Håkon Fyhn
Background and activities
I am a social anthropologist and work with:
- The anthropology of technology: What does it mean to be human in the age of technology?
- Robotization and digitization: Machine systems conquer areas that have previously been the human domain. We need to think anew about what it means to be human.
- Presence: What does it mean to be present? What does it mean to be present across distance?
- The control room society and presence: Ever new areas of society are controlled from the control room through the control room’s peculiar ontological relationship between what controls and what is controlled.
- Collaborative processes and dialogue in work-life and organizations: What does it take to be able to talk to each other across differences?
- Craft as a form of knowledge and a way of being in the world
- Climate, environment and cultural change
- Meeting points between art and research
Short biography
I defended my PhD in 2011 "Meeting with presence: Between form and emptiness in product development, aikido and anthropological understanding". I have previously worked with product development, development of distance meeting technology, performance and studies of religious experiences. I have also researched changes related to climate measures, with special emphasis on the role of craftspeople in the Crafting Climate project. I worked for a period as a contract researcher and studied forms of collaboration and culture in organizations, especially in the construction industry and industrial companies, as well as among control room operators for space operations, with emphasis on operator craftsmanship.
Is currently busy with the project Autowork, where we study robotization, digitization and automation in various industries. It's about understanding the people who work side by side with the robots that will one day take over their jobs. It is about understanding a societal transformation where the human is at stake.
I am also involved in what we call the "classroom laboratory" at the Department of Anthropology, where we explore new forms of learning together with the students.
Courses
- SANT1019 - Human, Technology and Dialogue
- SANT2025 - Interdisiplinary profile course: Digital transformation, culture and society
- SANT1022 - Ethnographic Method
- SANT3020 - Theoretical Perspectives
- SANT1021 - Key Concepts in Social Anthropology
- SANT3600 - Cultural Understanding and International Working Relations
- SANT3021 - Ethnographic Method
Scientific, academic and artistic work
Displaying a selection of activities. See all publications in the database
Journal publications
- (2018) Why energy retrofitting in private dwellings is difficult in Norway: Coordinating the framing practices of government, craftspeople and homeowners. Energy Research & Social Science. vol. 49.
- (2017) Om aktivitetsbasert areal ved NTNU. www.universitetsavisa.no.
- (2017) The Nature of Decision Making in the Practice of Dwelling: A Practice Theoretical Approach to Understanding Maintenance and Retrofitting of Homes in the Context of Climate Change. Society & Natural Resources. vol. 30 (5).
- (2017) An introduction to Crafting Sustainability – exploring the interconnections between sustainability and craft. Nordic Journal of Science and Technology Studies. vol. 5 (2).
- (2017) Craftsmanship in the machine: sustainability through new roles in building craft at the technologized building site. Nordic Journal of Science and Technology Studies. vol. 5 (2).
- (2016) Berøring med takknemmelighet. Den antropologiske erkjennelsesprosessen forstått som tingdannelse. Norsk Antropologisk Tidsskrift. vol. 27 (3-4).
- (2016) Implementing Local Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Actions: the Role of Various Policy Instruments in a Multi-Level Governance Context. Climate. vol. 4 (1).
- (2016) Meeting, moving and writing between formlessness and form. Theatre, Dance and Performance Training. vol. 7 (2).
- (2011) Møte og manifestasjon: Skrivingens vei mellom formløshet og form. Sakprosa. vol. 3 (2).
Artistic productions
- (2010) Sniff the rat visits Trondheim; neurons showing the way. Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience. 2010.
Books
- (2018) Edges of Global Transformation: Ethnographies of Uncertainty. Lexington Books. 2018. ISBN 978-1-4985-8407-4.
- (2016) Høyblokka Post-Mortem: Teater som ritual. Novus Forlag. 2016. ISBN 978-82-7099-864-7.
- (2009) Kreativ tverrfaglighet: Teori og praksis. Tapir Akademisk Forlag. 2009. ISBN 978-82-519-2433-7.
Part of book/report
- (2019) Organisational and cultural preconditions for extending the use of takt time planning. Research Conference Proceedings.
- (2019) TEAM-LEADER WALK AS INTERDICIPLINARY COMUNICATION TOOL AT THE BUILDING SITE. Research Conference Proceedings.
- (2019) Building and sustaining a culture with a mindset for disruptive performance : a case-study from Bispevika Norway. Research Conference Proceedings.
- (2019) The Introduction of AI in the Construction Industry and Its Impact on Human Behavior. Research Conference Proceedings.
- (2018) Building Creatures of Uncertainty: Crisis, Storytelling, and Othering in the Norwegian Building Industry. Edges of Global Transformation: Ethnographies of Uncertainty.
- (2018) Neoliberalism and the Ethnographies of Uncertainty. Edges of Global Transformation: Ethnographies of Uncertainty.
- (2017) Teknologisk produksjon av nærhet og avstand; Klimakrisa, virkemiddelapparatet og de tusen hjem. Trangen til å telle. Objektivering, måling og standardisering som samfunnspraksis.
- (2016) Etterklangen av det som er borte. Høyblokka Post-Mortem: Teater som ritual.
- (2015) Temafestenes tiår og tingliggjøringen av 70-, 80- og 90-tallet. Det skapende mennesket : Antropologiske dialoger om tegn, ting og tolkning.
- (2012) Anelse og form. Kunnskapens språk. Skrivearbeid som forskningsmetode.
- (2009) Kreativ tverrfaglighet, motstand og muligheter. Kreativ tverrfaglighet: Teori og praksis.
- (2009) Kreativ tverrfaglihet og tidsånden. Kreativ tverrfaglighet: Teori og praksis.
- (2005) Det skapende mennesket og selvets metafysikk. Teater og produktutvikling ved NTNU. Flyt-en nøkkel til kreativitet og innovasjon.
- (2005) Metodisk tvil. Metodisk tro. Anthropology and Ontology.
- (2004) Forholdet mellom del og helhet i et univers uten tilfeldigheter. Non Plus Ultra. Festskrift til Stein Erik Johansen i anledning 50-årsdagen.
- (1998) The Metaphysics of Evolution. The Kaleidoscopic Past. Proceedings of the 5th Nordic TAG Conference Göteborg, 2-5 April 1997.
Competencies
- Social anthropology
- Rituals
- Working life
- Barley
- Culture understanding
- Writing across the curriculum
- Product development
- Creativity
- Digitalization
- Dialogue
- Tverrfaglighet
- Improvisation
- Energi- og klimaplaner
- Product design
- Performance
- Craft
- Pressence
- Nearness
- Distant meeting
- Marial arts
- Organisational antrhopology
- Anthropology of technology
- Resistance