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1. Summary of personal data

Full name	Finn Sivert Nielsen
Citizenship	Norwegian
Date and place of birth	March 6th 1955, Oslo, Norway
Academic affiliation	Freelance anthropologist and author
Address	Thereses gt. 4 B, NO-0452 Oslo, Norway
Phone	+47 97413528
E-mail	fsn(at)fsnielsen.com
Education	Magister Artium in Social Anthropology (1987), Department of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo, Norway
Language Qualifications
Norwegian	Fluent - mother-tongue since birth
English	Fluent - mother-tongue since birth
Russian	Extensive oral and written experience since 1974, after academic studies and approx. 24 months in the Soviet Union / Russia; training includes oral interpretation and written translation
German	Fair - oral and written
French	Rudimentary
Danish	Fluent reader, some written Danish

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2. Detailed Curriculum Vitae

2.1. Undergraduate studies 1974-80

1975-II Examen Philosophicum [entrance exam], University of Oslo.

1975-II Final Exam, Army Language School of Russian. The highly intensive course included training as an interpreter (Norwegian-Russian / Russian-Norwegian).

1976-I Final Exam, Russian, 3-semester course, Department of Slavonic and Baltic Studies, University of Oslo.

1977-II Final Exam, Social Anthropology, 2-semester course, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo.

1978-I Six-month state scholarship at Department of Anthropology and Ethnography, State University of Leningrad. Specialization: Ethnographic studies of the Soviet North (nentsy). Shorter stays in the Caucasus and Moscow. Urban fieldwork in Leningrad.

1978-II Final Exam, Social Anthropology, 3-semester course, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo.

1980-I Final Exam, History, 2-semester course, Department of History, University of Oslo.

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2.2. Graduate, Post-Graduate, and Academic work (including translation and editing)

1980-2007 Translation of an estimated 40-50 academic texts, mostly English-to-Norwegian or Norwegian-to-English. Translated texts included work of my own as well as that of colleagues. Editing and/or copy editing of approximately 200 academic texts, including student work and the work of colleagues (in English, Norwegian and Danish).

1981-I Commenced studies for the Magister Artium degree, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo.

1983-I Six-month state scholarship at the Institute of Ethnography, Academy of Sciences, Leningrad. Specializations: (i) Soviet studies of national minorities in the Soviet Union, with emphasis on the Caucasus. (ii) Urban fieldwork in Leningrad focusing on problems of Russian identity, Soviet political culture, public and private behavior patterns, second economy. (iii) One month fieldwork in the Caucasus (Dagestan); shorter visits to Moscow (Academy of Sciences).

1987-I Final Exam, Magister Artium, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo. Thesis: "The Eye of the Whirlwind. Russian Identity and Soviet Nation-Building. Quests for Meaning in a Soviet Metropolis". Main themes of thesis: Russian identity and everyday life; Multinationalism and political legitimacy in the Soviet state; Russian intelligentsia; Second economy; Corruption.

1988-II Commenced post-graduate work with scholarship awarded by the Norwegian Research Council (NAVF). Preliminary research carried out at the Department of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo. Long-term aim of research: Dr. Philos. degree. Main themes of thesis: Comparative study of United States and Soviet Union/Russia, with focus on public culture, multinationalism, subculture vs. mainstream culture, transformation of European tradition in European primary periphery, illegal economic networks, etc. Theoretical focus: Practice theory, Ideology, Body-in-society etc.

1989 6-month interruption of research due to humanitarian work in the Soviet Union.

1989-90 (i) 12 months fieldwork in San Francisco (Nov.1989 - Nov.1990). Informal affiliation with the Department of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley. (ii) Video-project on San Francisco in cooperation with informants.

1991-II Video-project on problems related to Dr. Philos. work.

1992-II 6-month stay in Wellington, New Zealand.

1994-I Temporary employment as Associate Professor at Department of Anthropology, University of Tromsø.

1995-I Tenured employment as Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Tromsø.

1999-I Tenured employment as Associate Professor, Institute of Anthropology, University of Copenhagen.

2008-I Freelance anthropologist and author, Oslo, Norway.

2014-II- Establishment and build-up of a small business, offering translation and editing services. Main clients (as of 2017-I): Punkt Ø / Gallery F 15 (Moss, Norway) and The Development Fund (Oslo, Norway).

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2.3. Teaching experience

1979-88 Department of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo: Seminars for undergraduate students. (16 semesters.)

1987-88 Lecture series on Soviet culture and society for the interdisciplinary program for Soviet and East European Studies, University of Oslo. (3 semesters.)

1987-88 Various lecture series on anthropological theory and method at the Department of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo, for graduate and undergraduate students. (3 semesters.)

1989 Intensive course in creative writing for graduate students at the Department of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo. (6 weeks.)

1991-93 Various lecture series on anthropological theory and method, including regional ethnography (Europe, Soviet Union, South Asia), for graduate and undergraduate students, Institute and Museum of Anthropology, University of Oslo.

1987-93 Main academic advisor for 9 graduate students in anthropology working in the Eastern European region; secondary advisor for 5-6 students in the field.

1983-93 30-40 lectures on the Soviet Union and United States for academic and non-academic audiences, including introductory courses for officers at the Naval Academy in Oslo, lectures for peace groups, student groups, women's groups, university audiences, etc.

1994-98 Regular lecture series every semester for undergraduate and graduate students in social anthropology at the University of Tromsø. Guest lectures, including intensive seminars in field method for graduate students and lectures on general anthropological theory, at other Norwegian universities (Oslo, Bergen, Trondheim). Interdisciplinary lectures for the Eastern Europe Group at the University of Tromsø. Main academic advisor for 15 graduate students and one doctoral student at the University of Tromsø and 5 students at the University of Oslo; secondary advisor for 4 other graduate students.

1995-97 Head of Curriculum Review Board at the Department of Social Anthropology, University of Tromsø. The committee's final report, for which I bore the major responsibility, included new course programs for all levels of undergraduate and graduate studies in anthropology at the Department, including new curricula, examination forms, pedagogical innovations etc.

1999-2007 Regular lecture series every semester for students on various levels, including full-semester intensive practical courses in field methods, regular lecture series on the Anthropology of Post-Communism, and general courses on various theoretical themes (e.g. political anthropology, myth and metaphor, comparison). Academic councelling on all levels. Responsible for developing and expanding Post-Communist anthropological studies at the Institute of Anthropology, University of Copenhagen. Responsible for developing web-based / web-assisted teaching at the Institute.

2008- Various teaching and academic councelling at irregular intervals (freelance), including courses at the University of Tromsø (i.a. an online primer course on academic writing), courses at the Academies of Fine Arts in Oslo and Trondheim, and counseling of MA and Ph.D. students.

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2.4. Projects, papers and seminars

1987-II Leader of a research project on environmental waste in a coastal region south of Oslo.

1987 Participation in a Nordic post-graduate course on Soviet foreign policy at Sigtuna, Sweden.

1988 Report for the research group Alternativ Framtid (Alternative Future) on anthropological perspectives on the comparative study of morality.

1988 Co-organizer (with Henrik Sinding-Larsen, Oslo) of multidisciplinary research seminar on the study of meaning in anthropology, history of religions, psychology, biology.

1988 Co-organizer of research seminar on anthropological studies of modernity (Oslo).

1991 Seven-week seminar on the transformation of European cultural and political traditions in the USA and USSR, based on own field material and independently developed theory, at the Institute and Museum of Anthropology, University of Oslo. (Part of this series has later been revised for publication.)

1991 Paper presented at the research seminar: The Multiplicity of Writing in Social Anthropology, Oslo, October 1991.

1991 Co-organizer of research seminar on moral and existential aspects of anthropological fieldwork (Oslo). (Materials from this seminar have later been published in Norwegian.)

1994-95 Initiator of research cooperation project between the University of Tromsø and several academic institutions in Moscow (i.a. the Institute of Ethnography, Academy of Sciences). An agreement on cooperation was signed in February 1995, but terminated a year later by the University of Tromsø, due to violations of research ethics committed by representatives of the Institute of Ethnography.

1994-II Organizer of international research seminar Continuity and Change in Post-Soviet Societies, Tromsø October 1994. Co-founded The Norwegian Anthropological Seminar on Post-Soviet Societies (NASPSS).

1995-I Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Norwegian Anthropological Association, Tromsø, January 1995.

1996-I Paper presented at the First Nordic Conference on Post-Communist Anthropology, Copenhagen, April 1996. (The conference, which has later become a regular occurrence, was a spin-off of the work of NASPSS.)

1996-I Formulation of NASPSS-sponsored proposal for a long-term national research project on Culture and Society in Post-Communist States. The project received preliminary funding from the Norwegian Research Council in 1997.

1996-II Paper presented at the national conference of the Norwegian Anthropological Association.

1997-I Paper presented at the national conference The Business Sector's Need for Knowledge in the Russian North, Oslo, March 1997.

1997-I Paper presented at a conference at the Center for Technology and Human Values, Oslo, June 1997, with prof. Sandy Stone from ACTLab, University of Austin, Texas. [Conference papers after this date are not included in this CV.]

1998-I Follow-up of the NASPSS-sponsored proposal for a national research project on Culture and Society in Post-Communist States. The proposal aimed at consolidating the anthropological network of "post-communist" anthropologists in Norway, with regular conferences, national coordination of research and graduate and post-graduate studies, and cooperation with colleagues in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Funding would be obtained in part from the Norwegian government, in part from Norwegian businesses that are active in the region. The project received preliminary support from the Norwegian Research Council, but was later abandoned for reasons external to the project itself. 

1999-I - 2001-I Co-coordinator (with Inger Sjørslev) of the research project Representatives of the People, a study of political culture within and around the Danish Parliament. Field research for the project was carried out by graduate students. The project was part the Danish Magtudredning, a publically sponsored inquiry into the power structures of Danish society.

2001-I Co-founder (with Kari Helene Partapuoli) of the website www.anthrobase.com, a multilingual, searchable database of mostly unpublished anthropological e-texts (much of it high-grade student work). The layout, editorial work, practical implementation and upkeep of the database is done by myself (and, during the first years, Ms. Partapuoli). As of 2017-I, the database comprises 174 texts, ranging from short articles to 3-400-page theses.

2002-I Main organizer of The Fourth Nordic Conference on the Anthropology of Post-Communism, entitled New Social and Cultural Divisions in East / Central Europe, and held outside Copenhagen in April 2002.

2002-I -2007-II Initiator and head of East / Central Europe Group at the Institute of Anthropology, University of Copenhagen. Initiator and main coordinator of the Nordic and East / Central European Network for Qualitative Social Research (NECEN), with funding from the Danish Research Council and other sources: Maintenance of website, organization of Nordic Conferences on the Anthropology of Post-Communism, initiator of Circum-Baltic Teaching Network (CBT) (including online teaching initiative), etc.

2010 Start of two long-term translation projects: (i) Mikhail Bulgakov: The Master and Margerita (Russian to English, with Aleksandra N. Livanova), and (ii) Selected poems by T. S. Eliot (English to Norwegian).

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2.5. Administrative experience

1983-88 Co-founder and chairman of the Norwegian national association for interdisciplinary Soviet and East European Studies (Forum for Sovjet- og Øst-Europastudier). Responsibilities included organization of seminars, teaching, editorial work, writing reports, articles etc., public-relations work, and all-round administration.

1984-85 Secretary at the Department of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo, with responsibility for routine office-work, including translations to and from English and Norwegian. 1986-1988: Consultant work for the Department's administration.

1985-86 Secretary at the Center for International Development Studies, University of Oslo, with responsibilities including: Editing and translation of reports, public relations work, practical organization of seminars and international student exchange programs, contact with Norwegian research milieus in the field of Development Studies and with Development aid organizations. 1987-1988: Consultant work for the Center with the same emphasis.

1987-88 Research Coordinator for the interdisciplinary program for Soviet and East European Studies in Norway (funded by the Norwegian Research Council - NAVF). Responsibilities include: Organization of international and national seminars, compilation of reports and articles, contact with Nordic research milieus within the field, contact with media and the Norwegian government, compilation of data on research, bibliographical resources, academic programs etc. throughout Norway.

1994-98 Founder and coordinator of NASPSS. Responsibilities include: contact with Norwegian governmental and research authorities, contact with Norwegian businesses, international and national networking, organization of seminars, formulation of research proposals etc.

1996 Head of Department of Social Anthropology, University of Tromsø (12 months). Member of the National Council of Anthropologists (Det nasjonale fagråd).

1999-2000 International Coordinator at Institute of Anthropology, University of Copenhagen.

1999- Coordinator, The East / Central Europe Research Group, Institute of Anthropology, University of Copenhagen.

2000-2007 Temporary responsibilities at the Institute of Anthropology, University of Copenhagen: Webmaster and IT Coordinator, co-head of curriculum review board, initiator of major PR initiative for the institute, etc.

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2.6. Journalistic experience

1983-88 Founder and co-editor (until 1986) of the journal Forum Øst (later Nordisk Øst-Forum), with responsibilities including: Lay-out and editorial work, public relations work, contributions to the journal in the form of articles, book-reviews, editorial and other features, translations. The journal is the only Norwegian periodical specializing in Soviet and East European Studies, and - since 1987, when we started cooperation with Nordic colleagues - the only periodical for the general public with this specialization in the Nordic countries.

2001-2004 Co-editor of the Danish journal Jordens Folk, which presents anthropological research for a broader audience.

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