Egalitarian Futures Research Group (EFRG)

Questions around growing global inequalities are more important than ever, not least in this time of a global pandemic. Our research group, the Egalitarian Futures Research Group (EFRG), tackle the issue of inequalities by looking specifically at what we term egalitarianism, that is ideas about equality that guide social, political or religious thought. We explore what egalitarianism may mean in a range of contexts across the world. Our specific focus means that we look not only at egalitarianism in economic terms or in terms of equality in status, for instance. Instead, we focus on the diversity of forces that contribute to freedom and emancipation in ways that free human beings from constraint. At one level, therefore, we address socio-political transformation that reflect ideologies which, at root, derive from the centuries following the Enlightenment. At another level, we identify egalitarian impulses, orientations and movements in global contexts which are not shaped by the Englightenment. In the period 2020 until 2025, EFRG will focus on these three fields of inquiry: 1) New technologies and the future of the human, 2) Revolution, activism and the corporate state after the Covid-19 pandemic, and 3) Future urbanities and commons. In pursing this focus on egalitarianism, EFRG grows out of long-term research led by the University of Bergen and we will also continue to involve junior scholars (Norwegian and international PhD and postdoctoral students in anthropology) within specific research activities. In addition, we will integrate PhD students in anthropology in Norway and internationally with tailor-made annual PhD courses, renowned guest researchers and support for PhD student research, writing and publication beyond the courses.

The EFRG project has been hugely successful in having further globally consolidated a vast and comprehensive group of researchers from across the globe -- further sharpening a focus on egalitarian horizons, potentialities and practices in contemporary global realities. The funding received was specified as, to a large extent, focusing on PhD courses and junior researchers. We have, through the course of four years (including during COVID), therefore held four combined PhD courses and workshops: 1) 2020: "The Global City". Held in Bergen and partly digital due to the pandemic. 14 participating PhD students from across the globe, including UiB. 2) 2022: "New technologies and the future of the human". Held at and supported by Le Centre universitaire de Norvège à Paris (CUNP). 15 participating PhD students from across the globe, including UiB. 3) 2023: "Radical science in the Anthropocene: Prospects and perils". Held at and supported by Le Centre universitaire de Norvège à Paris (CUNP). 13 participating PhD students from across the globe, including UiB. 4) 2024: "Anthropology of Life". Held at and supported by Le Centre universitaire de Norvège à Paris (CUNP). 17 participating PhD students from across the globe, including UiB. As can be gleamed from the above, the collective work around organizing PhD courses and workshops have meant not only a consolidation of core researchers of EFRG but also vertical integration of junior researchers and PhD students in many initiatives and outcomes -- the book reported (edited by two PhD students) being merely an example. Furthermore, in EFRG we have worked systematically to pool resources by also drawing in a vast number of international and global researchers in thematically different PhD courses where these invited guests have both presented cutting-edge research, discussed papers by PhD students and, in many instances, become mentors and contacts for the junior researchers and PhD students. This has also meant that several PhD students from UiB have since gone on to have guest researcher stays with various research groups across Europe -- including in France -- as well as the US reflecting contacts from the combined PhD courses and workshops . We have also developed an integrated international consortium of researchers and are now preparing an application to Horizon Europe. Further, with four PhD courses (2020-2023), Norwegian PhD students have been provided internationally cutting-edge courses that have greatly supported them in their research. During the course of the project, several guest researchers stays in Europe, Africa and North America have also been carried through, further supporting the high-quality research undertaken. All proposed EFRG activities have, in sum, also greatly supported Norwegian anthropology as a discipline by providing a stable framework for PhD students, highly relevant research activities and opened up Norway-based researchers to vast international networks.

The Egalitarian Futures Research Group (EFRG) builds on many years of anthropological research. With this project we seek to further understand the phenomenon of egalitarianism, that is, ideas and orientations around equality that guide social, political or religious thought in a range of contexts across the world. In doing so, we are directed towards analysing not only egalitarianism as a form of socio-economic equality but instead also to focus on emancipatory forces of socio-political restructuring which free human beings from constraint, opening them to realize potential hitherto prevented in various ways. At one level, therefore, the project addresses socio-political transformation integral to a diversity of ideologies that began assuming their contemporary form following the Enlightenment. The current project involves an extension and consolidation of the group, including the recalibration of research group leadership and the increased involvement of junior scholars, i.e. Norwegian and international PhD and postdoctoral students in anthropology, within specific research activities. In developing our research on these issues, this particular project will integrate PhD students in anthropology in Norway and internationally with tailor-made annual PhD courses, renowned guest researchers and support for PhD student research, writing and publication beyond the courses. In the period 2020 until 2024, EFRG will focus on these three fields of inquiry: 1) New technologies and the future of the human, 2) Revolution, activism and the corporate state after the Covid-19 pandemic, and 3) Future urbanities and commons.