Department of social anthropology seminar with Thomas M. Walle

The Department of Social Anthropology has the pleasure to invite you to a seminar with Thomas Michael Walle from Norsk Folkemusuem. He will present the following paper:

"Beyond stigmatisation: Some thoughts on how ethnicity obscures gender, and why an ethnography of cricket is an answer."

Abstract
It has rightly been argued that minority masculinities are constituted in relation to the majority society, and that popular images of ethnic minority men must be analysed as a consequence of the majority’s self-imagination. While it is important to document and challenge processes of stigmatisation and othering, it is argued in this presentation that we need to go beyond stigmatisation to get a sense of the complex ways that gender is constituted, lived and made meaningful. If we assert that ethnicity is dynamic, and comes into play in particular contexts, there will be situations where ethnicity takes on lesser significance. This advises us to investigate masculinity formations as they take shape and are performed within various minority groups, without seeing them as constituted in a state of tension with the dominant form of the majority. Drawing on fieldwork in Oslo, it is asserted that the notion of a Pakistani identity is formative of the social space that organised cricket constitutes. However, when it comes to the internal relations within cricket, there are in general few groups against which such ethnic markers are made relevant. The cricket playing men can be seen as a «muted group», in the sense that under the current dominant discourse it lacks ways to express its view of the world. To emphasise the significance of cricket in the constitution and performance of Norwegian Pakistani masculinities, is to allow the men agency and give voice to experiences that escape the hegemonic gaze.

Bionote
Thomas Walle is senior curator at Norsk Folkemuseum. He holds a PhD in Social Anthropology form the University of Oslo. His research areas include gender and ethnicity, popular culture, transnational relations, diaspora, material culture, cultural diversity and museums.

PLEASE NOTE!
Following the seminar, the Department of social anthropology will combine the usual post-seminar informal gathering over refreshments with hosting an alumni event. In addition to the usual refreshments, a selection of tapas will be served this time.

All interested are welcome!

Best regards
BSAS Comittee