This text has been translated from Norwegian with the assistance of GPT UiO.
– What is occupying you right now?
– I’m in the final stages of completing the book Makt og marked. Innføring i Kinas økonomi (Power and Market: An Introduction to China’s Economy), which will be published by Cappelen Damm very soon. At the same time as I’m editing, I’m giving lots of talks and presentations on the Chinese economy. There is a great deal of interest in the topic, and it’s fun! A few months ago, I went on a study trip to Guangdong and Taiwan as part of the book project, funded by the Fritt Ord Foundation, and the photo is from an amusement arcade where you could win groceries in claw machines.
– If you had to explain to an eight-year-old what you do at work, in three short sentences, what would you say?
– Human geography is about understanding how people live in different places, and why places become the way they are. I work a lot on China, and what happens there matters a great deal for us in Norway. Have you ever thought about why the phone you want is made in China and not in the town where you live? Or what it’s like to work with tiny components in a factory? Human geography is about questions like that: how people, places and things are connected all over the world.
– What motivates you in your job?
– I enjoy the variety. Late summer with the start of term and new students. The chance to develop new research. Meetings with people outside the university when I do outreach. But my absolute favourite activity – the thing I really cannot do without – is doing ethnographic fieldwork. It’s a great privilege to have the opportunity to try to understand other lives and societies on their own terms.
– If you were to do something completely different, what would it be?
– Journalist! Civil servant! Catering chef! I often daydream about doing something entirely different. Fortunately, I have a job that includes many different elements, so perhaps I’ll stay where I am.
– What do you do to switch off?
– I completely switch off when I cook. At the moment, I’m making a lot of Korean food. It requires just the right amount of concentration, and it’s lovely to share it with lots of other people. I’ve also started playing the ukulele to relax. Unlike the Korean food, my ukulele playing probably shouldn’t be shared with too many people, but it’s motivating to be part of a group that practises together.