معرفی
Magnus Pharao Hansen is Associate Professor in the Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies at the University of Copenhagen, Faculty of Humanities. His core expertise lies in the indigenous languages of Mexico, with particular focus on Nahuatl, Otomi, Huichol and Cora within the Uto-Aztecan and Otomanguean families.
Education
- PhD in Anthropology, Brown University, USA — Dissertation: Nahuatl Nation: Language Revitalization and Indigenous Resurgence in 21st Century Mexico (29 May 2016)
Research foci & methodologies
Hansen pursues three integrated strands of inquiry:
- Language policy & revitalization: ethnographic and ethnohistorical analyses of how Mexican indigenous political conditions shape minority-language revival, culminating in the 2024 Oxford University Press monograph Nahuatl Nation.
- Deep-time language history: combining historical linguistics, archaeology and digital lexicography to trace the spread and interaction of Mesoamerican language families before and after European colonization, led by the ERC Starting Grant project SUAHIST.
- Language and landscape: investigating how spatial grammar and toponymy encode landscape perception across Nahuatl varieties, supported by a Sapere Aude Research Leader grant from the Danish Council for Independent Research (DFF).
Recent publication trends
Across 30 peer-reviewed works (2010-2025), Hansen’s output clusters in four domains: (i) phonological reconstruction and accent shift in Southern Uto-Aztecan, (ii) historical sociolinguistics of Nahuatl in colonial and revolutionary Mexico, (iii) spatial deixis and environmental adaptation, and (iv) digital lexicography and open-access resources for Cora and Huichol.
Grants & recognitions
- ERC Starting Grant SUAHIST: Exploring the Deep History of Southern Uto-Aztecan Languages and Peoples
- Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Postdoctoral Fellowship
- Sapere Aude Research Leader grant (DFF)
Outreach & impact
Hansen is frequently interviewed by Danish and international media on topics ranging from Mexican indigenous politics to Wikipedia’s representation of Native Americans (9 press contributions, 2024-2017). He has delivered over 26 invited lectures and conference presentations, and serves as peer reviewer for leading journals in linguistics and anthropology.
