Finn Sivert Nielsen

Social Anthropologist
About myself 
My online texts

Search
Contact
AnthroBase Dictionary History E/C Europe Courses Thought
Thought projects

Overview of the site

Empirically, my research has focused on two of the "primary peripheries" of Europe - Russia and the United States - and on the classical European culture that has inspired both. Theoretically, I combine a general concern with the tasks of anthropology with more specific topics of interest, such as esthetics, power, globalization and history: A long-standing project, in which these interests meet, is to develop a cross-cultural definition of human (bodily-meaningful) action.

Below, I have brought together some fragments of my teaching, research, writing and experimentation under a few headings that summarize some of the problems that occupy me. The collections are neither complete nor conclusive. My hope is that they will stimulate further thought in others.

Here I have collected a few political statements about the state of the world, which spring from conclusions I have reached in my research on Russia, Europe and the United States.
Defining the human
Anthropology is the study of human kind, still there is often an unwillingness among anthropologists to define the species-specific traits of homo sapiens sapiens. But the theme is of intrinsic interest to anthropology, and up through the history of the discipline it has often been addressed. Today, biological, archaeological, neurological, geological and other data give a more nuanced understanding of what "the psychic unity of mankind", as Adolf Bastian called it, implies in practical terms. The long-term goal of my work in this field is to arrive at a general theory of human action.
Anthropology is an academic discipline, but also a cognitive style and, ultimately, a way of life. This is no less true today than for the classics who built the discipline. In today's world, however, a wide range of pressures are brought to bear on anthropology - some from the people we study who do not always approve of our descriptions of their lives, some from changing political priorities affecting the academic institutions in which we work. In this context, the importance of understanding and defending the first priorities of the discipline becomes a prime concern. 
Anthropological fieldwork is a holistic experience that invites the anthropologist to experiment with a range of genres and forms of expression. While some understandings are best expressed in formal models, others invite associative and metaphoric modes. Here I have collected some examples of various "alternative" modes of expression I have experimented with.
Russia is a large, complex, constantly changing society, which has undergone vast upheavals during the last century. The fall of the Soviet empire and the disintegration of Soviet civilization, have once again changed the basic conditions of people's lives, and people have again responded with an upwelling of creativity. During the years that I have been engaged with Russia, I have seen some of the conditions from which today's changes arose, and some of that creative urge, which is - perhaps - the heart of Russia.   
Despite all the talk about postmodernism, I think the word - as a description of the age we live in - is misleading. I believe the primary characteristic of our world is not that "modernism" (an abstract and ideological term) is finished, but that the global dominance of European culture is over. I have explored this notion during fieldwork in Russia and the United States. Some fragments of my thinking on this subject are presented here.