Telephone: +46 (0)73 394 1608
E-mail: Gunilla.Bjeren@socant.su.se
Room: B604
Professor, Gender Studies
My research life began in Ethiopia in 1965 when I was employed as a young social science student to do social investigations at the Institute of Building Technology in Addis Abeba, Ethiopia. From there I went on to do my final undergraduate paper on elementary school drop-outs in Makelle, Tigray, Ethiopia in 1967. From 1972 until 1986 (with lots of interruptions) I worked on a doctoral thesis in sociology on urban migration to Shashemene, Shoa Ethiopia. Since 2008 I am back in Ethiopian Studies with a follow up on the transformation and change of Shashemene between 1973 and 2008.
In the interludes – 1976-1996 – I was engaged in a series of research projects in the forest town of Torsby, Värmland, Sweden. The focus was on gender and social change. I also had the fortune to spend some months in 1994 in Libby, Montana, USA, another town in the global world of forestry and migration.
Research project Changing Ethiopia.
Research interests
Biography and history, migration, gender, stratification, life history studies, methodology – the interface between quantitative and qualitative studies, reflexivity, cultural resonance, African urban studies.
Geographic areas
Ethiopia, Swedish forest areas, Montana forest hinterland, Chile forest areas.
Academic degrees and appointments
- Fil. kand Stockholm Universty 1969 (statistics, political science, sociology, social anthropology
- MA area studies Africa, School of Oriental and African Studies 1970
- Ph.D. Stockholm University, Sociology,1986
- Assistant Professor, Stockholm University, Demography, 1986-1991
- University lecturer, Stockholm University, Women’s Studies, 1991-2008
- Associate Professor, Stockholm University, Social Anthropology, 1996
- Professor, Stockholm University, Gender Studies, 2009
Teaching
2015
- Lecture “The use of statistics in qualitative research”, PhD course Ethnographic Research Methods, November 12.
- Thesis supervision, undergraduate students in Social Anthropology, spring term.
2014
- Thesis supervision, undergraduate students in Social Anthropology, spring and autumn term.
- Workshop on the application of Computer Aided Qualitative Analysis: the use of NVivo, December.
Research networks
- Oral history in Sweden, The Swedish Foundation for Humanities and Social Sciences, completed with conference in 2014.
- Network “Livstider”. Currently working on an English translation of the edited volume Livstider. Kvinnoliv på 1900-talet.
Conferences, workshops
2015
- Presented “Tracing recent history… the case of Shashemene”, 19th International Conference of Ethiopian Studies, August 26.
2014
- Co-organiser of the conference “Oral history i Sverige, då och nu”, October 23-24. Presented “History and biography in Shashemene, Ethiopia. Oral history in a mixed context”, October 23.
Service to the profession
2015
- Member of the international organising committee for the international conferences in Ethiopian Studies.
- Accountant, Sveriges Genusforskarförbund.
2014
- External examiner of PhD thesis in Social Anthropology. UiT the Arctic University of Norway, February 13.
- External examiner, 50 % seminar, Department of Urban and Rural Development, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, September 12.
- Expert for the appointment of senior lecturer in Gender Studies, Mid Sweden University, Östersund, February 18.
Editorial assignments
2014
- Peer review for International Journal of Peace and Development Studies.
Lectures, seminars, teaching
2014 and 2015
- “Qualitative and quantitative methods in Gender Studies”. PhD course, Department of Urban and Rural Development, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, September 25, 2014.
- “The use of statistics in qualitative research”. Master’s course, Department of Urban and Rural Development, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, November 17, 2014.
- “Kvalitativ forskning?”. Theory of Science (core course) for students in Teacher Education, Department of Philosophy, Stockholm University. In all twelve lectures, 2014 and 2015.
- Thesis supervision, master’s students in Demography, 2014.
Collaboration with the broader community
2015
- “Att förstå Etiopien”, lecture for Rotary Åkersberga, May 20.
Information about past activities can be found in the Department’s previous Annual Reports.
