Projects per year
Personal profile
Profile
I was trained in anthropology both in the US (BA, Middelbury College 1973) and Denmark (KU, Mag.scient. 1996, PhD 2003). I have been employed in the Department of Educational anthropology at The Danish School of Education, Aarhus University since 2006. In 2024, I became lektor emerita.
Throughout my career I have been interested in questions of how children - through valued and less-valued forms of social interaction - come to know what they know. This is connected to how adults - often unwittingly - organize the world in ways such that children inadvertently learn what is not explicitly desired or taught.
This interest has led to studies of how children learn which differences are allowed to make a difference in the social life of Danish schoolclasses, (I en klasse for sig 2000). It has also led beyond schools to a study of the various forms of age-graded civil sociality children engage in when 'going to something' - i.e. participating in recreational activities organized by voluntary associations. My struggle to understand how children learn 'what is real' and 'what really matters' has also led to studies of the ambiguous place of religion (and deities) in Danish faith-based friskoler and in provincial folkeskoler that have taken on the job of educating refugee children of Muslim background.
Early fieldwork with the children of reindeer herders in Sápmi (Nat.Geo. Sept. 1977) turned into a lifelong curiosity abouthow children pick up on and respond to 'nature at hand', i.e. to the natural environments in which their lives unfold. Following Sámi families over four generations has revealed great changes in children's lives and their relations to natural surroundings. I use insights from this ongoing work in my present study of how urban children differently engage with the local forms of 'nature' accessible to them (REGREEN H2020).
My research interests include:
- Anthropologies of children, sports, religion, sociality and environment
- Indigenity and struggles of decolonization in Scandinavia
- Children and: schooling, civil society, religion, nature
- Education, schooling and implicit knowledge
- Body/movement culture
- Sociality, sociability
- Commonality and community
Keywords
- Scandinavia in general
- education and schooling
- civil society
- religion
- migration
- nature
- sport
- Interreligious encounter
- Religious Education (Pedagogy of Religion)
- schools
- children
- ritual
- gods
- Rituals
- Indigenous peoples
- education
- Children
- Natural-based solutions
- Society and citizens
- community
- cosmopolitanism
- citizenship
- participation
- Research into children and youth
- Anthropology of sport
Areas of expertise
- Subject area
- children
- civil society
- sociability/relationality
- Education and learning
- culture
- schools
- nature
- Norden
- Sápmi
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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
Projects
- 11 Finished
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Children, landscape, animals and belonging
Anderson, S. D. (Participant)
17/03/2014 → 28/03/2014
Project: Research
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Islam, Muslims and Danish Schools
Sedgwick, M. (Project manager), Anderson, S. D. (Project coordinator), Kühle, L. (Participant), Gilliam, L. (Participant), Pedersen, M. H. (Participant), Khawaja, I. (Participant), Jensen, S. V. (Participant) & Suhr, C. (Participant)
01/06/2009 → 01/01/2014
Project: Research
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Missions of Transformation: Children, spirituality and society in faith-based schools in Denmark
Anderson, S. D. (Project manager)
01/04/2006 → 30/06/2010
Project: Research
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Civilizing Institutions in a Modern Welfare State
Gulløv, E. (Project manager), Gilliam, L. (Participant), Olwig, K. (Participant), Bach, D. (Participant) & Anderson, S. D. (Participant)
Statens samfundsvidenskabelige Forskningsråd
01/07/2005 → 01/02/2012
Project: Research
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Children's Interaction with Nature: Imagine, Narrated and Instituted
Anderson, S. D. (PI), Esbensen, G. L. (Collaborator), Mårtensson, F. (Collaborator), Prevót, A. C. (Collaborator), Læssøe, J. (Collaborator) & KOndrup, S. C. (Collaborator)
01/05/2020 → 31/08/2023
Project: Research
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Children and youth participation and learning in science and local governance related to nature-based solutions: REGREEN Deliverable D5.7
Læssøe, J., Anderson, S. D., Sierra-Jimenez, M. J. & Elze, S., 28 Feb 2024, 27 p.Research output: Book/anthology/dissertation/report › Report › Research › peer-review
Open Access -
Engaging Children in Nature-based Solutions
Anderson, S. D., Læssøe, J., Mårtensson, F., Hedblom, M. & Prevót, A. C., Mar 2024, 4 p.Research output: Book/anthology/dissertation/report › Report › Communication
Open Access -
Konseptualisering: Klassifisering, kategorier og begreper
Anderson, S. D., Jan 2024, TETT PÅ profesjon, organisasjon, arbeid : Metodiske utfordringer og verktøy for å løse dem . Oslo: Cappelen Damm Akademisk, p. 149-164Research output: Contribution to book/anthology/report/proceeding › Book chapter › Research › peer-review
Open Access -
Meeting on the map: Innovative platform for stakeholder learning, dialogue and engagement with nature-based solutions (NbS). REGREEN Policy Brief 12/12
Elze, S., Petersen, C., Læssøe, J., Banzhaf, E., Jensen, A., Russel, D. J. & Anderson, S. D., 1 Mar 2024, Zenodo. 4 p.Research output: Book/anthology/dissertation/report › Report › Research › peer-review
Open Access -
Når rener er selve livet: gensidig deltagelse i hinandens eksistens
Anderson, S. D., 8 Dec 2024, In: Psyke & Logos. 44, 2 (2023), p. 131-154 24 p.Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaper › Journal article › Research › peer-review
Open Access
Activities
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The Difference Religion Makes: Danish school classes, civil relatedness, and the obligation to participate.
Anderson, S. D. (Invited speaker)
24 Apr 2012Activity: Presentations, memberships, ownership and other activities › Lecture and oral contribution
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Walking the Fine Line Between Shared Knowledge and Unshared Belief: Teaching Religion to All In Danish Schools
Anderson, S. D. (Lecturer)
16 Nov 2012Activity: Presentations, memberships, ownership and other activities › Lecture and oral contribution
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What is citizenship education, and what is it for?
Anderson, S. D. (Participant)
22 Mar 2013 → 23 Mar 2013Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in or organisation of workshop, seminar or course
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With Vulnerability in MInd
Anderson, S. D. (Lecturer)
20 Jun 2012Activity: Presentations, memberships, ownership and other activities › Lecture and oral contribution
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Reconceptualizing Sociality: An Anthropological Interrogation of Key Concepts
Anderson, S. D. (Lecturer)
7 Oct 2011 → 8 Oct 2011Activity: Presentations, memberships, ownership and other activities › Lecture and oral contribution
Press/Media
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Radio interview: The place of education in education REGREEN
12/05/2022
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Press / Media
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Courses
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AEG Module 1 Educational Antropology: Core questions and Approaches
Anderson, S. D. 01/08/2013 → 31/01/2023
Course: Teaching
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Environmental and Sustainability Education
Læssøe, J. & Anderson, S. D. 28/02/2022 → 28/02/2022
Course: Teaching