Text: Niels Krogh Søndergaard, communications officer
Christian Franklin Svensson (PhD) has been awarded a grant of 50.000 kroner from The Faculty of Social Sciences at Aalborg University to continue his research on threatened scholars, writers and artists.
Public intellectuals are globally being persecuted by regimes in their countries of origin. They live in insecurity pertaining to homogenous and tribalist ideals of ethnicity, religion and nationalism, and they are threatened by imprisonment, 'ideological re-education', torture, execution or 'disappearance'.
In august the subject was the main theme on the radio show Kulturen på P1. Listen here (in Danish, more details 58 minutes in).
Interviews and participant observation
From an anthropological/sociological approach, Svensson's research has a focus on interlocutors in the receiving host countries in order to study small places to discuss larger social issues. Ethnographic fieldwork is carried out by means of interviews and participant observation supplemented with policy analysis.
The project connects with The United Nation's goal for sustainable development for everyone to have access to both legal rights and responsible and inclusive institutions. In addition, UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights emphasize the right to communicate each individual’s own opinions, the freedom of expression and the right to participate in "cultural life" and "scientific development".
Contact the researcher
Email: cfs@socsci.aau.dk
Tel.: +45 9940 2608
