Hanna Jansson
Contact
Name and title: Hanna Jansson
Workplace: Department of Ethnology, History of Religions and Gender Studies Länk till annan webbplats.
Visiting address Room 2520
About me
I am an Associate Professor (Docent) of Ethnology with a background as a researcher and university lecturer. My research interests focus particularly on narrative, rituals, digital culture, and cultural heritage, and I have extensive experience teaching within cultural studies, including topics such as culture, folklore, cultural history, and qualitative methods.
I work as a Research Coordinator at The National Maritime Museum, and the Swedish National Maritime, Transport and Military Museums (SMMTF). I am particularly interested in people’s relationships with the sea. During my doctoral and postdoctoral studies, I was affiliated with Centre for Maritime Studies (CEMAS), a research centre funded by Stockholm University and the National Museums of Maritime and Transport History, bringing together ethnologists, historians, and maritime archaeologists. For me, this affiliation provided an opportunity to combine a focus on maritime contexts with folkloristic and ethnological perspectives on ritual, memory-making, place, and storytelling.
I have taught in ethnology at both undergraduate and advanced level. As course director, lecturer, and seminar leader I have worked with themes such as folklore culture, gender, ethnicity, narrative, ritual, qualitative methods, and cultural heritage. I have also supervised many theses and particularly enjoy supporting students in developing their independent writing and analytical skills.
My research primarily addresses topics that can be associated with the folkloristic strand within ethnology. In my studies, I have explored how people use storytelling, rituals, and digital platforms to create meaning and navigate their lives, more recently focusing on existential questions related to death and grief.
In one project, I investigated people’s experiences of scattering the ashes of a loved one at sea. Through interviews with relatives and professionals, as well as analyses of legislation and case law, I examined how the sea is constructed as a burial place through narratives, rituals, and practices. This project has contributed to cultural research on the contemporary cultural meanings of death and has led to new research questions concerning, among other things, dignity, cremation, and the impact of new AI technologies on our relationship with the deceased.
Together with Sanna Händén-Svensson, I have also studied the legal and administrative process surrounding the protection of the Great Lake Monster in Jämtland. Here, we analyzed how a governmental authority, through play and humor, could afford protection to an animal that might not even exist, and how this process negotiated issues of conservation, tourism, and local identity.
My dissertation examined the travel narratives of long-distance sailors on blogs and websites. By analyzing texts, images, and interviews with sailors, I demonstrated how digital platforms reshape the conditions of storytelling and become an integral part of the journey itself.
As a doctoral and postdoctoral researcher, I have been affiliated with the Centre for Maritime Studies (CEMAS), a research center funded by Stockholm University and the Swedish National Maritime and Transport Museums, bringing together ethnologists, historians, and marine archaeologists. Researchers at CEMAS aim to illuminate people’s relationships with the sea from their respective perspectives. For me, this has provided an opportunity to combine a focus on maritime contexts with folkloristic and ethnological perspectives on ritual, memory-making, place, and storytelling.