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Olaf Haraldsøn Smedal

Emeritus, Professor Emeritus
Department of Social Anthropology
  • E-mailOlaf.Smedal@uib.no
  • Phone+47 55 58 92 62
  • Visitor Address
    Fosswinckels gate 6
    Lauritz Meltzers hus
    5007 Bergen
    Room 
    812
  • Postal Address
    Postboks 7802
    5020 Bergen

Kinship, ritual, symbolization, economy, material culture

These fields of research have crystallized in part during field investigations, in part as a result of the analytical work that follows. To take one example, my first fieldwork (1983-84), among a small ethnic minority – the Lom in the island Bangka in western Indonesia – made me interested in kinship. The Lom have developed rules for whom one can (not) marry that struck me as unusual, something that turned out to be the case. This led to my first (anthropological) international publication (Smedal 1991). During my second fieldwork (1990-91) – among the Ngadha in Flores, eastern Indonesia – it was easy to follow up this interest in kinship: the Ngadha are organized in kin-based “houses”, something that made me wonder how they might be understood in light of, say, classical “British” descent theory (Smedal 2002b). Moreover, these houses are conspicuous buildings lavishly decorated with intricate symbolic wood carvings (Smedal 2000d). The Ngadha also have a rich ritual life characterized by frequent exchange of chicken, pig, and water buffalo, subsequently sacrificed, and I have devoted much time to analysing the cosmological foundation for these practices (Smedal 1996, 2009c).

Parallel with the analyses in kinship and ritual/symbolic practices, I have researched the economic adaptations of the Lom and the Ngadha. In my book on the Lom (Smedal 1989), the chapter on economy is by far the largest. Later, I have repeatedly visited oil palm plantations in Borneo, to which many Ngadha migrated in the 1990s. In 2007 I was back among the Lom where an oil palm plantation was under construction, in strong competition with tin mining. In the summer of 2009 I spent a couple of weeks in Flores (with Rolf Scott) in order to film a rare ritual. Looking forwards, I expect to study the variant experiences of the Lom and the Ngadha as plantation workers comparatively, while I also wish to follow up on my research on ritual among the Ngadha in Flores.

SANT 301 Anthropological research methods and theory development

SANT 302 Pre-fieldwork project development

SANT 102 Social life in global perspective
 

  • Show author(s) (2021). Tilbakeblikk på status presens. Slektskapsteorienes springende punkt eller: Noen debatter dør aldri.
  • Show author(s) (2021). Social anthropology in Norway: A historical sketch.
  • Show author(s) (2021). Portals to the unseen Re-inventing ayahuasca practices, shamanism, and the anthropologist in the entheogenic field.
  • Show author(s) (2021). Hverdagsliv i en Vestlandsk Industribygd: En etnografisk undersøkelse av hverdagspraksiser i endring.
  • Show author(s) (2020). A PASSION FOR CHANGE: An ethnographic study of non-conforming gender identities in Buddhist Myanmar.
  • Show author(s) (2020). "Water is life, Life is Water" - Environmental Engagements in Thailand.
  • Show author(s) (2019). For fremtidens skyld: Miljøbevissthet og livsstilsendringer blant unge voksne.
  • Show author(s) (2018). Resistance as a problem - An ethnic minority and the state in twenty-first century Indonesia. 32 pages.
  • Show author(s) (2017). What do the rocks say?
  • Show author(s) (2017). Sosiale ulikheter og personlig utvikling i Sør-Korea. Modernitetens utfordringer.
  • Show author(s) (2017). Fieldwork practice and ethics in Asia.
  • Show author(s) (2016). World-Making in the Mountains. Post-Apocalyptic Utopianism in Southern Appalachia.
  • Show author(s) (2016). Uten "de andre", ingen ting som helst. Norsk Antropologisk Tidsskrift. 42-47.
  • Show author(s) (2016). Normal control: Some reminders about the present .
  • Show author(s) (2016). Ngadha house society origins. The miniature evidence. 22 pages.
  • Show author(s) (2016). Goddesses of North Malabar: An Anthropological Study on Kinship and Ritual in North Malabar .
  • Show author(s) (2016). Fra tradisjon til attraksjon. Turismens påvirkning på autentisitet og tradisjoner på Gozo.
  • Show author(s) (2016). Demotion as value: Rank infraction among the Ngadha in Flores, Indonesia. Social Analysis: The International Journal of Anthropology. 114-133.
  • Show author(s) (2015). What do the rocks say?
  • Show author(s) (2015). Uten 'de andre', ingen ting som helst.
  • Show author(s) (2015). Social anthropology in Norway: a nutshell history.
  • Show author(s) (2015). Hodejegere og fuglesang. KulaKula. 8-9.
  • Show author(s) (2015). Asal usul masyarakat rumah Ngadha: Bukti miniatur. 32 pages.
  • Show author(s) (2015). "Strangers among kindred family". A study of stigma, identity and consumption among North Korean defectors in South Korea.
  • Show author(s) (2014). What do the rocks say?
  • Show author(s) (2014). Participant observation in Indonesia: a beginner's tale.
  • Show author(s) (2014). Higher education in Europe: the Bologna process so far.
  • Show author(s) (2014). Editor's note. Social Analysis: The International Journal of Anthropology. v-v.
  • Show author(s) (2013). Women and Family in Contemporary Urban China.
  • Show author(s) (2013). Courage and trust: From penniless transmigrant to affluent smallholder (and back) in Indonesian Borneo. 27 pages.
  • Show author(s) (2012). She was lost, and is found: Rank demotion among Ngadha, Central Flores.
  • Show author(s) (2012). Sacrifice, feeding, and knowledge: a view from Ngadhaland, central Flores, Indonesia.
  • Show author(s) (2012). Hierarchical demotion as value: Rank infraction among Ngadha, Flores, Indonesia.
  • Show author(s) (2012). Hierarchical demotion as value: Rank infraction among Ngadha, Flores, Indonesia.
  • Show author(s) (2012). An Anthropology of Marketplace Behavior. Aspects of embeddedness in Norwegian entrepreneurship in the Baltics.
  • Show author(s) (2012). An Anthropology of Marketplace Behavior.
  • Show author(s) (2011). Unilineal descent and the house--again: The Ngadha, eastern Indonesia. Bijdragen Tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde. 270-302.
  • Show author(s) (2011). Sosialantropologisk metode: en innføring. KulaKula. 25-29.
  • Show author(s) (2011). Healing with herbal medicine and shamanism - the healing practices of the Hmong of Northern Thailand.
  • Show author(s) (2010). Makt, motstand og motstandskritikk. En etnisk minoritetsgruppe i post-Suharto Indonesia. Norsk Antropologisk Tidsskrift. 80-96.
  • Show author(s) (2009). Å lære språk før arbeid i felt.
  • Show author(s) (2009). Resistance as problem: An ethnic minority and the state in 21st century Indonesia.
  • Show author(s) (2009). Production or consumption: On the comparison of peasant economies.
  • Show author(s) (2009). Participation of local ethnic people in natural resources management in Ba Be National Park, The North East Vietnam.
  • Show author(s) (2009). On the Value of the Beast or the Limit of Money: Notes on the Meaning of Marriage Prestations among the Ngadha, Central Flores (Indonesia). 29 pages.
  • Show author(s) (2009). Makt, motstand og motstandskritikk: En case fra dagens Indonesia.
  • Show author(s) (2009). Hierarchy: Persistence and Transformation in Social Formations. Berghahn Books.
  • Show author(s) (2009). Hierarchy, precedence, and values: scopes for social action in Ngadhaland, central Flores. 19 pages.
  • Show author(s) (2009). Hierachy and its Alternatives: An introduction to Movements of Totalization and Detotalization. 63 pages.
  • Show author(s) (2009). En paradoksal antropolog. Jan-Petter Blom intervjuet av Olaf H. Smedal. Norsk Antropologisk Tidsskrift. 191-206.
  • Show author(s) (2008). Totalization and detotalization: Alternatives to hierarchy and individualism. Anthropological Theory. 233-254.
  • Show author(s) (2008). From Victim to Survivor: Healing and Recvery in a Drug Addiction Trematment in San Francisco.
  • Show author(s) (2008). Creativity and its malcontents: Globalized opportunities for an ethnic minority in post-Suharto Indonesia.
  • Show author(s) (2007). Vi er alle mødre- om forsoning, kjønn og identitet blandt krigsrammede kvinnger i Nicaragua.
  • Show author(s) (2007). The People of the Forest and the Forests of the People.An Ethnographical Study of the Talang Mamak of the Bukit Tigapuluh, Riau, Indonesia.
  • Show author(s) (2007). Redaksjonelt. Norsk Antropologisk Tidsskrift. 4-5.
  • Show author(s) (2007). Redaksjonelt. Norsk Antropologisk Tidsskrift. 180-181.
  • Show author(s) (2007). Med regnskogen som møteplass.Et sundanesisk kosmos i en indonesisk nasjonalpark.Naturforvaltning, lokalbefolkning og vartigere i Ujung Kulon Nasjonalpark i Banten på det vestlige Java.
  • Show author(s) (2007). Igniting Identity.The Rape That Shook Okinawa.
  • Show author(s) (2007). Change and Adaptation in Rural Japan.Survival Strategies in the Making.
  • Show author(s) (2006). Voices of Dissent, Acts of Resistance.
  • Show author(s) (2006). Vi har mista tradisjonen vår. Dagara-Huset i ein endringskontekst. Ein landsbystudie fra nordvest-Ghana.
  • Show author(s) (2005). Å gjøre kjønn: Performativitet og meningsskaping blandt transkjønn og andre kjønn i Norge.
  • Show author(s) (2005). Redaksjonelt. Norsk Antropologisk Tidsskrift. 74.
  • Show author(s) (2005). Redaksjonelt. Norsk Antropologisk Tidsskrift. 4-5.
  • Show author(s) (2005). Kosmopolitter og lokalister: Minoritetsstudenter i Kunming, Kina.
  • Show author(s) (2005). Integrering: Tiltak og deres virkninger for enslige mindreårige flyktninger.
  • Show author(s) (2005). Denne gaven. Norsk Antropologisk Tidsskrift. 6-17.
  • Show author(s) (2005). A successful transmigrant: Embryonic capitalism?
  • Show author(s) (2004). Redaksjonelt -- Nye koster. Norsk Antropologisk Tidsskrift. 129-130.
  • Show author(s) (2004). Redaksjonelt. Norsk Antropologisk Tidsskrift. 200-201.
  • Show author(s) (2004). Howell, Signe. 408-409. In:
    • Show author(s) (2004). Norsk biografisk leksikon. 8.
  • Show author(s) (2004). Fredrik Barth og demokratiseringsantropologien -- oversatt fra engelsk av Olaf H. Smedal. Norsk Antropologisk Tidsskrift. 202-214.
  • Show author(s) (2004). Ardener, Edwin. 1 pages. In:
    • Show author(s) (2004). Det store norske leksikon.
  • Show author(s) (2004). Acehnesere. 1 pages. In:
    • Show author(s) (2004). Det store norske leksikon.
  • Show author(s) (2003). Redaksjonelt. Norsk Antropologisk Tidsskrift. 180-181.
  • Show author(s) (2002). Ting, tekst -- og tanke. 25 pages.
  • Show author(s) (2002). Shifting Locations: Florenese in Kalimantan.
  • Show author(s) (2002). Ngadha relationship terms in context: Description, analysis, and implications. Asian Journal of Social Science. 493-524.
  • Show author(s) (2002). New directions in anthropological kinship, Linda Stone (ed.). American Ethnologist. 1052-1054.
  • Show author(s) (2002). Locations and relocations: Florenese in Kalimantan.
  • Show author(s) (2002). Locations and relocations: Florenese in Kalimantan.
  • Show author(s) (2002). Andrea Katalin Molnar: Grandchildren of the Ga'e ancestors: Social organization and cosmology among the Hoga Sara of Flores. Journal of Southeast Asian Studies. 365-366.
  • Show author(s) (2001). Why write: On the study of anthropological texts. Anthrobase.
  • Show author(s) (2001). Valerio Valeri: The forest of taboos: Morality, hunting and identity among the Huaulu of the Moluccas. Ethnos. 269-271.
  • Show author(s) (2001). Når utgangspunktet er som galest... Replikk til Peter Hervik. Tidsskrift for samfunnsforskning. 453-458.
  • Show author(s) (2001). Massakrer på Borneo.
  • Show author(s) (2001). Innledning: Modeller, fenomener og realiteter. 36 pages.
  • Show author(s) (2001). Glimpses of the Malay world as seen through the eyes of some Norwegian anthropologists.
  • Show author(s) (2001). Antropologi ved årtusenskiftet: om verden, hodejakt og universitetet. Norsk Antropologisk Tidsskrift. 130-136.
  • Show author(s) (2001). An interview with Bruce Kapferer - Part Two: Thinking about anthropology. Antropolognytt. 4-10.
  • Show author(s) (2000). Sociality on display: The aesthetics of Ngadha Houses. Res: Anthropology And Aesthetics. 106-126.
  • Show author(s) (2000). Mellom himmel og jord: Tradisjoner, teorier og tendenser i sosialantropologien. Fagbokforlaget.
  • Show author(s) (2000). Janet Hoskins (ed.): Headhunting and the social imagination in southeast Asia. Journal of Southeast Asian Studies. 182-184.
  • Show author(s) (2000). Blod, sæd, moral og teknologi: Hva slektskap brukes til. 43 pages.
  • Show author(s) (2000). Antropologien i år 2000.
  • Show author(s) (2000). Antropologi på Internett. 33 pages.
  • Show author(s) (2000). An Interview with Bruce Kapferer - Part One: Growing up politically. Antropolognytt. 1-6.
  • Show author(s) (1999). Antropologiske perspektiver på slektskap og samfunnsliv. 7 pages.
  • Show author(s) (1998). Slekt og lokalsamfunn: noen sosialantropologiske påminnelser. 24 pages.
  • Show author(s) (1998). Slekt og lokalsamfunn. Norsk lokalhistorisk institutt.
  • Show author(s) (1998). Rapport fra et seminar om komparasjon. Antropolognytt. 13-19.
  • Show author(s) (1997). Symboler og symbolforskning slik en antropolog ser det. 16 pages.
  • Show author(s) (1996). Indonesia. 21 pages.
  • Show author(s) (1996). Conquest and comfort: the Ngadha 'bad death' ritual. 30 pages.
  • Show author(s) (1994). Making place: houses, lands, and relationships among Ngadha, Central Flores.
  • Show author(s) (1994). Kan praktisk talt all menneskelig handling forklares ved hjelp av fire modeller? -- oversatt fra engelsk av Olaf H. Smedal. Norsk Antropologisk Tidsskrift. 82-95.
  • Show author(s) (1994). James J. Fox (ed.): Inside Indonesian Houses: Perspectives on domestic designs for living. Ethnos. 271-274.
  • Show author(s) (1992). Social anthropology, radical alterity, and culture. The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology. 58-74.
  • Show author(s) (1992). Antropologisk vitenskapsteori: en innledning. Norsk Antropologisk Tidsskrift. 3-5.
  • Show author(s) (1992). Antropologisk vitenskapsteori: Spesialnummer, Norsk antropologisk tidsskrift, 3:1. Universitetsforlaget.
  • Show author(s) (1991). Affinity, consanguinity, and incest: The case of Orang Lom, Bangka, Indonesia. Bijdragen Tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde. 96-127.
  • Show author(s) (1990). Hva har postmodernismen å tilby sosialantropologer? Norsk Antropologisk Tidsskrift. 29-44.
  • Show author(s) (1989). Order and difference: An ethnographic study of Orang Lom of Bangka, West Indonesia. 19.
  • Show author(s) (1987). Lom - Indonesian - English & English - Lom wordlists: accompanied by four Lom texts. NUSA: Linguistic studies of languages in and around Indonesia. 1-164.
  • Show author(s) (1983). Power: A critical digest. Antropolognytt.

More information in national current research information system (CRIStin)

Books, chapters in books, articles

2016a Demotion as Value: Rank infraction among the Ngadha in Flores, Indonesia. Social Analysis 60 (4): 114-133.

2016b Ngadha house society origins: The miniature evidence. I J.C.H. Lee, J.M. Prior & T.A Reuter (eds.): Trajectories: Excursions with the anthropology of E.D. Douglas, s 81-102. New York: Peter Lang Publishers.

2016c Uten 'de andre', ingen ting som helst [Without 'the other', nothing at all]. Norsk Antropologisk Tidsskrift 26 (1): 42-47.

2015. Asal usul masyarakat rumah Ngadha: Bukti miniatur. In Julian C.H. Lee and John M. Prior (eds): Pemburu yang cetakan. Anjangsana bersama karya-karya E. Douglas Lewis. Maumere: Penerbit Ledalero, pp. 131-162.

2013. Courage and trust: From penniless transmigrant to affluent smallholder (and back) in Indonesian Borneo. In Eldar Bråten (ed.): Embedded entrepreneurship: Market, culture, and micro-business in insular Southeast Asia. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, pp. 167-193.

2011a. Unilineal descent and the house--again: The Ngadha, eastern Indonesia. Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, 167(2-3):270-302.

2011. Sosialantropologisk metode: en innføring [Method in social anthropology: an introduction]. KulaKula, 1:25-29.

2010. Makt, motstand og motstandskritikk. En etnisk minoritetsgruppe i post-Suharto Indonesia [Power, resistance, and critique of resistance: An ethnic minority group in post-Suharto Indonesia]. Norsk antropologisk tidsskrift, 21(2-3):80-96.

2009a. [ed. with Knut M. Rio) Hierarchy: Persistence and transformation in social formations. Oxford & New York: Berghahn Books.

2009b. [with Knut M. Rio) Hierarchy and its alternatives: An introduction to movements of totalization and detotalization. In Knut M. Rio and Olaf H. Smedal (eds.) Hierarchy: Persistence and transformation in social formations, pp. 1-63. Oxford & New York: Berghahn Books.

2009c. On the value of the beast or the limit of money: Notes on the meaning of marriage prestations among the Ngadha, Central Flores (Indonesia). In Knut M. Rio and Olaf H. Smedal (eds.) Hierarchy: Persistence and transformation in social formations, pp. 269-297. Oxford & New York: Berghahn Books.

2009d. Hierarchy, precedence, and values: scopes for social action in Ngadhaland, central Flores, in Michael P. Vischer (ed.) Precedence: Processes of differentiation in the Austronesian world, pp. 209-227. Canberra: ANU E Press.

2009e En paradoksal antropolog. Jan-Petter Blom intervjuet av Olaf H. Smedal [A paradoxical anthropologist: Jan-Petter Blom interviewed by Olaf H. Smedal]. Norsk Antropologisk Tidsskrift, 20 (3):191-206.

2008 [with Knut M. Rio) Totalization and detotalization: Alternatives to hierarchy and individualism. Anthropological Theory, 8(3):233-254.

2005. Denne gaven [This gift]. Norsk Antropologisk tidsskrift, 16(1):6-17.

2002a. Ting, tekst – og tanke [Thing, text – and thought]. In Anne Ågotnes and Else Mundal (ed.) Ting og tekst [Thing and text], pp. 7-31. Bergen: Senter for europeiske kulturstudier [Centre for European Cultural Studies].

2002b. Ngadha relationship terms in context: Description, analysis, and implications. Asian Journal of Social Science, 30(3):493-524.

2001a. Innledning: Modeller, fenomener og realiteter [Introduction: Models, phenomena and realities]. In Signe Howell and Marit Melhuus (eds.) Blod – tykkere enn vann? Betydninger av slektskap i Norge [Blood –thicker than water? Meanings of kinship in Norway], pp. 9-44. Bergen: Fagbokforlaget.

2001b. Antropologi ved årtusenskiftet: Om verden, hodejakt og universitetet [Anthropology at the new millennium: On the world, headhunting and the university]. Norsk Antropologisk Tidsskrift, 12 (1-2):130-136.

2000a. [ed. with Finn Sivert Nielsen] Mellom himmel og jord: Tradisjoner, teorier og tendenser i sosialantropologien [Between heaven and earth: Traditions, theories and tendencies in social anthropology]. Bergen: Fagbokforlaget.

2000b. Blod, sæd, moral og teknologi: Hva slektskap brukes til [Blood, semen, morality and technology: The uses of kinship]. In Finn Sivert Nielsen and Olaf H. Smedal (eds.) Mellom himmel og jord: Tradisjoner, teorier og tendenser i sosialantropologien, pp. 115-159. Bergen: Fagbokforlaget.

2000c. [with Finn Sivert Nielsen] Tillegg: Antropologi på Internett [Appendix: Anthropology on the internet]. In Finn Sivert Nielsen and Olaf H. Smedal (eds) Mellom himmel og jord: Tradisjoner, teorier og tendenser i sosialantropologien, pp. 393-421. Bergen: Fagbokforlaget.

2000d. Sociality on display: The aesthetics of Ngadha Houses. RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics 37:106-126.

1999. Antropologiske perspektiver på slektskap og samfunnsliv [Anthropological perspectives on kinship and social life]. In Gudmund Moren (ed.) Historikerens rolle i samfunnet [The role of the historian in society], pp. 68-74. Lillehammer: Høgskolen i Lillehammer.

1998a. Slekt og lokalsamfunn: noen sosialantropologiske på minnelser [Kin and community: Some anthropological reminders]. In Harald Winge (ed.) Slekt og lokalsamfunn [Kin and community], pp. 7-30. Oslo: Norsk lokalhistorisk institutt.

1998b. Rapport fra et seminar om komparasjon [Comparison: Report from a seminar]. Antropolognytt 1/98:13-19.

1997. Symboler og symbolforskning slik en antropolog ser det [Symbols and the study of symbols as seen by an anthropologist]. In Ann Christensen, Else Mundal and Ingvild Øye (eds.) Middelalderens symboler [Symbols in the Middle Ages], pp. 7-22. Bergen: Senter for europeiske kulturstudier [Centre for European Cultural Studies].

1996. Conquest and comfort: the Ngadha 'bad death' ritual. In Signe Howell (ed.) For the sake of our future: Sacrificing in Eastern Indonesia, pp. 43-72 Leiden: CNWS.

1994. Indonesia. In Signe Howell and Marit Melhuus (eds.) Fjern og nær: Sosialantropologiske perspektiver på verdens samfunn og kulturer [Far and Near: Anthropological perspectives on societies and cultures of the world], pp. 439-459. Oslo: Ad Notam Gyldendal.

1992a. [with Thomas Hylland Eriksen and Randi Kaarhus] Antropologisk vitenskapsteori: en innledning. [Anthropological theory of science: An introduction.] Norsk antropologisk tidsskrift, 3 (1):3-5.

1992b. [ed. with Thomas Hylland Eriksen and Randi Kaarhus] Temanummer: Antropologisk vitenskapsteori. [Special issue: Anthropological theory of science.] Norsk antropologisk tidsskrift, 3 (1).

1992c. Social anthropology, radical alterity, and culture. Canberra Anthropology, 15(1):58-74.

1991. Affinity, consanguinity, and incest: The case of Orang Lom, Bangka, Indonesia.Bijdragen tot de taal-, land- en volkenkunde, 147(1):96-127.

1990. Hva har postmodernismen å tilby sosialantropologer? [What does postmodernism have that it can offer social anthropologists?] Norsk antropologisk tidsskrift, 1(1):29-44.

1989. Order and difference: An ethnographic study of Orang Lom of Bangka, West Indonesia. Occasional Papers in Social Anthropology no. 19, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo. [See also 2003 under web publications below.]

1987. Lom - Indonesian - English & English - Lom wordlists: accompanied by four Lom texts. NUSA: Linguistic Studies of Indonesian and Other Languages in Indonesia 28/29, Jakarta. viii, 165 pp.

1983. Power: A critical digest. Antropolognytt, 5(2/3):13-35.

 

Book reviews, debate
2002d. New directions in anthropological kinship. (Linda Stone, ed). American Ethnologist, 29(4):1052-1054.

2002c. Grandchildren of the Ga'e ancestors: Social organization and cosmology among the Hoga Sara of Flores. (Andrea Katalin Molnar.) Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 33 (2):365-366.

2001d. [with Finn Sivert Nielsen] Når utgangspunktet er som galest... Replikk til Peter Hervik. Tidsskrift for Samfunnsforskning, 42(3):453-458.

2001c. The forest of taboos: Morality, hunting and identity among the Huaulu of the Moluccas. (Valerio Valeri.) Ethnos. 66(2):269-271.

2000e. Headhunting and the social imagination in southeast Asia (Janet Hoskins, ed.). Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 31(1):182-184.

1994. Inside Indonesian houses: Perspectives on domestic designs for living (James J. Fox, ed.). Ethnos, 59(3-4):271-274.

 

Encyclopedia entries
1995-1998, 2004-. some 80 entries, chiefly on ethnic groups in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Store Norske Leksikon, vols. 1-15. Oslo: Kunnskapsforlaget.

2001. Signe Howell, in Norsk Biografisk Leksikon, vol. 4, pp. 408-409. Oslo: Kunnskapsforlaget.


Translations
[2004] Robert W. Hefner: Fredrik Barth og demokratiseringsantropologien [Fredrik Barth & the anthropology of democratization]. Norsk Antropologisk Tidsskrift, 2004 15 (4): 202-214.

[1996] Ladislav Holy: Det østlige Sentral-Europa [Eastern Central Europe]. In Signe Howell and Marit Melhuus (eds.) Fjern og nær: Sosialantropologiske perspektiver på verdens samfunn og kulturer [Far and Near: Anthropological perspectives on societies and cultures of the world], pp. 513-532. Oslo: Ad Notam Gyldendal.

[1996] Howard Morphy: Australia. In Signe Howell and Marit Melhuus (eds.) Fjern og nær: Sosialantropologiske perspektiver på verdens samfunn og kulturer [Far and Near: Anthropological perspectives on societies and cultures of the world], pp. 81-101. Oslo: Ad Notam Gyldendal.

[1994] Dan W. Forsyth: Kan praktisk talt all menneskelig handling forklares ved hjelp av fire modeller? [Can practically all human action be explained by four models?] Norsk Antropologisk Tidsskrift, 1994 3(2):82-95.

 

Web publications
2004. [with Finn Sivert Nielsen] Antropologi på Internett [Anthropology on the internet]. [See also 2000c above].

2003. Order and difference: An ethnographic study of Orang Lom of Bangka, West Indonesia. Revised edition [see 1989 above].

2001f. Why write: On the study of anthropological texts. (trial lecture for the PhD degree, self-selected topic, 1994).

2001e. An interview with Bruce Kapferer - Part Two: Thinking about anthropology. Also in Antropolognytt nr. 1 – February: 4-10.

2000f. An interview with Bruce Kapferer - Part One: Growing up politically. Also in Antropolognytt nr. 3 – October: 1-6.

 

Ongoing: Social, cultural political and economic consequences of internal migration in Indonesia (Flores and Kalimantan)

Ongoing: Economic, political and ecological consequences of political decentralisation in Indonesia with empirical emphasis on mining and plantations (Bangka)

 

Regional focus: Southeast Asia: Indonesia and the Malay world. Field research in Bangka, Flores and Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo).

Thematic focus: Social organisation, kinship, ritual, symbolisation, economic anthropology, comparative epistemology, history of anthropology.