Bernhard Helander (1958–2001) was an

anthropologist An anthropologist is a scientist engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropologists study aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms, values ...

and well known scholar on

Somalia Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...

. He published on Somali pastoralism, politics and power, poverty, Somali medicine, kinship, Somali sociability and modes of communication, as well as contemporary political processes, welfare, development and peace in Somalia. Before his death, Helander was a lecturer in

cultural anthropology Cultural anthropology is a branch of anthropology focused on the study of cultural variation among humans. It is in contrast to social anthropology, which perceives cultural variation as a subset of a posited anthropological constant. The term ...

Uppsala University Uppsala University (UU) () is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. Initially fou ...

. He started his research in Somalia in 1982 and rose to become one of the world's major experts on Somali culture and society. He served in the early 1990s in the UN thinkthank headed by ambassador Mohamed Sahnoun. He ed-ited the Somalia News Update, an Internet newsletter, which in the 1990s was very influential in disseminating knowledge and forming opinion on current affairs in Somali. During these years he also served in the UN think tank on Somalia.

Publications

Helander, Bernhard (2003): The slaughtered camel. Coping with fictitious descent among the Hubeer of Southern Somalia. Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis (Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. Uppsala studies in cultural anthropology). (91-554-5736-3) Helander, Bernhard (1999): Somalia. In: Westerlund, David; Svanberg, Ingvar (Hg.): Islam outside the Arab world. Richmond Surrey: Curzon, S. 39–55. Helander, Bernhard (1997): Clanship, Kinship and community Among the Rahanweyn. In: Adam, Hussein Mohamed; Ford, Richard B. (Hg.): Mending Rips in the Sky. Options for Somali Communities in the 21st Century: Red Sea Press .

Sources

*https://web.archive.org/web/20110616100919/http://www.somaliawatch.org/archivedec01/020103101.htm *Turton, D. (2003). The Politician, the Priest and the Anthropologist: living beyond conflict in Southwestern Ethiopia. Ethnos: Journal of Anthropology, 68(1), 5-26. {{DEFAULTSORT:Helander, Bernhard 2001 deaths 1958 births Swedish anthropologists 20th-century anthropologists