Anna Gradin Franzén
About me
Associate Professor
Section for Child and Youth Studies
Anna G. Franzén is associate professor in Child and Youth Studies. She completed her PhD in psychology at Linköping university, Sweden, in 2014. Drawing mainly on a discursive framework, her research at large centers on young men in forced institutions and issues of violence, crime and identity. Her dissertation comprised a videoethnographic study of a detention home for young men, investigating the intricacies of social interaction between the young men and their staff in the highly dilemmatic context of forced care, and analyzing issues such as identity, power and resistance – in interaction.
Teaching
Teaching Social relations in school in the Teacher Education Programmes, Degree projects, Discourse analysis, Bullying, Youth, violence and discrimination.
Research
Research projects
Humor as serious business: Power and resistance in multiethnic educational contexts
Evaluation of Mentors in Violence Prevention
Testimonies in custody disputes: Negotiations about the child's interest
Stories of change and narrative selves: Identity work and young inmates’ turning point stories
Utvärdering av Mentors in Violence Prevention 2.0
Publications
Jonsson, R. & Franzen, A. G. (2025) Excluding unlaughter. Humour as affective practice in a youth detention center for boys. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 35(1). https://doi.org/10.1111/jola.70002
Franzén, A. G., & Jonsson, R. (2024). Banal humor and social order: Overlooked affects in staff interaction with incarcerated boys. Incarceration, 5. https://doi.org/10.1177/26326663241280168
Franzén, A. G., & Jonsson, R. (2023). “A THIIIEF!”: Humour and affect at a detention home for young men. I Svendsen, B. A. & Jonsson, R. (Red.), Routledge Handbook on language and Youth Culture. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003166849
Franzén, A. G., & Gottzén, L. (2022). Childhood adversities and individual responsibility as explanations for criminality in incarcerated young men’s narratives. Deviant behavior, 43(9), 1021-1035. https://doi.org/10.1080/01639625.2021.1952121
Franzén, A. G., Jonsson, R., & Sjöblom, B. (2021). Fear, anger and desire: affect and the interactional intricacies of rape humor on a live podcast. Language in Society, 50(5), 763-786. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047404520000615
Franzén, A. G. (2021). ‘Hypermasculinity’ in interaction: Affective practices, resistance and vulnerability in youth prison. In. A. Cox, & L. Adams (Eds.), Palgrave international handbook of youth imprisonment (pp.333-354). Cham: Palgrave Macmillian. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-68759-5_16
Bruno, L., Joelsson, T., Franzén, A. G., & Gottzén, L. (2020). Heroes and others: Tensions and challenges in implementing mentors in violence prevention in Swedish schools. Journal of Gender based Violence, 4(2), 141-155.https://doi.org/10.1332/239868020X15881856376347
Jonsson, R., Franzén, A. G., & Milani, M. T. (2020). Making the threatening Other laughable: Ambiguous performances of urban vernaculars in Swedish media. Language & Communication, 71, 1-15.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langcom.2019.11.001
Franzén, A. G. & Gottzén, L. (2020). Våldsprevention i Sverige: En forskningsöversikt. Barn- och ungdomsvetenskap: forskning rapport 2020:2.
Gottzén, L. & Franzén, A. G. (2019). Othering the rapist: Rurality, rape and the Bjästa case. In Heinskou, M., Skillbrei, M-L. & Stefansen, K. (Eds.), Rape in the Nordic countries. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429467608-10
Eriksson, M., Gottzén, L., Andersson Bruck, A., Franzén, A. G., & Lindberg, D. (2018). Utvärdering av mentorer i våldsprevention (slutrapport). Skolverket.
Sjöblom, B., Franzén, A. G., & Aronsson, K. (2018). Contested connectedness in child custody narratives: Mobile phones and children’s rights and responsibilities. New Media and Society, 20(10), 3818-3835. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1461444818761015
Franzén A. G., & Aronsson, K. (2018). ‘Then she got a spanking’: Social accountability and narrative versions in social workers’ courtroom testimonies. Discourse Studies, 20(5), 577-597. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1461445618760605
Franzén, A. G. (2017). Behandlingsdilemman och identitet på ett särskilt ungdomshem för unga män. SiS-rapportserie Institutionsvård i fokus, nr 1. (Populärvetenskaplig text/undervisningsmaterial, 86 sid)
Franzén, A. G. (2015). Responsibilization and Discipline: Subject Positioning at a Youth Detention Home. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 44(3), 251-279. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0891241613520455
Franzén, A. G. (2014). Disciplining freedom: Treatment dilemmas and subjectivity at a detention home for young men(Doktorsavhandling). Institutionen för Beteendevetenskap och Lärande, Linköpings universitet.
Franzén, A. G., & Holmqvist, R. (2014). From punishment to rewards? Treatment dilemmas at a youth detention home. Punishment & Society, 16(5), 542-559. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1462474514548788
Franzén, A. G., & Gottzén, L. (2011). The beauty of blood? Self-injury and ambivalence in an Internet community. Journal of youth studies, 14(3), 279-294. https://doi.org/10.1080/13676261.2010.533755
Research projects
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