Thomas Blom Hansen
Encyclopedia
Thomas Blom Hansen is a Danish
anthropologist and leading contemporary commentator on religious and political violence in India
. He has worked on religious identities, local political organization and informal networks in Bombay and pursued an interest in the anthropology of politics
, the postcolonial
state and sovereignty
. More recently he has done research on religious revival
and the everyday meanings of freedom and belonging in post-apartheid South Africa
. Hansen is part of an international research network entitled “The Religious Lives of Migrants,” funded by the Ford Foundation
and the Social Science Research Council
in New York, which explores religious meanings and institutions among international migrants in a global and comparative perspective.
Hansen has held academic positions at Yale University
, University of Edinburgh
, University of Natal
(Durban
), Roskilde University
(Denmark
), and Copenhagen University. He was formerly Adjunct Professor of Anthropology at Columbia University
, Senior Research Scientist at Yale University, Visiting Professor at the University of Edinburgh, and Professor of Anthropology at the University of Amsterdam where he served as Dean of the International School for Humanities and Social Sciences. Hansen is now the Reliance-Dhirubhai Ambani Professor in South Asian Studies and Professor in Anthropology at Stanford University. He also serves as Director of Stanford's Center for South Asia.
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
anthropologist and leading contemporary commentator on religious and political violence in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. He has worked on religious identities, local political organization and informal networks in Bombay and pursued an interest in the anthropology of politics
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
, the postcolonial
Postcolonialism
Post-colonialism is a specifically post-modern intellectual discourse that consists of reactions to, and analysis of, the cultural legacy of colonialism...
state and sovereignty
Sovereignty
Sovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a geographic area, such as a territory. It can be found in a power to rule and make law that rests on a political fact for which no purely legal explanation can be provided...
. More recently he has done research on religious revival
Religious revival
Religious revival may refer to:* Christian Revivalism* Revival meeting* Islamic revival...
and the everyday meanings of freedom and belonging in post-apartheid South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
. Hansen is part of an international research network entitled “The Religious Lives of Migrants,” funded by the Ford Foundation
Ford Foundation
The Ford Foundation is a private foundation incorporated in Michigan and based in New York City created to fund programs that were chartered in 1936 by Edsel Ford and Henry Ford....
and the Social Science Research Council
Social Science Research Council
The Social Science Research Council is a U.S.-based independent nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing research in the social sciences and related disciplines...
in New York, which explores religious meanings and institutions among international migrants in a global and comparative perspective.
Hansen has held academic positions at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, University of Edinburgh
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...
, University of Natal
University of Natal
The University of Natal was a university in Natal, and later KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, that is now part of the University of KwaZulu-Natal. It was founded in 1910 as the Natal University College in Pietermaritzburg, and expanded to include a campus in Durban in 1931. In 1947, the university...
(Durban
Durban
Durban is the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal and the third largest city in South Africa. It forms part of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality. Durban is famous for being the busiest port in South Africa. It is also seen as one of the major centres of tourism...
), Roskilde University
Roskilde University
Roskilde University is a Danish public university founded in 1972 and located in Trekroner in the Eastern part of Roskilde. The university awards bachelor and master's degrees as well as Ph.D...
(Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
), and Copenhagen University. He was formerly Adjunct Professor of Anthropology at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, Senior Research Scientist at Yale University, Visiting Professor at the University of Edinburgh, and Professor of Anthropology at the University of Amsterdam where he served as Dean of the International School for Humanities and Social Sciences. Hansen is now the Reliance-Dhirubhai Ambani Professor in South Asian Studies and Professor in Anthropology at Stanford University. He also serves as Director of Stanford's Center for South Asia.
Selected publications
- The Saffron Wave. Democracy and Hindu Nationalism in Modern India (Princeton University Press, 1999)
- Wages of Violence. Naming and Identity in Postcolonial Bombay (Princeton University Press, 2001)
- (Co-edited with Finn Stepputat) States of Imagination. Ethnographic Explorations of the Postcolonial State (Duke University Press 2001)
- (Co-edited with Finn Stepputat) Sovereign Bodies. Citizens, Migrants and states in the postcolonial world (Princeton University Press, 2005)
External links
- [www.stanford.edu/dept/anthropology/cgi-bin/web/?q=node/683 Stanford University Faculty Page]