Working areas
- The Oscar Mamen collection
- Material culture
- National heritage and identity in Mongolia
- Decolonialization of museum collections
- Digitizing, photo preservation, historic images
- Anthropological database, in collaboration with the University Library
Background
PhD in social anthropology, University of Oslo, 2025. Dissertation: 'Transcending Imagery: An Anthropological Study of Oscar Mamen’s 1911–1913 Photographs and their Circulations in Mongolia'.
Master in social anthropology, University of Oslo, 2014. Fieldwork in Dawson, Yukon, Canada, among Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in First Nation. Thesis written as part of the research project "Arctic Domus – human and animals in the Arctic North", based at the University in Aberdeen.
Bachelor in social anthropology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
Photo preservation training from the Museum of Cultural History, Oslo, Norway and the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Cambridge, England.
Scholarships
The President of Mongolia, Khaltmaagiin Battulga's research scholarship, 2020-2022.
Exhibitions
2024: 'Enchanting Urga'. Collaborative exhibition with artist N. Otgonbat. Curator: A. Bolormaa. The Mongolian National Gallery of Arts, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
2023: 'Mongols in the Memories of Oscar Mamen'. Curator and organiser, conference and photograph exhibition. The Museum of Cultural History, Oslo, Norway.
2023: 'Mongols in the Memories of Oscar Mamen'. Participant, conference and photograph exhibition. The Chinggis Khaan National Museum, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
2022: 'Historical Photographs of the Kings and Descendants of Chinggis Khaan'. Participant, exhibition and conference. The Chinggis Khaan National Museum, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
2020: Special exhibition on the occation of the presidential visit by Mongolian president Mr. Khaltmaagiin Battulga. Museum of Cultural History, Oslo, Norway. Curator and president's guide.
2019: 'Freedom'. At Carneval. Protest and celebration. Intercultural Museum, Oslo, Norway. Artist, exhibition.
2017: 'An Anthropological History of the Early Twenty-first Century'. The House of Literature, Oslo, Norway. Curator, photo exhibition.
2016: 'Nyarktis -Arctic Domestication in the Era of the Anthropocene'. Museum of Cultural History, Oslo, Norway. Consultant, ethnographic exhibition. Read more
2011: 'First Nations in Canada'. University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. Participant, ethnographic exhibition.
Lectures
March, 2026. 'An introduction to Urga through Oscar Mamen's photographs', organised by the Museum of Cultural History. Oslo, Norway.
September 2025. '"Reading with the archive": The Mamen collection and its impact on Mongolian identity and history', organised by Privatarkivnettverket.
May 2025. 'Museum Archives and Source Communities: Recent Perspectives on Challenges, Dilemmas, and Possibilities for Anthropological Research'. Trial Lecture for the degree Ph. D., organised by Sosialantropologisk institutt, Universitetet i Oslo.
October, 2024. 'Decolonising dissmimination?' Lecture at the seminar 'Inspiration and experience in communicating knowledge', organised by the Museum of Cultural History. Oslo, Norway.
November, 2023. 'Perspectives from within the colonial archive: Collaborative strategies between Mongolia and Norway. Conference lecture at 'Upheaval', organised by the Norwegian Association of Anthropology. Trondheim, Norway.
October, 2023. 'The Mamen Collection: Material from Mongolia 1911-1915'. Lecture at 'Mongols in the memories of Oscar Mamen', organised by the Museum of Cultural History. Oslo, Norway.
August, 2023. 'Photographic Truth? Mongolian Interpretations of the Oscar Mamen Collection at the Museum of Cultural History'. Lecture, 'Celebrating research', organised by the Museum of Cultural History. Oslo, Norway.
June, 2023. 'Photographs during the Bogd Khaanate: The Oscar Mamen collection'. Lecture at 'Mongols in the memories of Oscar Mamen', organised by the Mongolian Academy of Sciences and the Chinggis Khaan National Museum. Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
November 24, 2022. 'Photographing change: Oscar Mamen in Mongolia 1911-1915'. Lecture at the international conference 'Photographs as a source for the study of Mongolian history', organised by the Chinggis Khaan National Museum and Mongolian Photographers Association. Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
April 20, 2022. 'Oscar Mamen in Mongolia'. At the Institute for Mongol Studies, National University of Mongolia. Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
March 18, 2022. 'Does the origin society exist?' At the seminar following Yael Navaro's "Memory and the 'More-than-Human' in the Aftermath of Genocide" at the Gutorm Gjessing Lecture 2022, Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo.
October 14, 2021. 'Inbetween law and ethics: Historical photographs in museum databases'. At The dilemmas of sharing – a seminar about open research, organized by "Archaeology by proxy", Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo.
September 14, 2020. 'Meaningful materiality: Oscar Mamen's photographs as anthropological method'. At Celebrating Reseach, Museum of Cultural History Research Board, Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo.
February 6, 2020. 'The construction and re-construction of national heritage and cultural history by an ex-communist country'. At the Department of Ethnography, Numismatics, Classical Archaeology and University History, Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo.
August 15 2018. European Directory of Social Anthropologists (EDSA) roundtable discussion. 'Facilitating Anthropological Outreach: A Database?' Organisers: Thomas Hylland Eriksen (Department of Social Anthropology, Blindern, Norway), Marie-Claire Foblets (Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology) Chairs: Brian Campbell (Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology), Maria Kartveit (Department of Social Anthropology, Blindern, Norway), Timm Sureau (Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology) Discussant: Anthony Good (The University of Edinburgh), Sylvie Fainzang (French Institute of Health and Medical Research – INSERM), Guma Kunda Komey (University of Bahri, Sudan)