Aike Peter Rots

Professor Aike Peter Rots holds a position at the University of Oslo's Faculty of Humanities, Department of Japanese Studies. His research examines religion, culture, and nature in contemporary Asia, with specialization in Japan and Vietnam. Rots leads the ERC-funded project 'Whales of Power' (2019-2025) investigating cetacean worship and environmental change in maritime East Asia.

His scholarship spans multiple domains: sacred space and ritual theory; heritage-making processes; environmental humanities; Shinto transformations; indigenous traditions; and religion-corporate interactions. His work critically analyzes how religious practices adapt to environmental crises and heritage preservation efforts.

Publications demonstrate consistent focus on nature-culture relationships, with recent work examining Vietnamese whale worship amid plastic pollution crises, Japanese whale festivals, and East Asian perspectives on utopia and ritual. His research methodology emphasizes cross-cultural comparison and challenges methodological nationalism.

Rots received the prestigious European Research Council Starting Grant for his innovative work on human-aquatic mammal relationships. He has authored 'Shinto, Nature and Ideology in Contemporary Japan' and co-edited volumes including 'Sacred Heritage in Japan'. Current projects include monographs on whale rituals in Japan/Vietnam and an introductory Shinto textbook.