MSc, Anthropologist, PhD
Henrik E. Vigh is a political anthropologist specialised in
issues of networks, politics, violence and conflict in both Europe
and Africa. He holds a Ph.D. from the Department of Anthropology,
University of Copenhagen, where he has researched the mobilisation
of youth into Protestant paramilitary networks in Belfast, Northern
Ireland, as well as the mobilisation, demobilisation and
remobilisation of young people in Bissau, Guinea-Bissau. He is
currently researching undocumented West African migrants in Europe
and the networks that they depend on, develop and are caught up
in.
Education
1992: Inauguration at the University of Copenhagen.
1996-1997: Post Graduate ERASMUS scholarship at the Department of
Social Anthropology, Queens University.
1998: Defence of Masters dissertation, entitled: '"They are Trying
to Destroy our Culture": en analyse af konfliktnarrativer blandt
paramilitære Protestanter i Nordirland'.
1999: Employed as a Research Fellow (ph.d.-stipendiat) at the
Department of Anthropology, University of Copenhagen. Affiliated
with a cross-disciplinary research grant from the Council for
Development Research (RUF) entitled: 'Consequences of the Civil War
in Guinea-Bissau'.
1999: Completed and passed an intensive language course in
Portuguese at CIDAC in Lisbon, Portugal.
1999: Participated in a PhD Seminar (ph.d.-kursus), entitled:
Morality and Social Worlds, at the Department of Anthropology,
University of Copenhagen.
2000: Fieldwork in Bissau, Guinea-Bissau. Institutional affiliation
to the Projecto Saúde Bandim and the Guinean Ministry of
Health
2001: Participated in a PhD Seminar (ph.d.-kursus), entitled:
'Policy, Political Culture and Rights,' at the Department of
Anthropology, University of Copenhagen.
2001: Completed module 3 of Copenhagen University's Master of
International Health
2002: Fieldwork in Bissau, Guinea-Bissau.
2002: Handed in PhD dissertation entitled: Navigating Terrains of
War: youth and soldiering in Guinea-Bissau.
2002: Awarded a post-doctoral grant from the Danish Social
Scientific Research Council (SSF).
2003: Defended PhD dissertation
Working Experience
1987-1989: Sailed as a deck-hand.
1989-1990: National Service under the Red Cross
1994-1996: Worked as a consultant for Market Manager A/S
1998-1999: Worked as a copywriter for the advertising agency Young
& Rubicam A/S and GN-Resound
1999-2002: Research Fellow at the Department of Anthropology,
University of Copenhagen
1999-2002: Planned and taught a post-graduate course at the
Department of Anthropology, University of Copenhagen, entitled: New
Anthropological Perspectives on War and Conflict
2003: Employed at the Department of Anthropology, University of
Copenhagen, as an Assistant Professor
2003: Fieldwork in Bissau, Guinea-Bissau. Planned a questionnaire
in collaboration with the political officer at UNOGBIS (United
Nation's Office in Guinea-Bissau)
2004: Member of the co-ordinating group for 'the Nordic Workshop on
Children and Youth in Africa', at the Nordic Africa Department in
Uppsala
2004: Initiated a study group on qualitative approaches to peace
and conflict studies for post-graduate students at the Faculty of
Social Sciences, University of Copenhagen
2004: Taught a course on cultural complexity at the Department of
Anthropology, University of Copenhagen
2005: Fieldwork in Lisbon, Portugal
2005: Fieldwork in Bissau, Guinea-Bissau
2005: Followed and completed IHB course 1 and 2 (foreign
ministry)
2005: International observer for the EU in round 1 and 2 of the
presidential election in Guinea-Bissau
2005- : Employed as researcher at the Rehabilitation and Research
Centre for Victims of Torture - later Senior
Researcher
2008- : Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology,
University of Copenhagen