Renowned Anthropologist Thomas Hylland Eriksen Visits VMU
On 7-8, May, a public lecture-seminar and graduate student workshop will be held at VMU by a special guest – Thomas Hylland Eriksen, one of the most prominent anthropologists, Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Oslo, the President of the European Association of Social Anthropologists, EASA (2015-2016), and member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.
“Instead of focusing on tribes and indigenous as ‘classic’ anthropologist is expected to do, Eriksen analyzes the most significant shifts of human condition – accelerated changes happening through the processes of globalization – by exploring their consequences and proposing solutions. Anthropology here in many ways is defined as contra-cultural alternative” notes Vytis Čiubrinskas, Head of the Centre for Social Anthropology at VMU.
Public Lecture-Seminar to Discuss the Overheated World
On Monday 7 May, 11 a.m., a public lecture by Thomas H. Eriksen will be held, entitled: An Overheated World: Anthropology, Global Issues and Accelerated Change
Venue: President Valdas Adamkus Library-Museum (25 S. Daukanto Str.).
On the same day, at 2 p.m., Professor Eriksen will hold a seminar : Dimensions and Cases of Overheating, which will analyze issues of identity/culture, power gaps, environment/climate questions and the role of anthropology today.
Graduate Student Workshop for MA and PhD Students
On Tuesday 8 May, 11 a.m., graduate students in anthropology and ethnology will present their research projects at the workshop led by the guest.
Venue: President Valdas Adamkus Library-Museum (25 S. Daukanto Str.),.
Registration to the workshop: by e-mail: mykole.lukosiene@vdu.lt.
About Thomas Hylland Eriksen
Eriksen has conducted fieldwork in Trinidad and Mauritius. His fields of research include identity politics, nationalism and globalization. A considerable portion of Eriksen’s work has focused on popularizing social anthropology, his books: What is Anthropology? (2017/2004), Engaging Anthropology (2006) and in particular Small Places – Large Issues are widely translated and used as textbooks in many universities around the world.
Eriksen directed research largely concerned with cultural dynamics and social identities in complex societies which grew into interdisciplinary research program – Cultural Complexity in the New Norway. He has written the following books: Ethnicity and Nationalism: Anthropological Perspectives (2010/1993); Common Denominators: Ethnicity and the Politics of Compromise in Mauritius (1998); Globalization: The Key Concepts (2014/2007).
From 2011 to 2017 he led the international project “Overheating” which has resulted in his latest books: Overheating (Pluto Press 2016); Knowledge and Power in an Overheated World (free e-book, 2017), and a monograph about industry and overheating in Australia (2018).
