In my research, I am especially interested in

• the interfaces of indigeneities and religiosities
• the history, ethnography, and religiography of Talamanca
• the politics of religions across Indigenous and Latin America
• instantiations of indigenous religions and their participation in governing
• bodies, practices, and politics of Christianities in Costa Rica, Norway, and globally
• fieldwork, translation, and research history / methods and methodologies in the study of religions, anthropology, and history
• Costa Rica/Latin America, Norway/Sápmi/Europe, international networks

PI of the research project The Governmateriality of Indigenous Religions (GOVMAT), funded by the Research Council of Norway (FRIPRO), 2020-2025.

In 2024, supervision of master and PhD dissertations.

Conference lecture

• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2018). How can something resembling secularity be found around a genealogy of indigenous religion in Talamanca?. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2015). Academics and indigenous methodologies, colonization and decolonization, in/from/between Talamanca and Tromsø. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2015). Relaciones entre religiones y tradiciones indígenas en Talamanca. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2014). Translating Sibö: An example of how Bribris have indigenised the Bahá'í Faith in Talamanca. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2020). Indigenous medicine and religion as governmateriality. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2016). Translations of the treatment of the dead. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2012). Religious change in Talamanca. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2016). Religion in Talamanca. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord; nils Kolstrup; Tania Lopez (2009). Health care practices, offers, and choices among Mayan mothers in Guatemala and Mexico. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2011). Kva syner seg om ein freistar å gå baklengs til verks? Inge Lønning sin Gud som sibö. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2010). Religionsstudiar i Talamanca, Costa Rica. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2013). On othering and opportunism brought about by religion and poverty and politics thereof: examples from Talamanca, Costa Rica. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2009). Urfolk, religionar og klassifikasjon i religionsvitskapen. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2015). Indigenous rights and the religionification of Talamancan traditions. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2015). Words of continuity and change: "indigenous" and "religion" in Talamanca. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2018). Indigenous religion as a method in and beyond museums. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2014). Review of James L. Cox (ed.) Critical Reflections on Indigenous Religions (Ashgate 2013). (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2017). Indigenous methodologies and religious terminologies. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2015). Om "Scales, translations, and siding effects: uses of indígena and religión in Talamanca and beyond". (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2019). Reflexiones en torno a conceptos bribris y la antropología de las religiones en Talamanca. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2018). Response to the panel Indigenising movements in Europe. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2014). Litt om religio(ni)fisering. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2022). Professor James L. Cox's research questions in A Phenomenology of Indigenous Religions: Theory and Practice (Bloomsbury 2022). (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2013). Indigenous religion(s) as an analytical category. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2023). Land back/language back/religion back? Special panel on global indigeneity with Greg Johnson, Bjørn Ola Tafjord, Liudmila Nikanorova and Arkotong Longkumer. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2018). Secularity and indigenous religion as a method. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2017). Translating God, converting Sibö, or turning Him into an akeköl. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2015). To what extent may “the informant” be a master of methods and methodologies?. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2005). Pueden extranjeros llegar a hacer metodologias indigenas? Can outsiders set about doing indigenous methodologies?. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2016). Opponent på prøvedisputas i kulturhistorie, Universitetet i Oslo. Avhandling: Åmund Norum Resløkken, Forskningsobjektene i Ord og Sed. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2018). Indigenitet(ar) i eintal og fleirtal. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2012). Religions, politics, and rights: A case from Talamanca, Costa Rica. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2016). Discourses on indigenous religions in Talamanca (Costa Rica) and Tromsø (Norway): some critical comments about the contributions of academics. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2018). Indigenous religion as a method (also for the repatriation of knowledge). (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2015). Toward a typology of academic uses of "indigenous religion(s)". (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2013). Om korleis snakk om ein religión indígena kan vere med og endre ting: eit døme frå Talamanca, Costa Rica. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2009). It used to be taboo to say who all of our methodology teachers are. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2009). Å klassifisere er å verdsetje: religionar og urfolk på bibliotek. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2011). From tradición indigena to religión indígena - about changes in political discourse and its consequences among the Bribri. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2007). Learning methods, methodologies and ethics as "pupils" in the field. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2011). Religion and politics in Talamanca. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2022). Translating into effect a Talamancan indigenous religion: two historical examples. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2010). Religionar og religionsstudiar i Latin-Amerika. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2008). Subjectivity and objectivity in the social sciences. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord; Arkotong Longkumer; Sneha Roy et al. (2024). Governmaterialities of religion, nature, and ecology. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2016). Norsk misjon i Latin-Amerika. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2016). Directionality and domains: translations toward religion and indigeneity. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2019). Imagined ethnographies and religiographies of Talamanca, Costa Rica. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2014). Negotiating indigeneity through a new world religion: Bribris and their Bahá'í Faith. (external link)
• Liudmila Nikanorova; Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2017). Indigenous religions and the work of scholars in Sakha, Talamanca, and Tromsø. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2017). "Costa Rica, indigenous peoples, really?". (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2016). Some challenges that indigenous methodologies pose for the INREL project. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2015). Om religionsvitskap og religionifisering i Talamanca og Tromsø. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2015). Tradiciones indígenas, ambientalismos y religiones en las luchas por recursos en Talamanca, Costa Rica. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2012). What can we learn about "god" from doing it backwards?. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2015). Religious studies, religiologies, imagined religiographies, reification, and resistance. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2012). Norsk misjon i Latin-Amerika i seinare år: kven, kvar og med kven?. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2015). Toward a typology of academic uses of "indigenous religion(s)", or, six language games that scholars play with this phrase. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord; Siv Ellen Kraft (2017). Co-production of knowledge, from the local to the global. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2018). Connecting indigeneities while doing religious studies in Talamanca, Tromsø, and elsewhere. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2007). Latin American politics of sex, gender and religion. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2007). Olsok i Valldal: religiøst entreprenørskap i regi av kommunen. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2008). Om heimlege metodologiar. (external link)
• Jelena Porsanger; Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2017). A conversation about indigenous methodologies and translation. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2017). La religionización de tradiciones indígenas en Talamanca. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2021). La Negrita as governmateriality in Costa Rica. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2021). The governmateriality of Nuestra Senora de los Angeles. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2025). Manifestations and Doings of the Virgin of the Angels in Cartago, Rome, and Katsi. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2013). It means a lot: Bribri uses of religión, indígena and religión indígena. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2005). Turisme, et religionsvitenskaplig forskningsprosjekt. Hybrid Encounters: Religion and Tourism in Global Culture. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord; Gregory D. Alles (2016). Performances and mediatizations of indigenous religion(s). (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2018). Venting som metode. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2005). Defining religion, defying tradition? Concords and conflicts in discourses about the role of religion in a Costa Rican indigenous community. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2022). What is she doing? Some recent acts of a tiny black rock statue. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2017). Indigenous methodologies: local/global and religious terminology. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2015). Metodologías indígenas contextuales: acercamientos bribris. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2012). The MA programme in The study of religions at the University of Tromsø. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord; Ingvild Jensen Haldorsen; Liudmila Nikanorova et al. (2024). Defiant Indigeneities in Marginalized Spaces. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord; Liudmila Nikanorova; May-Lisbeth Brew (2016). Research collaboration in the INREL project. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord; nils Kolstrup; Tania Lopez (2009). Health care practices, offers, and choices among Mayan mothers in Guatemala and Mexico II. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2007). Feltarbeid: etikk her og etikk der. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2010). Religionar og urfolk på bibliotek. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2008). "Indigenous religions" as an analytical category. Useful for what?. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2008). Etikk her og etikk der - lærdommar frå feltstudiar. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2008). Old and new indigenous religions and the future. (external link)

Doctoral thesis (PhD)

• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2004). Ritualiserte forståingar: bribriar og bahá'í-trua. (external link)

Academic article

• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2007). Om heimlege metodologiar. Lærdommar frå forsking med bribriar. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2013). Indigenous religion(s) as an analytical category. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2019). Modes of indigenizing: remarks on indigenous religion as a method. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2013). Kva kan ein lære om kategorien gud dersom ein freistar å gå baklengs til verks? Eit eksperiment med Rosendo Jackson sin Sibö, min sibö og Inge Lønning sin Gud. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2018). Venting som metode. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2024). Reinterpreting Mother Earth: Translation, Governmateriality, and Confidence. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2016). Scales, translations and siding effects: Uses of indígena and religión in Talamanca and beyond. In Religious Categories and the Construction of the Indigenous, ed. by C. Hartney & D. J. Tower. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2008). Religión og religiones i Talamanca: ei tileigningshistorie. (external link)
• Gregory D. Alles; Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2017). Mediating indigenous religions: by way of introduction. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2016). How talking about indigenous religion may change things: An example from Talamanca. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2021). On the (un)doing of anthropology and secularity, and its relevance for religious studies. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2011). Religionar og urfolk på bibliotek: Om klassifikasjonar i eit religionsvitskapleg landskap. (external link)

Academic book chapter

• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2006). Religión en América Latina / Sociedad y cultura en América Latina (eds. Maria C. Álvarez-Solar y Elisabeth Fonseca). (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2022). Can non-indigenous religious traditions become indigenous?. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2006). Defining religion, defying tradition? : concord and conflict about the role of religion in a Costa Rican indigenous community. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2006). Refleksjonar kring refleksivitet / Metode i religionsvitenskap (red. Siv Ellen Kraft og Richard J. Natvig). (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2020). Modes of indigenizing: remarks on indigenous religion as a method. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2017). Norsk misjon i Latin-Amerika: frå sjømenn og pinsevener til utviklingsprosjekt og politikk. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2022). Why is it sometimes risky to present indigenous traditions as religious?. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2017). Towards a typology of academic uses of 'Indigenous Religion(s9', or eight (or nine) language games that scholars play with this phrase. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2012). Nya religionsbildningar. (external link)

Editorial/Leader article

• Bjørn Ola Tafjord; Gina Dahl; Mona Helen Farstad (2015). Redaksjonelt. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2008). Sentral-Amerika. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord; Håkon Tandberg; Knut Leikvoll Melvær (2012). Guder I. (external link)
• Hans Geir Aasmundsen; Jelena Porsanger; Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2018). Openheit / Rabasvuohta. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord; Gina Dahl; Mona Helen Farstad (2016). Redaksjonelt. (external link)
• Siv Ellen Kraft; Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2007). åpent nummer. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord; Siv-Ellen Kraft (2011). Redaksjonelt. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord; Siv Ellen Kraft (2014). Redaksjonelt. (external link)
• Siv Ellen Kraft; Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2008). Urfolk. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord; Gina Dahl; Mona Helen Farstad (2016). Perspektiveringar. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord; Håkon Tandberg; Knut Leikvoll Melvær (2013). Guder II. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord; Gina Dahl; Mona Helen Farstad (2015). Redaksjonelt. (external link)

Academic literature review

• Bjørn Ola Tafjord; Michael Stausberg; Einar Thomassen et al. (2008). Anmeldelse Arne Bugge Amundsen (red.), Norges religionshistorie, Universitetsforlaget, Oslo, 2005. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord; Gregory D. Alles (2018). Introduction: performances and mediations of indigenous religion(s). (external link)

Journal review

• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2004). Truande sanningar. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2024). Challenging, Broadening, and Sharpening the Study of Indigenous Religious Traditions: On Arkotong Longkumer’s The Greater India Experiment: Hindutva and the Northeast (2021, Stanford University Press). (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2015). Review of Critical Reflections on Indigenous Religions, ed. by James L. Cox, Farnham 2013, Ashgate. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2024). Challenging, Broadening, and Sharpening the Study of Indigenous Religions: On Arkotong Longkumer´s The Greater India Experiment: Hindutva and the Northeast. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2011). Review of Oliver Grasmück. Eine Marienerscheinung in Zeiten der Diktatur. Der Konflikt um Peñablanca, Chile: Religion und Manipulation unter Pinochet. Berlin 2009: Walter de Gruyter. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2011). Melding av James L. Cox. From Primitive to Indigenous: The Academic Study of Indigenous Religions. Aldershot 2007: Ashgate. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2010). Bente Gullveig Alver 2009. Anna Elisabeth Westerlund: En fortelling. Oslo: Spartacus. 299 s. Ill. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord; James L. Cox; Steven J. Sutcliffe et al. (2023). A Discussion of James L. Cox's A Phenomenology of Indigenous Religions. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2011). Omtale av Genaro Zalpa & Hans Egil Offerdal (red.). ?El reino de Dios es de este mundo? El papel ambiguo de las religiones en la lucha contra la pobreza. Bogotá 2008: Siglo del Hombre/CLACSO-CROP. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2011). Omtale av Aparecida Vilaca & Robin M. Wright (red.). Native Christians: Modes and Effects of Christianity Among Indigenous Peoples of the Americas. Surrey 2009: Ashgate. (external link)
• Michael Stausberg; Einar Thomassen; Clemens Cavallin et al. (2008). Anmeldelse Arne Bugge Amundsen (red.), Norges religionshistorie, Universitetsforlaget, Oslo, 2005. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2008). Margit Warburg, Citizens of the World: A History and Sociology of the Baha'is from a Globalisation Perspective. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2012). Bokmelding av Christine Jacobsen si bok Islamic Traditions and Muslim Youth in Norway (Leiden 2011, Brill). (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2018). Review of Alternative Voices ed. by A. Adogame, M. Echtler & O. Freiberger. (external link)

Popular science article

• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2005). Lokale og globale autoritetar - Don Rosendo versus Det universelle rettferdshuset. (external link)

Lecture

• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2016). Om ulik bruk av ordet "religion". (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2010). Religiøs fundamentalisme og sanninga, bokstavleg tala. (external link)
• May-Lisbeth Brew; Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2017). Practices of consultation with indigenous peoples in Indigenous/Latin America. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2017). The constitutions of religions in the construction and destruction of Santiago de Talamanca (1605 - 1610). (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2012). Norsk misjon i Latin-Amerika. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2007). Santería: eit rørleg grensetilfelle i det cubanske samfunnet gjennom historien. (external link)

Media feature article

• Bjørn Ola Tafjord; Lena Lybæk (2007). KRL-faget - i praksis eit mislukka eksperiment?. (external link)
• Lena Lybæk; Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2007). KRL-Faget. Eit mislukka eksperiment. (external link)

Media interview

• Bjørn Ola Tafjord; Hans Geir Aasmundsen; Marianne Hafnor Bøe et al. (2025). Hva kan man lære av å studere religion?. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2014). "The uses of 'indigenous religion': an interview with Bjørn Ola Tafjord. (external link)
• Arkotong Longkumer; Bjørn Ola Tafjord; David Robertson (2017). What do we mean by indigenous religion(s)?. (external link)
• Bjørn Ola Tafjord; Hans Geir Aasmundsen (2025). Hva er urfolk?. (external link)

Research report

• Bjørn Ola Tafjord; Lena Lybæk (2007). KRL-praksiser: En undersøkelse av praktisk implementering av ny læreplan i KRL-faget ved seks skoler. (external link)
• Lena Lybæk; Bjørn Ola Tafjord (2008). En undersøkelse av praktisk implementering av ny læreplan i KRL-faget ved seks skoler. (external link)

Book anthology

• Siv Ellen Kraft; Bjørn Ola Tafjord; Arkotong Longkumer et al. (2020). Indigenous Religion(s): Local Grounds, Global Networks. (external link)

See a complete overview of publications in Cristin.

Reinterpreting Mother Earth: Translation, governmateriality, and confidence. Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture 18 (2024), 2.

On the (un)doing of anthropology and secularity, and its relevance for religious studies. Religion 51 (2021), 4: 614–622.

Translating indigeneities: Educative encounters in Talamanca, Tromsø, and elsewhere. Indigenous Religion(s): Local Grounds, Global Networks, pp. 21–58. London 2020: Routledge.

Indigenous Religion(s): Local Grounds, Global Networks. Introduction and conclusion co-written by Siv Ellen Kraft, Bjørn Ola Tafjord, Arkotong Longkumer, Gregory D. Alles, and Greg Johnson. London 2020: Routledge.

Modes of indigenizing: Remarks on indigenous religion as a method. Journal for the Study of New Religions 9 (2018), 2 (special issue: Indigenizing movements in Europe, ed. G. Harvey): 303–327.

Performances and mediations of indigenous religion(s). Numen 65 (2018), 5–6 (special section, eds. B. O. Tafjord and G. D. Alles).

Towards a typology of academic uses of ‘indigenous religion(s)’, or eight (or nine) language games that scholars play with this phrase. Handbook of Indigenous Religion(s) (Brill Handbooks on Contemporary Religion 15), eds. G. Johnson and S. E. Kraft, pp 25–51. Leiden 2017: Brill.

Scales, translations, and siding effects: Uses of indígena and religión in Talamanca and beyond. Religious Categories and the Construction of the Indigenous (Supplements to Method and Theory in the Study of Religion 7), eds. C. Hartney and D. Tower, pp. 138–177. Leiden 2016: Brill.

How talking about indigenous religion may change things: An example from Talamanca. Numen 63 (2016), 5–6: 548–575.

Indigenous religion(s) as an analytical category. Method and Theory in the Study of Religion 25 (2013), 3: 221–243.

PI of the research project The Governmateriality of Indigenous Religions (GOVMAT), funded by the Research Council of Norway (FRIPRO).

Collaborating researcher in the project Bodies in Translation: Science, Knowledge and Sustainability in Cultural Translation, organized from the University of Oslo and funded by the Research Council of Norway (FRIPRO).

Senior research fellow of Multiple Secularities – Beyond the West, Beyond Modernities, organized from Leipzig University and funded by DFG (Kolleg-Forschungsgruppe).