Axel Rudi

Dr Axel Rudi is a Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Oxford's Oxford Centre for Global History, conducting research on Iraqi and Syrian Kurdish sovereignty dynamics. His work examines how autonomous regions negotiate state relations through social, economic, and military systems. Currently leading the 'Emic Sovereignties' project (2022-2025), funded by Norway's Research Council, he previously participated in the ERC-funded 'PREVEX' project at the University of Copenhagen.

Research interests include ritual practices, political violence, cosmology, loyalty mechanisms, and tribal patronage systems. Methodologically focused on ethnography, he has conducted fieldwork in Iraqi Kurdistan, Northeastern Syria, Turkish Kurdistan, and Germany since 2015. His work navigates dangerous research environments, as explored in his 2022 article on fieldwork challenges.

Awards/grants include ERC participation (2019 PhD) and current Norway Research Council funding. Advising and mentorship roles are pending explicit student listings. Affiliated with both the University of Bergen's Institute for Social Anthropology and Oxford's Centre, he contributes to global history and political anthropology discourses.