Anna Hedlund
About Anna Hedlund
My background is in social anthropology and I am interested in understanding the dynamics of violence and conflicts in various ways and expressions. Through ethnographic fieldwork, I have studied violence in rebel groups in the eastern Congo and in criminal environments in Malmö, Sweden. In my latest research project, I am interested in crime and violecne prevention and gun reduction strategies, with a focus on Sweden.
I joined the Department of Global Studies in September 2022. Before that, I was based at Lund University (Department of sociology/divison of social anthropology). I have also been a postdoc at the University of Johannesburg (South Africa) and the Danish Institute against Torture (Denmark).
I am currently finishing the research project "Ceasefire Malmö", funded by Forte. The project focuses on youth crime, gun violence and crime prevention strategies. In the project, I have also been interested in the role of civil society in crime prevention work. In the project I have interviewed gang criminals, young people who are at risk of being recruited to criminal environments, as well as agencies who work with crime prevention in practice (the police, social services, exit services, actors from civil society, etc.).
I am also involved in a larger research project on crime and society (Brottslighet och Samhälle) run by SNS. I contribute to the project by investigating the municipalities' exit-services (avhopparverksamheten) in Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö. The report will be published in the spring of 2023. https://www.sns.se/forskningsprogram/brottslighet-och-samhalle/
Education
I have a PhD in Social Anthropology (Department of Sociology/division of social anthropology, Lund University, 2014)
Teaching
I teach and supervise students at bachelor and master's level. I currently teach courses in human rights, social anthropology, and global studies. I have previously taught cultural criminology and various method and theory courses.