I am Associate Professor in Human Security and Anthropology at School of Culture and Society, Aarhus University. My primary research interests’ center on issues of state formation, citizenship, agrarian expansion and environmental politics in frontier settings. In particular I investigate state-society dynamics in borderland regions of Southeast Asia, Africa, North America and Europe. Within this research frame, I have been dealing with different transnational processes such as illicit cross-border trade, labour migration, land grabs and biosecurity.

My studies are based on extended fieldwork in both Indonesia, Malaysia, Tanzania, USA and Denmark and archival studies in British and Dutch archives. I have more than 20 years research experience on issues of state formation in Southeast Asia alone including a total of 40 month of fieldwork in the region. Additional experience includes international research networking, organization of workshops, internships within international development NGOs and public education and supervision at institutions of higher learning in Denmark, Indonesia, Malaysia and Tanzania.

In 2014 I initiated the Skagen School a scholarly network of international researchers that meet and discuss land politics, resource frontiers and border processes on a global scale.

For aditional information please visit my project webpages Settler Colonial Beasts, Fencing the Feral and RISEZAsia or the Human Security Community site.