinnelig kjønnsidentitet i lys av initiasjonsritualer religiøsitet og moderniseringsprosesser. (Unyago - From Girl to Woman: The Formation of Female Gender Identity in the Light of Initiation Rituals, Religiosity and Processes of Modernisation), Occasional Papers in Social Anthropology, no. 22, University of Oslo
Research monographs
- 2020: Negotiating Memory from the Romans to the twenty-First Century: Damnatio Memoriae, Fuglerud, Øivind, Kjersti Larsen and Marina Prusac-Lindhagen (eds)., London: Routledge
- 2018: Movement and Connectivity: Configurations of Belonging, Simonsen, Jan.K., Kjersti Larsen & Ada Engebrigtsen( eds.), Oxford: Peter Lang
- 2009: Knowledge, Renewal and Religion: Repositioning and changing ideological and material circumstances among the Swahili on the East-African Coast, Kjersti Larsen ed., Uppsala: The Nordic Africa Institute
- 2008: Where Humans and Spirits Meet: The Politics of Rituals and Identified Spirits in Zanzibar, Oxford: Berghahn
Invited presentations to peer-reviewed, internationally established conferences and international advanced schools
- 2023: Performance and Reception of Professedly Authoritative Texts, University of Oslo, 9.–12. October
- 2021: Muslim Devotional Practices. Rituals, Theology and Aesthetics, Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies, Copenhagen University, 3 December.
- 2017: How to approach the relationship between literacy and the performative and material dimension of texts? Finding informants and material, defining sources, and arguing for choices, Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies, University of Copenhagen, 15 November.
- 2016: Working on/with archives and the written word in anthropology and literary studies: perspectives on the Swahili world, European Swahili Workshop no.9, Ecoles des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), Paris, France, April 18–19.
- 2015: The Art of Hubbing: The Role of Small Islands in Indian Ocean Connectivity, Max-Planck-Institute for Social Anthropology, 15–17 October, Halle, Germany.
- 2014: Connectivity in Motion: New Studies on the Indian Ocean World. Max-Planck-Institute for Social Anthropology, 16–18 October, Halle, Germany.
- 2014: Regendering the Gender Debate: Reflections on Choices and Constraints in teaching and Researching Gender issues Cross-Culturally. University of Agder, Norway, Universidad Mayor de San Simone, Bolivia and Mzumbe University, Tanzania—University of Agder, 20–21 August, Kristiansand, Norway.
- 2014: New Dynamics in Swahili Studies, Universitãt Bayreuth, Germany, 10th–11th June
- 2012: Indian Phantasm Conference, Museum of Cultural history, University of Oslo,10th–11th December, Oslo, Norway.
- 2012: Muslim devotional Practices, Aesthetics and Cultural Formation in Migrancy: Chr. Michelsens Institute, Bergen, 4–5 October, Bergen Norway.
- 2011: Cosmologies of Evil in Africa, William C. Olsen & Wouter van Beek, ASA Meeting, Washington DC, November 17–20, Washington DC, USA.
- 2011: Approaches to the Qur’an in sub-Saharan Africa, 20–21 May, Textile Museum of Canada: York University & The Institute of Ismaili Studies, Toronto, Canada.
- 2010: VIII European Swahili Workshop: Contemporary Issues in Swahili Ethnography, 19–21 September, School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography, University of Oxford, England.
- 2010: Spirits in Politics – Violence and Healing in African Societies, , Cluster of Excellence, Religion und Politik, Institute für Ethnologie, 14-16 january, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Germany.
- 2009: Outstanding Things: Theorizing Objects/Events of Cultural Attention, Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo, 14–15 December, Oslo, Norway.
- 2009: Symposium on Performances: Epistemological Challenges for Art and Anthropology, Musée du Quai Branly, 11–12 March, Paris, France.
- 2006: Maritime Heritage and Cultures of the Western Indian Ocean in Comparative Perspective, British Institute of East Africa, Zanzibar Town 11–13. July, Tanzania.
Research expeditions led
- 1984–present: Ethnographic research expeditions to Zanzibar.
- 1997–2009: Ethnographic research expeditions to Northern Sudan.
- 2002: Perceptions of Sedentarization of Nomads. The case of the Hawawir in Um Jawasir in Northern Sudan, Drylands Coordination Group, Head of Mission Team, Sudan.
- 2001: Perceptions of Knowledge and Coping Strategies in a Nomadic Community in Northern Sudan, Study on behalf of the Dry-land Co-ordination Group.
- 1998: Case Studies on Gender Issues and Development: Improved Focus on Women in Natural Resource Management and Agricultural Projects in Ethiopia for the Dryland Co-ordination Group, Head of Mission Team, Ethiopia.
- 1998: Case Studies on Gender Issues and Development of an Improved Focus on Women in Natural Resource.
- 1998: Management and Agricultural Projects in Sudan, A Study on behalf of the Dryland Co-ordination Group, Head of Mission Team, Sudan August.
Organisation of international conferences & membership in steering and organising committee
- 2017: Damnatio Memoriae: Hegemony, memory and the potential incorporation of difference, international workshop, Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo, October 18–October 20.
- 2016: The Potential Value of Mobility as an Analytical and Methodological Perspective”, organized by The Norwegian Network on the Anthropology of Mobilities, NTNU, Trondheim, 31 October–2 November, Trondheim, Norway.
- 2015: Mobility, Relatedness and Homemaking: Exploring the fabrication of actual and virtual proximities and dwellings, 14th December, Museum of Cultural History, Department of Ethnography, Numismatics and Classical Anthropology, University of Oslo, Norway.
- 2006: Workshop organiser: Ritualer og Redskaper, Homo-Faber – Redskapsbrukeren, Årskonferanse i Norsk antropologisk Forening, 19–21 May, Trondheim, Norway.
- 2005: The 6th Swahili Workshop/Table Ronde: Knowledge, Renewal and Religion,
- Department of Ethnography Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo, 30 March–2 April, Oslo, Norway.
- 2003: Facilitating workshop on Gender and Rural Development, Dry-land Co-ordination Group and ADRA Sudan, Khartoum, Sudan.
- 2000: Facilitating workshop on Gender and Rural Development, Dry-land Co-Ordination Group and CARE Ethiopia, Addis Ababa.
Exhibitions, Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo
- 2024: Liv Laga – Gjenstander laget for å forbedre livet / Viability – Artifacts made to improve life
- 2016: Kongoblikk – Blikk på Kongo: Gjenstander, mennesker og møter
- 2011: Adornment outside and in – Estetisk kraft. En utstilling med utgangspunkt i museets afrikanske smykkesamling fra sentrale og østlige Afrika.
- 2007: Mektige gjenstander eller estetiske utrykk? / Powerful Objects or Aesthetical Expressions?