Monday, April 11, 2011

April 21: Prof. Unni Wikan, University of Oslo

Freedom: From the Middle East to Scandinavia--Some Thoughts on Moral and Social Development

Drawing on research over forty years in the Middle East, including a visit to Egypt after the revolution, Prof. Wikan wants to explore the concept of freedom for what it can tell about contesting voices and values in the Muslim world. Prof. Wikan will further highlight the difficult concept of freedom by drawing on a case history from Sweden that was all about liberty, but for whom, and to what end? Thus she will try to draw a line from the Middle East to the West, and back, that will illuminate some aspects of social and moral development of increasing significance in our common world.

Room 5101 Tolman Hall
12:00-1:30p.m.

Unni Wikan is Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Oslo. Currently, she is a Visitor at the University of Chicago, holding the Lurcy Professorship. Professor Wikan has conducted research on cultural theory, religion, poverty and development, gender, medical anthropology, emotions, and human rights. She has done fieldwork in Egypt, Oman, Yemen, Indonesia, and Bhutan. She has also done extensive work on immigration and integration in Scandanavian countries. Among her books are: "Tomorrow God Willing: Self-made Destinities in Cairo" (1996), "Generous Betrayal: Politics of Culture in the New Europe" (2002), and "In Honor of Fadime: Murder and Shame" (2008).