Marit Ursin
Background and activities
I am associate professor in interdisciplinary childhood and youth studies at the Department of Education and Lifelong Learning. I have a MA degree in social anthropology (NTNU) and a PhD in sociology (NORD university), both focusing on young people on the street in Brazil. My post doc concerned the impact of the drug trade on the everyday lives of children and youth in Brazil (NFR/NTNU).
I am currently teaching in courses on qualitative methods in childhood studies as well as children's rights on BA to PhD level, mostly within Mphil i Childhood Studies. I am also editor-in-chief of the academic journal BARN.
Academic interests
- Marginalised children, youth and families
- Children and youths' sense of belonging
- Children's rights
- Young citizenship
- Diverse forms of child and youth migration
- Children and youth in Latin America
Selected research projects
- Children's Migration in Historical and Cross-cultural Perspectives (NOS-HS)
- The impact of the crack trade, post doc (Latin American program, NFR)
- Understanding and supporting families with complex needs, led by University of Birmingham (EU-Marie Curie)
- Longitudinal study of street youth, MA and PhD project
- Barnas Valg, project leader
- Quality in Education
Research group membership
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
- (2019) Gatebarnet som offer og helt: En kritisk gjennomgang av den metodologiske utviklingen i den tverrfaglige barne- og barndomsforskningen. Norsk sosiologisk tidsskrift. vol. 3 (1).
- (2019) ‘The meaning of my life will always be to defend our Motherland’ Raising and educating citizens in a child protection institution in Mexico. Journal of Comparative Social Work. vol. 14 (1).
- (2018) Escutando os adultos sobre proteção da infância e crianças em situação de rua no Brasil urbano [Listening to adults about childhood protection and children in homeless situation in urban Brazil]. childhood & philosophy. vol. 14 (29).
- (2018) Freedom, mobility and marginality: an interdisciplinary study of the historical roots of contemporary street youth in urban Brazil. Journal of Youth Studies. vol. 21 (1).
- (2018) Volunteer tourism in Cambodian residential care facilities-A child rights-based approach. The International Journal of Children's Rights. vol. 26 (4).
- (2017) "When the sun rises, I sleep" the ambiguities of public sleep among young Brazilians on the street. Journal of Anthropological Research. vol. 73 (3).
- (2017) Recognizing the ‘big things’ and the ‘little things’ in child protection cases. Child & Family Social Work. vol. 22 (2).
- (2016) Contradictory and Intersecting Patterns of Inclusion and Exclusion of Street Youth in Salvador, Brazil. Social Inclusion. vol. 4 (4).
- (2014) “Crack ends it all?” A study of the interrelations between crack cocaine, social environments, social relations, crime, and homicide among poor, young men in urban Brazil. Contemporary Drug Problems. vol. 41 (2).
- (2012) ‘The City Is Ours’: The Temporal Construction of Dominance among Poor Young Men on the Street in a Brazilian Elite Neighbourhood. Journal of Latin American Studies. vol. 44.
- (2011) 'Wherever I lay my head is home' - young people's experience of home in the Brazilian street environment. Children's Geographies. vol. 9 (2).
Part of book/report
- (2018) Street Children And Brazil. Oxford Bibliographies in Childhood Studies.
- (2017) Young People’s Marginal Livelihoods and Social Transitions in Urban Brazil: Tale of Four Lives. Laboring and Learning..
- (2016) Geographies of Sleep Among Brazilian Street Youth. Geographies of children and young people: Space, place and environment.
- (2005) ‘Dia de Visita’ – besøksdag i et brasiliansk fengsel. Betwixt and Between. Sosialantropologistudentenes årbok.
Report/dissertation
- (2013) 'The place where I buried my bellybutton' - A longitudinal study of transitions and belonging among young men on the street in Salvador, Brazil. 2013. ISBN 978-82-92958-08-7.
- (2006) Os pivetes - Brazilian street youth and their encounter with a middle class neighbourhood. 2006.