Bjorn Enge Bertelsen
As an anthropologist, I work mainly on Southern Africa and Mozambique, as well as Ghana. My research interests include inequality, urban dynamics, violence, egalitarianism, state, memory and tradition within political anthropology.
Currently I divide my time between being a professor of social anthropology at University of Bergen and being the Academic Director of the Holberg Prize (from 2022 onwards). From 2019 to end 2021, I was the Executive Director of the Global Research Programme on Inequality (GRIP).
Until end 2019 I had the pleasure of working closely with Prof. Bruce Kapferer and around 15 other colleagues on the large-scale ERC-funded research project entitled "Egalitarianism: Forms, Processes, Comparisons" (for details, see egalitarianism.no ).
From August 2010 until March 2014, I was a postdoctoral fellow at the Dept. of social anthropology, UiB and worked on the project 'Social imaginaries of death, suffering and accumulation. Urban spaces of insecurity and poverty in Mozambique and Zimbabwe.'
As part of the postdoctoral project, from July to end December 2013 I participated in Harvard University's African Studies Workshop, organized by John and Jean Comaroff and Achille Mbembe. ( http://africa.harvard.edu/african-studies-workshop/ ).
In 2009 I completed my PhD project on colonial and postcolonial politics, state formation and the traditional field in Mozambique -- a project initiated in Sept. 2004. The thesis from this PhD Project -- entitled "Violent becomings. State formation and the traditional field in colonial and postcolonial Mozambique" -- was defended in the spring 2010.
Prior to my PhD project, I wrote a Master’s thesis (Cand. Polit.) in Social anthropology at UiB entitled "'Till the soil but do not touch the bones'. Memories of violence in Mozambican re-constructive practices" (2002). The thesis sought to explore the social impact and contemporary importance of violence related to Mozambique’s civil war from 1976/77 to 1992 as well as to identify post-conflict processes of dealing with such violence.
I publish regularly internationally and an updated presentation of my publications may be found at
http://www.uib.no/en/persons/Bjorn.Bertelsen#uib-tabs-publications
Phone: +47-55589322
Address: Dept. of social anthropology
Fosswinckels gt. 6
5007 Bergen
Norway
Currently I divide my time between being a professor of social anthropology at University of Bergen and being the Academic Director of the Holberg Prize (from 2022 onwards). From 2019 to end 2021, I was the Executive Director of the Global Research Programme on Inequality (GRIP).
Until end 2019 I had the pleasure of working closely with Prof. Bruce Kapferer and around 15 other colleagues on the large-scale ERC-funded research project entitled "Egalitarianism: Forms, Processes, Comparisons" (for details, see egalitarianism.no ).
From August 2010 until March 2014, I was a postdoctoral fellow at the Dept. of social anthropology, UiB and worked on the project 'Social imaginaries of death, suffering and accumulation. Urban spaces of insecurity and poverty in Mozambique and Zimbabwe.'
As part of the postdoctoral project, from July to end December 2013 I participated in Harvard University's African Studies Workshop, organized by John and Jean Comaroff and Achille Mbembe. ( http://africa.harvard.edu/african-studies-workshop/ ).
In 2009 I completed my PhD project on colonial and postcolonial politics, state formation and the traditional field in Mozambique -- a project initiated in Sept. 2004. The thesis from this PhD Project -- entitled "Violent becomings. State formation and the traditional field in colonial and postcolonial Mozambique" -- was defended in the spring 2010.
Prior to my PhD project, I wrote a Master’s thesis (Cand. Polit.) in Social anthropology at UiB entitled "'Till the soil but do not touch the bones'. Memories of violence in Mozambican re-constructive practices" (2002). The thesis sought to explore the social impact and contemporary importance of violence related to Mozambique’s civil war from 1976/77 to 1992 as well as to identify post-conflict processes of dealing with such violence.
I publish regularly internationally and an updated presentation of my publications may be found at
http://www.uib.no/en/persons/Bjorn.Bertelsen#uib-tabs-publications
Phone: +47-55589322
Address: Dept. of social anthropology
Fosswinckels gt. 6
5007 Bergen
Norway
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Drawing on the disciplines of history, literature studies, anthropology, political science, economy and art history, the book serves not only as a generous introduction to Mozambique but also as a case study of a southern African country.
Contributors are: Signe Arnfred, Bjørn Enge Bertelsen, José Luís Cabaço, Ana Bénard da Costa, Anna Maria Gentili, Ana Margarida Fonseca, Randi Kaarhus, Sheila Pereira Khan, Maria Paula Meneses, Lia Quartapelle, Amy Schwartzott, Leonor Simas-Almeida, Anne Sletsjøe, Sandra Sousa, Linda van de Kamp.
Analyzing both historical contexts and geographical locations, this volume explores the continuous reformation of state power and its potential in situations of violent conflict. The state, otherwise understood as an abstract and transcendent concept in many works on globalization in political philosophy, is instead located and analyzed here as an embedded part of lived reality. This relationship to the state is exposed as an integral factor to the formation of the social – whether in Africa, the Middle East, South America or the United States. Through the examination of these particular empirical settings of war or war-like situations, the book further argues for the continued importance of the state in shifting social and political circumstances. In doing so, the authors provide an critical contribution to debates within a broad spectrum of fields that are concerned with the future of the state, the nature of sovereignty, and globalization.
CONTENTS
Introduction: The Crisis of Power and Reformations of the State in Globalizing Realities
Bruce Kapferer and Bjørn Enge Bertelsen
Section I. Transformations of Sovereignty, Empire, State
1. The Military-Industrial Complex and the Crisis of U.S. Capital
June Nash
2. Post-Soviet Formation of the Russian State and the War in Chechnya: Exploring the Chaotic Form of Sovereignty
Jakob Rigi
3. Market Forces, Political Violence, and War: The End of Nation-States, the Rise of Ethnic and Global Sovereignties?
Caroline Ifeka
Section II. War Zone
4. Rebel Ravages in Bundibugyo, Uganda’s Forgotten District
Kirsten Alnaes
5. Fear of the Midnight Knock: State Sovereignty and Internal Enemies in Uganda
Sverker Finnström
6. The Shepherd’s Staff and the AK-47: Pastoralism and Handguns in Karamoja, Uganda
Frode Storaas
Section III. Sovereign Logics
7. The Sovereign as Savage: The Pathos of Ethno-Nationalist Passion
Christopher Taylor
8. The Paramilitary Function of Transparency: Guatemala and Colombia
Staffan Löfving
9. Sorcery and Death Squads: Transformations of State, Sovereignty, and Violence in Postcolonial Mozambique
Bjørn Enge Bertelsen
10. Collective Violence and Counter-State Building: Algeria 1954-62
Rasmus Alenius Boserup
11. Malignant Organisms: Continuities of State-Run Violence in Rural Liberia
Mats Utas
12. Israel’s Wall and the Logic of Encystation: Sovereign Exception or Wild Sovereignty?
Glenn Bowman
kjærlighet, omsorg og gjensidighet. Ved å kartlegge det visuelt affektive i Maputo og ved å trekke på særlig Matthew Wilhelm-Solomons og AbdouMaliq Simones arbeider fremmer vi to argumenter. For det første vil vi argumentere for den antropologiske nytten av en mer nyansert forståelse av afrikanske byrom som ikke utelukkende vektlegger disse
som åsted for stadig nye former for atomisering av kollektiver eller det Mbembe kaller nekropolitikk. For det andre vil vi vise hvordan slike tekstpraksiser utgjør former for kritikk mot hvordan særlig framstillinger av framtidens slutt er vevd inn i forståelser av byen.
viser så innebærer dette ofte at urbane fellesskap og rom omdefineres. Genereringen av mangeartede og omstridte urbane former er tilgjengelige for antropologisk analyse, og bør være av stor interesse for vår disiplin. Polarisering innen dette feltet reflekterer ikke utelukkende fagets langvarige interesse for friksjon, konflikt, motstand og styringsformer innen det sosiospatiale og politiske felt, men omfatter også hvilke generative prosesser som dannes i møtet med disse. Bidragene i spesialnummeret analyserer tendenser fra ulike deler av kloden. Målsettingen er å anspore til en bredere diskusjon om urban antropologi, som kritisk tilnærmer seg forholdet mellom det private og det offentlige, relasjonene mellom materialitet og dens mange ideasjonelle uttrykk, eller måtene bystyring forholder seg til ulike former for kapitalistisk transformasjon på, for å nevne noen.
Drawing on the disciplines of history, literature studies, anthropology, political science, economy and art history, the book serves not only as a generous introduction to Mozambique but also as a case study of a southern African country.
Contributors are: Signe Arnfred, Bjørn Enge Bertelsen, José Luís Cabaço, Ana Bénard da Costa, Anna Maria Gentili, Ana Margarida Fonseca, Randi Kaarhus, Sheila Pereira Khan, Maria Paula Meneses, Lia Quartapelle, Amy Schwartzott, Leonor Simas-Almeida, Anne Sletsjøe, Sandra Sousa, Linda van de Kamp.
Analyzing both historical contexts and geographical locations, this volume explores the continuous reformation of state power and its potential in situations of violent conflict. The state, otherwise understood as an abstract and transcendent concept in many works on globalization in political philosophy, is instead located and analyzed here as an embedded part of lived reality. This relationship to the state is exposed as an integral factor to the formation of the social – whether in Africa, the Middle East, South America or the United States. Through the examination of these particular empirical settings of war or war-like situations, the book further argues for the continued importance of the state in shifting social and political circumstances. In doing so, the authors provide an critical contribution to debates within a broad spectrum of fields that are concerned with the future of the state, the nature of sovereignty, and globalization.
CONTENTS
Introduction: The Crisis of Power and Reformations of the State in Globalizing Realities
Bruce Kapferer and Bjørn Enge Bertelsen
Section I. Transformations of Sovereignty, Empire, State
1. The Military-Industrial Complex and the Crisis of U.S. Capital
June Nash
2. Post-Soviet Formation of the Russian State and the War in Chechnya: Exploring the Chaotic Form of Sovereignty
Jakob Rigi
3. Market Forces, Political Violence, and War: The End of Nation-States, the Rise of Ethnic and Global Sovereignties?
Caroline Ifeka
Section II. War Zone
4. Rebel Ravages in Bundibugyo, Uganda’s Forgotten District
Kirsten Alnaes
5. Fear of the Midnight Knock: State Sovereignty and Internal Enemies in Uganda
Sverker Finnström
6. The Shepherd’s Staff and the AK-47: Pastoralism and Handguns in Karamoja, Uganda
Frode Storaas
Section III. Sovereign Logics
7. The Sovereign as Savage: The Pathos of Ethno-Nationalist Passion
Christopher Taylor
8. The Paramilitary Function of Transparency: Guatemala and Colombia
Staffan Löfving
9. Sorcery and Death Squads: Transformations of State, Sovereignty, and Violence in Postcolonial Mozambique
Bjørn Enge Bertelsen
10. Collective Violence and Counter-State Building: Algeria 1954-62
Rasmus Alenius Boserup
11. Malignant Organisms: Continuities of State-Run Violence in Rural Liberia
Mats Utas
12. Israel’s Wall and the Logic of Encystation: Sovereign Exception or Wild Sovereignty?
Glenn Bowman
kjærlighet, omsorg og gjensidighet. Ved å kartlegge det visuelt affektive i Maputo og ved å trekke på særlig Matthew Wilhelm-Solomons og AbdouMaliq Simones arbeider fremmer vi to argumenter. For det første vil vi argumentere for den antropologiske nytten av en mer nyansert forståelse av afrikanske byrom som ikke utelukkende vektlegger disse
som åsted for stadig nye former for atomisering av kollektiver eller det Mbembe kaller nekropolitikk. For det andre vil vi vise hvordan slike tekstpraksiser utgjør former for kritikk mot hvordan særlig framstillinger av framtidens slutt er vevd inn i forståelser av byen.
viser så innebærer dette ofte at urbane fellesskap og rom omdefineres. Genereringen av mangeartede og omstridte urbane former er tilgjengelige for antropologisk analyse, og bør være av stor interesse for vår disiplin. Polarisering innen dette feltet reflekterer ikke utelukkende fagets langvarige interesse for friksjon, konflikt, motstand og styringsformer innen det sosiospatiale og politiske felt, men omfatter også hvilke generative prosesser som dannes i møtet med disse. Bidragene i spesialnummeret analyserer tendenser fra ulike deler av kloden. Målsettingen er å anspore til en bredere diskusjon om urban antropologi, som kritisk tilnærmer seg forholdet mellom det private og det offentlige, relasjonene mellom materialitet og dens mange ideasjonelle uttrykk, eller måtene bystyring forholder seg til ulike former for kapitalistisk transformasjon på, for å nevne noen.
This film project seeks to visualise Maputo: one of Africa’s divided cities. It is part of the research project “The Ethnography of a Divided City. Socio-Politics, Poverty and Gender in Maputo, Mozambique” headed by the Chr. Michelsen Institute and funded by the Norwegian Research Council. While the film relates actively to the research project, it approaches the project’s themes from new and original angles and ANIMA has had full artistic freedom in its filmic approach. A focus on the people inhabiting the city’s so-called bairros (districts/areas) provides a privileged view of the way in which symbolic and material boundaries of various urban spaces are contested, negotiated and, ultimately, inscribed onto mental maps of the city.