Thomas Hylland Eriksen
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Geir Thomas Hylland Eriksen (6 February 1962 – 27 November 2024) was a Norwegian
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 ...
known for his scholarly and popular writing on
globalization Globalization is the process of increasing interdependence and integration among the economies, markets, societies, and cultures of different countries worldwide. This is made possible by the reduction of barriers to international trade, th ...
,
culture Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...
, identity,
ethnicity An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they Collective consciousness, collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, ...
, and
nationalism Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation, Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Theory, I ...
. He was Professor of Social Anthropology in the Department of Social Anthropology at the
University of Oslo The University of Oslo (; ) is a public university, public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation#Europe, oldest university in Norway. Originally named the Royal Frederick Univ ...
. He has previously served as the President of the European Association of Social Anthropologists (2015–2016), as well as the Editor of '' Samtiden'' (1993–2001), ''Norsk antropologisk tidsskrift'' (1993–1997), the '' Journal of Peace Research'', and ''Ethnos''. Hylland Eriksen was among the most prolific and highly cited anthropologists of his generation, and was recognized for his remarkable success in bringing an anthropological perspective to a broader, non-academic audience. In Norway, Hylland Eriksen was a well-known public intellectual whose advocacy of diversity and
cultural pluralism Cultural pluralism is a term used when smaller groups within a larger society maintain their unique cultural identities, whereby their values and practices are accepted by the dominant culture, provided such are consistent with the laws and value ...
earned both praise and scorn. Right-wing terrorist Anders Behring Breivik, perpetrator of the
2011 Norway attacks The 2011 Norway attacks, also called 22 July () or 22/7 in Norway, were two domestic terrorism, domestic terrorist attacks by far-right politics, far-right extremist Anders Behring Breivik against the politics of Norway, government, the civil ...
, cited Eriksen critically in his manifesto and during his 2012 trial. In academia and beyond, Hylland Eriksen was highly decorated for his scholarship. He was the recipient of honorary degrees from Stockholm University (2011), the
University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen (, KU) is a public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia, after Uppsala University. ...
(2021), and
Charles University Charles University (CUNI; , UK; ; ), or historically as the University of Prague (), is the largest university in the Czech Republic. It is one of the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest universities in the world in conti ...
in Prague (2021), as well as one of anthropology's most prestigious honors, the Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography's Gold Medal (2022). He was a member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.


Early life and education

Hylland Eriksen was born on 6 February 1962 in Oslo. His parents were Ole Eriksen (1934–1979), a journalist, and Gerd Elisabeth Hylland (1935–2018), a teacher. The family moved to Nøtterøy when Ole Eriksen took a job in
Tønsberg Tønsberg (), historically Tunsberg, is a List of towns and cities in Norway, city in Tønsberg Municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. It is located about south-southwest of the capital city of Oslo on the western coast of the Oslofjord near ...
. Eriksen grew up in an intellectual environment, though he found Nøtterøy to be a conformist place and felt that he never had deep roots there. He was exposed to the wider world in part through traveling to Africa in connection with his father's work with
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
. Eriksen later remembered that as a young teenager his heroes were Alice Cooper and
Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English Natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...
. In anticipation of pursuing higher education, he took the '' examen artium'' in 1980. Hylland Eriksen matriculated at the
University of Oslo The University of Oslo (; ) is a public university, public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation#Europe, oldest university in Norway. Originally named the Royal Frederick Univ ...
in 1981 and studied philosophy, sociology, and social anthropology. He completed his undergraduate studies and graduated with a ''cand. mag''. degree in 1984. He remained at
Blindern Blindern is the main campus of the University of Oslo, located in Nordre Aker in Oslo, Norway. Campus Most of the departments of the University of Oslo are located at Blindern; other, smaller campuses include Sentrum, Oslo, Sentrum (law), Gaust ...
to pursue a graduate degree in social anthropology. During this period, Hylland Eriksen was also active in Oslo's anarchist milieu. From 1982 to 1988, he was a member of the editorial board for '' Gateavisa,'' a radical counter-cultural publication founded in 1970 by the anarchist collective at Hjelmsgate 3. Eriksen was among ''Gateavisa'''s most prolific writers, penning many of its articles under variations of his name, including "Thomas Hylland" and "Geir Hylland." In the late 1980s, he proposed that the publication be rechristened "'' Glasnost''", which it was for 1987–1988. At Blindern, Hylland Eriksen's interests coalesced around questions of identity, ethnicity, and nationalism''—''themes he would explore ethnographically through fieldwork in
Mauritius Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, about off the southeastern coast of East Africa, east of Madagascar. It includes the main island (also called Mauritius), as well as Rodrigues, Ag ...
in 1986. He completed his '' cand.polit'' in 1987 with a thesis''—''published in 1988 as a book''—''on multi-ethnic nationalism called ''Communicating Cultural Difference and Identity: Ethnicity and Nationalism in Mauritius''. In 1989, Eriksen completed additional fieldwork in
Trinidad Trinidad is the larger, more populous island of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, the country. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is the southernmost island in ...
. Two years later, he defended his dissertation, ''Ethnicity and Two Nationalisms: Social Classifications and the Power of Ideology in Trinidad and Mauritius'', and received his '' dr.polit.''


Academic career

From 1990 to 1991, Hylland Eriksen was a research fellow at the Peace Research Institute Oslo. In 1991, he accepted a position as a ''Førsteamanuensis'' (equivalent to an Associate Professorship) in the department at the University of Oslo where he had completed his graduate studies. He published at a prodigious rate in both English and Norwegian on nationalism and identity in Trinidad and Mauritius, as well as culture and cultural diversity in contemporary Norway. In 1992, Hylland Eriksen was approached by ''Universitetsforlaget'', a Norwegian academic publisher, about writing an introductory textbook for social anthropology students. The result, which appeared in 1993, was ''Små steder, store spørsmål—''a text that in various languages (in English, ''Small Places, Large Issues'') and through many editions has become one of the world's most widely-used introductions to anthropology. 1993 was also the year that Hylland Eriksen published ''Ethnicity and Nationalism: Anthropological Perspectives''. Written at the invitation of Richard Ashby Wilson, series editor at Pluto Press, the book has, like ''Small Places, Large Issues'', passed through various editions and found a broad readership. It is Eriksen's most-cited work. Eriksen was promoted to Professor in 1995.


CULCOM and the Alna Project

Hylland Eriksen's interest in diversity and new patterns of cultural inclusion and exclusion would lead to his involvement in an award-winning, multi-year interdisciplinary initiative at the University of Oslo, ''Cultural Complexity in the new Norway'' (CULCOM). Hylland Eriksen served as CULCOM's Director from 2004 to its conclusion in 2010. During that time, CULCOM would bring together 120 people from five of the University of Oslo's faculties, and lead directly to the completion of 9 PhDs and 42 MAs, as well as several books and academic journal articles. Hylland Eriksen himself was directly involved with five of these CULCOM was awarded the University of Oslo's Research Communication Prize in 2010. Though CULCOM ended in 2010, it continued in a sense through a research project it helped launch''—The Alna Project—''in 2009. Funded by the
Research Council of Norway The Research Council (also the Research Council of Norway; ) is a Norwegian government agency that funds research and innovation projects. On behalf of the Government, the Research Council invests NOK 11,7 billion (2022) annually. The Research ...
, Hylland Eriksen and the Alna Project's interdisciplinary team, including journalist Elisabeth Eide, studied integration and belonging in Alna, a highly-diverse "
satellite city A satellite city or satellite town is a smaller municipality or settlement that is part of (or on the edge of) a larger metropolitan area and serves as a regional population and employment center. It differs from mere suburbs, Subdivision (la ...
" in Oslo's Grorud Valley. The project concluded in 2013.


Overheating

In 2015, Hylland Eriksen launched ''Overheating: The Three Crises of Globalization'', a major project funded by the
European Research Council The European Research Council (ERC) is a public body for funding of scientific and technological research conducted within the European Union (EU). Established by the European Commission in 2007, the ERC is composed of an independent Scientific ...
. Focusing on environmental, economic, and cultural crises, Hylland Eriksen and his team conducted ethnographic fieldwork in various countries, including Australia, Peru, the Philippines, South Korea, Sierra Leone, Canada, the United Kingdom, Hungary, and Norway. In 2017, Hylland Eriksen received the University of Oslo Research Prize for his work on ''Overheating''.


Politics

Hylland Eriksen has been a minor political candidate for the Norwegian Liberal Party. In the local election of 2011, he was a minor candidate for the Norwegian Green Party in Oslo. He was also a minor candidate for the Norwegian Green Party in the 2013 general election.


Death

Hylland Eriksen died on 27 November 2024, at the age of 62.


Works


Main works in English

* ''Us and Them in Modern Societies'' (1992) *''Ethnicity And Nationalism'' (1993, 3rd edition 2010) Widely translated *''Small Places, Large Issues: An Introduction to Social and Cultural Anthropology'' (1995, 5th edition 2022) Widely translated *''Common Denominators: Ethnicity, Nationalism and the Politics of Compromise in Mauritius'' (1998) *''A History Of Anthropology'' (2001, with F. S. Nielsen, 2nd edition 2013) Translated into Portuguese, Arabic, Norwegian, Swedish *''Tyranny of the Moment: Fast and Slow Time in the Information Age'' (2001) Translated into more than 25 languages. *''Globalisation: Studies in Anthropology'' (2003, ed.) *''What Is Anthropology?'' (2004) Widely translated *''Engaging Anthropology: The Case For A Public Presence'' (2006) *''Globalization: The Key Concepts'' (2007, 2nd edition 2014) *''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) *''A World of Insecurity'' (2010, ed. w/Ellen Bal and Oscar Salemink) *Anthropology now and next: Essays in honor of Ulf Hannerz (edited with Christina Garsten and Shalini Randeria, 2014) *''Fredrik Barth: An Intellectual Biography'' (2015) *''Overheating: An Anthropology of Accelerated Change'' (2016) *''Identities Destabilised: Living in an Overheated World'' (edited with Elisabeth Schober, 2016) *''Knowledge and Power in an Overheated World'' (edited with Elisabeth Schober, 2017). Free e-book, downloadabl
here
*''An Overheated World: An Anthropological History of the Early Twenty-First Century'' (editor, 2018) * ''Boomtown: Runaway Globalisation on the Queensland Coast'' (2018) * ''The Mauritian Paradox: Fifty Years of Development, Democracy and Diversity'' (editor with Ramola Ramtohul, 2018) * ''Mining Encounters'' (edited with Robert Pijpers, 2018) * ''Ethnic Groups and Boundaries Today: A Legacy of Fifty Years'' (editor with Marek Jakoubek, 2019) * ''Knowing from the Indigenous North: Sami Approaches to History, Politics and Belonging'' (edited with Jarno Valkonen and Sanna Valkonen) * ''Identità instabili. Vivere in una società incandescente'' (with Martina Visentin, 2019). * ''Climate, Capitalism and Communities: An Anthropology of Environmental Overheating'' (edited with Astrid Stensrud, 2019) * ''Cooling Down: Local Responses to Global Climate Change'' (editor with Susanna M. Hoffman and Paulo Mendes, 2021) * ''Acceleration and Cultural Change Dialogues from an Overheated World'' (with Martina Visentin, 2023) Open access book, downloadabl
here
* ''Book Bottom: The Story of Robert Wyatt's'' Rock Bottom (with Øivind Hånes), 2024


In Norwegian

* 1989: ''Hvor mange hvite elefanter? Kulturdimensjonen i bistandsarbeidet'' (editor) ISBN 82-417-0019-9 *1991: ''Veien til et mer eksotisk Norge: En bok om nordmenn og andre underlige folkeslag''. ISBN 82-417-0094-6 *1993: ''Typisk norsk: essays om kulturen i Norge'' ISBN 82-7003-121-6 *1993: ''Små steder – store spørsmål. Innføring i sosialantropologi'' *1993: ''Kulturterrorismen: Et oppgjør med tanken om kulturell renhet'' ISBN 82-430-0151-4 *1994: ''Kulturelle veikryss. Essays om kreolisering om kulturblanding'' ISBN 8200039358 *1994: ''Kulturforskjeller i praksis'' (with Torunn Arntsen Sajjad) (7 revised editions, last in 2019) *1995: ''Det nye fiendebildet'' Updated and extended version 2001: ''Bak fiendebildet''. *1996: ''Kampen om fortiden'' (originally in Swedish: Historia, myt och identitet) *1997: ''Charles Darwin'', ISBN 8205253056 *1997: Flerkulturell forståelse (editor), ISBN 8251835755 *1999: ''Egoisme'' (with Dag O. Hessen), ISBN 82-03-22388-5 *1999: ''Ambivalens og fundamentalisme'' (editor with Oscar Hemer) *2001: ''Øyeblikkets tyranni. Rask og langsom tid i informasjonsalderen'', ISBN 82-03-22821-6 *2002: ''Til verdens ende og tilbake: antropologiens historie'' (with Finn Sivert Nielsen), ISBN 82-7674-291-2 *2004: ''Hva er sosialantropologi'', 150-siders lyninnføring i faget. ISBN 82-15-00495-4 *2004: ''Røtter og føtter: identitet i en omskiftelig tid om historie og identitet'' ISBN 82-525-5182-3 *2005: ''Internett i praksis : om teknologiens uregjerlighet'' (editor) ISBN 82-304-0005-9 *2005: ''Menneske og samfunn: samfunnskunnskap, sosiologi, sosialantropologi'' (with Erik Sølvberg and Hans Arne Kjelsaas), ISBN 82-03-33300-1 *2006: ''Kosmopolitikk'' (with Halvor Finess Tretvoll) ISBN 82-02-26565-7 *2006: ''Normalitet'' (editor with Jan-Kåre Breivik) *2006: ''Trygghet'' (editor) *2007: ''Frihet'' (editor with Arne Johan Vetlesen) *2007: ''Grenser for kultur?'' (editor with Øivind Fuglerud) *2008: ''Storeulvsyndromet: Jakten på lykken i overflodssamfunnet'', ISBN 978-8-20329-126-5 *2008: ''Globalisering: Åtte nøkkelbegreper'' *2010: ''Samfunn'' *2010:'' Kulturell kompleksitet i det nye Norge'' (editor with Hans Erik Næss), ISBN 978-8-27477-528-2 *2011: ''Søppel: Avfall i en verden av bivirkninger'' *2012: ''På stedet løp: Konkurransens paradokser'' (with Dag O. Hessen) *2012: ''Den globale drabantbyen'' (editor with Sharam Alghasi and Elisabeth Eide). ISBN 978-8-20238-655-9 *2013: ''Fredrik Barth: En intellektuell biografi'', ISBN 978-8-21502-232-1 *2021: ''Appenes planet: Hvordan smarttelefonen forandret verden'' *2022: ''Moose Loose: Elgen er løs'' *2023: ''Syv meninger med livet''. *2024 ''Book Bottom: Historien om Robert Wyatts'' Rock Bottom (med Øivind Hånes) *2024: ''Det umistelige: Global ensretting og det nye mangfoldet.''


References


External links


Overheating websiteCULCOM website

Personal websiteWhat is Ethnicity?Minorities and the state

Interviewed by Alan Macfarlane 13 June 2019 (video)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hylland Eriksen, Thomas 1962 births 2024 deaths People from Nøtterøy Norwegian anthropologists Academic staff of the University of Oslo Scholars of nationalism Members of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters Norwegian magazine editors 20th-century Norwegian novelists 21st-century Norwegian novelists 20th-century Norwegian saxophonists 21st-century Norwegian saxophonists Expatriates in Seychelles