Jan Ketil Simonsen
Background and activities
I am an Associate Professor at the Department of Social Anthropology. I hold an MPhil and a PhD in anthropology from the University of Oslo. I have conducted longitudinal fieldwork in Zambia on Mambwe-speaking people, in both rural and urban areas. My main interest is social and cultural change among Mambwe migrants in Lusaka, focusing on ritual performances, kinship and mutual aid. In Zambia, I am affiliated with the Institute of Economic and Social Research, University of Zambia. I have also done commissioned research and evaluations in Zambia and Botswana on urban development, the educational sector, and the health sector. At present, I also conduct fieldwork in Extremadura, Spain on the industrialisation of Iberian ham production and the sustainability of forest pastures. I have also a long-standing interest in visual anthropology and ethnographic film and is a long-time member of the Nordic Anthropological Film Association.
Currently, I teach ethnographic method, and social theory on migration. I also arrange seminars in academic writing for students at all levels. I am a past head of the Department, and the immediate past co-editor of the Norwegian Journal of Anthropology. At present, I head the research group Temporalities of mobility and migration.
Scientific, academic and artistic work
A selection of recent journal publications, artistic productions, books, including book and report excerpts. See all publications in the database
Journal publications
- (2021) «Hvem skal ta vare på oss nå?» Aldring, overlevelse og tvetydighet i en fattig bydel i Lusaka, Zambia. Norsk Antropologisk Tidsskrift. vol. 32 (3-4).
- (2020) For fellesskapets beste: Moralske forpliktelser, innblanding og etiske dilemmaer på feltarbeid. Norsk Antropologisk Tidsskrift. vol. 32 (3).
- (2019) Skogsbeitets konge, 100% naturlig og menneskets respektfulle hånd Om industrialiseringen av iberisk svinekjøtt og kulturelle konfigureringer av grisen og eikeskogsbeitene i sørvestlige Spania. Norsk Antropologisk Tidsskrift. vol. 30 (3-4).
- (2018) Arne Martin Klausen: En bibliografi. Norsk Antropologisk Tidsskrift. vol. 29 (1.2).
- (2014) The Roles of Oromo-Speaking Children in the Storytelling Tradition in Ethiopia. Research in African Literatures. vol. 45 (2).
- (2005) Sidsel Saugestad: "The inconvinient indigenous. Remote Area Development in Botswana, donor assitance, and the First people of the Kalahari". Norsk Antropologisk Tidsskrift. vol. 16 (2-3).
- (1997) Erfaring og Leksikalisering: Om det teoretiske grunnlaget for meningsdannelse. Norsk Antropologisk Tidsskrift. vol. 8 (2).
Books
- (2018) Movement and Connectivity: Configurations of Belonging. Peter Lang Publishing Group. 2018. ISBN 978-1-78707-550-4.
- (2010) Beyond the visual. Sound and image in ethnographic and documentary film. Intervention Press. 2010. ISBN 978-87-89825-93-9. Proceedings from NAFA (1).
- (1992) Ethnographic Film, Aesthetics and Narrative Traditions - Proceedings from NAFA II. Intervention Press. 1992. ISBN 87-89825-01-2.
Part of book/report
- (2022) Beyond Words: Children’s Drawings, the Socio-Spatial Environment and Experience. Perceiving Children The Visual Anthropology of Childhood.
- (2018) Introduction. Movement and Connectivity: Configurations of Belonging.
- (2018) Kinship and Mobility in Urban Zambia (and Beyond). Movement and Connectivity: Configurations of Belonging.
- (2015) Om å jage og pleie ånder: Nyliberalisme, spirituell helbredelse og konkurrerende kunnskapstradisjoner i Zambia. Det skapende mennesket : Antropologiske dialoger om tegn, ting og tolkning.
- (2015) Children’s Drawings in Ethnographic Explorations: Analysis and Interpretations. Methodological Approaches, Geographies of Children and Young People.
- (2012) Foreword. Children’s Games and Play in Zambia.
- (2010) Introduction. Beyond the visual. Sound and image in ethnographic and documentary film.
- (2010) Ephemeral images in the Chisungu female initiation ritual. Beyond the visual. Sound and image in ethnographic and documentary film.
- (2010) The Revival of the Mambwe-Lungu First-Fruits Ceremony in Zambia. Reveries of Home: Nostalgia, Authenticity and the Performance of Place.
- (2003) Children, Communities, and Coping Strategies: Some Reflections on Fieldwork Methods. Children, AIDS, and Communal Coping Strategies: Papers presented for a research workshop at University of Fort Hare 18-22 March 2002.