Thomas Hylland Eriksen was Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Oslo and PI of the ERC Advanced Grant project ‘Overheating: The Three Crises of Globalisation’ (2012–2017). He was the author of many books including the widely used and translated ‘Small places, large issues’, ‘Ethnicity and Nationalism’, and ‘Globalization: The Key Concepts’. His research has largely been focused on the politics of culture and identity, globalisation and the history of anthropology. Fieldwork in Trinidad, Mauritius and Norway. His current research project ‘Overheating’ is a comparative endeavour aiming to develop an understanding of local responses to accelerated change in the realms of economy/finance, climate/environment, and culture/identity.
Election statement 2017: I have been engaged in EASA since the beginning in Coimbra 1990, serving as editor of the Newsletter from 1992 to 1994 and, currently, as President. In the latter capacity, I have worked towards making anthropology more relevant outside the academy narrowly defined. Following the Annual General Meeting in Prague in October 2015, we wrote the position paper Why anthropology matters, aimed at an external audience. I am also co-chairing, with Virginia Dominguez, the Task Force on Outreach and Advocacy in the WCAA (World Council of Anthropological Associations). Moreover, I believe it to be a main priority in the coming years – and an urgent one currently – to continue to defend the unique perspectives represented by anthropology against its detractors. Finally, I see it as an important and open-ended task to develop European anthropology as a shared field of discourse defined through the organisation of diversity rather than the replication of uniformity. I hereby ask for our members support to allow me to continue this work in the next two years.Professor of Social Anthropology University of Oslo EASA President 2015–2016.
Nominating member: Hana Cervinkova (University of Lower Silesia and Czech Academy of Sciences). Supporting member: Paolo Favero (University of Antwerp).
Election statement 2015: Thomas Hylland Eriksen is Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Oslo and PI of the ERC Advanced Grant project ‘Overheating: The Three Crises of Globalisation’ (2012–2017). He is the author of many books including the widely used and translated ‘Small places, large issues’, ‘Ethnicity and Nationalism’, and ‘Globalization: The Key Concepts’. His research has largely been focused on the politics of culture and identity, globalisation and the history of anthropology. Fieldwork in Trinidad, Mauritius and Norway. His current research project ‘Overheating’ is a comparative endeavour aiming to develop an understanding of local responses to accelerated change in the realms of economy/finance, climate/environment, and culture/identity. He is an active public anthropologist and has a strong interest in the teaching of anthropology, not only at university departments, but also to diverse audiences.
Nominated and supported by Adam Kuper (Brunel University) and Ulf Hannerz (Stockholm University)