Norwegian version of this page

Kjersti Larsen

Professor - Section for Ethnography

Email kjersti.larsen@khm.uio.no

Phone +47 22 85 99 68

Username

Visiting address Frederiks gate 2 0164 Oslo

Postal address Postboks 6762 St. Olavs plass 0130 Oslo

Press photo Download business card

Academic Interests

Regionally my research focusses on Muslim societies in East Africa and particularly on the Swahili region and 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 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 / Vitality – 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?

Tags: Social Anthropology, Ethnography, Indian Ocean, Sudan, Islam, Rituals and Cosmology, Religion, Mobility and Migration, Gender, Identity, Performativity

Larsen, Kjersti (2024). Politics, Lived Islam and Muslim Public Discourse in Zanzibar: Reflections on Cultural Identity, Belonging and Governance, 1984–2016. In Toupan, Farouk; Kresse, Kai; Stiles, Erin E. & Mwakimako, Hassan (Ed.), Governance and Islam in East Africa. Edinburgh University Press. ISSN 9781474482998. p. 143–159. doi: 10.1515/9781474482998-019. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2022). Islam, Muslim Life-worlds, and Matters of the Everyday. In Østebø, Terje (Eds.), Routledge Handbook of Islam in Africa. Routledge. ISSN 9780367144234. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2020). Societal Dismay and Ideological Disarray. Political Reform and Societal Dynamics in Zanzibar Town. In Fuglerud, Øivind; Prusac-Lindhagen, Marina & Larsen, Kjersti (Ed.), Negotiating Memory from the Romans to the Twenty-First Century. Damanatio Memoriae. Routledge. ISSN 9780367549565. p. 167–186. Full text in Research Archive
Prusac-Lindhagen, Marina; Fuglerud, Øivind & Larsen, Kjersti (2020). Introduction. In Fuglerud, Øivind; Prusac-Lindhagen, Marina & Larsen, Kjersti (Ed.), Negotiating Memory from the Romans to the Twenty-First Century. Damanatio Memoriae. Routledge. ISSN 9780367549565. p. 1–20. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2019). By way of the Qur`an: Appeasing Spirits, Easing Emotions and Everyday Matters in Zanzibar. In Hirji, Zulfikar (Eds.), Approaches to the Qur`an sub-Saharan Africa.. Oxford University Press. ISSN 9780198840770. p. 317–340. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2018). This is where we Belong: Migration and Intersecting Mobilities in Zanzibar Town, Zanzibar. In Simonsen, Jan Ketil; Larsen, Kjersti & Engebrigtsen, Ada I. (Ed.), Movement and Connectivity: Configurations of Belonging. Peter Lang Publishing Group. ISSN 9781787075504. p. 73–98. doi: 10.1163/9789004365988_010. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti; Simonsen, Jan Ketil & Engebrigtsen, Ada I. (2018). Introduction. In Simonsen, Jan Ketil; Larsen, Kjersti & Engebrigtsen, Ada I. (Ed.), Movement and Connectivity: Configurations of Belonging. Peter Lang Publishing Group. ISSN 9781787075504. p. 1–16. doi: 10.3726/b11108. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2018). Trans-local Experiences and Intersecting Mobilities: Reflections on motility and actual and imagined movability in contemporary Zanzibar. In Declich, Francesca (Eds.), Translocal Connections across the Indian Ocean Swahili Speaking Networks on the Move. De Gruyter Brill. ISSN 9789004365988. p. 227–256. doi: 10.1163/9789004365988. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2018). Silenced Voices, Recaptured Memories: Historical Imprints within a Zanzibari Life-world. In Fouéré, Marie-Aude & Bissell, Cunningham William (Ed.), Social Memory, Silenced Voices, and Political Struggle. Remembering the Revolution in Zanzibar. Mkuki na Nyota Publishers. ISSN 9789987083176. p. 251–278. doi: 10.2307/j.ctvh8r429.14. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2017). Review: Calkins, Sandra: Who Knows Tomorrow? Uncertainty in North-Eastern Sudan, New York: Berghahn Books, 2016. Anthropos: Internationale Zeitschrift für Völker- und Sprachenkunde. ISSN 0257-9774. p. 649–650. doi: 10.5771/0257-9774-2017-2-649. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2017). Multifaceted Identities, Multiple Dwellings: Connectivity and Flexible Household-configurations in Zanzibar Town. In Schnepel, Burkhard & Alpers, Edward A. (Ed.), Connectivity in Motion : Island Hubs in the Indian Ocean World. Palgrave Macmillan. ISSN 9783319597249. p. 181–208. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-59725-6. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2015). Reflections regarding Good and Evil: The Complexity of Words in Zanzibar. In Olsen, William C. & Beek, Walter E.A. van (Ed.), Evil in Africa: Encounters With the Everyday. Indiana University Press. ISSN 9780253017475. p. 210–228. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2015). Pleasures and Prohibitions. Reflections on Gender, Knowledge, and Sexuality in Zanzibar Town. In Stiles, Erin E. & Thompson, Katrina Daly (Ed.), Gendered Lives in the Western Indian Ocean: Islam, Marriage, and Sexuality on the Swahili Coast. Ohio University Press. ISSN 9780821421864. p. 209–241. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2015). Verdifulle smykker: Refleksjoner rundt gull og kvinners personlige økonomi i Zanzibar Town. In Vedeler, Marianne & Røstad, Ingunn Marit (Ed.), Smykker. Personlig pynt i kulturhistorisk lys. Museumsforlaget AS. ISSN 9788283050226. p. 133–153. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2014). Possessing Spirits and Bodily Transformation in Zanzibar: Reflections on Ritual, Performance, and Aesthetics. Journal of Ritual Studies. ISSN 0890-1112. 28(1), p. 15–29. doi: 10.4000/actesbranly.449. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2014). Bodily Selves: Identity and Shared Realities among Humans and Spirits in Zanzibar. Journal of Religion in Africa. ISSN 0022-4200. 44(1), p. 5–27. doi: 10.1163/15700666-12301271. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2013). Remedies of restoration : evocation of potency in Zanzibari everyday politics. In Meier, Barbara & Steinforth, Arne S. (Ed.), Spirits in politics : uncertainties of power and healing in African societies. Campus Verlag. ISSN 9783593399157. p. 73–89. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2011). Fastens materialitet: Ramadanen som en bemerkelsesverdig begivenhet på Zanzibar. Norsk antropologisk tidsskrift. ISSN 0802-7285. 22(3-4), p. 208–222. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2009). Chapter 1. Introduction. In Larsen, Kjersti (Eds.), Knowledge, Renewal and Religion. Repositioning and changing ideologies and material circumstances among the Swahili on the East African Coast. Nordiska Afrikainstitutet. ISSN 9789171066350. p. 11–37. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2008). Far from the Battlefield: Livelihood revival, settlement and modernization among the Hawawir, Northern Sudan. In Shanmugaratnam, N (Eds.), Between War and Peace in Sudan & Sri Lanka. James Currey Publishers. ISSN 9781847011022. p. 77–93. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2007). Dialogues Between Humans and Spirits: Ways of Negotiating Relationships and Moral Order in Zanzibar Town, Zanzibar. In Demmer, Ulrich & Gaenszle, Martin (Ed.), The Power of Discourse in Ritual Performance: Rethoric, poethics, Transformations. LIT Verlag. ISSN 9783825883003. p. 54–74. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2007). Adaptability, Identity and Conflict Mediation among the Hawawir in Northern Sudan. In Derman, Bill; Sjaastad, Espen & Odgaard, Rie (Ed.), Conflicts Over Land and Water in Africa. James Currey Publishers. ISSN 9780852558881. p. 75–93. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2004). Dialogues between humans and spirits: Ways of Negotiating relationships and moral order in Zanzibar. In Demmer, Ulrich & Gaenszle, Martin (Ed.), The Power of Discourse in Ritual Performance. Rhetoric and Poetics. LIT Verlag. ISSN 9783825883003. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti; Iveland, Kristin & Klausen, Arne Martin (2004). Kulturforskning og gjenstandssamlinger - historie og utvikling, Kulturhistorier i sentrum. Historisk Museum 100 år. Universitetet i Oslo. ISSN 9788280840196. p. 60–83. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2004). Change, Continuity and Contestation: The Politics of Modern Identities in Zanzibar. In Caplan, Pat & Topan, Farouk (Ed.), Swahili Modernities: Culture, Politics, and Identity on the East Coast of Africa. Africa World Press. ISSN 9781592210466. p. 121–137. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2004). Multiculturalism through Spirit Possession. International Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World (ISIM)-Newsletter. ISSN 1388-9788. 14, p. 14–15. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2004). Change, continuity and contestation: The politics of modern identities in Zanzibar. In Caplan, Pat & Topan, Farouk (Ed.), Swahili Modernities: Culture, Politics, and Identity on the East Coast of Africa. Africa World Press. ISSN 9781592210466. p. 121–145. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2003). Mobility, identity and belonging: The case of the Hawawir, Northern Sudan, In The Maze of Displacement. Conflict, Migration and Change. Cappelen Damm Høyskoleforlaget. ISSN 9788276345407. p. 106–127. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2002). Mobility, Identity and Perceptions of a Good Life: The Case of the Hawawir, Northern Sudan. Skrifter - Universitetet i Oslos kulturhistoriske museer. ISSN 1503-0792. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2002). Knowledge, Astrology and the Power of Healing in Zanzibar. Journal des Africanistes. ISSN 0399-0346. 72(2), p. 175–186. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2001). Knowledge, Astrology and the Power of Healing in Zanzibar. Journal des Africanistes. ISSN 0399-0346. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2001). Spirit possession as oral history: Negotiating Islam and social status. The case of Zanzibar. In Amoretti, Biancamaria, Scarcia (Eds.), Islam in East Africa: New Sources. Herder editrice e libreria. p. 275–273. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2000). Kosmologi og rituelt liv. In Nielsen, Finn Sivert & Smedal, Olaf H. (Ed.), Mellom Himmel og Jord. Tradisjoner, teorier og tendenser i sosialantropologien. Fagbokforlaget. ISSN 9788276742732. p. 275–307. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2000). The other side of 'nature': Expanding tourism, changing landscapes, and porblems of privacy in urban Zanzibar. In Broch-Due, Vigdis & Scroeder, Richard (Ed.), Producing Nature and Poverty in Africa. Nordiska Africa Institutet. ISSN 9789171064523. p. 198–220. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (1998). Morality and the rejection of spirits. A Zanzibari case. Social Anthropology. ISSN 0964-0282. 6(1), p. 61–75. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (1998). To feel the spirits, to suffer the spirits. Impuls : Tidsskrift for psykologi. ISSN 0801-2911. 1, p. 91–100. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (1998). Spirit possession as historical narrative: the production of identity and locality in Zanzibar. In Lovell, N (Eds.), Locality and Belonging. Routledge. p. 125–147. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (1993). Kunnskap,initiasjonsritualer og sosial endring: Ulike former for kunnskap i Zanzibar Town. Norsk antropologisk tidsskrift. ISSN 0802-7285. 1, p. 3–16. Full text in Research Archive

View all works in NVA

Fuglerud, Øivind; Prusac-Lindhagen, Marina & Larsen, Kjersti (2020). Negotiating Memory from the Romans to the Twenty-First Century. Damanatio Memoriae. Routledge. ISBN 9780367549565. 288 p. Full text in Research Archive
Simonsen, Jan Ketil; Larsen, Kjersti & Engebrigtsen, Ada I. (2018). Movement and Connectivity: Configurations of Belonging. Peter Lang Publishing Group. ISBN 9781787075504. 228 p. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2009). Knowledge, Renewal and Religion. Repositioning and changing ideologies and material circumstances among the Swahili on the East African Coast. Nordiska Afrikainstitutet. ISBN 9789171066350. 310 p. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2008). Where Humans and Spirits Meet: The Politics of Rituals and Identified Spirits in Zanzibar. Berghahn Books. ISBN 9781845450557. 173 p. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti & Johnsen, Fred (2001). The Um Jawasir Project, Sudan: irrigated Agriculture and Repatriation of Displaced Nomads. Noragric. ISBN 9788292277003. 6 p. Full text in Research Archive

View all works in NVA

Larsen, Kjersti (2024). Transcribing and Practicing Text: Mprint@East-Africa. Islamic manuscript, Print and Practice: Textual Adaptation in coastal East Africa, c. 1880-2020. Full text in Research Archive
Simonsen, Jan Ketil & Larsen, Kjersti (2017). Redaksjonelt. Norsk antropologisk tidsskrift. ISSN 0802-7285. 28(1), p. 5–6. doi: 10.18261/issn.1504-2898-2017-01-01. Full text in Research Archive
Simonsen, Jan Ketil & Larsen, Kjersti (2017). Redaksjonelt. Norsk antropologisk tidsskrift. ISSN 0802-7285. 28(2), p. 71–72. doi: 10.18261/issn.1504-2898-2017-02-01. Full text in Research Archive
Prescott, Christopher & Larsen, Kjersti (2017). Introduction, Beyond Our Crisis: Towards Archaeological Time and Anthropological Space. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
From the European to the global crisis of values and democracy Contemporary developments, also in the humanities, are heavily influenced by what can broadly be termed “globalization”. This situation, along with the very nature of academia, promotes a need for internationalization in research and education. The questions that arise span issues from how international research funding will influence research design and productivity, via questions concerning what the humanities contribution in our contemporary world should be (and to what extent we should feel obliged to contribute?) to how we can secure a future for historical, cultural and anthropological scholarly knowledge production and dissemination. This raises issues, on the one hand, concerning the responsibilities we hold towards local societies and their traditions – as well as engaging local societies. On the other hand, the fundamental nature of research and academic training transcends national borders. Political and bureaucratic forces pull research in both directions. Most funding bodies – above all those administered by the EU – require applicants to meet bureaucratically and politically determined requirements. Commonly cited as a source of practical frustration, these programs are also political and ideological, influencing choices and priorities in research. Economic recession, disparate access to wealth, shifts in global centers of power, conflict, environmental problems as well as ensuing migration have generated political unrest. In Europe, especially migration is seen as contentious - and the ensuing debate polarized. The cultural, historical and anthropological perspectives in a number of our disciplines cannot offer roadmaps and solutions, and indeed should not even strive to speak in agreement with a single voice. However, we are obliged to provide perspectives in an informed discussion. The narratives of a number humanistic disciplines have appealed to identity and been generated within in stable small-scale, regional or national frameworks. With the shift in demography, should we be more consistently generating narratives experienced as relevant and challenging by all groups in contemporary society? And more than any other academic fields, humanities should be able to socially, historically and anthropologically explore the mechanisms, experiences and issues involved in migration, and perceptions of spatial and social mobility Political, economic and demographic shifts are potentially creating a new context for research and academic practices (if nothing else with cuts in funding, references to experienced relevance and demands for utilitarian value). In light of most social theory of research, this evolving social situation creates a context of academic practice and content – how do we engage it with the well-being of academia in mind? So we believe that the seminar may address a scale of questions: - What do demands to international, “big-is-better” collaboration entail for the humanities? - What should disciplines like ancient history, archaeology, anthropology and studies of religion offer in relation to the contemporary world? o What are our contributions to the contemporary social and political debate and policy-making? o Perspectives on migration and regimes of mobility. o If the established identity narrative discourses of homogeneous western societies have run their course, how do we produce new reliable and relevant narratives incorporating methodological reflexivity? o Are we even obliged to engage contemporary issues? - What challenges to the humanities does the evolving societal context pose in terms of their continued working conditions?
Larsen, Kjersti (2016). Qur'an and the Dramaturgy of Healing: The significance of literacy and ritual contextuality in contexts of healing in Zanzibar Town. Full text in Research Archive
Simonsen, Jan Ketil & Larsen, Kjersti (2016). Redaksjonelt. Norsk antropologisk tidsskrift. ISSN 0802-7285. 26(2), p. 92–93. doi: 10.18261/issn.1504-2898-2016-02-01. Full text in Research Archive
Simonsen, Jan Ketil & Larsen, Kjersti (2016). Redaksjonelt. Norsk antropologisk tidsskrift. ISSN 0802-7285. 26(1), p. 4–6. doi: 10.18261/issn.1504-2898-2016-01-01. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2015). Multifaceted Identities, Multiple Dwellings: Connectivity and Flexible Household-configurations in Zanzibar Town. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2013). Ritual Imagination: A study of Tromba Possession among the Betsimisaraka in Eastern Madagascar. Norsk antropologisk tidsskrift. ISSN 0802-7285. p. 276–277. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2012). Katharina Wilkens: Holy Water and Evil Spirits. Religious Healing in East Africa. Berlin: LIT. Anthropos: Internationale Zeitschrift für Völker- und Sprachenkunde. ISSN 0257-9774. 107(1). Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2011). By way of the Qu'ran: Soothing emotional and mundane matters in Zanzibar. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2011). Good, Evil and Human Capacity: Reflections on the complexity of words in a Zanzibari context. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2011). Adornment Outside and In -- Estetisk kraft: Jewellery from Central- and East Africa. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2009). Preface. In Larsen, Kjersti (Eds.), Knowledge, Renewal and Religion. Repositioning and changing ideologies and material circumstances among the Swahili on the East African Coast. Nordiska Afrikainstitutet. ISSN 9789171066350. p. 9–10. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2009). A Body of Spirits: Problems of Identity and Shared Realities among Humans and Spirits in Zanzibar. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2009). A Ceremonial Event:The Materiality of Ramadan and Observations of Society in Zanzibar. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2009). Possessing Spirits and Bodily Transformation in Zanzibar. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2009). A Body of Spirits. Problems of Identity and Shared Realities among Humans and Spirits in Zanzibar. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2008). Regime Change, TV, Video Films and Ethnicity in Zanzibar. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2008). Cultural Exchange across the Indian Ocean: Kibuki Spirits in Zanzibar Town. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2008). Remedies of Recreation: Knowledge, Sorcery and Society in Zanzibar. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2007). Mektige gjenstander eller estetiske utrykk? Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2006). Kultursensitivitet og kulturelle koder i muslimske samfunn. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2006). Remedies of Recreation and Multiple Sources of Knowledge: Negotiations, Sorcery and Society in Zanzibar. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2006). Familierelasjoner, hekseri og (andre) moralske dilemmaer. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2006). Uheldige omstendigheter, sosiale relasjoner og forandelighet. En diskusjon omkring helbredelsesritualer og teknologiske hjelpemidler på Zanzibar. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2006). Alison Shaw og Shirley Ardener (RED) Changing Sex and Bending Gender. Norsk antropologisk tidsskrift. ISSN 0802-7285. p. 305–307. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2004). Women,Gender and Gender Socialization: Sub-Saharan Africa. In Joseph, Suad (Eds.), The Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures, vol.2. De Gruyter Brill. ISSN 9789004128187. p. 204–205. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2004). Christian Spirits in a Muslim Society. Intercultural Exchanges and Multicultural Experiences in Zanzibar. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2004). The Power of Ritual Language: Dialogues between Humans and Spirits in Zanzibar Town. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2004). Adaptations in rural livelihoods: Sedentarization policies and nomadic pastoralists in Northern Sudan. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2003). The phenomenon of embodiment. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2003). Religion, identitet og multikulturalisme i swahili samfunn. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2003). Christian spirits in Muslim societies: Multiculturalism, religion and identity in Zanzibar. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2003). Gifts, rewards and corruptive practices: Anthropological approaches to relationships and institutions. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2002). Perceptions of Sedentarisation of Nomads. The Case of the Hawawir in Um Jawasir, Northern Sudan. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2002). Forced to Stay- Forced to Migrate: Ways and Meanings of Mobility among the Hawawir of Northern Sudan. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2001). Initiation rituals, supression and power:Re-searching gender in Zanzibar. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (1998). Islam, spirit possession and trance in Zanzibar. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (1997). Identity, locality and notions of place: The case of Zanzibar. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (1994). Self, body and spirits in Zanzibar. Full text in Research Archive
Wæhle, Espen & Larsen, Kjersti (1981). Frankrike tester atombomber i Stillehavet: Når båtene kommer vet vi at det smeller. Miljømagasinet. 9(1). Full text in Research Archive
Øien, Maria; Ween, Gro Birgit & Larsen, Kjersti (2015). “Our art comes from our Dreaming”: Exploring the Becoming of Ngan’gi Art from Nauiyu, Australia. Universitetet i Oslo. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
This thesis is an ethnographic study of the art produced by Ngan’gi artists who are members of Merrepen Arts, an art centre located in Nauiyu, a rural Aboriginal community in Northern Australia. Ngan’gi art in itself, but also the art’s origin, circulation and the artistic production practices performed by Ngan’gi artists, makes up the thematic focus of this thesis. Drawing on 18 months of ethnographic fieldwork among the Ngan’gi artists in Nauiyu and in many fine art galleries and museums in the main cities of Australia, this thesis is moving between local art production and international art world scenes. Øien shows how Ngan’gi art is characterised by a translation of sacred Ngan’gi cosmological imagery into commercial paintings and prints. Taking a critical look at the intercultural confrontations involved with this symbolic transformation Øien found inspiration in the analytical term “the becoming of art” introduced by Morphy (2008). Drawing on Morphy’s work Øien combines detailed descriptions of the art’s origin, cosmological foundation, and kinship based art production practices, with a symbolic analysis of Ngan’gi designs, as well as exploring representations surrounding Ngan’gi art circulation and artistic intention. Øien aims at uncovering how all these elements are mutually constitutive to the “becoming” of Ngan’gi art. This study spans the complexities embedded in Ngan’gi art by following the complete path from origin to production, to distribution among consumers. This approach provides a fruitful outset for understanding how art circulation and the interconnectedness between local Ngan’gi artists and other art world participants facilitate dynamic transformations in the art’s value, status and meaning. Øien reveals how the Ngan’gi artists chose to create commercialised creative extension of sacred designs due to a fundamental wish to share the stories of Ngan’gi culture, cosmology, society and history. Art has for Aboriginal artists facilitated public visibility, cultural recognition, and provided income, as well as a mean to communicate cross-culturally and educate their audience of the sacred value embedded in their art. Characteristic to Ngan’gi art is that the artists employ visual symbols in their designs to communicate culturally specific stories. Anchored in Aboriginal systems of image making the Ngan’gi illustrate ritual practises, seasonal bush tucker (foods), Christian Biblical events, and public Dreamtime stories with reference to Ancestral creations. In the past moments of Ancestral creations shared substance originated between humans, Ancestors, and the land. According to Ngan’gi cosmological concepts this notion of shared substance extends also to material forms. Aesthetic painting-practices are furthermore controlled by Ancestral Law, as reproductions of certain Dreaming designs are restricted to members of design owning kinship groups. The Ngan’gi artists therefore value their art as manifestations of a spiritual and kinship based identity. A symbolic art analysis captures how Ngan’gi acrylic paintings embraces this complex form of symbolic representation, where the first (symbols in a design) is considered a manifestation of the latter (the communicated meaning). Øien merges a symbolic analysis with more recent theories in art analysis, by focusing on how locally grounded painting practices change when individual artists innovatively negotiate their use and interpretation of symbols. A main finding is that when Ngan’gi artists paint kinship owned stories with cosmological references, such shared subject-matter is illustrated with differentiated figurative or abstract styles. Øien therefore argues that Ngan’gi artistic practises are located in the nexus between past and present cultural painting conventions and individual artistic creativity, intention and agency. In exploring the becoming of Ngan’gi art, circulation is also made into an analytical category in itself, with the interest of addressing how local Ngan’gi artists confront the challenges inherent in the art worlds. For Ngan’gi artists Merrepen Arts provides their main scene for customer dealings, although, their art has also been included in, and excluded from, privileged fine art galleries with international scope. Thus, art exchanges are what simultaneously enable and limit Ngan’gi opportunities for artistic autonomy and recognition. Øien demonstrates how these spaces act as intercultural meeting places where Aboriginal artists, customers, spectators, curators, and art critics are brought together by a shared interest in art. Øien argues for using the terms “seeing” and “showing” of art as analytic concepts to shed light on how art appreciation and presentations grants objects a particular value and as such make them into art. A central argument is also to capture the dynamic character of Ngan’gi art by describing how artists develop their designs in compliance with customer preferences and the demands of gallery and museum curators. Compared to the art of the neighbouring Arnhem Land regions and the Western Desert, which has been the subject of extensive anthropological research, the art of Nauiyu has been relatively neglected as a research topic. Øien provides new ethnographic knowledge concerning the regional characteristics of the Aboriginal Australian Ngan’gi art. This thesis theoretically engages with wider scholarly debates regarding art, by blurring the disciplinarily borders between art analysis, visual and social anthropology. The value of the insight inspired by the empirical material from Nauiyu contributes to the anthropological understanding of the complex interrelations and ambivalent dialogues involved in the act of painting, when the art has a cosmological foundation that combines artistic creativity with Ancestral precedence.
Larsen, Kjersti & Hassan, Manal (2003). Sedentarisation of nomadic people: the case of the Hawawir in UmJawasir. Drylands Coordination Group. ISSN 9788276345407. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti & Hassan, Manal (2002). Perceptions of knowledge and coping strategies in a nomadic community, Northern Sudan. Drylands Coordination Group. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (2001). Forced to migrate, told to return: The case of the Hawawir of Northern Sudan. Noragric. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (1999). Unyago - fra jente til kvinne. Utforming av kvinnelig kjønnsidentitet i lys av overgangsritualer, religiøsitet og modernisering. Oslo Occasional Papers in Social Anthropology. Full text in Research Archive
Larsen, Kjersti (1995). Where humans and spirits meet: Incorporating difference and experiencing otherness in Zanzibar Town. Universitetet i Oslo. Full text in Research Archive

View all works in NVA

Published Sep. 11, 2012 2:23 PM - Last modified Apr. 9, 2026 1:47 PM

Projects

Making sense through the senses – exploring the aesthetics of ritual
MprinT@East_Africa. Islamic Manuscript, Print and Practice: textual adaptations in Coastal East Africa, c. 1880-2020

Research groups

Cultural Variation - Materiality, Representation and Society

Kjersti Larsen

Academic Interests

Background

Education

Current and previous positions

Fellowships and awards

Mobility

Supervision of graduate students and research fellows

PhD:

Master Social anthropology:

Master Development Studies:

Teaching activities

Institutional responsibilities

Commissions of trust

Memberships of scientific societies

Publications

Track record: The total number of publications during the career: 94

Research monographs

Invited presentations to peer-reviewed, internationally established conferences and international advanced schools

Research expeditions led

Organisation of international conferences & membership in steering and organising committee

Exhibitions, Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo

Publications

Projects

Completed projects

Research groups

Exhibitions