Dag Herbjørnsrud (born 1971) is a historian of ideas, author, a former editor-in-chief, and a founder of Center for Global and Comparative History of Ideas ( Senter for global og komparativ idéhistorie, SGOKI) in Oslo. His writings have been published by

Aeon The word aeon , also spelled eon (in American and Australian English), originally meant "life", "vital force" or "being", "generation" or "a period of time", though it tended to be translated as "age" in the sense of "ages", "forever", "timele ...

, the

American Philosophical Association The American Philosophical Association (APA) is the main professional organization for philosophers in the United States. Founded in 1900, its mission is to promote the exchange of ideas among philosophers, to encourage creative and scholarl ...

(APA), ''Dialogue and Universalism'', ''Cosmopolis'', etc., and he was formerly a columnist for Al Jazeera English. Herbjørnsrud was the guest editor of a special issue of the bilingual journal ''Cosmopolis'' (Brussels), on "Decolonizing the Academy"; one of his contributors was the author and Professor

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o (; born James Ngugi; 5 January 1938) is a Kenyan author and academic who writes primarily in Gikuyu and who formerly wrote in English. He has been described as having been "considered East Africa’s leading novelist". His wo ...

. He sits on the Editorial Review Board of the book series Global Epistemics at Rowman & Littlefield. In the Norwegian book "Global Knowledge" (''Globalkunnskap'', 2016), and in an essay on the blog of the ''

Journal of the History of Ideas The ''Journal of the History of Ideas'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering intellectual history and the history of ideas, including the histories of philosophy, literature and the arts, natural and social sciences, religion, an ...

'' (JHI), Herbjørnsrud argues for the need of a "global history of ideas" and for the importance of the discipline global intellectual history. His subsequent articles covers topics such as the Hatata of the rational Ethiopian philosopher Zera Yacob and the philosophy of Anton Wilhelm Amo from Ghana ("The African Enlightenment", 2017), the women philosophers of the Global South, the Battle of Vienna, the philosophy of ancient Egypt, and the thinking of pre-colonial Mesoamerica (

Nahua The Nahuas () are a group of the indigenous people of Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. They comprise the largest indigenous group in Mexico and second largest in El Salvador. The Mexica (Aztecs) were of Nahua ethnicity, a ...

/Maya), in addition to the atheist/secular philosophy of India (

Carvaka Charvaka ( sa, चार्वाक; IAST: ''Cārvāka''), also known as ''Lokāyata'', is an ancient school of Indian materialism. Charvaka holds direct perception, empiricism, and conditional inference as proper sources of knowledge, embrace ...

/Lokayata) and its influence on Europe from the late 16th century. Herbjørnsrud has delivered lectures on global perspectives,

Eurocentrism Eurocentrism (also Eurocentricity or Western-centrism) is a worldview that is centered on Western civilization or a biased view that favors it over non-Western civilizations. The exact scope of Eurocentrism varies from the entire Western worl ...

, and decolonizing the Academy at institutions like the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...

Royal Holloway Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL), formally incorporated as Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, is a public research university and a constituent college of the federal University of London. It has six schools, 21 academic departm ...

(University of London), Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (Germany), and

Berliner Festspiele The Berliner Festspiele (German for Berlin Festivals) are a series of festivals, art exhibitions, and other cultural events organized all year long by a common organization in Berlin. Events are held at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele, a pre-ex ...

. In December 2021, he delivered the inaugural lecture ("Redefining the Canon") in the "Decolonizing Knowledge" series by Quantum Bio Lab (QBL) at

Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a Private university, private, University charter#Federal, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, classifie ...

. In May 2019, the paper "Beyond decolonizing: global intellectual history and reconstruction of a comparative method" was published online by the journal ''Global Intellectual History''. Here, Herbjørnsrud proposed a global comparative method for the discipline, based on the three concepts of "context, connection, and comparison." The article became the most read article in the journal, and it is " the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric." In the Winter 2021 issue of '' The Review of Higher Education'' (Johns Hopkins University Press), the Texas State University scholars Z. W. Taylor and Richard J. Reddick cited the paper, and they wrote: "''As higher education has rapidly globalized in the past few decades (Altbach, 2016), institutional leaders of higher education could have their theory of intellectual reconstruction informed by Herbjørnsrud’s (2019) argument for an interconnected, global perspective of cultures, people, and their histories. (...) Extending and synthesizing the work of Crozier (1901), Dewey (1920),

W.E.B. Du Bois William Edward Burghardt Du Bois ( ; February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963) was an American-Ghanaian sociologist, socialist, historian, and Pan-Africanist civil rights activist. Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Du Bois grew up i ...

and Gates Jr. (2010), Hann and Hart (2011) and Herbjørnsrud (2019), the following section will forward a theory of intellectual reconstruction specifically for institutional leaders of higher education and their many educational stakeholders. (...) At the center of the theory is Herbjørnsrud’s (2019) emphasis on adopting a global comparative perspective (...)''" Herbjørnsrud was the

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

of the Norwegian weekly

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

news magazine ''

Ny Tid ''Ny Tid'' (English: ''Modern Times Review'') is Norway's largest international quarterly review of non-fiction books – up to 50 in each issue. It is currently owned by Ny Tid & Orientering AS. ''Ny Tid'' is headed by the newspaper founder Tr ...

'' from 2005 to 2015; formerly (1995-2005) a reporter and op-ed-writer for the conservative newspaper

Aftenposten ( in the masthead; ; Norwegian for "The Evening Post") is Norway's largest printed newspaper by circulation. It is based in Oslo. It sold 211,769 copies in 2015 (172,029 printed copies according to University of Bergen) and estimated 1.2 milli ...

. As an editor of Ny Tid and responsible for its "Without Borders" ("Uten grenser") column, Herbjørnsrud was responsible for contacting the paper's columnists; like

Anna Politkovskaya Anna Stepanovna Politkovskaya (;, ; uk, Ганна Степанівна Політковська , 30 August 1958 – 7 October 2006) was a Russian journalist and human rights activist, who reported on political events in Russia, in partic ...

(Russia),

Nawal El Saadawi Nawal El Saadawi ( ar, نوال السعداوي, , 22 October 1931 – 21 March 2021) was an Egyptian feminist writer, activist and physician. She wrote many books on the subject of women in Islam, paying particular attention to the practice of ...

(Egypt),

Irshad Manji Irshad Manji (born 1968) is a Ugandan-born Canadian educator. She is the author of ''The Trouble with Islam Today'' (2004) and ''Allah, Liberty and Love'' (2011), both of which have been banned in several Muslim countries. She also produced a P ...

(Canada), Elena Milashina (Russia), Marta Beatrize Roque (Cuba), Parvin Ardalan (Iran),

Tsering Woeser Tsering Woeser (also written Öser; ; , Han name Chéng Wénsà 程文萨; born 1966) is a Tibetan writer, activist, blogger, poet and essayist. Biography Woeser, a quarter Han Chinese and three quarters Tibetan, was born in Lhasa. Her grandfath ...

(Tibet) and Ethel Kabwato (Zimbabwe). Herbjørnsrud contributed to the production of the TV and Netflix thriller

Occupied ' (Norwegian: ') is a Norwegian political thriller TV series that premiered on TV2 on 5 October 2015. Based on an original idea by Jo Nesbø, the series is co-created with Karianne Lund and Erik Skjoldbjærg. Season 2 premiered on 10 October ...

(2015), in which he ("editor Dag") was played by the actor Øystein Røger. He is the son of writer

Hans Herbjørnsrud Hans Herbjørnsrud (born 2 January 1938) is a Norwegian author of short stories. His works frequently play with the differences between Norwegian languages Bokmål and Nynorsk and the various Norwegian dialects. His stories' characters sometimes ...

and historian Anna Tranberg. Herbjørnsrud is a cand. philol. of history of ideas on an English-language thesis on Robert Nozick. In the thesis, and in an interview with the

liberal-conservative Liberal conservatism is a political ideology combining conservative policies with liberal stances, especially on economic issues but also on social and ethical matters, representing a brand of political conservatism strongly influenced by libe ...

periodical ''

Minerva Minerva (; ett, Menrva) is the Roman goddess of wisdom, justice, law, victory, and the sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. Minerva is not a patron of violence such as Mars, but of strategic war. From the second century BC onward, the Rom ...

'', Herbjørnsrud stated that Nozick advocated the

welfare state A welfare state is a form of government in which the state (or a well-established network of social institutions) protects and promotes the economic and social well-being of its citizens, based upon the principles of equal opportunity, equita ...

, and that ''

Anarchy, State, and Utopia ''Anarchy, State, and Utopia'' is a 1974 book by the American political philosopher Robert Nozick. It won the 1975 US National Book Award in category Philosophy and Religion, has been translated into 11 languages, and was named one of the "100 m ...

'' is not representative of Nozick's philosophy. In 2004–05, he was a columnist for Al-Jazeera's English website.

Selected works

*"The Quest for a Global Age of Reason. Part I: Asia, Africa, the Greeks, and the Enlightenment Roots" and ''The Quest for a Global Age of Reason. Part II: Cultural Appropriation and Racism in the Name of Enlightenment (Dialogue and Universalism'', 3/2021): https://philpapers.org/rec/HERTQF-2 *"Beyond decolonizing: global intellectual history and reconstruction of a comparative method", ''Global Intellectual History'' (Vol. 6, Issue 5, 2021, pp 614–640. Online since May 10, 2019). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/23801883.2019.1616310 * ''Gå inn i din tid. Thomas Hylland Eriksen i samtale med Dag Herbjørnsrud'' (Res Publica, 2019) ("Engaging with the World: Thomas Hylland Eriksen in Conversation with Dag Herbjørnsrud") *
Globalkunnskap. Renessanse for en ny opplysningstid
' (Scandinavian Academic Press, 2016) ("Global Knowledge. Renaissance for a New Enlightenment"). *"The Hate and Fear of America", in:
Global Perspectives on the United States. Issues and Ideas Shaping U. S. International Relations
' (v. 3). (Berkshire Publishing Group, MA, USA, 2007). *
Leaving Libertarianism: Social Ties in Robert Nozick's New Philosophy
' (UiO, 2002). In cooperation with Stian Bromark he has written three non-fiction books in Norwegian: *''Blanke løgner, skitne sannheter'' (''Blatant Lies, Dirty Truths'') (Tiden, 2002) *''Frykten for Amerika'' (''The Fear of America'') (Tiden, 2003) (Nominated for the Brage prize) *''Norge - et lite stykke verdenshistorie'' (''Norway - A Small Piece of World History'') (Cappelen, 2005)

References

External links

SGOKI's English Page

Center for Global and Comparative History of Ideas (SGOKI)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Herbjoernsrud, Dag 1971 births Living people 21st-century Norwegian historians University of Oslo alumni Norwegian journalists Norwegian columnists Oslo University College alumni