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  4. Staffan Appelgren

Staffan Appelgren

Senior Lecturer

School of Global Studies
Telephone
+46 31-786 43 33
Mail
staffan.appelgren@gu.se

About Staffan Appelgren

I am currently associate professor in Social Anthropology at the School pf Global Studies, holding a PhD Social Anthropology.

Research areas My research revolves around sustainability, consumption, heritage, design, architecture, circular economy, material culture, tourism, globalisation and urbanisation inspired by theoretical perspectives of phenomenology, posthumanism and new materialism.

Bringing together the topics of heritage and sustainability, research in recent years has investigated emerging forms of circulation and preservation of everyday material culture in consumer society with a particular focus on second-hand, reuse and redesign. In the project “Re:heritage – Circulation and Marketization of Things with History” (financed by the Swedish Research Council) we studied how grassroots initiatives to preserve things through reuse and circulation emerged in the interstitial space between waste management and the heritage sector.

Earlier research includes cultural globalization focusing on themed environments in Japanese cities, preservation strategies in Tokyo’s urban landscape and depopulation issues in the Japanese countryside.

Ongoing research Currently, I am the principal investigator of the research project “Staying (with) Things: Alternatives to Circular Living and Consuming” (financed by The Swedish Research Council). Moving on from studying material circulation the project focuses on how things are kept in household over time. Exploring sustainable consumption practices and norms alternative to the Circular Economy, we are interested in the conditions under which people form long lasting relationships to belongings within households.

TeachingHaving taught at the university for over three decades, I have extensive experience of developing, coordinating and teaching courses and programs at undergraduate, advanced and doctoral level in Swedish and English, in such fields as Social-Anthropology, Global Studies, Asia Studies, Heritage Studies, Tourism Studies, Sustainable Consumption, Gender Studies and Urban Studies. I also have long experience of supervising theses at undergraduate, advanced and doctoral level in Swedish and English.

I have repeated experience of the role of Director of Studies, responsible for pedagogic development and quality, for undergraduate as well as advanced level in Swedish and English.