Collaboration at the Department of Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology

Collaboration is part of the department's work and is about letting research reach out and be useful beyond academia. Since much of our work is state-funded, it is our duty to give feedback to taxpayers about what we do and why it is important.

The department's research can contribute important perspectives on social and cultural sustainability and how people can understand each other and coexist despite differences. Through the ethnographic method and experience of fieldwork, the department's researchers are used to and interested in participating in different social contexts. Interaction with society outside academia can also provide valuable insights for the researchers.

Examples of collaboration:

• The department collaborates with one of Uppsala's upper secondary schools, Lundellska skolan, which offers its students a course in anthropology. Several of the department's researchers and teachers teach this course.

• There is a well-established collaboration with the school system that goes back a long time. Currently, ethnologist Göran Nygren is researching the school situation for students with congenital mobility impairments with funding from FORTE.

• Uppsala University's Forum for African Studies is located at the department and we have extended expertise in issues of politics, conflict and culture in many African countries and regions.

• Affiliated researcher Katarina Graffman is one of Sweden's most public anthropologists. She has a prominent role in the media where she uses ethnographic methods and anthropological theory to analyze the contemporary world and future forecasts regarding consumption behavior and sustainability. Read more about a recently compelted projected about sharing economy.

• The department's researchers are often contacted by the media for expert commentary and analysis. They also carry out training and research as consultants for Swedish and international authorities and civil society organizations. To see the latest activities, visit News.

Read more about the themes that the department's researchers focus on and find an expert.

Contact Head of Department Mats Hyvönen or Communications Officer Jennie Sjödin if you have ideas for collaboration with us or wonder which of our researchers is the right expert for you.