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Photographic Lives: Intangible cultural heritage and digital accessibility through a photographic audio archive
The project develops a method for the collection and digital accessibility of Sweden’s photographic heritage. Its purpose is twofold. First, it aims to create a methodology for gathering information ab

Evaluated by a robot. An experimental-ethnographic study of the automation of the recruitment process in a Swedish municipality
In a unique project the researchers will study the differences between an AI-based interview robot's and human recruiters' evaluations of jobseekers in a Swedish municipality during a year.
Lobbying in Practice: An ethnographic field study of public affairs consultancy
In: Power, Policy and Profit: Corporate Engagement in Politics and Governance. C. Garsten and A. Sörbom. Cheltenham, Edward Elgar: pp. 82-99. Power, Policy and Profit investigates the manifold ways in

Anna Näslund
I am professor of Art History at Stockholm University and researcher at the Institute for Futures Studies. My research focuses on visual culture, picture theory and digitization. The project Selling Pic traces the genealogy of contemporary AI-generated image hype over 200 years of promoting technologies for the production, reproduction, and circulation of pictures on a mass scale. It aims to understand the historical role of pictures not merely as commodities but as agents of commerce. The project focuses on emerging picture techniques in the 1820s, 1920s, and 2020s, examining iconographic and discursive patterns in pictures of mass reproduction (metapictures) and comparing vernacular picture theories—expressed in advertising copy and trade journalism—with canonical picture theories. Rooted in historical material practices, the project seeks to clarify and expand our understanding of how and why pictures play a central role in the work of selling in modern and contemporary societies.

Selling pictures. Pictorial Economy and Commoditization 1820–2020
This project will place the current discussions concerning AI-generated images in a historical context, comparing it to two previous technological breakthroughs that have affected the use of pictures for commercial purposes.

Annie Woube
I am an Associate Professor of Ethnology and conduct research on leisure and various forms of self-realization, with a focus on gender constructions, gender equality, and social equality. In my curren

Serious recreational sports as health and wellness promotion activities at work
The overall purpose of our project is to investigate the consequences of demanding forms of sports and recreational races as health and wellness promotion activities at work. What norms, conditions and prerequisites surround them?
Rethinking intimacy: Semi-anonymous spaces and transitory attachments in Argentine tango dancing
Current Sociology, 66(3), pp. 356-372. doi.org/10.1177/0011392116681385 Abstract Although intimacy is an area characterized by great variety and complexity, both popular and academic discourses have tra
The making of an egalitarian elite: school ethos and the production of privilege
The British Journal of Sociology 2019, Volume 70, Issue 2 Abstract Research on privilege and education often focuses on institutions that are elite in a rather traditional way, for example schools that i
Changing local customs: The long run impacts of Christian missions on female genital cutting in Africa
Journal of Development Economics 166 (2024) Abstract We investigate the long-run impacts of Christian missions on female genital cutting (FGC) in Africa. Our empirical analysis draws on historical data o