معرفی
Øyvind Gjerstad is an Associate Professor of French Linguistics in the Department of Foreign Languages at the University of Bergen. His academic work focuses on the intersection of language, narrative, and climate change discourse, with particular emphasis on comparative analyses between French and Norwegian contexts. As a core member of the LINGCLIM research group (Language, Climate and Lifestyle), he contributes to interdisciplinary investigations of how linguistic structures shape public understanding of environmental issues.
Gjerstad's research interests center on linguistic polyphony, narrative analysis, and discourse structures as applied to climate communication. His work examines how narratives about climate change are constructed linguistically, how different voices are represented in climate discourse, and how narrative frameworks influence public perception and willingness to act. He has developed methodological approaches that combine narrative analysis with polyphonic theory to reveal complex storylines in climate-related texts, particularly focusing on how negation, reported speech, and rhetorical devices function in climate communication.
His publication record demonstrates consistent scholarly output examining climate narratives across various text genres including political documents, media coverage, and public surveys. Recent work has increasingly focused on the combination of narrative and polyphonic analysis ('polynarrativity') to uncover intersecting storylines in climate discourse. His research spans both descriptive analyses of existing narratives and explorations of how normative narratives might be constructed to motivate climate action.
Gjerstad has supervised graduate students, including Taran Marie Hoel Stabell's Master's thesis on French temporal prepositions. His research has been supported by funding from the Research Council of Norway (projects 220654 and 301103), indicating sustained institutional support for his work on climate discourse analysis. He actively participates in academic conferences across Europe, presenting his findings to both linguistics and climate studies audiences.
As part of the LINGCLIM research group, Gjerstad collaborates closely with Kjersti Fløttum and other colleagues on projects examining how language shapes climate perceptions and actions. His work bridges theoretical linguistics with practical applications in climate communication, contributing to interdisciplinary efforts to understand and address the climate crisis through the lens of language and narrative.
