Interview with Ole Johannes Kaland (University of Bergen), February 2024

Ole Johannes Kaland is based at the Department of Social Anthropology, University of Bergen, as an affiliate researcher with the international and interdisciplinary research project, Urban Enclaving Futures. In September 2023, he convened a workshop together with his colleague from the University of Bergen, professor Bjørn Enge Bertelsen, that was hosted and supported by the Nordic Centre. Entitled «Urban Trajectories: Comparing Integration, Enclaving and Development in Africa and China», the multimodal workshop was attended by African, European, and East-Asian researchers from a range of disciplines who congregated to comparatively discuss issues related to urban development, infrastructure, and housing in African and East-Asian contexts. Kaland presented recent research from southern Taiwan about the effects of the Nanke science park and its semiconductor industry on local economic development, the housing market and family dynamics. He is currently a visiting scholar at the Nordic Centre and will stay in Shanghai until the end of June 2024.

Could you tell us a little bit about why you decided to come to Shanghai and Fudan University for your fieldwork? What role has the Nordic Centre played in the process?

My relationship with Nordic Centre goes all the way back to 2005 when I first came to China as an undergraduate student on an exchange program jointly organized by the University of Bergen, Fudan University, and Yunnan Minzu University. We were ten Norwegian students studying together with ten local students, first at Fudan for three months, then at YNU for another three. For me, it was an extremely formative experience, so much so that my parents and friends tell me there is «a before and after» I first went to China.

Among a wealth of different subjects concerning contemporary China, I still remember lessons at Nordic Centre by Professor Yu Hai about Shanghai’s trade history, economic development, and urbanization, while professors Fan Lizhu and Chen Na taught us about internal migration, welfare, and governance. These formative lessons, combined with small field-projects in Shanghai and Yunnan ignited in me a deep passion and interest in China, which ultimately culminated in a PhD thesis (University of Sussex, 2014) that thematically orbits around the themes I just mentioned.

During the 15 months I stayed in Shanghai for my PhD fieldwork, I received invaluable support from my former teachers at the Sociology Department of Fudan University and Nordic Centre. Since then, I have organized 6 annual study trips for Norwegian students throughout China, where my own students have received lectures at Nordic Centre. I have also attended workshops and conferences there. Throughout these academic activities, Nordic Centre has been instrumental in facilitating the collaboration and logistics necessary to bring them into fruition.

Can you tell us a little bit about your research, and your main wishes for the months that you will be staying in Shanghai for your fieldwork? And what has been your experience being a visiting scholar at the Nordic Centre so far?

My returning to Shanghai has been a long time coming. I am first and foremost here as an affiliate researcher with the Urban Enclaving Futures project. This project explores the relationship between - and develops solutions to - questions regarding urban development, resource distribution, city planning and housing. There are two sub-projects. One focuses on housing investments and management, while the other investigates how housing projects shape and give rise to new forms of social life.

In 2019, I heard professor Bjørn Enge Bertelsen give a talk about these issues in African contexts – issues that really resonated with experiences I had had in urban settings in China. I approached Bjørn about this, and before I knew it, he added me to his project to contribute comparative perspectives from East-Asia. Soon thereafter, my application for seed-money for China-related research from the University of Bergen was approved.

Then the Covid pandemic happened, and the world closed down. It was very frustrating at the time. Fortunately, as one door closed, another opened, and I was able to do fieldwork for 15 months in Taiwan instead. Now, almost five years later, I am excited to be back in Shanghai!

For my research stay, Nordic Centre has kindly assisted me in getting affiliated with Fudan’s School of Social Development and Public Policy. I have two goals for my time here.

First, I will do follow-up research for my PhD project about Chinese governance, welfare, and educational trajectories among different groups of youth. Over 15 months of fieldwork between 2010-2012, I focused especially on the educational opportunities of internal migrant youths and their aspirations in life. I find education, its place in the public discourse, and the educational decisions that youngsters, their families and the state make to be an incredibly interesting prism through which to study developments in Chinese society. Now, 12 years later, I am curious to see what changes might have taken place, and what remains the same. My aim is to combine past and current findings into a book about Chinese educational aspirations once I return home. 

Second, I will do fieldwork related to the UEF project by exploring Shanghai’s urban development and housing market. This is an extremely complicated issue one could study for a lifetime in a world-city such as Shanghai! But, my way approaching this is looking at how different groups of young adults and young families navigate the housing market. Why is it important to own an apartment and what does it mean for different groups? What does it mean when people cannot afford to buy an apartment, and maybe rent somewhere instead? I’m interested in gender and family dynamics. One could also say there is a link between my two projects since they both investigate two common and important facets of many people’s life aspirations, namely education and housing. Indeed, many of my informants who were in their late teens 12 years ago, are now adults with their own families navigating the housing market.

Last September, you convened a workshop at the Nordic Centre. Could you tell us a little bit about your experience from the workshop? How do you view the Nordic Centre as a platform and venue for research workshops?

I believe my experiences from the workshop I convened together with professor Bertelsen (UiB) last year is a good example of Nordic Centre’s modus operandi, and its benefits for researchers. When I became affiliated with the UEF project, Bertelsen and I agreed to jointly organise a workshop in China for the existing members of the project that we would also use to expand our network. The University of Bergen being a founding member of Nordic Centre, we approached them with our idea for the workshop and were encouraged to apply for funding for academic events, which we were awarded. Together with a grant from the Fudan European Centre for China Studies and funds from the Urban Enclaving research project, we had the necessary assets to finance our workshop with participants joining us from various countries in Africa, Europe, and East-Asia.

Funding aside, Nordic Centre were instrumental in helping us with everything from invitation letters and visa issues, to providing us with first-class venues for our meetings, even helping us with booking lunches during the days of our workshop. In sum, the benefit of having Nordic Centre facilitate the workshop for us was invaluable!

How did you learn about the opportunities at the Nordic Centre for yourself as a researcher?

Through my experience as a China researcher, I was well aware that Nordic Centre could offer assistance to researchers from member universities wishing to spend time in Shanghai for research purposes. They were more than helpful in setting this up for me.  

 Anything else you want to share with our readers? :)  

In the wake of Covid, I have an impression that there has been an unfortunate change in the Nordic countries’ willingness to invest academically in Asia in general, and perhaps China in particular. For instance, I was very sad to hear about the recent closure of the Nordic Institute for Asian Studies (NIAS) in Denmark. Moreover, I note that there has been a gradual change of sentiment in the Norwegian academic sector over the last decade or so, and particularly before and after covid. Obviously, there are different and complex reasons for this, some of which are political and beyond the scope of this brief interview. I nonetheless want to make the point that I think this development is very unfortunate, and I feel, short-sighted.

With current global events, what we need is more collaboration and mutual understanding. And this happens precisely through the kinds of activities that the Nordic Centre facilitates through being a conduit for students, researchers, and cultural exchanges — and thereby also a generator of mutual knowledge between China and the Nordic countries. I sincerely hope Nordic Centre continues to do this important work in the years to come!