Annelin Eriksen has worked ethnographically in Vanuatu, in the South West Pacific, since 1995. More recently, she has also gained interest in, and published extensively on, global religious movements. Her main research interests are gender, social and cultural change, future, cosmology and Christianity. Her new research focuses on the anthropology of the future, and since 2019 she has worked ethnographically on transhumanism and technoscientific immortality movements in the US. She is particularly interested in changing cultural perceptions of what a human being is in contexts of A.I. and robotics. Her overall interest is in understanding how ideas, imaginations and visions of the future have concrete effects on contemporary social practices, from policy-making to formations of religious and ideological movements.

Eriksen has led a project funded by Research Council of Norway on Gender and Pentecostalism with a regional focus on Melanesia (Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea) and Africa (2013-2017) and is currently the PI on a Research Council of Norway project called Technoscientific Immortality: A study of Human Futures. Eriksen has published a monograph from Vanuatu Gender, Christianity and Change (Routledge, 2008) and a co-authored monograph on Pentecostalism, called Going to Pentecost (Berghahn Books, 2019), with Ruy Llera Blanes and Michelle MacCarthy. Eriksen received, with her husband Knut M. Rio, The HumSam prize for outstanding research in the humanities and social sciences (Fylkesakerprisen) from the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters in 2017.

Sant 102: Social life in a global perspective

sant 285: New Technologies and the Future of the Human

SANT 250 / Bachelor Essay

SANT 601 / Distant learning course

SANT 100 / Invitasjon til Sosialantropologi

SANT 114 / Regional Etnografi Oceania

Academic article

• Annelin Eriksen; Michelle MacCarthy (2016). Introduction. (external link)
• Annelin Eriksen (2005). The gender of the church: Conflicts and social wholes on Ambrym. (external link)
• Annelin Eriksen (2017). Going to ‘Pentecost’: how to study Pentecostalism – in Melanesia, for example. (external link)
• Annelin Eriksen; Anette Fagertun; Cecilie Ødegaard (2007). Introduksjon. Om kjønn og antropologi. (external link)
• Annelin Eriksen (2007). Understanding cultural change: The return of core anthropological concepts. (external link)
• Annelin Eriksen (2012). The pastor and the prophetess: an analysis of gender and Christianity in Vanuatu. (external link)
• Annelin Eriksen (1999). Kirke og kastom, kvinner og menn: om transformasjoner i kjønnsrelasjoner på Ambrym, Vanuatu. (external link)
• Annelin Eriksen (1999). Kirke og kastom,kvinner og menn: om transformasjoner i kjønnsrelasjoner på Ambrym, Vanuatu. (external link)
• Annelin Eriksen (2009). 'New Life': Pentecostalism as social critique in Vanuatu. (external link)
• Annelin Eriksen (2007). Kjønn som differensieringslogikk. En inntak til å forstå endrng på Ambrym, Vanuatu. (external link)
• Knut Rio; Annelin Eriksen (2013). Missionaries, healing and sorcery in Melanesia: A Scottish evangelist in Ambrym Island, Vanuatu. (external link)
• Annelin Eriksen (2006). Expected and unexpected cultural heroes: Reflections on gender and agency of conjuncture on Ambrym, Vanuatu. (external link)
• Annelin Eriksen (2016). Pentecostalism and egalitarianism in Melanesia: A reconsideration of the pentecostal gender paradox. (external link)
• Annelin Eriksen (2016). The virtuous woman and the holy nation: Femininity in the context of Pentecostal Christianity in Vanuatu. (external link)
• Annelin Eriksen (2014). Sarah’s sinfulness: Egalitarianism, denied difference, and gender in pentecostal Christianity. (external link)
• Annelin Eriksen (2021). The Human Version 2.0: AI, Humanoids, and Immortality. (external link)
• Bruce Kapferer; Annelin Eriksen; Kari G Telle (2009). Religiosities toward a Future-in Pursuit of the New Millennium. (external link)
• Annelin Eriksen (2006). On the value of the church: the gendered dynamics of an inverted hierarchy on North Ambrym, Vanuatu. (external link)

Academic monograph

• Annelin Eriksen; Ruy Llera Blanes; Michelle MacCarthy (2019). Going to Pentecost: An Experimental Approach to Studies in Pentecostalism.. (external link)
• Annelin Eriksen (2008). Gender, Christianity and Change in Vanuatu An Analysis of Social Movements in North Ambrym. (external link)

Academic book chapter

• Annelin Eriksen (2013). Christian Politics in Vanuatu: Lay Priests and New State Forms. (external link)
• Knut Rio; Annelin Eriksen (2014). A New Man: The Cosmological Horizons of Development, Curses and Personhood in Vanuatu. (external link)
• Knut Rio; Annelin Eriksen (2014). Rivers and the study of kinship on Ambrym, Vanuatu: Mother right and father right revisited. (external link)
• Christine M. Jacobsen; Annelin Eriksen (2019). On feminist critique and how the ontological turn is queering anthropology. (external link)
• Annelin Eriksen (2010). Healing the Nation: In search of Unity through the Holy Spirit in Vanuatu. (external link)
• Bruce Kapferer; Kari G Telle; Annelin Eriksen (2010). Introduction. Religiosities toward a future. In pursuit of the new millennium. (external link)
• Knut Rio; Annelin Eriksen (2017). Demons, Devils, and Witches in Pentecostal Port Vila: On Changing Cosmologies of Evil in Melanesia. (external link)
• Annelin Eriksen (2010). De la valeur de l'Eglise: dynamique sexuée d'une hiérarchie inversée au Nord-Ambrym, Vanuatu. (external link)
• Annelin Eriksen (2009). Gender and value: Conceptualizing social forms on Ambrym, Vanatu. (external link)

Master’s thesis

• Annika Fure; Annelin Eriksen (2015). «Uttrykket endrer seg, men budskapet er det samme». En studie av en generasjonsmenighet i endring.. (external link)
• Unni Espenes Kiwanuka; Annelin Eriksen (2014). "Everything is double-double". A study of charismatic faith practice in Kampala, Uganda. (external link)
• Torsnes Sigrid; Annelin Eriksen (2023). Managing chosen life(spans) - Cryopreservation in Europe. (external link)
• Rebekka Obrestad; Annelin Eriksen (2024). When Aging Becomes Optional: An Ethnographic Study of Anti-Aging Practices in London. (external link)
• Angelina Penner; Annelin Eriksen (2016). Wanem ia jenda? [What is Gender?]: Translations and (Mis)Understandings between Development Discourse & Everyday Life Experiences in Port Vila, Vanuatu. (external link)
• Kristen Noss; Annelin Eriksen (2013). The Perfect Christian. An analysis of paradoxical aspects of charismatic christianity in the U.S.. (external link)
• Knut Sommerseth Lie; Annelin Eriksen (2010). Rituelle og ikke-rituelle praksiser i Céu do Patriarca Sâo José. (external link)
• Hildur Thorarensen; Annelin Eriksen (2011). Heal, Pray, Prosper. Practice and Discourse within a Local Pentecostal Church in Vanuatu. (external link)
• Linda Helen Skuggen; Annelin Eriksen (2019). Sexuality Among Youth on Maracuyá Island: Navigating the Complex Crossroad of Latin American and Caribbean Social Life. (external link)
• Mathias Opsahl-Engen; Annelin Eriksen (2024). Occupy Till He Comes – A Patriot Spirit An Ethnographic Study of Christian Nationalism, Culture War and the End Time Church. (external link)
• Marie Mørch; Annelin Eriksen (2011). "For meg er polyamori å elske mer enn én person, evnen til å elske flere" - En antropologisk studie av polyamorøse i Norge. (external link)

Letter to the editor

• Annelin Eriksen; Bjørn Enge Bertelsen; Knut Rio (2017). Vurderer verden med Vestens verdier. (external link)

Radio or TV participation

• Filippo Remonato; Gaute Einevoll; Marita skjuve et al. (2023). Kan datamaskiner bli som mennesker?. (external link)

Conference lecture

• Annelin Eriksen (2001). CONSTRUCTIVE AND DE-CONSTRUCTIVE APPROACHES TO CULTURE: A discussion of Sahlins’ concept of ”structures of conjuncture”. (external link)
• Annelin Eriksen (2010). A cursed past and a prosperous future:A comparison of different conceptions of self and healing. (external link)
• Håkon Fyhn; Jens Olgard Dalseth Røyrvik; Annelin Eriksen (2025). Å miste det menneskelige - liv, død og tekno-teologi. (external link)
• Annelin Eriksen (2000). Ambrym women on the move; effekts of female migration and wagelabour. (external link)
• Annelin Eriksen; Caroline Benedicte Nitter Engen; Joost Van Wijchen (2023). "Evighetsmennesket" – hvilke etiske utfordringer må vi forberede oss på?. (external link)
• Annelin Eriksen (2000). Framvekst av medgift i Vanuatu. (external link)
• Knut Rio; Annelin Eriksen (2012). Extension of scale or shift of scale ? Migrations between the so-called urban and rural in Melanesia. (external link)

Book anthology

• Bruce Kapferer; Annelin Eriksen; Kari G Telle (2010). Contemporary religiosities. Emergent socialites and the post-nation state. (external link)

Lecture

• Annelin Eriksen (2010). Hvordan antropologer tenker, om samfunn og utvikling, for eksempel. (external link)
• Knut Mikjel Rio; Annelin Eriksen (2010). The situation of new churches in Port Vila, Vanuatu. (external link)

Other presentation

• Annelin Eriksen; Christine M. Jacobsen; Geir Henning Presterudstuen et al. (2025). Det umistelige kjønnsperspektivet - panelsamtale på Norsk Antropologisk Foreningings konferanse 2025. (external link)
• Åsne Håndlykken-Luz; David S. A. Guttormsen; Annelin Eriksen et al. (2025). Demokratiet under press: forskningens motstandskraft og meningsmangfold - debatt på Arendalsuka. (external link)

Media feature article

• Annelin Eriksen; Marit Westergaard; Kjetil Tasken et al. (2025). Fem Tiltak for å sikre tillit til vitenskap - Et forslag fra Det Norske Videnskaps-Akademi. (external link)
• Annelin Eriksen; Marit Westergaard; Kjetil Tasken et al. (2025). Under Trump er akademisk frihet under angrep. (external link)

Doctoral thesis (PhD)

• Annelin Eriksen; Edvard Hviding (2005). Silent movement. Transformations of gendered social structures in North Ambrym, Vanuatu. (external link)
• Mari Hanssen Korsbrekke; Annelin Eriksen; Knut Rio (2021). "Different strokes for different folks" in egalitarian intentional communities: searching for the good life in practical utopias. (external link)

Media interview

• Annelin Eriksen; Marit Westergaard; Kjetil Tasken et al. (2025). Støtter forskere og forskning under press. (external link)

Reader opinion

• Annelin Eriksen; Marit Westergaard; Kjetil Tasken et al. (2025). Vitenskapsakademiet vil bruke utestemmen, også om Palestina. (external link)

Non-fiction book chapter

• Annelin Eriksen; Michelle MacCarthy (2019). Charismatic churches, revivalism, and new religious movements. (external link)
• Annelin Eriksen (2014). A Cursed Past and a Prosperous Future in Vanuatu. A Comparison of Different Conceptions of Self and Healing.. (external link)

Editorial/Leader article

• Kari G Telle; Annelin Eriksen (2012). Redaksjonelt. (external link)
• Kari G Telle; Annelin Eriksen (2012). Redaksjonelt (nr.2,2012). (external link)

Journal review

• Annelin Eriksen (2017). The value of anthropology : Comment on van der Veer, Peter. 2016. The value of comparison. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. (external link)
• Annelin Eriksen; Ruy Llera Blanes (2013). What Kind of God?. (external link)

Popular science book

• Knut Rio; Annelin Eriksen (2002). Stillehavsfolk i Melannesien. (external link)

See a complete overview of publications in Cristin.

 

 

Monographs, Books and Special Issues:

• 2023 Evighetsmennesket-Om vitenskap, teknologi og udødelighet Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.

 

• 2019 Going to Pentecost: An Experimental Approach to Studies in Pentacostalism. New York and

London: Berghahn Books. Co-authored monograph with Ruy Blanes and Michelle MacCarthy, part of the Berghahn series ‘Experiments in Ethnography’

 

• 2016 ‘Towards a Unified Analysis of Christianity and Gender.’ The Australian Journal of

Anthropology 27 (2). Special Issue co-edited with Michelle MacCarthy

 

• 2009 Contemporary Religiosities: Emergent Socialites and the Post-Nation State. New York &London: Berghahn Books. Co-edited with Bruce Kapferer and Kari Telle.

 

• 2008 Gender, Christianity and Change in Vanuatu: An Analysis of Social Movements in North Ambrym. Routledge 

 

                                                    

Articles in high level journals (selection)

• 2024 “The more Love I get, the more Human I become”, manuscript for edited volume, submitted to Social Analysis

 

• 2024 “Making Bina48 Family”, revised and resubmitted to Ethnos, feb 2024

 

• 2024 “The After-the -human-future: on transhuman and posthuman politics of the sacred”, forthcoming in “Limits of Life: Reflections on Life, Death, and the Body in the Age of Technoscience”. Eds. Martin E. Mogseth & Fartein H. Nilsen, London: Berghan books

 

• 2023 «Familien, kjærligheten og døden i Amerika–Et post-script til Schneiders American Kinship, anno 2023». Norsk Antropologisk Tidsskrift, 34(2), 95-112.

 

• 2021. “The Human Version 2.0: AI, Humanoids, and Immortality”. Social Analysis, 65(1), 70-88.

 

• 2018 “Going to Pentecost: How to Study Pentecostalism, in Melanesia for Example”. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 24(1): 164-180.

 

• 2017 “Demons, Devils, and Witches in Pentecostal Port Vila: On Changing Cosmologies of Evil in Melanesia”, In Pentecostalism and Witchcraft, edited by Knut Rio, Michelle MacCarthy and Ruy Blanes, 189-210. New York: Springer.

 

• 2016 “Pentecostalism and Egalitarianism, The Gender Paradox Revisited”. Religion and Society 7(1):37-50. *  Invited paper.

 

• 2016 (with Knut M. Rio). “A New Man: The Cosmological Horizons of Development, Curses and Personhood in Vanuatu” In Framing Cosmologies: The Anthropology of Worlds. eds. A. Abramson & M. Holbraad, 55-76. Manchester: Manchester University Press.

 

• 2016 The virtuous woman and the holy nation: Femininity in the context of Pentecostal Christianity in Vanuatu. The Australian Journal of Anthropology, 27(2), 260-275.

 

• 2016 Pentecostalism and egalitarianism in Melanesia: A reconsideration of the Pentecostal Gender Paradox. Religion and Society, 7(1), 37-50.

 

• 2014 Sarah’s Sinfulness: Egalitarianism, Denied Difference, and Gender in Pentecostal

Christianity. Current Anthropology 55(S10): 262-270.

 

•  2013, with Rio, Knut Missionaries, healing and sorcery in Melanesia: a Scottish evangelist in Ambrym Island, Vanuatu. History and Anthropology, 24(3), 398-418.

 

• 2012 The Pastor and the Prophetess: An Analysis of Gender and Christianity in Vanuatu. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 18 (1): 103-122. 

 

• 2012 Christian Politics in Vanuatu. Christian politics in Oceania, 2, 103.

 

 • 2009 ‘New life’: Pentecostalism as social critique in Vanuatu. Ethnos, 74(2), 175-198.

 

• 2009 Healing the nation: In search of unity through the Holy Spirit in Vanuatu. Social Analysis, 53(1), 67-81.

 

•  2009 , with Kapferer, B.& Telle, K.  Religiosities toward a future: in pursuit of the new millennium. Social Analysis, 53(1), 1-16.

 

• 2006 Expected and unexpected cultural heroes: Reflections on gender and agency of conjuncture on Ambrym, Vanuatu. Anthropological Theory, 6(2), 227-247.

 

• 2006 On the value of the church: the gendered dynamics of an inverted hierarchy on North Ambrym, Vanuatu. Paideuma, 91-106.


 

 

Ongoing projects

 

2006-2010: Christianity, Gender and the dynamics of Community beyond the State. A study of urban Christian movements in Vanuatu, Norwegian Research Council

2008-2012: Pacific Alternatives: Cultural Heritage and Political Innovation in Oceania