Tom Bratrud

Postdoctoral fellow
Image of Tom Bratrud
Norwegian version of this page
Phone +47 22855105
Mobile phone +47 99457861 +47 99457861
Room 944
Available hours By appointment
Username

Tom Bratrud is Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of Social Anthropology and part of the project Private Lives: Embedding Sociality at Digital 'Kitchen-tables'. His research focuses on values, social life and political dynamics in the South Pacific and Nordics.

Bratrud’s current research examines everyday life with digital technology in rural Norway. Focus areas include (1) how digital technologies enable new forms of urban-rural mobility, (2) farmers’ need to expand and automatise to comply with new demands from the government and market, and (3) reality formation in enmeshed online/offline worlds.

Bratrud's initial research focuses on the intersection of religion, morality and politics of land in Vanuatu. This work, based on 20 months of ethnographic fieldwork from 2010-2017, has resulted in the monograph Fire on the Island: Fear, Hope and a Christian Revival in Vanuatu (2022, Berghahn Books). The book examines a startling child-led Christian revival movement that developed on Ahamb Island in 2014 as a social and ethical reform in the wake of enduring political disputes. However, the movement had a dramatic turn when two men claimed to be sorcerers and responsible for many of the community’s problems were killed. The book’s main theoretical contribution concerns how fear and hope are powerful sentiments that work together to become a potent driving force for change, but where the outcome can easily escape the initiators' control.

Interview about Tom's research in Norway and Vanuatu on Sophie Chao's Morethanhumanworlds.

Academic Interests

Topics: Social organisation, religion/worldviews, values, environmental issues, resource politics, continuity/change, urban-rural dynamics, digitalisation.

Regional interests: The South Pacific, the Nordics

Teaching

Higher education and employment history

Education:

  • PhD in Social Anthropology, University of Oslo, 2018
  • MA in Social Anthropology, University of Oslo, 2011

Other and previous academic positions:

  • Subject manager, Vanuatu, The Great Norwegian Encyclopedia (SNL.no), 2023-
  • Associate Professor, Department of Culture, Religion and Social Studies, University of South-Eastern Norway, 2019-2021.
  • Senior lecturer, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo, 2018-2019.
  • Seminar leader, Religion and Power, Kulturstudier/Oslo Metropolitan University (Pondicherry, India), 2011.

Research projects

  • 2021-24: Persistence and Change in Social Formations: Digital Everyday Lives in Rural Norway (NSD project # 912121)
  • 2023: Commoning and Privatization of Land in Norway and the South-Pacific (visiting scholar project, University of Sydney)
  • 2020-22: Local Communities and Part-Time Residents in Rural Norway (NSD project # 930504)
  • 2013-17: Land, Sea, Life: Engagements in the Wider World (doctoral project)
  • 2009-11: Finding Ways: Community and its Challenges on Ahamb, Vanuatu (MA project)

Honoraria and grants

Cooperation

Visiting research fellowships

Tags: Social organisation, Cosmology, Social change, Religion, Morality, Values, Urbanity, Rurality

Publications

Books (peer-reviewed)
Bratrud, Tom. 2022. Fire on the Island: Fear, Hope and a Christian Revival in Vanuatu. Oxford & New York: Berghahn Books. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3167/9781800734647

Essay about Fire on the Island on Berghahn Books' blog. Podcast episodes on New Books Network Podcast (interview by Tiatemsu Longkumer) and Antro-podden Podcast (interview by Thorgeir S. Kolshus). Reviews in London Review of BooksOceaniaPacific AffairsNorwegian Anthropological Journal.

Bratrud, Tom. 2018. The Salvesen Ami Dance: Custom, Christianity and Cultural Creativity in South Malekula, Vanuatu. Oslo: The Kon-Tiki Museum. [open access]


Special journal issues/edited volumes (peer-reviewed)
Bratrud, Tom, Ingjerd Hoëm & Keir Martin (eds). 2021. Dependence in Oceania (special issue). Oceania 91(2).

Bratrud, Tom & Tuva Broch (eds). 2020. (The) Home in and after Gullestad (special issue). Norwegian Anthropological Journal 31(1-2).


Articles and book chapters (peer-reviewed)
Bratrud Tom. 2024 (in press). The Exurban Timespace: Spatiotemporal Decompression among Urban-Rural Migrants in Norway. In Time of our Times, edited by Astrid Marie Holand and Per Bjarne Ravnå. Berlin: De Gruyter.

Bratrud, Tom. 2024 (in press). Becoming an Outdoors Person: Identity Transformation through Nature Activity and Social Media in Norway. In Simon K. Beames and Patrick T. Maher (eds.) Routledge Handbook of Mobile Technology, Social Media and the Outdoors. London: Routledge.

Bratrud, Tom. 2024. Pentecostalisation as Social Reform in Vanuatu: The Case of the 2014 Malekula Revival. In Marie Durand, Monika Stern & Eric Wittersheim (eds). Le Vanuatu dans tous ses états: Histoire et anthropologie. Paris: Presses de l'Inalco, 301-323.

Bratrud, Tom. 2022. Ambiguity in a Charismatic Revival: Inverting Gender, Age and Power Relations in Vanuatu. Ethnos: Journal of Anthropology 87(4): 713-731. DOI: 10.1080/00141844.2019.1696855. [open access]

Kolshus, Thorgeir & Tom Bratrud. 2022. Frihetsbalansen. In Charlotte Lundgren (ed). Psykisk oppvekst: Barn og unges psykiske helse fra 0-25 år. Oslo: The Norwegian Council for Mental Health[open access]

Bratrud, Tom. 2021. What is Love? The Complex Relation between Values and Practice in VanuatuJournal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 27(3): 461-477. DOI: 10.1111/1467-9655.13546. [open access]

Bratrud, Tom. 2021. Asserting Land, Estranging Kin: On Competing Relations of Dependence in Vanuatu. Oceania 91(2): 280-295. DOI: 10.1002/ocea.5305. [open access]

Bratrud, Tom. 2021. The Sorcerer as Folk Devil in Contemporary Melanesia. In Martin Demant Frederiksen & Ida Harboe Knudsen (eds.). Modern Folk Devils: Contemporary Constructions of Evil. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press, 47–61. DOI: https://doi.org/10.33134/HUP-13-3. [open access]

Bratrud, Tom & Marianne E. Lien. 2021. The Cabin, the Village and the City: Negotiating Belonging in Times of Crisis. Norwegian Anthropological Journal 32(2): 55-71. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18261/issn.1504-2898-2021-02-02. [open access]

Bratrud, Tom. 2020. Paradoxes of (In)security and Moral Regeneration in Vanuatu and BeyondJournal of Extreme Anthropology 4(1): 177-197. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5617/jea.7395. [open access]

Bratrud, Tom. 2019. Fear and Hope in Vanuatu PentecostalismPaideuma: Mitteilungen zur Kulturkunde 65(1): 111-132. DOI: https://www.jstor.org/stable/26858307 [open access]

Rangelov, Tihomir, Tom Bratrud & Julie Barbour. 2019. Ahamb (Malekula, Vanuatu) – Language Context. Language Documentation and Description 16(1): 86-126. DOI: 10.25894/ldd114 [open access]

Bratrud, Tom. 2017. Spiritual War: Revival, Child Prophecies, and a Battle over Sorcery in Vanuatu. In Knut M. Rio, Michelle MacCarthy & Ruy Blanes (eds). Pentecostalism and Witchcraft: Spiritual Warfare in Africa and Melanesia. Cham: Palgrave MacMillan, 211–233. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56068-7_9. [open access]

Bratrud, Tom. 2013. Bisnis, Risriskure, Sociality: Melanesian Egality and Monetary Modernity on Ahamb, VanuatuNorwegian Anthropological Journal (24)2: 100-111. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18261/ISSN1504-2898-2013-02-03
 

Book reviews
Bratrud, Tom. 2022. Like Fire: The Paliau Movement and Millennarianism in Melanesia (Theodore Schwartz & Michael French Smith), ANU PressJournal of Pacific History 57(1-2). DOI: 10.1080/00223344.2022.2039843.

Bratrud, Tom. 2014. Foodways and Empathy: Relatedness in a Ramu River Society, Papua New Guinea (Anita von Poser), Berghahn BooksAnthropos 109(2): 733-734.


Other relevant

Tom Bratrud. 2023. Om Markens grøde som lengsel og kulturelt symbol. In Tor-Evert Grødahl Johansen Småbruksdrømmen: Om livet på landet og hva vi egentlig lengter etter. Stavanger: Frisk forlag.

Tom Bratrud. 2023. Om bygdedyret, frykt, likhet og likeverd. In Tor-Evert Grødahl Johansen Småbruksdrømmen: Om livet på landet og hva vi egentlig lengter etter. Stavanger: Frisk forlag.

Tom Bratrud. 2023. ‘Det blir jo feil å selge også’: Følelser, tilknytning og hindre for overlating av småbruk. In Tor-Evert Grødahl Johansen Småbruksdrømmen: Om livet på landet og hva vi egentlig lengter etter. Stavanger: Frisk forlag.

Felix Sam, Tomsen Sam, Hedrick Peter, Graham Thomas, Morvel Tom & Tom Bratrud (eds). 2014. Some Stories and Songs from Ahamb Island. In Ahamb Language and Bislama. Port Vila: Vanuatu Cultural Centre.

Bratrud, Tom. 2012. Social and Cultural Aspects of Climate Change and other Environmental Hazards: Experiences from Ahamb Island, South Malakula, Vanuatu. Report for Vanuatu Cultural Centre and Vanuatu Department of Meteorology.


Media and talks
See overview in Cristin.

  • Bratrud, Tom (2024). Pentecostalisation as Social Reform: The Case of the 2014 Malekula Revival. In Durand, Marie; Stern, Monika & Wittersheim, Eric (Ed.), Le Vanuatu dans tous ses états : Histoire et anthropologie. Les Presses de l'Inalco. ISSN 978-2-85831-438-6. p. 301–323.
  • Kolshus, Thorgeir & Bratrud, Tom (2022). Frihetsbalansen. In Lundgren, Charlotte (Eds.), Psykisk oppvekst. Barn og unges psykiske helse fra 0-25 år. Rådet for psykisk helse. ISSN 978-82-91635-46-0. doi: https:/psykiskhelse.no/psykiskoppvekst/fellesskap/frihetsbalansen/.
  • Bratrud, Tom (2021). The Sorcerer as Folk Devil in Contemporary Melanesia. In Frederiksen, Martin Demant & Knudsen, Ida Harboe (Ed.), Modern Folk Devils: Contemporary Constructions of Evil. Helsinki University Press (HUP). ISSN 978-952-369-054-7. p. 27–47. doi: https:/doi.org/10.33134/HUP-13-3.
  • Bratrud, Tom & Lien, Marianne Elisabeth (2021). Hytta, bygda og byen: Forhandling om tilhørighet i krisetid. Norsk Antropologisk Tidsskrift. ISSN 0802-7285. 32(2), p. 55–71. doi: 10.18261/issn.1504-2898-2021-02-02.
  • Bratrud, Tom (2021). Asserting Land, Estranging Kin: On Competing Relations of Dependence in Vanuatu. Oceania. ISSN 0029-8077. doi: 10.1002/ocea.5305. Full text in Research Archive
  • Bratrud, Tom (2021). What is love? The complex relation between values and practice in Vanuatu. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. ISSN 1359-0987. doi: 10.1111/1467-9655.13546. Full text in Research Archive
  • Bratrud, Tom (2020). Paradoxes of (In)security and Moral Regeneration in Vanuatu and Beyond. Journal of Extreme Anthropology. ISSN 2535-3241. 4(1), p. 177–197. doi: 10.5617/jea.7395. Full text in Research Archive
  • Bratrud, Tom (2019). Fear and Hope in Vanuatu Pentecostalism. Paideuma: Mitteilungen zur Kulturkunde. ISSN 0078-7809. 65, p. 111–132. Full text in Research Archive
  • Bratrud, Tom (2019). Ambiguity in a Charismatic Revival: Inverting Gender, Age and Power Relations in Vanuatu. Ethnos. ISSN 0014-1844. p. 1–19. doi: 10.1080/00141844.2019.1696855. Full text in Research Archive
  • Rangelov, Tihomir; Bratrud, Tom & Barbour, Julie (2019). Ahamb (Malekula, Vanuatu) – Language Context. Language Documentation and Description. ISSN 1740-6234. 16, p. 86–126. Full text in Research Archive
  • Bratrud, Tom (2017). Spiritual War: Revival, Child Prophesies, and a Battle Over Sorcery in Vanuatu. In Rio, Knut; MacCarthy, Michelle & Blanes, Ruy Llera (Ed.), Pentecostalism and Witchcraft: Spiritual Warfare in Africa and Melanesia. Palgrave Macmillan. ISSN 978-3-319-56068-7. p. 211–233. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-56068-7. Full text in Research Archive
  • Bratrud, Tom (2013). Bisnis, risriskure, sosialitet - Melanesisk egalitet og pengebasert modernitet på Ahamb, Vanuatu. Norsk Antropologisk Tidsskrift. ISSN 0802-7285. 24(2), p. 100–111.

View all works in Cristin

  • Bratrud, Tom (2022). Fire on the Island: Fear, Hope and a Christian Revival in Vanuatu. Berghahn Books. ISBN 9781800734647. 276 p.
  • Bratrud, Tom (2018). The Salvesen Ami Dance: Custom, Christianity and Cultural Creativity in South Malekula, Vanuatu. Kon-Tiki Museum. Occasional Papers. ISBN 978-82-92967-18-8. 111 p.
  • Gjøstein, Dagrun Kyte; Knutsen, Lene Vea; Bratrud, Tom; Christensen, Elise; Bardalen, Ingunn & Thorbjørnsen, Vilde Fastvold [Show all 8 contributors for this article] (2011). Betwixt & Between 2011. Betwixt & Between, Sosialantropologisk institutt. ISBN 978-82-90835-37-3. 153 p.

View all works in Cristin

  • Bratrud, Tom (2023). ‘Det blir jo feil å selge også’: Følelser, tilknytning og hindre for overlating av småbruk. In Grøndal, Tor-Evert (Eds.), Småbruksdrømmen - Om livet på landet og hva vi egentlig lengter etter. Frisk. ISSN 9788284371290.
  • Bratrud, Tom (2023). Om bygdedyret, frykt, likhet og likeverd. In Grøndal, Tor-Evert (Eds.), Småbruksdrømmen - Om livet på landet og hva vi egentlig lengter etter. Frisk. ISSN 9788284371290.
  • Bratrud, Tom (2023). Om Markens grøde som lengsel og kulturelt symbol. In Grøndal, Tor-Evert (Eds.), Småbruksdrømmen - Om livet på landet og hva vi egentlig lengter etter. Frisk. ISSN 9788284371290.
  • Bratrud, Tom (2023). Morethanhumanmatters. An interview with Tom Bratrud. [Internet]. Morethanhumanworlds.com.
  • Salinas, Cecilia G.; Bratrud, Tom; Lien, Marianne Elisabeth; Broch, Tuva Beyer; Treimo, Henrik & Kipphoff, Karen [Show all 9 contributors for this article] (2023). Privatlivets grenser: nye skillelinjer, nye samvær.
  • Bratrud, Tom (2023). Paradisresorts og åndelig krigføring i Vanuatu.
  • Bratrud, Tom (2023). The Socio-Environmental Dynamics of a Climate Change Poster Child: Vulnerabilities and Creativities on a Vanuatu Island .
  • Bratrud, Tom (2023). Kastet fra seg 1.055 tonn søppel i Oslo: – Handler om oppdragelse. Dagsavisen. ISSN 1503-2892.
  • Bratrud, Tom (2023). Livet på en liten øy: Antropologisk forskning i Stillehavet.
  • Bratrud, Tom (2023). Fear and hope: Complementary Drivers of Change in Vanuatu and Beyond.
  • Bratrud, Tom (2022). Så mange tror norskprodusert mat er tryggest. Nationen. ISSN 0805-3782.
  • Salinas, Cecilia G.; Bratrud, Tom; Lien, Marianne Elisabeth & Beyer Broch, Tuva (2022). Social Media - PRIVATE LIVES .
  • Bratrud, Tom (2022). Livssyns-shopping til gravferden. NRK, P2.
  • Bratrud, Tom (2022). D2 Life: De-territorializing the Urban-Rural Divide in the Mountains of Norway.
  • Bratrud, Tom (2022). Private Lives: Co-creative Methods and/in the Digital Dimension.
  • Bratrud, Tom (2022). Digital Everyday Lives in Rural Norway.
  • Lien, Marianne Elisabeth; Bratrud, Tom & Salinas, Cecilia G. (2022). Private Lives: Embedding Sociality at Digital 'Kitchen tables' .
  • Bratrud, Tom (2022). Status Work in Egalitarian Spaces: Bragging Posts from Nature in Norway.
  • Bratrud, Tom (2022). A Sea of Possibilities or Not: The Necessity of Social Work for Accessing Waterways in Vanuatu.
  • Bratrud, Tom (2022). When God became Real on Ahamb: Spiritual Experience, Materiality and Persuasion in Vanuatu .
  • Bratrud, Tom (2022). Fjellets verdi - for hva og hvem? Kryssende linjer av idyll og strid.
  • Bratrud, Tom (2022). Et liv med lunefull natur: Noen perspektiver fra Stillehavet.
  • Bratrud, Tom (2022). Oslo-borgere tar byen sin i forsvar: – Vi har tilgang på fantastisk natur. Aftenposten (morgenutg. : trykt utg.). ISSN 0804-3116.
  • Bratrud, Tom (2022). Like Fire: The Paliau Movement and Millenarianism in Melanesia. Journal of Pacific History. ISSN 0022-3344. doi: 10.1080/00223344.2022.2039843.
  • Bratrud, Tom (2022). Klemmekultur under press. universitas.no.
  • Bratrud, Tom (2022). Tilflytting til bygda: En erfaringsdeling til Etnedal.
  • Bratrud, Tom (2022). To Build or Not to Build: The Holiday Home Boom and Future Commons in Valdres, Norway.
  • Bratrud, Tom (2021). Om gaven, i "Ukeslutt", NRK P2. NRK, P2.
  • Bratrud, Tom (2021). «Hvem er egentlig viktigst her?»:Forhandling om tilhørighet, definisjonsmakt og fremtid i hyttebygda Fjelldal .
  • Bratrud, Tom (2021). Work from nature, save a community: The social grounds and implications of a tech co-working space in rural Norway.
  • Bratrud, Tom (2021). Hvem er vi, og hvem vil vi være i framtida? Avisa Valdres.
  • Bratrud, Tom (2021). Tom Cruise-effekten. NRK.no.
  • Bratrud, Tom (2021). Fra landsbystudier i Melanesia til den nordiske bygd: Muligheter og utfordringer med ‘den holistiske tilnærmingen’ i digitaliserte hverdagsliv.
  • Bratrud, Tom (2021). Usikker på munnbind-reglene? Dette må du vite. [Internet]. TV2.
  • Bratrud, Tom (2020). Frå Valdres til Vanuatu.
  • Bratrud, Tom (2020). Går mot hyttesommer i Norge. [TV]. NRK Nyheter.
  • Bratrud, Tom (2020). - Et gjensidig avhengighetsforhold. [Newspaper]. Valdresmagasinet (Avisa-Valdres).
  • Bratrud, Tom (2020). - Et gjensigig avhengighetsforhold. [Newspaper]. Valdresmagasinet (Avisa-Valdres).
  • Bratrud, Tom (2020). Hvorfor blir det krangel mellom fastboende og hytteeiere? [Radio]. NRK P1 Østlandssendingen.
  • Lien, Marianne Elisabeth & Bratrud, Tom (2020). Hytta, korona og drømmen om å klare seg selv. [Newspaper]. Aftenposten.
  • Bratrud, Tom (2019). Fire on the Island. Fear, hope and a Christian revival movement in Vanuatu.
  • Bratrud, Tom (2018). Hva er en hvit elefant? [Radio]. NRK Østlandssendingen.
  • Bratrud, Tom (2018). The Prince Phillip Movement. [Radio]. NRK P1. Mellom himmel og jord.
  • Bratrud, Tom (2018). Cargo-kultene i Stillehavet. [Radio]. https://radio.nrk.no/serie/mellom-himmel-og-jord/DMTL0400141.
  • Bratrud, Tom (2018). Når en vekkelse tar et samfunn. [Radio]. NRK P2. Program: Ekko.
  • Bratrud, Tom (2018). Disputerte med guddommeliggjorte barn. [Newspaper]. Avisa Valdres.
  • Bratrud, Tom (2018). Born blei kristna for å redde stillehavsøy frå moralsk krise. [Internet]. https://forskning.no/2018/03/born-blei-kristna-redde-stilleh.
  • Bratrud, Tom (2015). Dette bør du ikke gi til jul. [Internet]. NRK Nordland.
  • Bratrud, Tom (2015). Stedstilhørighet og flytting by-land. [Radio]. NRK, Østlandssendingen.
  • Bratrud, Tom (2015). Black Friday. [TV]. NRK, Østlandssendingen.
  • Bratrud, Tom (2015). Julegaver betyr mye for oss. [Internet]. NRK Ytring.
  • Bratrud, Tom (2015). Gaver - limet som holder oss sammen. [Radio]. NRK P2, Ytring.
  • Bratrud, Tom (2014). Review of Foodways and Empathy. Relatedness in a Ramu River Society, Papua New Guinea. Anthropos: Internationale Zeitschrift für Völker- und Sprachenkunde. ISSN 0257-9774.
  • Bratrud, Tom (2023). Fire on the Island: Fear, Hope and a Christian Revival in Vanuatu (Berghahn Blog post). Berghahn Books.
  • Bratrud, Tom (2018). Fire on the Island: The Transformative Power of a Christian Revival in Vanuatu. Universitetet i Oslo.

View all works in Cristin

Published Aug. 22, 2013 10:03 AM - Last modified Feb. 26, 2024 9:38 AM

Projects