Akman’s research is primarily directed towards ethnical groups and their situation in Norway. He approaches these issues mainly through qualitative methods and cultural analysis with the aim to map, verify and analyse processes of cultural meetings from an ethnological as well as interdisciplinary perspectives. Akman strives to broaden our understanding of the locutions of exile, existence, identity, integration and cultural territories. Moreover, he is also looking for comparisons between his fields of research and ethnical groups’ socio-cultural and psycho-social situation.
Åsmund Borgen Gjerde is a PhD candidate in history, working on a dissertation on beliefs about Israel on the Norwegian Left. Other research interests: anti-Zionism, anti-Semitism, 1968, history of the Soviet Union and modern Germany.
Brautaset’s primary research interests lie within economic, business and maritime history, thus all fields of history with strong interdisciplinary traditions. Her main objectives of research revolve around economic integration processes through trade, transport and communication. Whilst her doctoral thesis was on international trade in the first half of the 19th century, Brautaset is moving - albeit slowly - towards her own time. Currently, the focal point of her research is the period 1880s-1930s and the transnational history between China and Norway. This is closely related to Brautaset´s role as the grant holder and project leader of the independent basic research project, Merchants and Missionaries. Norwegian encounters with China in a transnational perspective, 1890–1937, which is funded by the Norwegian Research Council (2010-2016). http://merchantsandmissionaries.no
The research of Grieg-Smith revolves around military and war history in the period spanning from 1880 to 2000. He works pays special heed to the development of the Norwegian armed forces. I n recent years, Grieg-Smith has conducted in-depth analysis of the establishing of the military resistance movement and war events taking place on the West-coast of Norway during the second World War. Together with other local scholars, Grieg-Smith is taking part in a collective effort in establishing a research group dealing with the allied bombing of German submarine pens at Laksevåg.
Christhard Hoffmann is professor of modern European History at the Department of Archaeology, History, Cultural Studies and Religion. His broad research interests focus on transnational migration, the politics of immigration, ethnic pluralism and conflicts and xenophobic movements in Europe since 1880. He also specializes in the fields of modern Jewish history and the history of anti-Semitism. He is currently working on a comparative project on the historiography of migration and immigrants in Europe: "Narratives of Diversity. The historiography of immigrants and ethnic minorities in Britain, Germany and Sweden, 1970-2001".
Sara Kohne is a PhD candidate in Cultural Studies at the Department of Archaeology, History, Cultural Studies and Religion. Kohne focuses in her project on how residents with different ethnic and cultural background experience urban areas that are influenced by gentrification - an economic, sociocultural and physical process of urban transformation that results in the upgrading of city districts. Kohne works in particular with the areas Kreuzberg SO36 in Berlin and Grønland/Nedre Tøyen in Oslo and deals with them in a comparative perspective.
Olga Medvedva is a PhD candidate at the Department of Archaeology, History, Cultural Studies and Religion thanks to the participation in the project Merchants and Missionaries (supported by the Research Council of Norway). Medvedeva´s PhD project is devoted to the Norwegian migrants in Chinaduring the late Qing Dynasty and the Early Republican period. The research focus is made on the Norwegians that worked in the Chinese Maritime Customs Service. The Norwegian presence in the treaty port of Tianjin is of special interest. Medvedeva graduated from Novosibirsk State University, and is fluent in Chines (Mandarin), English, Russian and Norwegian language.
Inger Marie Okkenhaug is a Professor at the Department of History, Volda University College, where she teaches modern, international history. She received a PhD in History from the University of Bergen (1999), where she also worked as a researcher from 2000 to 2010.
Her current research deals with Scandinavian missions and relief work among the Armenians in Turkey, Syria and Armenia during and after World War One. She is also involved in a research project on transatlantic migration, gender, work and religion.
Harm Schröter is particularly interested in investigating if there is a shared European identity in economic life. This has driven him to research and publish extensively on topics such as the relationship between state and the economy, economic co-operation, multinational versus “European” enterprises, technological innovation, small developed European states, institutional change, and the transfer of economic values, for instance Americanization.
Per Kristian Sebak’s main interest of research is migration from Europe to USA before 1920s (mainly Scandinavian and Russian-Jewish), focussing particularly on the role of the carriers (shipping companies, railway, etc.). His current Ph.D-project is looking at the phenomenon of transmigration (i.e. foreign migrants) through Scandinavia between 1890s and 1924. He has also done extensive research on Jewish immigration to Norway with emphasis on Bergen prior to WWII.
Karina Hestad Skeie’s main fields of research are Norwegian mission, Christianity and local religions in Africa and Madagascar. Lokale og regionale tilpasninger av transnasjonale fenomener som verdens religioner er Adaptations of transnational phenomena like world religions have been important aspects of her work. Drawing upon in-depth knowledge of both Norwegian and Malagasy language and culture, she emphasises contextualising local conditions to further our understanding of 19th and early 20th century Norwegian Lutheran mission in Madagascar. Hestad Skeie is currently working on revivalism, gender and spiritual leadership in Lutheran Christianity in Madagascar.