Maarit Forde

Maarit Forde is a University Lecturer in Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Helsinki, with a Docent title from both the University of Helsinki and Tampere. She is affiliated with the Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science (HELSUS) and the Helsinki Inequality Initiative (INEQ). Her research focuses on politics, inequality, religion, health, migration, and colonialism, with a regional specialization in the Caribbean and its diaspora since 1996. She employs multimodal and decolonial methodologies in her work.

Forde holds a PhD in Anthropology from the University of Helsinki (2002). She has held academic roles including Senior Lecturer at the University of the West Indies (2009–2020) and Research Associate at Newcastle University (2007–2009). She currently supervises doctoral theses on topics ranging from healthcare inequities in Europe to urban politics in Trinidad and Zimbabwe.

Her research interests include the politics of Caribbean religion and healing, the intersection of race and health, and the decolonization of academic practices. Key projects include the Kone Foundation-funded 'Imagining Futures in the Margins of the State' (2024–2026) and an EU Horizon Europe MSCA Global Postdoctoral Fellowship (2025–2027).

Forde has been awarded the Anthropological Deed Award 2023 and has authored influential works such as Passages and Afterworlds: Anthropological Perspectives on Death in the Caribbean (2018) and Obeah and Other Powers: The Politics of Caribbean Religion and Healing (2012). She actively engages in public discourse through media contributions and podcasts, including a co-created series on Roma youth and activism.

Her teaching emphasizes decolonial pedagogy, and she collaborates internationally on projects addressing urban inequality, environmental sustainability, and global health. She has organized workshops on decolonization and co-chaired sessions at the American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting.