Picture of Anette Nyqvist in grey sweater
Anette Nyqvist
Photo: Susanne Walström

Telephone: +46 (0)8 16 26 95
E-mail: anette.nyqvist@socant.su.se
Room: B618

Research

Anette Nyqvist is Associate Professor of Social Anthropology. She is Senior Lecturer and Deputy Head of Department at the Department of Social Anthropology, Stockholm University.

In a general sense it can be said that Nyqvist’s research interests, so far, has been focused at the nexus of statecraft and market-making. Her contributions within the Anthropology of Organizations and the Anthropology of Policy is noted in volumes such as the Swedish monograph Ombudskapitalisterna. Institutionella ägares röst och roll (Liber, 2015), Organisational Anthropology: Doing Ethnography in and Among Complex Organizations (with Professor Christina Garsten for Pluto Press, 2013, and the monograph Reform and Responsibility in the Remaking of the Swedish National Pension System. Opening the Orange Envelope (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016).

Nyqvist has several ongoing research projects. One is how institutional owners, such as pension funds and insurance companies, position themselves as the ‘do gooders’ of financial markets. In this project, funded by the Swedish Research Council, Nyqvist investigates how some of the world’s largest institutional owner organizations act within the field of RI (responsible investing). The project The Do-gooders of global finance. An ethnographic inquiry into what pension capital does – and does not do is focused on how some of the world’s largest pension funds attempt to proactively change and better specific industries. Ethnographic fieldwork has been conducted during a year-long stay as visiting researcher in USA. Within this research project, Nyqvist collaborated with photographer Susanne Walström (www.susannewalstrom.com) on the book The Shimmer and Shade of Gold (Swedish title: Guld – dess dunkla glans). The book, which is peer reviewed, was written in English, translated into Swedish and published in both languages by Bokförlaget Max Ström.

In Nyqvist’s research within the program Global Foresight: Anticipatory governance and the making of geo-cultural scenarios, funded by the Swedish Foundation for Humanities and Social Sciences, her focus is on the ideas, practices and processes of global economic forecasting and scenario making. Core participants of the project are working on a joint book where key results are presented. The volume will be published by an international academic publishing house during 2021. Read more about the research program and the project here.

Nyqvist’s project within the program World Literature: Cosmopolitan and Vernacular Dynamics, funded by the Swedish Foundation for Humanities and Social Sciences, connects back to her previous occupation as a journalist, travel writer and author. Here she investigates the role of travel literature as a literary genre that “mediates the world”. One joint anthology has already been published by the participants of this project and besides separate chapters and individual articles, several additional joint volumes are under way. Four comprehensive anthologies with contributions from all participating researchers is in production and scheduled to be published by Bloomsbury Publishers in 2021. Nyqvist contributes with a chapter in the volume on World-Making practices. Nyqvist has initiated, and is both editor and contributing author, the production of a creative non-fiction book in which many of this projects researchers contribute with chapters on how certain places in the world are described and treated in the existing literature. The book will be published by Appell förlag during 2021. Read more about the research program and the project here.

Selected publications

2021

  • Loss of Words and End of Worlds: Transitions and Troubles of Travel Writing, in Literature and the Making of the World: Languages, Practices and Forms, eds Stefan Helgesson, Annika Mörte Alling and Helena Bodin. New York: Bloomsbury Publishing. (reviewed, submitted and in production)

2020

  • Notes on the Location of Happiness. Culture Unbound: Journal of Current Cultural Research. Published online as Advanced Access in December 2020, in print Spring 2021.

  • The Shimmer and Shade of Gold. Stockholm: Max Ström förlag.

  • Guld – dess dunkla glans. [translation] Stockholm: Max Ström förlag.

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2008

2007

Anette Nyqvist List of Publications (102 Kb)

Teaching

2020

  • Advanced level, Master’s program, Writing Anthropology Workshop Series. Development of new course and pedagogical form, course organizer and lecturer. Fall semester.

2017

  • Advanced level, Master’s program, Individual Tutorial, workshop on abstract writing. Fall semester.
  • Advanced level, PhD program. Shared main supervisor (since Spring 2017 – cont.).
  • Advanced level, PhD program. Examiner of literature course Anthropological writing genres. 
  • Advanced level, Master’s program, Writing Anthropology Workshop Series. Development of new course and pedagogical form, course organizer and lecturer. Spring semester.
  • Advanced level, Master’s program, lecturer at Anthropological Perspectives on Organizations, Spring semester.

Supervisor for PhD students:

  • Main supervisor for Elin Linder (admitted 2019)

  • Main supervisor for Kajsa Rudberg (since 2017).

  • Secondary supervisor for Darcy Pan (defended her thesis 2016).
  • Local supervisor during fieldwork (2017/2018) for Angela Vandenbroek, Binghamton University, USA.

2015

  • Advanced level, Master’s program, Writing Anthropology Workshop Series. Development of new course and pedagogical form, course organizer and lecturer. Spring semester.
  • Advanced level, Master’s program, coordinator and responsible for course Master Thesis. Spring semester.
  • Advanced level, Master’s program, course organizer and lecturer (with Christina Garsten) Anthropological Perspectives on Organizations, Spring semester.

2014

  • Advanced level, Master’s program, Writing Anthropology Workshop Series. Development of new course and pedagogical form, course organizer and lecturer. Fall semester.
  • Advanced level, Master’s program, coordinator and responsible for course Individual tutorial. Fall semester.
  • Secondary supervisor for one PhD student (since Fall semester 2014 - cont.).
  • Basic level, Social Anthropology III, Current Anthropological Debates, course organizer and lecturer Spring semester.
  • Advanced level, Master’s program, course organizer and lecturer (with Christina Garsten) Anthropological Perspectives on Organizations, Spring semester.

Research funding/grants

2021

  • Publishing grant from Magnus Bergvall’s Foundation for non-fiction book within the research program World Literature: Cosmopolitan and Vernacular Dynamics.

2020

  • Publishing grant from Åke Wiberg Foundation for non-fiction book within the research program World Literature: Cosmopolitan and Vernacular Dynamics.
  • Grant from The Swedish Association of Educational Writers.

2018

  • Grant from Swedish Writer’s Union.

2016

  • Forms of Ethics, Shapes of Finance: Ethnographic Explorations of the Limits of Contemporary Capital, participating funded guest researcher in this large programme funded by the Norwegian Research Council. Head of project is Knut Christian Myhre, University of Oslo. Research program focused on the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG).

2015

Research networks

  • Oikos. Working group at Institute for Public Knowledge (IPK), NYU
  • Craft of Ethnography. Working group at Institute for Public Knowledge (IPK), NYU
  • Social Rights Workshop at Columbia University
  • Anthropology of Mining Research Network
  • Association of the Anthropology of Policy, ASAP
  • Critical Finance Studies
  • Illegal Hunting Research Network
  • Sustainable Investment Research Network

Conferences, workshops

2021

  • Global Foresight Research workshop”. Workshop with Global Foresight: Governance and the Making of Geo-Cultural Scenarios, on zoom due to the pandemic, January 12.

2020

  • ”Text meeting.” Workshop with World Literature: Cosmopolitan and Vernacular Dynamics, on zoom due to the pandemic, November 27.

  • ”Text meeting.” Workshop with Global Foresight: Governance and the Making of Geo-Cultural Scenarios, on zoom due to the pandemic, November 25.

  • Research conference. World Literature: Cosmopolitan and Vernacular Dynamics, Ersta conference, Stockholm, October 15-16.

  • ”Text meeting.” Workshop Global Foresight: Governance and the Making of Geo-Cultural Scenarios, on zoom due to the pandemic, October 1.

  • Writing workshop with Magnus Linton. Active participant. Department of Social Anthropology, Stockholm University, September 11.

  • ”Text meeting.” Global Foresight: Governance and the Making of Geo-Cultural Scenarios, on zoom due to the pandemic, August 31.

  • Kickoff for/with Department of Social Anthropology. Full-day seminar organized with Johan Lindquist. Eatery, Stockholm, August 27.

  • Research programme workshop. World Literature: Cosmopolitan and Vernacular Dynamics, program-workshop, on zoom due to the pandemic, May 11.
  • ”Research workshop.” Global Foresight: Governance and the Making of Geo-Cultural Scenarios, on zoom due to the pandemic, April 21 and 24.
  • ”Worldmaking workshop.” Text meeting within World Literature: Cosmopolitan and Vernacular Dynamics. Stockholm University, February 27.
  • ”Research workshop.” Global Foresight: Governance and the Making of Geo-Cultural Scenarios. Score, Stockholm University, February 5-6.

2019

  • “On the cables and coils of contemporary financial trading.” Presentation at Logistics: Re-thinking Economies of Circulation, Stockholm Anthropology Roundtable Stockholm University, October 9-10.
  • ”The Shimmer and Shade of Gold: the project, the book, the collaboration.” Presentation at FESA/SENKU research seminar at University of Oslo and The Norweigan Historical Museum. Oslo, September 26.
  • ”World-making workshop.” Text meeting within World Literature: Cosmopolitan and Vernacular Dynamics. Stockholm University, August 26.
  • Research programme workshop. World Literature: Cosmopolitan and Vernacular Dynamics, program-workshop, Stockholm University, April 11-12.
  • ”Research workshop.” Global Foresight: Governance and the Making of Geo-Cultural Scenarios. Uppsala, March 13.

2018

  • “Notes on the scope of foresight in finance” presented at Global Foresight Project Workshop: “Varieties of Anticipatory Knowledge and Organizational Domains,” Sciences Po, Paris. February 21-23.
  • Cosmopolitan and Vernacular Dynamics in World Literatures, fourth workshop, Thoresta Herrgård, February 7-9.

2017

  • Participation in “Collaborate Workshop: The Norwegian Pension Fund Global and Its Public” 1st workshop as researcher in the project Forms of Ethics, Shapes of Finance: Ethnographic Explorations of the Limits of Contemporary Capital. University of Oslo (UiO), Oslo. December 14-15.
  • Panel discussant at Screen-level Bureaucracy: Organizational Encounters in the Digital World, organized by Kelly McKowen at the AAA conference (American Anthropological Association) in Washington, DC, December 2.
  • “Research workshop.” Global Foresight: Governance and the Making of Geo-Cultural Scenarios. 6th project meeting. Washington, DC. December 1.
  • Chair and co-organizer (with C. Garsten) of Future Matters: Anticipatory Knowledge and Scenario-Modeling at the AAA conference (American Anthropological Association) in Washington, DC, November 30.
  • Invited as Senior Mentor at ASAP (Association for the Anthropology of Policy) Emerging Scholars Mentoring Session at the AAA conference (American Anthropological Association) in Washington, DC, November 30.
  • “Research workshop.” Global Foresight: Governance and the Making of Geo-Cultural Scenarios. 5th project meeting. Stockholm. September 29.
  • Presentation of paper “The Materiality and Organization of Gold” at Matter and Organisation, Organizers: Hannah Knox and Penny Harvey. Annual International Ethnography Symposium, Manchester, August 29-September 1.
  • Active participation with paper ”Gold. Kenya-India” in Advanced Narrative workshop with Tim Cahill. Book Passage Travel Writers’ Conference, Corte Madera, CA. August 11-13.
  • Presentation of chapter ”The Travelling Story of Pettersson in the Pacific” at Book Passage Travel Writers’ Conference, Corte Madera, CA. August 11-13.
  • ”Chains of Value.” Social Studies of Finance network conference, invited participant, The University of Edinburgh, May 4-5.
  • ”Writing workshop.” Global Foresight: Governance and the Making of Geo-cultural Scenarios. 4th project meeting. Siena, Italy, April 23-29.
  • ”Initiation workshop.” Vernacular Crime Narratives, Cosmopolitan Mediascapes, VCNCM. Department of English, Stockholm University, March 20-22.
  • ”World-making workshop.” Text meeting within World Literature: Cosmopolitan and Vernacular Dynamics. Department of English, Stockholm University. February 10.

2016

  • “Conceptual workshop.” Global Foresight: Anticipatory Governance and the Making of Geo-cultural Scenarios. 3rd project meeting. Institute for Public Knowledge, NYU, New York. November 14-15.
  • ”The Many Faces of Gold”. Presentation at Objects and Images: Anthropological Perspectives on Materiality and Visuality, Stockholm Anthropology Roundtable, Stockholm University, October 6-7.
  • ”World Literatures: Scales of Reading.” Andra workshopen inom programmet World Literature: Cosmopolitan and Vernacular Dynamics. Uppsala universitet. September 15-16.
  • ”Launch and workshop.” Global Foresight: Anticipatory governance and the making of geo-cultural scenarios. Stockholm university. August 18-19.
  • Global Money: Past, Present, and Future of the Global Monetary System. The Committee of Global Thought (CGT), Columbia University, invited participant, April 25.
  • Critical Studies of Derivative Capitalism. IPK, NYU, invited participant, April 21-24.
  • Shaping the Future of Responsible Investment: PRI 10 year anniversary conference. UN PRI, invited participant, New York, April 14.
  • Beyond Neoliberalism: Social Justice after the Welfare State. Heyman Center for the Humanities, Columbia University, invited participant, New York, April 2.
  • The Future of Banking. LMHQ, New York, February 22.
  • Global Foresight: Anticipatory Governance and the Making of Geo-cultural Scenarios. 1st programme meeting. Institute for Public Knowledge, New York, February 8.

2015

  • Risky business, risky investments. RI Americas 7th annual Conference. Bloomberg New York, December 8-9.
  • Investment Treaty Reform: Shaping Economic Governance in the Era of Sustainable Development. Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment, Columbia University, November 10-11.
  • The Global History of Capitalism, Fordham University, New York, November 5.
  • Participation in the workshop “Contours of Critical Finance Studies.” Institute for Public Knowledge, New York University, New York, October 2.
  • Participation in “Symposium: Ethnography Meets Journalism.” Institute for Public Knowledge, New York University, New York, September 21.
  • Participation in the workshop “Social Justice after the Welfare State.” Columbia University, New York, September 18.
  • Participation in the conference “Financial Reform After the Crisis.” Institute for Public Knowledge, New York University, New York, September 18.
  • “Mining Encounters. Extractive industries in an overheated world”. The Overheating Project. Department of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo. Invited discussant. April 27-29.
  • “Insights from being external evaluator of Formas”. Presentation at workshop for Chairs of Evaluation Panels, Formas Stockholm, April 22.

2014

  • "Imagining the South Seas in Mid-Twentieth Century Sweden”. Presentation at Executive Panel: Writing Europe and Diaspora: Engaging with Anthropology’s Interlocutors, organized by Helena Wulff and Deborah Reed-Danahay at AAA conference (American Anthropological Association) in Washington, DC, December 3-7. 
  • ”The Role of Travel Literature in the Production of Paradise”. Presentation at panel Writing across Borders: Textual Mediation and Collaboration in an Interconnected World, organized by Helena Wulff and Pál Nyíri at EASA (European Association for Social Anthropology) in Tallin, Estonia, July 31-August 3.
  • “Illegal hunting in Sweden. Experiences from research at The Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention”. Presentation at Research Workshop on Illegal Hunting. International expert workshop, organized by SLU, held at Copenhagen University, June 16-17.
  • “Den författande forskarens röst”. Presentation of book chapter at workshop, GRI, University of Gothenburg, May 27.
  • ”Samverkan som påverkansverktyg för institutionella ägare”. Presentation at panel Exploring Collaborative Economies, organized by Anette Nyqvist and Susann Ullberg at SANT conference (Sveriges antropologers förbund), Linköping University, April 3-5.

Membership on boards

  • Member of the Board at the Department of Social Anthropology, Stockholm University.

Service to the profession

2021

  • Elected board member of the Faculty Board of the Faculty of Social Sciences, Stockholm University for the term 2021-2023.

2020

  • Member of the dissertation committee for Erik Lønne’s dissertation and public defense. NTNU, Trondheim, Norwau. From November.

  • Member of the dissertation committee for Angela VandenBroek’s dissertation and public defense. State University of New York, Binghamton, NY, USA. From October.

  • Deputy Head of Department, Department of Social Anthropology, Stockholm University, from August 1.

2017

  • Peer reviewer for PoLAR, December.
  • Member of the Evaluation Committee at the public defense of Patrik Cras’ doctoral thesis, the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Uppsala September 26.
  • Chair at the public defense of Jannete Hentati’s doctoral thesis, Stockholm University. September 8.
  • Member of Advisory Board for the research program Forms of Ethics, Shapes of Finance: Ethnographic Explorations of the Limits of Contemporary Capital, University of Oslo, Norway.

2016

  • External evaluator of tenure and promotion to Associate Professor at the Department of Anthropology, State University of New York, Binghamton, USA.
  • Peer reviewer for PoLar.
  • Expert reviewer of grant applications for Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare, Forte.

2015

  • Director of Studies advanced level and PhD program, Department of Social Anthropology, Stockholm University (through June).
  • Coordinator of Minor Field Studies grants at the Department of Social Anthropology, Stockholm University (through June).
  • Organizer of weekly research seminars at the Department of Social Anthropology, Stockholm University. Spring semester.
  • External evaluator of PhD thesis, at Department of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo.

2014

  • External evaluator of PhD thesis, at Department of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo.

Consultancy assignments

2014

  • Contacted as independent external observer at Formas’ research council’s evaluations processes 2014. Stockholm, September-October.

Editorial assignments

  • Contributing column editor for ASAP column in Anthropology News, AAA, USA (through December 2014).
  • Editor of the Score Report Series (with Martin Gustavsson), Score (Stockholm Center for Organizational Research), Stockholm University and Stockholm School of Economics (through December 2014).

Lectures, seminars, teaching

2020

  • Reach out! Research seminar. Department of Social Anthropology, Stockholm University. November 23.

2019

  • ”The Shimmer and Shade of Gold: the project, the book, the collaboration.” Presented at research seminar, Score, Stockholm University. December 12.
  • ”The Shimmer and Shade of Gold: the project, the book, the collaboration.” Presented at research seminar, Score, Stockholm University. December 9.

2016

  • “Opening the Orange Envelope.” Open lecture at Oslo University College. September 7.
  • “Organizational Anthropology. Ethnographies of organization and at workplaces.” Seminar at Qualitative Methods Forum, Centre for the Study of Professions at Oslo University College. September 7.
  • “Ethnography: Organizational and workplace fieldwork”. Lecture at advanced level course Strategies for Social and Cultural Analysis. Department of Social and Cultural Analysis, New York University. March 21.

2015

  • “Anthropological Methods.” Lecture, practical exercise and seminar within OSMP, IFL Executive Education, Stockholm School of Economics. March 3.

2014

  • “The Ethnographic Study of Media Production. Insights from Organizational Anthropology”. Lecture at course Media Studies: Keywords for the Present. Production. Department of Media Studies, Stockholm University. December 18.
  • “Cultures of Finance and Institutional Investors”. Seminar at the Department of Social and Cultural Analysis, NYU, NY. December 1.
  • “Anthropological Methods”. Lecture, practical exercise and seminar within OSMP, IFL Executive Education, Stockholm School of Economics. September 4.
  • “Anthropological Methods”. Lecture, practical exercise and seminar within OSMP, IFL Executive Education, Stockholm School of Economics. March 6.

Collaboration with the broader community

2017

  • Member of the Swedish Writer’s Union’s working group Sanning och Stil, with a mission to promote research communication and the role of non-fiction in public debate.

Media

2021

  • ”Guldets historia” [The History of Gold], interviewed in national radio Vetenskapsradion historia, P1, Sveriges Radio. Aired 1st time February 9.
  • ”På jakt med guldgrävarna” [On a Quest with Golddiggers], feature story about The Shimmer and Shade of Gold, in GP’s Två Dagar. Published January 23.

2020

  • ”Guld. Från gruva till valv” [Gold. From Mine to Vault], feature story and interview about The Shimmer and Shade of Gold, in Fotografisk Tidskrift #2-3/2020. Published December 10.

  • ”Boktips inför jul” [Christmas Book Tips]. The book The Shimmer and Shade of Gold featured as Christmas gift in Stockholm University News Letter. December 1.

  • ”Guldrush”, [”Gold rush”] feature story about The Shimmer and Shade of Gold, in DiWeekend published October 23.

  • ”Så köper du hållbart producerade smycken” [How to buy sustainably produced jewelry”], interviewed in DN for article published October 3.

  • ”Guldläge i coronatider”, [”Golden opportunity in times of corona”] article in Fakultetsnytt, Faculty of Social Sciences, Stockholm University. Published September 21.

  • ”Guldläge i coronatider”, [”Golden opportunity in times of corona”], interviewed in article posted at the Department of Social Anthropology, Stockholm University. Published September 4.

  • ”Populärt att köpa guld i coronatider”, [Popular to buy gold in times of corona”], interviewed in national radio Studio Ett, P1, Sveriges radio. August 3.

2019

2018

2017

  • Interviewed about the national pension system in Impuls, number 7, November 2017, under the headline: “Ekonomi: Går det att leva på pensionen?”
  • Interviewed about the gold project in Dutch photography magazine Pf, under the headline: ”Tijd voor vrij werk.” Article published online March 27: https://www.pf.nl/tijd-vrij-werk-susanne-walstrom/

Lectures

2015

  • ”Organisationsantropologiska perspektiv på pensioner.” Lecture at SULFs membership meeting, March 26.

Information about past activities can be found in the Department’s previous Annual Reports.