معرفی
Karen Waltorp is an Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Copenhagen, Faculty of Social Sciences. Her work bridges visual and multimodal anthropology, digital media, emerging technologies, energy infrastructures, gender, and migration studies. She is deeply engaged in ethnographic fieldwork in South Africa and Denmark, with shorter research trips to West Africa, Central Asia, and the Middle East.
- Current Affiliation: Department of Anthropology, University of Copenhagen
- Research Leadership: Principal Investigator of two major South African projects and one in Denmark; leads the Ethnographic Exploratory and Multimodal MediaLab
- Networks: Coordinator of the Multimodal Ethnography Network (EASA), former coordinator of EASA Future Anthropologies Network (2016–2023)
Education:
- PhD in Anthropology, Aarhus University (2017), dissertation on smartphones and young Muslim women in Copenhagen
Research Interests: Karen Waltorp’s research centers on how digital technologies reconfigure space, personhood, and social relations. She explores the interplay between digital media, energy infrastructures, and social inequality, particularly through gendered and postcolonial lenses. Her work critically examines algorithmic ecologies, technological imaginaries, and energy futures, emphasizing environmentally and socially just alternatives. She is committed to public-facing, interdisciplinary anthropology and the development of multimodal ethnographic methods.
Publication Trends: Her recent publications reflect a strong focus on digital sociality, energy futures, and the socio-technical dimensions of emerging technologies in the Global South. She frequently collaborates on interdisciplinary and international projects, producing co-edited volumes, special journal issues, and award-winning multimodal outputs. Her work appears in high-impact outlets and engages with both academic and public audiences.
Scientific Awards:
- Royal Anthropological Institute, Basil Wright Film Prize
- EthnoFest: Athens Ethnographic Film Festival
- Nordic Panorama
- DOX LAB
Advising and Grants: Waltorp supervises MA and PhD students in her research areas. She is the Principal Investigator of significant funded projects, including ‘CLAIMS to Energy Citizenship in South Africa’ (DFC, 10 million DKK) and ‘Digital everyday lives far from Silicon Valley’ (IRFD Inge Lehmann, 2.9 million DKK). She has served on prestigious grant panels such as the European Research Council (Advanced Grant) and Riksbankens Jubileumsfond.
Labs and Teams: She heads the Ethnographic Exploratory (EE) and founded the Multimodal MediaLab at the Department of Anthropology, fostering a collaborative space for experimenting with ethnography in audiovisual, digital, and interactive formats. She also coordinates the departmental research group Technē: Technologies and the Digital.
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