Kai Arne Hansen

Kai Arne Hansen is a Professor of Music at the Department of Arts and Cultural Studies, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences. He holds a prominent role as principal investigator of the NORHOP project (2023-2027), funded by the Research Council of Norway, exploring hip hop’s social and cultural impacts in contemporary Norway. Previously, he led the EU-funded MaMuMi project (2019-2021) and served as editor-in-chief of the Norwegian Journal of Musicology (2019-2022).

His research focuses on intersections of popular music with gender/sexuality, media, and identity, as exemplified by his 2022 monograph Pop Masculinities, which analyzes gender performativity in pop contexts. Hansen co-chairs the Music Education and Cultural Studies research group and contributes to policy initiatives through his board membership at The Association for Gender Research in Norway.

Publications span book chapters like Popular Musicology and Identity (2020) and articles in venues such as Persona Studies and European Journal of Cultural Studies. His work frequently bridges musicology with transmedia narratives, cultural policy analysis, and critical studies of celebrity culture.