Research news - Page 7

How to solve some of the smaller and bigger problems of our time? Anthropologist Michael Thompson believes in the power of creativity from below.

The differences between people who fear migrants and those who welcome them are not as clear-cut as commonly assumed. This insight can be a starting point for better discussions about how to live together in times of migration and economic downturn, suggests Cathrine Thorleifsson.

The EU’s gender equality policy lacks a clear vision and distinct commitments, Finnish political science professor Johanna Kantola claimed while taking stock of the Union’s policies at the seminar ‘Europeanisation of gender equality policies’.

The actual meaning of yesterday’s Spanish elections will very much depend on the art of politics. Today the parties are not so much into government formation, but more into securing a majority in the potential forthcoming elections.

Why it’s so problematic to be a reluctant European, an associated non-member of the European Union.

The truism is that crises create more integration. Although this has been the case in the past, there is no guarantee that it will be so in the future. Now the crises are numerous, and they also reveal the weaknesses of the EU structure.

Several anthropologists are currently doing fieldwork to collect objects, video clips and sound bites that help us rethink the way we deal with things we no longer need.

Why has Norway ended up in a very precarious democratic situation because of its relationship with the EU? Why is the UK prime Minister saying, 'don't look to Norway'?

Few visual impressions can be compared to humans’ interest for faces. New research suggests that our brain rewards us for looking at pretty faces.

Why has the largest man-made structure on earth, until recently, been a landfill? Are waste pickers environmental heroes, or is their work first and foremost inhuman? Do we treat some humans the same way we treat waste?

Premysl Macha, Ph.D. from the University of Ostrava, Czech Republic will be on a research stay at the Department of Social Anthropology, from 9. -13. of November 2015.​

A new book sheds light on the options for Norway should it decide to withdraw from the EEA Agreement. Is a Swiss-style free-trade agreement an option, and if so, would it be more democratic?

Globalisation provides the Sami people with political power as well as valuable networks with indigenous people worldwide. "Globalisation has been really positive for the Sami political struggle," says Maria Hernes, who recently returned from fieldwork in Karasjok, Oslo, and New York.

Instead of shifting the responsibility on to the refugees, we need to treat them as fellow citizens and include them in our everyday lives, according to researcher.

Erik O. Eriksen sheds light on the EU as an idea and concept in his newest book which is published in Norwegian with the title 'What is the EU good for?'.

The European Commission has exerted a surprising level of influence over decisions in EU foreign and security policy, Marianne Riddervold finds in a new study.

International media are celebrating the corporate-led relocation of Kiruna. Anthropologist Elisa Maria Lopez thinks it is important to talk about “forced displacement” and “chronic uncertainty” in the northernmost Swedish town instead.

Does health constitute another major crisis of globalisation? How does food relate to health, well-being, and social change? Wim Van Daele has talked with healers and doctors in Sri Lanka about the “unhealthy” mix of new and processed foods, stress, the corporate monopolization of food chains, and burning stomachs.

As the number of new ebola cases decreases in Sierra Leone, the west African country can now start looking to the future.

The ebola crisis, which started in March 2014, saw more than 13,000 people infected and left almost 4000 dead in the country. Trade became difficult, household costs rose sharply and many jobs were lost.

Pollution, violence, forced displacement: What to do against harmful side effects of mining? A big disaster on a small island helped anthropologist Catherine Coumans to find an answer.

“In Europe, we too quickly link the idea of converting to Islam with radicalization. Such discourses are much less common here. There is much less fear of Islam than in many European countries,” says Tiffany Linn Utvær Gasser, currently on fieldwork in Buenos Aires.

The Oslo-based Research Group for Lifespan Changes in Brain and Cognition has been named as a world-class research group. At the same time the group’s founders, Anders Fjell and Kristine Walhovd, have just received the Research Prize for 2015 awarded by the University of Oslo.

Wim van Daele is in Sri Lanka, and has been using Ayurvedic learning to understand how a complex interplay of hot foods, stress, fertilizers, inactivity, changed temporalities, and acceleration of life is leading to gastritis and other digestive problems - in short, an Overheating of the human body.

There is a waste of resources in forming academics, having them compete for positions, publications and research funding, that is arguably not efficient, according to Tatiana Fumasoli.

What options are available for the Brits should they decide to leave the European Union? Some important lessons can be drawn from Norway, Switzerland and Iceland, current non-members which enjoy the benefits of the EU’s internal market.