Helene Risør

Helene Risør is a Teaching Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Copenhagen, Faculty of Social Sciences. Her research is centered on political and urban anthropology, with a regional focus on Latin America—particularly Chile and Bolivia.

• Institution: University of Copenhagen
• School: Faculty of Social Sciences
• Department: Department of Anthropology
• Email: helene.risoer@anthro.ku.dk
• Phone: +4535336522

Her research explores the lived experiences of civil insecurity, citizenship practices, and political subjectivity, especially among lower-middle and poor urban populations during periods of political transition. She investigates how statehood and citizenship are enacted locally, nationally, and globally.

Her current postdoctoral project, The Becoming of Political Youth: Generation, Citizenship and the Transformation of Civil Society in Bolivia, examines youth as emergent political actors. This work is supported by the Sapere Aude Young Researcher’s Award from the Danish Council for Independent Research (DFF), which also funds comparative ethnography in Chile and Bolivia and a research network on Political Subjectivities and Indigeneity before and after the Revolution.

Her publications reflect deep ethnographic engagement with themes of violence, citizenship, and political transformation in the Andean region. Key works include studies on lynching in El Alto, civil insecurity, and methodological reflections on participatory photography.

• Sapere Aude: Young Researcher's Award (2011)

She has advised and continues to mentor research in political anthropology, though no named students are listed. Her work contributes to theoretical debates on citizenship, civil society, and generational politics in contexts of profound social transformation.