Bengt G Karlsson

Bengt G. Karlsson is Professor of Social Anthropology at Stockholm University, Department of Social Anthropology. He is affiliated with the Ecography Lab, which focuses on environmental and multispecies anthropology, combining ecology and ethnography into an ecographic method and analytical approach. His work addresses critical issues at the intersection of indigenous communities, environmental concerns, and political dynamics across South Asia, particularly in Northeast India and the Eastern Himalayas.

Professor Karlsson's research primarily centers on indigenous peoples and the society-environment interface, with particular focus on the politics of ethnicity and nature in India. His scholarly interests span indigeneity, forests, conservation, mining, subaltern movements, ethnicity, development, and political ecology. He is currently engaged in two major projects: 'Practicing Food Sovereignty,' examining indigenous agricultural practices across Bhutan, Chittagong Hill Tracks of Bangladesh, Nepal, and Northeast India; and 'BIOrdinary,' investigating biodiversity dilemmas in everyday settings rather than protected wilderness areas.

His recent publications demonstrate a consistent focus on human-plant relationships, political ecology, and indigenous rights. Karlsson's work bridges theoretical insights with detailed ethnographic fieldwork, particularly examining how environmental resources become entangled with identity politics, state formation, and economic development. His approach integrates multispecies perspectives with political ecology to understand complex human-environment relations in regions experiencing rapid ecological and social change.

Professor Karlsson leads the Ecography Lab at Stockholm University, which serves as a hub for researchers interested in developing innovative methodological approaches that combine ecological and ethnographic perspectives. The lab fosters interdisciplinary collaboration among scholars examining human-environment relations in an era of climate change and biodiversity loss, with particular attention to indigenous knowledge systems and environmental justice.