Thomas Hylland Eriksen

Geir Thomas Hylland Eriksen (born February 6, 1962) is a Norwegian anthropologist known for his scholarly and popular writing on globalization, identity, ethnicity, and nationalism. He is currently Professor of Social Anthropology in the Department of Social Anthropology at the University of Oslo. He has previously served as the President of the European Association of Social Anthropologists (2015-2016), as well as the Editor of Samtiden (1993-2001), Norsk antropologisk tidsskrift (1993-1997), the Journal of Peace Research, and Ethnos.

Eriksen is among the most prolific and highly cited anthropologists of his generation, and has been recognized for his remarkable success in bringing an anthropological perspective to a broader, non-academic audience. In Norway, Eriksen is a well-known public intellectual whose advocacy of diversity and cultural pluralism has earned both praise and scorn. Right-wing terrorist Anders Behring Breivik, perpetrator of the 2011 Norway attacks, cited Eriksen critically in his manifesto and during his 2012 trial.

In the academy and beyond, Eriksen has been highly decorated for his scholarship. He is the recipient of honorary degrees from Stockholm University (2011), the University of Copenhagen (2021), and Charles University in Prague (2021), as well as one of anthropology's most prestigious honors, the Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography's Gold Medal (2022). He is a member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.