Continously evolving since it first went online in 1996, ‘Engaging with the world’ presents Thomas Hylland Eriksen's writings, research and miscellaneous activities, such as music and podcasting. A social anthropologist by training, Eriksen reads, writes and talks in many genres about the contemporary world, what it means to be human and how you and I can make the world a slightly better place. Many of his writings about contemporary and timeless issues, ranging from Darwinian selection and information technology to the climate crisis and cultural diversity, are available on this site. The Norwegian-language subsite can be accessed here. This is never going to be a complete archive. More of a labyrinth, I guess.
After his passing, parts of Thomas’ legacy are kept here. News and texts will be published at irregular intervals. (Kari Spjeldnæs; kari.spjeldnaes@gmail.com)
News
Rana Issa received the Thomas Hylland Eriksen Memorial Prize 2026
Following THE Dialogue at The University of Oslo May 7, 2026, Rana Issa was awarded the Thomas Hylland Eriksen Memorial Prize 2026. Rana Issa is a researcher, writer and curator. In 2015, she defended a dissertation on nineteenth-century Arabic Bible translations, which later appeared in book form as The Modern Arabic Bible (2023). In the book, she combines linguistics, philology, and cultural history to understand how different Bible translations negotiate the relationships among tradition, modernity, and colonialism. In the hands of English-speaking missionaries, the Bible became a tool for modernisation and cultural domination, while also contributing to the shift from Classical to Modern Arabic. The translations were, on the one hand, deeply locally inflected and rooted, and, on the other hand, part of a global circulation of ideas about humanity, society, politics, faith, and theology.
After completing her thesis, Rana Issa took a position at the American University of Beirut to develop a new translation program. She thus returned to the city where she grew up, as the child of Palestinian refugees. In 2020, when she no longer regarded the city as a good and safe home for her children, she moved back to Oslo. She continued the work of building Masahat – The Association for Arab Art and Culture in Exile in Oslo, which she had helped found before returning to Beirut. Over time, she assumed the role of artistic director. At the same time, she established herself as a writer, artist and public intellectual for a second time, now working in a language that is not her mother tongue.
In 2025, her first book in Norwegian was published, Tung tids tale, which is at once a deeply personal memoir, a history of the Palestinian diaspora and life in the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, a meditation on women’s role in a male-dominated postcolonial society, and a series of philological-essayistic reflections on language, the body and gender. Although both the book and its author challenged the Norwegian public in several ways, culturally and intellectually, it was met with glowing reviews in the press and among readers and has laid the foundation for Rana’s second career in Norway – not as a researcher this time, but as a writer. For her, however, the two are not so different, but part of a lifelong project to understand what it means to live, write and love in exile. Tung tids tale is published in Arabic Spring 2026.
Through her work, Rana Issa brings the personal to life and makes the political personal. She demonstrates how personal experiences shape perspectives that generate engagement and action. In the spirit of Thomas Hylland Eriksen, and with reference to social anthropologist Signe Howell, who passed away shortly after Thomas, Rana Issa contributes to the core idea of the anthropological project: “to make others’ life worlds plausible.”
Rana Issa is the second recipient of the Thomas Hylland Eriksen Memorial Prize. The first recipient was the social anthropologist, Tom Bratrud. The THE Prize highlights significant contributions to understanding people and societies in our time. In the spirit of Thomas Hylland Eriksen, the winner of the THE Prize works with research-based knowledge, often in interdisciplinary and global perspectives. Openness, curiosity, and enthusiasm for communication are key characteristics of the award recipient.
The THE Prize amounts to NOK 50,000 and will be awarded annually for ten years starting in 2025. The award committee, which selects the annual winner, consists of Helge Jordheim, Director of the Centre for Global Sustainability; Thorgeir Kolshus, Head of the Department of Social Anthropology at the University of Oslo; and Amanda Hylland Spjeldnæs and Kari Spjeldnæs from Thomas Hylland Eriksen’s family. The financial basis for the prize comes from the proceeds of Thomas Hylland Eriksen’s authorship.
Podcast (in Norwegian)
