Liv Haram
About
I hold a Cand. Polit./ MPhil (1988) and a Doctor of Philosophy /Ph.D. (2000) in social anthropology which I earned from the University of Bergen (UoB).
Since 2000, I have worked in academic institution in Norway and Sweden, where I have served as a teacher, supervisor, examiner, administrator and conducted research. I have extensive experience in administrative work. I have designed and organised several research projects – including competence building programmes in the south - supported by NORAD and NUFU before I took up my current position at Department of Social Anthropology, NTNU, in 2007.
Research
CURRENT RESEARCH
Currently I am running the research project: Gender Equality before the law. The interfaces between transnational legal rights and local law. Negotiating justice. In line with more recent studies in legal anthropology, and transnational legal rights studies, the project aims to explore how global standards of human rights accommodate local normative diversity or, on the other hand, how local ‘customary law’ is accommodated, rewritten, or codifying human rights. The project collaborates with central institutions at the university of Dar es Salaam, such as School of Law, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, and Centre for Gender Studies as well as NGOs engaged locally in Arusha and Kilimanjaro Regions – working on gender equality in the plurality of law systems in Tanzania.
At the Department I am also part of the research group Global Inequality (2018- ) which is one of four research groups at the Department. The group is a spin-off of the project “The Hot Lava Edge of Cultural Flows: Global Social Inequality and the Anthropology of Uncertainty, Contingency and Future Orientation”, which I directed from 2013-2016 (see below for more information). The research group «Global inequality» includes both research and education. The research group addresses the fundamental research task in anthropology; to highlight local and global processes that create cultural and social equalities and inequalities. The research group emphasizes in particular the understanding of global inequalities.
As member of this research and education group, I am the coordinator of the Bachelor Course “Global inequality”- SANT2024 (15 credits). https://www.ntnu.edu/studies/courses/SANT2024
ANTECEDENT RESEARCH AND RESEARCH PROGRAMME
MPhil /Cand Polit degree. As a young anthropologist in the making, at the University of Bergen, I developed a research project with a focus on the plurality of medical systems in Botswana. Based on 12 months field research conducted in Mahalapye region (in 1985/86), I discuss how Tswana medicine, as an important dimension of Tswana culture, is maintained and changed. With financial support from the Norwegian Research Council and Travel Grants from the Nordic Africa Institute (NAI) and some minor grants from the University of Bergen, I was able to carry out field work and later defended my Cand polit degree in social anthropology: The Batswanas’ Encounter with Western Medicine. Cooperation and Confrontation? (1988).
Fighting AIDS in northern Tanzania. Upon my Mphil Degree, I got engaged in multidisciplinary AIDS research-, intervention- and competence building programme in Arusha and Kilimanjaro Regions, in Northern Tanzania. The programme was later funded by NORAD and organised at Centre for International Health, at the University of Bergen in collaboration with the University of Muhimbili and University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (1988-1995). As part of this programme, I later got the opportunity to conduct research for my Dr Polit/ PhD.
My Doctoral study Women out of Sigh. Modern Meru Women in Gendered Worlds. The Case of the Meru of northern Tanzania (1999), is based on fieldwork in northern Tanzania, between 1989 and 1995, with a couple of interludes. The study is a broad-based ethnographic study. It explores processes of modernisation and social change, with a particular emphasis on the emerging phenomena of single women/ mothers and the shifting character of marriage and kinship relations. Centring on the tension between young and unmarried women’s quest for more autonomy and the kin groups interest in preserving what I term “a kinship-based morality”, I untangle a specific, gendered moral universe and its implications for their sexual life, childbearing with multiple partners which have become increasingly troubled partly due to the spread and infection of AIDS. The study explores ideas of female sexuality and male virility, central notions on shame and respectability as well as the gendered landscape and the character of mobility and labour. The study also points to the different factors that, over time, have contributed to women’s desire for more self-reliance, economic independence, and control over their own reproduction. Central to my argument is the transactional nature of female sexuality – which I argue underpins the traditional bride wealth system but also carried over in the informal unions that many modern women enter. While the former practice is supported by the age-grade system, family and clan, the modern forms of partnership, I argue, must be constantly negotiated by the partners themselves in order to be maintained.
“Modernisation and distress in men’s and women’s lives: African experiences” (2000-2005).
In 2000 I took up a position as a Nordic Researcher, at the Nordic Africa Institute (NAI), in Uppsala. During the time at NAI (2000-2005), I designed and conducted research on “Modernisation and distress in men’s and women’s lives: African experiences” (2000-2005). The research project dealt with societies in transformation under rapid change, brought about by forces such as modernisation and globalisation and explored how young men and women in contemporary northern Tanzania, experienced situations of great upheaval, uncertainty, and distress in their everyday lives.
Mental health. While at NAI, I was also the PI of another research project “Suffering from Severe Schizophrenia: Struggling for Treatment and Dignity in Tanzania” and together with a prof. in psychiatry at the university of Dar es salaam, we collected ethnographic data on extended illness narratives among severely mentally ill, in northern Tanzania (2002-2004).
The Hot Lava Edge of Cultural Flows: Global Social Inequality and the Anthropology of Uncertainty, Contingency and Future Orientation (2013-2016) which was funded by the Research Council of Norway. I was the PI of the project which focused on the forceful transformative power of hegemonic and powerful streams that flow over the world. By studying the «hot lava edges» we ask how social inequality at a global scale is created, recreated, and solidified, or, alternatively, how it may take new and surprising turns, resulting in altered forms of inequalities. We claim that the lava flow represents uncertainty and contingency, and as such, it affects how the future can be acted upon, if at all. Together with faculty members the project collaborated with some researchers at Christin Michelsen Institute, and the Universities of Bergen, Oslo and Tromsø.
Publications
2020
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Haram, Liv.
(2020)
Bodily grief work meets Christian interiority: The Meru case.
Death Studies
Academic article
2019
-
Haram, Liv.
(2019)
Negotiating Gender Justice in Tanzania.
Ethnos
Academic article
2018
-
Haram, Liv.
(2018)
‘We Are Tired of Mourning!’ The Economy of Death and Bereavement in a Time of AIDS.
Wiley-Blackwell
Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
-
Haram, Liv.
(2018)
Localizing Ontologies of Uncertainty in Neoliberal Tanzania.
Lexington Books
Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
2015
-
Haram, Liv.
(2015)
"Vi må vende tilbake til oss sjølve elles misser vi navlestrengen vår". Når den postkoloniserte snakker tilbake med eiga stemme.
Scandinavian Academic Press
Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
2010
-
Haram, Liv.
(2010)
"We are tired of mourning!" The Economy of Death and Bereavement in a Time of AIDS.
Berghahn Books
Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
2009
-
Haram, Liv;
Yamba, Christian Bawa.
(2009)
Dealing with Uncertainty in Contemporary African Lives.
Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
Academic anthology/Conference proceedings
-
Haram, Liv.
(2009)
Uncertain Livelihood: Women Challenging the Hegemonies of Male Dominance.
Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
-
Haram, Liv;
Yamba, Christian Bawa.
(2009)
Situating Uncertainty in Contemporary Africa.
Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
2006
-
Haram, Liv.
(2006)
"Breast feeding and sexuality: behaviour, beliefs and taboos among the Gogo mothers in Tanzania–Mara Mabilia.".
Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute
Academic article
2005
-
Haram, Liv.
(2005)
“‘Eyes have no Curtains’: The Moral Economy of Secrecy in Managing Love Affairs among Adolescent in Northern Tanzania in the Time of AIDS”.
Africa Today
Academic article
-
Haram, Liv.
(2005)
AIDS and Risk: the handling of uncertainty in northern Tanzania.
Culture, Health and Sexuality
Academic article
2004
-
Haram, Liv;
Bawa Yamba, C.
(2004)
Special issue 'Visiting the Issue of Uncertainty in Contemporary African Lives'.
African Sociological Review
Academic article
2001
-
Haram, Liv.
(2001)
‘In sexual life women are hunters’: AIDS and women who drain men's bodies. The case of the meru of Northern Tanzania.
South African Review of Sociology
Academic article
1999
-
Haram, Liv.
(1999)
"Women out of sight" : modern women in gendered worlds : the case of the Meru of Northern Tanzania.
Universitetet i Oslo
Universitetet i Oslo
Doctoral dissertation
1995
-
Talle, Aud;
Haram, Liv;
Heguye, Eli S.
(1995)
Helsesøkande åtferd hjå pasientar med AIDS.
Tidsskrift for Den norske legeforening
Academic article
-
Talle, Aud;
Haram, Liv;
Heguye, Eli S.
(1995)
Health care seeking behaviour of AIDS patients.
Tanzania Medical Journal
Academic article
1991
-
Haram, Liv.
(1991)
Tswana Medicine in Interaction with Biomedicine.
Social Science and Medicine
Academic article
1988
-
Haram, Liv.
(1988)
The Batswanas' Encounter with Western Medicine. Cooperation or confrontation?.
Universitetet i Oslo
Universitetet i Oslo
Report
Journal publications
-
Haram, Liv.
(2020)
Bodily grief work meets Christian interiority: The Meru case.
Death Studies
Academic article
-
Haram, Liv.
(2019)
Negotiating Gender Justice in Tanzania.
Ethnos
Academic article
-
Haram, Liv.
(2006)
"Breast feeding and sexuality: behaviour, beliefs and taboos among the Gogo mothers in Tanzania–Mara Mabilia.".
Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute
Academic article
-
Haram, Liv.
(2005)
“‘Eyes have no Curtains’: The Moral Economy of Secrecy in Managing Love Affairs among Adolescent in Northern Tanzania in the Time of AIDS”.
Africa Today
Academic article
-
Haram, Liv.
(2005)
AIDS and Risk: the handling of uncertainty in northern Tanzania.
Culture, Health and Sexuality
Academic article
-
Haram, Liv;
Bawa Yamba, C.
(2004)
Special issue 'Visiting the Issue of Uncertainty in Contemporary African Lives'.
African Sociological Review
Academic article
-
Haram, Liv.
(2001)
‘In sexual life women are hunters’: AIDS and women who drain men's bodies. The case of the meru of Northern Tanzania.
South African Review of Sociology
Academic article
-
Talle, Aud;
Haram, Liv;
Heguye, Eli S.
(1995)
Helsesøkande åtferd hjå pasientar med AIDS.
Tidsskrift for Den norske legeforening
Academic article
-
Talle, Aud;
Haram, Liv;
Heguye, Eli S.
(1995)
Health care seeking behaviour of AIDS patients.
Tanzania Medical Journal
Academic article
-
Haram, Liv.
(1991)
Tswana Medicine in Interaction with Biomedicine.
Social Science and Medicine
Academic article
Books
-
Haram, Liv;
Yamba, Christian Bawa.
(2009)
Dealing with Uncertainty in Contemporary African Lives.
Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
Academic anthology/Conference proceedings
Part of book/report
-
Haram, Liv.
(2018)
‘We Are Tired of Mourning!’ The Economy of Death and Bereavement in a Time of AIDS.
Wiley-Blackwell
Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
-
Haram, Liv.
(2018)
Localizing Ontologies of Uncertainty in Neoliberal Tanzania.
Lexington Books
Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
-
Haram, Liv.
(2015)
"Vi må vende tilbake til oss sjølve elles misser vi navlestrengen vår". Når den postkoloniserte snakker tilbake med eiga stemme.
Scandinavian Academic Press
Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
-
Haram, Liv.
(2010)
"We are tired of mourning!" The Economy of Death and Bereavement in a Time of AIDS.
Berghahn Books
Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
-
Haram, Liv.
(2009)
Uncertain Livelihood: Women Challenging the Hegemonies of Male Dominance.
Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
-
Haram, Liv;
Yamba, Christian Bawa.
(2009)
Situating Uncertainty in Contemporary Africa.
Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
Report
-
Haram, Liv.
(1999)
"Women out of sight" : modern women in gendered worlds : the case of the Meru of Northern Tanzania.
Universitetet i Oslo
Universitetet i Oslo
Doctoral dissertation
-
Haram, Liv.
(1988)
The Batswanas' Encounter with Western Medicine. Cooperation or confrontation?.
Universitetet i Oslo
Universitetet i Oslo
Report
Teaching
Courses
Media
2017
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Academic lectureBjelland, Anne Karen; Haram, Liv; Remme, Jon Henrik Ziegler. (2017) NAT prisen 2016. Norsk antropologisk forening Årskonferanse i Norsk antropologisk forening 2017 , Lillehammer 2017-05-05 - 2017-05-07
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Academic lectureHaram, Liv. (2017) The politics of emotions: Women's grief work betwixt and between the local and the christian legacy. LAbarotoire d'Anthropologie des Mondes Contemporains Towards an Anthropology of Grief; LAMC-ULB (Belgium) , Universite Librere Belgic, Brussels 2017-03-08 - 2017-03-09
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PosterAspen, Harald; Haram, Liv; Larsen, Anne Kathrine. (2017) The Hot Lava Edge of Cultural Flows: Global Social Inequality and the Anthropology of Uncertainty, Contingency and Future Orientation. Fakultet for samfunns- og utdanningsvitenskap SU-konferansen , Trondheim 2017-03-16 -
2016
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Popular scientific lectureAspen, Harald; Berge, Trond; Fyhn, Håkon; Haram, Liv; Larsen, Tord; Mele, Lisa Yvonne M.. (2016) Panel: Det skapende mennesket - hvordan er vi?. Linjeforeningen Communitas Antropologidagene 2016 , Trondheim 2016-03-03 -
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Academic lectureHaram, Liv. (2016) Commitment-uncertainties in transient conjugal unions and the critical exchange of children . Departmetn of Social anthropology, NTNU Third ISP Project workshop: The hot lava edge of cultural flows , Trondheim 2016-04-22 - 2016-04-23
2015
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Academic lectureHaram, Liv. (2015) "The troubled matter of gendered violence in Tanzania - Anthropological perspectives". Medisinsk teknisk forskningssenter NTNU Global Health seminar , Trondheim 2015-11-26 - 2015-11-26
2014
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InterviewHaram, Liv. (2014) Utflyttaren: Eg er nysgjerrig. Stranda, Sunnmøre Stranda, Sunnmøre [Newspaper] 2014-12-24
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LectureHaram, Liv. (2014) Antropologisk teori og metode. Stranda vidaregåande skule Antropolog på besøk , Stranda vidaregåande skule, Stranda 2014-12-15 - 2014-12-15
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Academic lectureHaram, Liv. (2014) The Religious-Magical Dimension of Mining Technology among Small-Scale Miners in the Tanzanite mines in northern Tanzania. European Association of Sociasl Anthropologists (EASA) European Association of Sociasl Anthropologists (EASA) , Tallinn 2014-07-31 - 2014-08-04
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LectureHaram, Liv. (2014) Antropologisk feltarbeid hjå fjellbønder i Tanzania. Stranda Vidaregånade Skule Antropolog på besøk , Stranda 2014-12-15 - 2014-12-15
2013
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Academic lectureHaram, Liv. (2013) Invitert Hovedforedrag: Precarious lives and violent murders as the magical preconditions to luck and prosperity. Institutt for arkeologi og sosialantropologi (IAS), UIT Norsk Antropologisk Forenings årskonferanse 2013 , Tromsø 2013-05-03 - 2013-05-05
2012
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Academic lectureHaram, Liv; Whyte, Susan Reynolds; Oxlund, Bjarke. (2012) Coconvening the Invited Panel: Uncertain life courses: growing older and chronic disquite. European Association of Social Anthropology (EASA) EASA 2012: Uncertainty and disquiet , Nanterre Univeristy,France 2012-07-10 - 2012-07-13
2008
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Academic lectureHaram, Liv. (2008) TRAJECTORIES OF DISCONTENT: SOME CONSEQUENCES OF INCREASING SOCIO-ECONOMIC DISPARITY IN PRESENT DAY TANZANIA. Africa Network, NTNU Abstractions, Lived Realities: Politics, Law and Economy in Africa , Trondheim 2008-05-13 - 2008-05-14
2006
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Academic lectureHaram, Liv. (2006) Managing love affairs in northern Tanzania in the times of AIDS. Department of Women and Gender Research in Medicine, HIV/AIDS in Africa: Prevention, treatment, gender and donors , University of Cobehagen, Cobenhagen 2006-03-27 - 2006-03-27
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Academic lectureHaram, Liv. (2006) 2.opponent på Phd: AIDS and the Socio-economic context in Uganda. Universitetet i Oslo, Disputas , Oslo 2006-10-10 - 2006-10-11
2005
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Academic lectureHaram, Liv. (2005) opponent/ external examiner på Tersbøl, Britt Pinkowsky. At a Loss in the Land of the Brave: A Study of Sexual Relationships in the Context of HIV/AIDS and Poverty in Namibia: Thesis Submitted for the Degree of Doctorate of Philosophy, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. University of Copenhagen, 2005. University of Copenhagen, Faculty of Health Sciences Disputas/Doctoral defence , Copenhagen 2005-10-20 - 2005-10-21
2001
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Academic lectureHaram, Liv. (2001) Opponent på AIds in namibia. Universitetet i København Disputas , København 2001-10-10 - 2001-10-11
1999
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DocumentaryHaram, Liv. (1999) AIDS making the socio-economic importance of sex deadly for Meru.The Arusha Times, April 16-30, 1997. The Arusha Times (Tanzanian newspaper) The Arusha Times (Tanzanian newspaper) [Newspaper] 1999-04-16