Bengt G. Karlsson
Bengt G. Karlsson | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1961 (age 64–65) |
| Occupation | Professor |
| Known for | Unruly Hills: A Political Ecology of India’s Northeast 'Anthropology and the Indigenous Slot' |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | Lund University |
| Thesis | (1997) |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Anthropology |
| Sub-discipline | Environmental anthropology |
| Institutions | Stockholm University |
Bengt Gosta Karlsson Bermsjo is a professor of social anthropology at Stockholm University. His research engages mainly with Indigenous people in Northeast India and political ecology. He is known for his book, Unruly Hills: A Political Ecology of India’s Northeast, and article, "Anthropology and the 'Indigenous' Slot."[1][2][3]
Academic career
Karlsson published Unruly Hills in 2011 with Berghahn Books.[4] Orient Blackswan and Social Science Press published the South Asia print in 2011. Anthropologist Robbins Burling in his review of the book calls the book a "penetrating, although dispiriting, analysis of the terrible economic, political, and environmental problems... of Meghalaya." Burling recommends the book to understand corruption, land alienation, and exploitation of natural resources.[5] It is one of the significant monographs from Sweden that combines anthropological concerns at the intersections of human ecology and political ecology while focusing on Northeast India.[6]
Karlsson is an elected member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities since 2015.[7] He is a board member of the Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography.[3] Since the formation of the Stockholm Center for Global Asia at Stockholm University in 2021, to promote research and education in Sweden focused on Asia, he has been one of its board member.[8]
Research
Karlsson is an environmental anthropologist.[9]
Books
- Contested Belonging: An Indigenous People’s Struggle for Forest and Identity in Sub-Himalayan Bengal (Routledge, 2000)
- Unruly Hills: A Political Ecology of India’s Northeast (Berghahn Book, 2011)
- Leaving the Land: Indigenous Migration and Affective Labour in India (Cambridge University Press, 2019, co-authored with Dolly Kikon)
Edited volumes
- Indigeneity in India (Kegan Paul, 2006, with Tanka Bahadur Subba)
- Geographies of Difference: Explorations in Northeast Indian Studies (Routledge, 2017, with M. Vandenhelsken and M. Barkataki-Ruscheweyh)
- Seedways: The Circulation, Care and Control of Plants in a Warming World (Vitterhetsakademien, 2021, with Annika Rabo).
References
- ^ Karlsson, Bengt G. (2003-12-01). "Anthropology and the 'Indigenous Slot': Claims to and Debates about Indigenous Peoples' Status in India". Critique of Anthropology. 23 (4): 403–423. doi:10.1177/0308275X03234003. ISSN 0308-275X.
- ^ "Bengt G. Karlsson | IIAS". www.iias.asia. Retrieved 2025-05-21.
- ^ a b "Styrelse". Svenska Sällskapet för Antropologi och Geografi (in Swedish). Retrieved 2026-02-11.
- ^ Karlsson, Bengt G. (2011). Unruly Hills: A Political Ecology of India's Northeast. New York and Oxford: Berghahn Books. ISBN 978-0-85745-105-7.
- ^ Burling, Robbins (2011). "Book Review: Unruly Hills: Nature and Nation in India's Northeast". Millennial Asia. 2 (1): 136–139. doi:10.1177/097639961100200111. ISSN 0976-3996 – via Sage Journals.
- ^ Hannerz, Ulf. "Swedish Anthropology: Past and Present". kritisk etnografi – Swedish Journal of Anthropology. 1 (1): 59. doi:10.33063/diva-355995.
- ^ "Karlsson, Bengt G." Kungl. Vitterhetsakademien (in Swedish). 2 June 2015. Retrieved 2026-02-12.
- ^ "About the centre - Stockholm Center for Global Asia". Stockholm University. 14 December 2025. Retrieved 2026-02-12.
- ^ "Bengt G. Karlsson". scholar.google.com. Retrieved 2025-05-21.