Mette Halskov Hansen

• Bäckström, Daniel Mohseni Kabir; Hansen, Mette Halskov & Nielsen, Kenneth Bo (2026). Ecologies of Gods and States: Theogenic Soils and Forests in the Blang Mountains, China. In Hansen, Mette Halskov & Nielsen, Kenneth Bo (Ed.), Religion and Ecological Crisis: Responses from Asia. Leiden University Press. ISSN 9789087285081. p. 201–221. doi: https:/muse-jhu-edu.ezproxy.uio.no/pub/293/oa_edited_volume/chapter/4305167. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This chapter traces how relations between Blang communities and their upland environment has changed with the recent arrival of the Chinese state. It begins by analyzing how the change from swidden/shifting to paddy cultivation has transformed soil fertility from being theogenic (caused by gods) to anthropogenic. It then analyzes how these changes have created competing conceptualizations of what constitutes a forest, and the resultant effects on biodiversity. The chapter then explores the underlying change in the logic of how to solve environmental problems, from a relational to a manufacturing logic. Finally, it analyzes how Blang communities’ perceived lack of ability to change these relations are related to state curtailment of the previous techniques used to create freedom of action.

• Hansen, Mette Halskov & Wellens, Koen (2026). Enlisting the Divine Farmer, Shennong: Spirituality, Science and Environmentalism in Taiwan. In Hansen, Mette Halskov & Nielsen, Kenneth Bo (Ed.), Religion and Ecological Crisis: Responses from Asia. Leiden University Press. ISSN 9789087285081. p. 29–50. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Taiwan may well be the country in East Asia with the highest concentration of both religious groups and environmental organizations. Some religious organizations are expanding and redirecting their traditional focus on human centred salvation towards a universal transcendent goal of protecting and saving the planet. We take the worship of Shennong, the Divine Farmer, as an example. We show how one Divine Farmer temple has creatively sought to realign the spiritual powers of the Divine Farmer to address new challenges in people’s relationship to nature. We discuss how religious institutions seek to mobilise people for the environmental cause responding actively to society’s call for action and thereby simultaneously strengthening, or even re-establishing, their own social and emotional relevance.

• Hansen, Mette Halskov & Nielsen, Kenneth Bo (2026). Introduction. Religion and Ecological Crisis: Responses from Asia. In Hansen, Mette Halskov & Nielsen, Kenneth Bo (Ed.), Religion and Ecological Crisis: Responses from Asia. Leiden University Press. ISSN 9789087285081. p. 11–28. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  In this introductory chapter, we situate the book and its case studies from Taiwan, China, India and Vietnam in the wider literature on spiritual ecology, global sustainability, transcendence, and grassroots environmental movements in the Asian context. We identify conjuncture, future-orientation, and dynamics between self and collective as three specific interlocking dimensions in the spiritually and religiously inspired movements and initiatives that the book is concerned with. A focus on these dimensions, we argue, can reveal specificities, commonalities and variations within a highly diverse field of spiritually and religiously inspired movements and initiatives that operate in very different cultural and political contexts.

• Chen, Lu & Hansen, Mette Halskov (2022). Gender and power in China’s environmental turn: A case study of three women-led initiatives. Social Sciences. 11:97(3), p. 1–14. doi: 10.3390/socsci11030097. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The Chinese authorities have formulated a vision for the global future that it terms ‘ecological civilization’ (shengtai wenming 生态文明). It was introduced into Communist Party ideology in 2007 and endorsed by Xi Jinping in 2013 as a major framework for the country’s environmental policies. During the 2000s, the government set in motion many stricter environmental regulations and targets in line with this vision, including opening up some new room for bottom-up, volunteer-driven initiatives mostly on waste collection, recycling, education, and sustainable agriculture. At the same time, it calls for more participation of women in environmental governance at grassroots levels. Surveys in different parts of the world, including China, have suggested that women tend to be more concerned with environmental issues than men, but we have few qualitative studies in China of this topic. This article details three case studies in which women have initiated environmental projects in their local communities. They have mobilized other women (and some men) to engage in collective action, and they have generated financial and symbolic resources for their projects. We analyse these cases and argue that by raising the status of environmental issues such as waste collection and recycling, previously often downplayed as “women’s affairs”, China’s environmental turn has helped expand the space available for female subjectivities and participation in public activities. However, this expanding role has not translated into better representation or participation of women at higher levels of political authority beyond the village level, and the emerging female environmental subjectivities remain firmly based in existing political hierarchies and male-dominated structures.

• Hu, Ruolan; Wang, Shuxiao; Aunan, Kristin; Zhao, M.J.; Chen, L. & Liu, Zhaohui [Show all 7 contributors for this article] (2019). Personal exposure to PM2.5 in Chinese rural households in the Yangtze River Delta. Indoor Air. ISSN 0905-6947. 29(3), p. 403–412. doi: 10.1111/ina.12537. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  High levels of PM2.5 exposure and associated health risks are of great concern in rural China. For this study, we used portable PM2.5 monitors for monitoring concentrations online, recorded personal time‐activity patterns, and analyzed the contribution from different microenvironments in rural areas of the Yangtze River Delta, China. The daily exposure levels of rural participants were 66μg/m3 (SD 40) in winter and 65μg/m3 (SD 16) in summer. Indoor exposure levels were usually higher than outdoor levels. The exposure levels during cooking in rural kitchens were 140μg/m3 (SD 116) in winter and 121μg/m3 (SD 70) in summer, the highest in all microenvironments. Winter and summer values were 252μg/m3 (SD 103) and 204μg/m3 (SD 105), respectively, for rural people using biomass for fuel, much higher than those for rural people using LPG and electricity. By combining PM2.5 concentrations and time spent in different microenvironments, we found that 92% (winter) and 85% (summer) of personal exposure to PM2.5 in rural areas was attributable to indoor microenvironments, of which kitchens accounted for 24% and 27%, respectively. Consequently, more effective policies and measures are needed to replace biomass fuel with LPG or electricity, which would benefit the health of the rural population in China.

• Aunan, Kristin; Hansen, Mette Halskov; Liu, Zhaohui & Wang, Shuxiao (2019). The Hidden Hazard of Household Air Pollution in Rural China. Environmental Science and Policy. ISSN 1462-9011. 93(March), p. 27–33. doi: 10.1016/j.envsci.2018.12.004. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Air pollution in Chinese cities has become a major topic of public debate and political concern. At the same time, few rural areas are subjected to measurements of ambient air quality, and policy documents and media rarely discuss the health and environmental risks caused by household air pollution (HAP) produced by the use of biomass for cooking and heating. Between 2014 and 2017 a cross-disciplinary team carried out a joint study of air quality and perceptions of air pollution in one of China’s richest provinces, Zhejiang. We found that the ambient PM2.5 concentration in the rural villages was similar to that in the urban areas. Moreover, the 24-hour mean personal exposure to particulate pollution (PM2.5) was similar for urban and rural participants in total. However, we found indications of enhanced exposure levels in certain sub-groups, such as biomass users, women, and family cooks. We found that while villagers were strongly concerned about risks of air pollution coming from nearby factories, they were largely unaware of the problem of HAP. In this article, we analyse to what extent HAP contributes to the air pollution exposure in the areas studied, and we discuss possible reasons why it has largely remained a hidden hazard. In the conclusion, we suggest that air pollution in rural areas should receive more attention from media, environmental organizations and policy makers; furthermore, that HAP in particular should be incorporated into air pollution policies to a greater extent, and its contribution to air pollution exposure in rural areas be made more publicly known.

• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2018). China's Education System: Loved and Hated. In Wu, Weiping & Frazier, Mark W. (Ed.), The Sage Handbook of Contemporary China. Sage Publications. ISSN 9781473948945. p. 1093–1112. doi: 10.4135/9781526436085.n52. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  China has the largest education system in the world, and a population who values formal education highly and is ready to invest heavily in children’s schooling. As much research has shown, this reverence for education is only partly due to rational considerations of offspring’s’ work opportunities. It also has its roots in a long historical trajectory of highly esteemed Confucian education and civil service exams. Since the time of the PRC, the education system has undergone a number of radical structural reforms and adaptations of content of education. Nevertheless, methods of teaching and means of socialization have proven remarkably persistent, causing intense debates about the pros and cons of the Chinese education system. The article first provides a brief overview of the structure of the education system as it has developed during the PRC, with an emphasis on the 21. century. This is followed by three sections focusing on “Knowledge and exams”, “Socialization and discipline” and “Alternative paths” that places the Chinese current education system in the broader global web of educational institutions and ideologies. The article analyses and discusses why and with which consequence the Chinese population and its government have cultivated a love-hate relationship with their own education system, and it concludes with some suggestions for future research. © 2018 SAGE Publications

• Aunan, Kristin; Hansen, Mette Halskov & Wang, Shuxiao (2018). Introduction: Air Pollution in China. The China Quarterly. ISSN 0305-7410. 234, p. 279–298. doi: 10.1017/S0305741017001369. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This introduction provides an overview and analysis of key scientific data regarding air pollution in China. It constitutes a reference for understanding how policymakers, media and population in China make sense of and deal with air pollution, as discussed in the other articles of the section. We summarize the major characteristics and trends regarding air pollution in China, including its main sources and composition, levels of population exposure across the country, attributable mortality, and mitigation efforts. We also compare current levels of air pollution in China with other parts of the world and in a historical perspective. While the situation remains dire in many regions, particularly the Northeast, we conclude that there are signs of relief, or at least a halt to the increase in ambient air pollution levels. At the same time, critical issues regarding unequal levels of exposure remain, and health damaging levels of air pollution in cities will undoubtedly remain high for a long time to come. The rural population residing in areas close to industry and polluted cities and still depending on solid household fuels will likely be the worst off when it comes to air pollution exposure.

• Hansen, Mette Halskov; Li, Hongtao & Svarverud, Rune (2018). Ecological civilization: Interpreting the Chinese past, projecting the global future. Global Environmental Change. ISSN 0959-3780. 53(November), p. 195–203. doi: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2018.09.014. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Ecological civilization (shengtai wenming) has been written into China’s constitution as the ideological framework for the country’s environmental policies, laws and education. It is also increasingly presented not only as a response to environmental degradation in China, but as a vision for our global future. In this article, scholars from the disciplines of media science, anthropology and sinology analyse media representations of eco-civilization in order to explore which values and visions this highly profiled state project actually entails. The article argues that eco-civilization is best understood as a sociotechnical imaginary in which cultural and moral virtues constitute key components that are inseparable from the more well-known technological, judicial, and political goals. The imaginary of eco-civilization seeks to construct a sense of cultural and national continuity, and to place China at the center of the world by invoking its civilization’s more than 2000 years of traditional philosophical heritage as a part of the solution for the planet’s future. It is constructed as a new kind of Communist Party led utopia in which market economy and consumption continue to grow, and where technology and science have solved the basic problems of pollution and environmental degradation.

• Hansen, Mette Halskov & Liu, Zhaohui (2017). Air Pollution and Grassroots Echoes of “Ecological Civilization” in Rural China. The China Quarterly. ISSN 0305-7410. 234(June), p. 320–339. doi: 10.1017/S0305741017001394. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This article places the study of rural environmental activism in the wider context of the Chinese government's promotion of Ecological Civilization (shengtai wenming 生态文明). Ecological Civilization is, we argue, a top-down imaginary of China's future that opens up space for environmental agency while setting authoritative standards for how to frame protests in a logic of science and social stability. The article compares how residents in a small cluster of villages in Zhejiang province dealt with different sources of air pollution over a span of ten years: how, when and why they chose to negotiate with local officials and industrial managers to prevent or reduce air pollution, and what the outcome was. We found that in addition to a consciousness of the right to protest, villagers had come to regard the ability to evoke science in negotiations with officials and industrial managers as crucial for success. We suggest that the forms of environmental activism we observed were in effect “containable protests” that befit the state-initiated national imaginary of an ecologically civilized world.

• Hansen, Mette Halskov & Ahlers, Anna Lisa (2017). Air Pollution: How Will China Win its Self-Declared War Against it? In Sternfeld, Eva (Eds.), Routledge Handbook of Environmental Policy in China. Routledge. ISSN 9781138831117. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  In this chapter, we first provide an overview of the design and dynamics of China’s major national policies regarding air quality control and air pollution prevention, hereafter called ‘air policy’. We then briefly zoom in on two concrete examples of interfaces related to control of the industry, and consumption habits and life styles, mainly based on data collected in the province of Zhejiang. We present them here as prototypes of interfaces that manifest themselves in local contexts where different stakeholders take action. We deliberately apply the concept of ‘social interface’ rather than the more frequently used ‘interaction’ or ‘participation’. The notion of interface better captures the relationship between different actors’ worldviews, attitudes, and agency related to air pollution and air policies. It leaves open the possibility that these relations are often not a result of conscious or rational choice but just as much imply spontaneous, and sometimes enforced or involuntary, contacts with unequal levels of ‘action’. So for example, the relationship between, on the one hand, a government agency implementing policies that restrict vehicle use and, on the other hand, the population targeted in such a campaign, is not necessarily characterized by ‘interaction’ or even attempts at ‘participation’. Nevertheless, the very meeting or encounter—the social interface—of these parties’ different and sometimes conflicting values, perceptions, and interests may be crucial for understanding the relevance and outcome of the policy in question. This chapter was originally published by Routledge © 2017

• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2015). European Kids in Western China: Gender, Education and Cultural Relativism. In Cornet, Candice & Blumenfeld, Tami (Ed.), Doing Fieldwork in China With Kids: The Dynamics of Accompanied Fieldwork in the People's Republic. NIAS Press. ISSN 9788776941697. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov & Pang, Cuiming (2014). Idealising individual choice: work, love, and family in the eyes of young, rural Chinese. In Scharff, David & Varvin, Sverre (Ed.), Psychoanalysis in China. Karnac Books. ISSN 9781780490830. p. 3–21. doi: 10.4324/9780429478826-2. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov & Woronov, T.E. (2013). Demanding and resisting vocational education: a comparative study of schools in rural and urban China. Comparative Education. ISSN 0305-0068. 49(2), p. 242–259. doi: 10.1080/03050068.2012.733848. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The Chinese government is pouring resources into building vocational education at all levels of the Chinese educational system. Based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in three vocational secondary schools in 2007–2012, this article compares rural and urban schools to highlight the persistent urban–rural divide in implementing vocational education, and to understand popular resistance to vocational education and its effects on students and families. Through observations of classroom practice and interviews with students, parents, teachers, and administrators, the authors investigate the paradox of why vocational education is growing rapidly in China, even though parents and students have deeply-held objections to this form of schooling.

• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2013). Learning Individualism: Hesse, Confucius, and Pep-Rallies in a Chinese Rural High School. The China Quarterly. ISSN 0305-7410. p. 60–77. doi: 10.1017/S0305741013000015. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2012). Learning to Organize and to be Organized: Student Cadres in a Chinese Rural Boarding School. In Bislev, Ane & Thøgersen, Stig (Ed.), Organizing Rural China - Rural China Organizing. Lexington Books. ISSN 9780739170090. p. 125–139. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2012). Recent Trends in Chinese Rural Education: The Disturbing Rural-Urban Disparities and the Measures to Meet Them. In Florence, Eric & Defraigne, Pierre (Ed.), Towards a New Development Paradigm in Twenty-First Century China Economy, Society and Politics. Routledge. ISSN 9780415532129. p. 165–178. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov & Pang, Cuiming (2010). Idealizing individual choice: Work, love and family in the eyes of young rural Chinese. In Hansen, Mette Halskov & Svarverud, Rune (Ed.), iChina: The rise of the individual in modern Chinese society. NIAS Press. ISSN 9788776940539. p. 39–65. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2008). Organising, the old: Senior authority and the political significance of a rural Chinese 'non-governmental organisation'. Modern Asian Studies. ISSN 0026-749X. 42(5), p. 1057–1078. doi: 10.1017/S0026749X07002946. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This article argues that villagers' weakened trust in local governments has caused the officials to develop new strategies to cooperate with people and groups who enjoy traditional forms of authority. More specifically, the article shows how the officially established Old People' Associations in some areas have gained political influence far beyond what their official status as an “NGO” (minjian zuzhzi) would warrant. Villages of Fujian have a long history of being organised around patrilinear lineage organisations, and especially the older men still enjoys authority among the population. Local authorities, as well as business people, are therefore actively trying to engage and mobilise this traditional senior authority for their own political and economic purposes, thereby creating new relations of local power.

• Hansen, Mette Halskov & Cuiming, Pang (2008). Me and My Family: Perceptions of Individual and Collective among Young Rural Chinese. European Journal of East Asian Studies. ISSN 1568-0584. 7(1), p. 75–99. doi: 10.1163/156805808X333929. Full text in Research Archive

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• Hansen, Mette Halskov & Nielsen, Kenneth Bo (2026). Religion and Ecological Crisis: Responses from Asia. Leiden University Press. ISBN 9789087285081. 233 p. doi: 10.24415/9789087285081. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  How and why do religion and spirituality motivate individuals and collectivities in contemporary Asia to engage in environmental action? This question is at the heart of Religion and Ecological Crisis: Responses from Asia. Across nine chapters, the book examines a wide range of environmental initiatives, ranging from agroecology, waste recycling and dietary change, to a broader cultivation of ecological values and ethics. With case studies from India, China, Taiwan, and Vietnam, the book brings out the complex ways in which religious and spiritual institutions and movements become repositories of alternative ways of knowing and acting on the world, complementing and sometimes also providing more radical alternatives to scientific forms of reasoning and materialist modes of living. Religion and Ecological Crisis also crucially demonstrates how the power of religious and spiritual forms of environmentalism to accelerate the transformation towards more sustainable ways of producing, consuming, and living is conditioned by wider structural relationships. While there may be no immediate ecological revolutions on the horizon in the contexts and communities analyzed in this book, the case studies powerfully portray a rich landscape of collective environmental agency that points towards an ongoing search for more ecologically sustainable and ethically sound futures.

• Hansen, Mette Halskov; Svarverud, Rune & Ahlers, Anna Lisa (2020). The Great Smog of China: A Short Event History of Air Pollution. Association for Asian Studies. ISBN 9780924304927. 184 p. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The Great Smog of China traces Chinese air pollution events dating back to more than 2,000 years ago. Based on the authors’ fieldwork, interviews and text studies, the book offers a short and concise history of selected air pollution incidents that for varying reasons prompted different kinds of responses and forms of engagement in Chinese society. The three authors, from the disciplines of anthropology, China studies and political science, identify traceable incidents of smog and air pollution that have been communicated in different media and came to impact society in various ways. This also informs a discussion of what it takes to transform people’s experiences of health and environmentally related risks of pollution into broader forms of socio-political agency.

• Hansen, Mette Halskov & Liu, Zhaohui (2018). 仰望窗外的天空--中外科学家对话空气环境与治理 (A Window on the Sky - Chinese and Foreign Scholar Discuss the Atmospheric Environment and Governance). Zhejiang University Press. ISBN 9787308181259. 193 p. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov; Thøgersen, Stig & Wellens, Koen (2018). Kina - stat, individ og samfunn (3. utgave). Universitetsforlaget. ISBN 9788215030760. 264 p. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2015). Educating the Chinese Individual: Life in a Rural High School. University of Washington Press. ISBN 9780295994086. 240 p. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov & Thøgersen, Stig (2013). Kina: Stat, samfunn og individ. Universitetsforlaget. ISBN 9788215022345. 260 p. Full text in Research Archive
• Svarverud, Rune & Hansen, Mette Halskov (2011). “自我中国”--现代中国社会中个体的崛起 (iChina - The Rise of the Individual in Modern Chinese Society). Shanghai Translation Publishing House. ISBN 9787532755394. 298 p. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov & Svarverud, Rune (2010). iChina: The rise of the individual in modern Chinese society. NIAS Press. ISBN 9788776940539. 293 p. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov & Thøgersen, Stig (2008). Kina - individ og samfunn. Universitetsforlaget. ISBN 9788215012001. 238 p. Full text in Research Archive

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• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2024). Økologisk sivilisasjon: Kinas bud på fremtidens antropocen. In Mjaaland, Marius Timmann; Eriksen, Thomas Hylland & Hessen, Dag Olav (Ed.), Antropocen - menneskets tidsalder. Res Publica. ISSN 9788282263016. p. 151–165. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2023). Epilogue. In Münster, Ursula; Eriksen, Thomas Hylland & Schroer, Sara Asu (Ed.), Responding to the Anthropocene: Perspectives from Twelve Academic Disciplines. Scandinavian Academic Press. ISSN 9788230403624. p. 331–337. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The Anthropocene - the era of humans - refers to a time when humanity has left its indelible stamp on the planet, including its geology and biogeochemistry. Understanding the Anthropocene, where the risk of irreversible and catastrophic ecological damage looms on the horizon, is a daunting task and solutions seem to be difficult to come by. What we offer in this book consists of fifteen perspectives on the Anthropocene written by scholars with backgrounds in over a dozen academic disciplines - archaeology, biology, geology, cultural history, literature, art history, science and technology studies, anthropology, political ecology, geography and law. Together, they offer tools enabling us to grasp the Anthropocene as a multifaceted phenomenon that requires attention from across the social and natural sciences as well as the humanities. Unlike most academic texts, these chapters are written in a personal and engaging style indicating not only that the Anthropocene is a worthy subject of scholarly attention, but that its implications are existentially important to the authors, who are not just researchers, but also global citizens.

• Hansen, Mette Halskov & Gornitzka, Åse (2023). Forskningssamarbeid på tvers av politiske systemer og akademiske kulturer: Europa og Kina. In Graver, Hans Petter; Birkelund, Gunn Elisabeth & Havelin, Gro (Ed.), Hvor går demokratiet?. Dreyer Forlag A/S. ISSN 9788282656702. p. 107–129. Full text in Research Archive
• Wellens, Koen & Hansen, Mette Halskov (2023). Spiritually Inspired Environmental Movements in Asia: Local Practices, Universal Potential? Full text in Research Archive
• Gjærum, Rikke Gürgens & Hansen, Mette Halskov (2023). Universitetenes essensielle rolle i en bærekraftig fremtid. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2022). Hva er et individ i Kina? del 1 av podcasten Kinapodden. https://www.needtoknow.studio/sesong1. [Internet]. Needtoknow, Kinapodden. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Hva er et individ i Kina? Kinakjenner Mette Halskov Hansen har skrevet boken "Kina. Stat, samfunn og individ". Hva skiller et kinesisk individ, en person i Kina fra en i Norge? Hvor er "plassen til" den enkelte kinesiske borger? Olav Njaastad i samtale med professor Halskov Hansen fra UiO.

• Ingold, Tim; Hansen, Mette Halskov; Riede, Felix; Swanson, Heather Anne & Ween, Gro Birgit (2022). Reason and Response-ability. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2022). The Nordica Asia Podcast about Transcendence and Sustainability: Asian Visions with Global Potentials. [Internet]. New Books Network https://newbooksnetwork.com/transcendence-. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Can spiritually and religiously inspired environmental movements in Asia help reach the global goal of environmental sustainability? This question lies at the heart of the research project “Transcendence and Sustainability: Asian Visions with Global Promise” that we focus on in this episode. Also known as TRANSSUSTAIN, the project builds on the observation that scholars, activists, and even politicians in many Asian countries have found inspiration in traditional knowledge and in the premodern texts and practices of, for instance, Daoist, Buddhist, Hindu, and Confucian traditions to envision more ecologically sustainable futures. Exploring the mobilization and recalibration of such traditional Asian religio-philosophical ideas in response to the global environmental crisis, the project seeks to assess the potential of Asian environmental movements for helping us build sustainable global futures. Mette Halskov Hansen is professor of China Studies at the University of Oslo. Amita Baviskar is professor of Environmental Studies and Sociology and Anthropology at Ashoka University. Lu Chen is a Doctoral Research Fellow at the University of Oslo. Kenneth Bo Nielsen is an Associate Professor at the dept. of Social Anthropology at the University of Oslo and one of the leaders of the Norwegian Network for Asian Studies.

• Tonne, Hilde; Ruud, Kenneth; Aronsen, Jan Magnus; Aamot, Eli; Melleby, Karianne & Hansen, Mette Halskov [Show all 11 contributors for this article] (2022). Statsråden omtaler situasjonen som «alvorlig». Realiteten er at det er en oppkonstruert krise. Full text in Research Archive
• Wellens, Koen & Hansen, Mette Halskov (2022). Hva bør Norge gjøre med sitt forhold til Kina? Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2021). Book review: Being Modern in China: A Western Cultural Analysis of Modernity, Tradition, and Schooling in China Today, by Paul Willis. The China Quarterly. ISSN 0305-7410. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2021). Keynote: "Ecological Civilization: Chinese Dream or Global Strategy?". Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2021). Ecological Civilization: Chinese Dream or Global Strategy? A Discussion with Mette Halskov Hansen. [Internet]. New Books Network. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Podcast about Ecological Civilization https://newbooksnetwork.com/ecological-civilization-chinese-dream-or-global-strategy

• Hansen, Mette Halskov; Wellens, Koen; Münster, Daniel & Baviskar, Amita (2021). Transcendence and Sustainability: Asian Visions with Global Promise. Panel presentation and discussion. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Are spiritually and religiously inspired environmental movements in Asia largely overlooked as an essential contribution to the global goal of environmental sustainability? Presentation of a new international project based in China, India, Taiwan and Vietnam

• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2021). Ecological Civilization. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2021). Forskningssamarbeid med Kina. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2020). Nyhetene - om Wuhan og Corona virus. [TV]. TV2. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2020). Forsker om Kinas håndtering av Wuhan-viruset: – Et stort sosialt eksperiment å stenge så mange millioner mennesker inne. [Internet]. Forskning.no. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2020). Kinas respons på Corona virus (intervju i Klassekampen). [Journal]. Klasssekampen. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2020). Kinas respons på Corona virus (intervju i Klassekampen). [Internet]. Dagsavisen. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2020). Kinas respons på Corona virus (intervju i Klassekampen). [Journal]. Aftenposten. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2019). Hong Kongs lokal-valg, VG BLOGG. [Radio]. VG. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2019). Hong Kongs lokal valg - TV2 nyheter. [TV]. TV2. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2019). Hong Kongs lokal valg og lejre i Xinjiang, TV2 Nyheter. [TV]. TV2. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2019). Kina - vår verden. Full text in Research Archive
• Schmitt, Edwin & Hansen, Mette Halskov (2019). Solar Energy in China. [Internet]. Sci-Tech Asia. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2019). The hidden hazards of air pollution in China: The gender and class of household air pollution. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2019). Miljø i grisens år. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2019). Luftforurensning som game changer i Kina. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2019). Imagining Eco-Civilization and Protesting Air Pollution in China. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2019). Hong Kongs lokalvalg. [Journal]. Klasssekampen. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2019). Hong Kongs lokalvalg. [Journal]. Aftenposten. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov; Aunan, Kristin; Liu, Zhaohui & Wang, Shuxiao (2017). The Hidden Hazard of Household Air Pollution (HAP) in China. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov & Ahlers, Anna Lisa (2016). Kinas luftforurensning – kimen til sosial og politisk forandring? Energi og Klima : Norsk klimastiftelses nettmagasin. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2013). Review of Andrew Kipnis (ed.): Chinese Modernity and the Individual Psyche. NY: Palgrave Macmillan. 2012. The China Quarterly. ISSN 0305-7410. 216(December), p. 1075–1076. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2013). Chinese modernity and the individual psyche. The China Quarterly. ISSN 0305-7410. p. 1075–1076. doi: 10.1017/S0305741013001239. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2012). Book review: Kipnis, Andrew B. Governing educational desire: culture, politics, and schooling in China.London, Chicago: Univ. Chicago Press, 2011. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. ISSN 1359-0987. p. 479–480. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2012). Review of Andrew Kipnis: Governing educational desire: culture, politics, and schooling in China. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. ISSN 1359-0987. 18(2), p. 479–480. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9655.2012.01754_13.x. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2011). Book review of: Everett Zhang, Arthur Kleinman, and Tu Weiming, eds., Governance of Life in the Chinese Moral Experience: The Quest for an Adequate Life. Asian Anthropology. ISSN 1683-478X. 10, p. 169–172. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2011). Kinas personlige problem. [Journal]. Aftenposten. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2011). Book review of: Identity and Schooling Among the Naxi: Becoming Chinese with Naxi Identity. The China Journal. ISSN 1324-9347. 65, p. 237–240. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2011). Sensur og selvsensur i Kina. [Radio]. RadioRakel. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2011). Book review of "Identity and Schooling Among the Naxi: Becoming Chinese with Naxi Identity" and "Muslim Uyghur Students in a Chinese Boarding School: Social Recapitalization as a Response to Ethnic Integration". The China Journal. ISSN 1324-9347. p. 237–240. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2010). Dagsnytt 18, fredsprisen 2010. [TV]. Nrk2. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2010). Governing rural youth: Space, time, and student associations in the Chinese high school. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2010). Her og nå. [Radio]. Nrk P2. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2010). P2 temadag Kina. [Radio]. Nrk P2. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2010). Dagsnytt 18, Google ut av Kina. [TV]. Nrk 1 Radio og Nrk 2 TV. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2010). Nobel peace price. [Internet]. Voice of America. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2010). Friheter styrkes i Kina. [Journal]. Klassekampen. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2009). Recent trends in Chinese rural education: the rural-urban disparities and the measures to meet them. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2009). Organizing Chinese youth: Fieldwork from a rural middle school. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2009). Recent trends in Chinese rural education: The disturbing rural-urban disparities and the measures to meet them. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2009). URIX, feiring av Kinas 60 år. [TV]. NRK2. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2009). Dagsnytt 18: Kina 60 år. [Radio]. NRK1 + NRK2 (TV). Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2009). Teaching political practice in the PRC: A view from below. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2008). Intervju i forbindelse med artiklen "I bokform til Beijing". Artikel i tidsskriftet Ny Tid. [Journal]. Ny Tid. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2008). Dagsnytt 18, NRK P1 (konflikt uigurer og kinesiske myndigheter). [Radio]. NRK P1 og NRK2. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2008). Den økonomiske situasjon i Kina, Dagsnytt 18. [Radio]. Nrk P2 og TV NRK2. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2008). Kina-forskere i Lund, Sveriges radio P1. [Radio]. P1, Sveriges Radio. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2008). Me - and my family: Perceptions of individual and collective among young, rural Chinese. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2008). The Chinese Individual: Experiences and Results from a Cross-disciplinary Research Collective. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2008). Verden på lørdag, NRK2 (om Kinas reaksjon på demonstrasjoner i Tibet). [Radio]. NRK2. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2008). Ukeslutt NRK P1 (om Kinas reaksjon på demonstrasjoner i Tibet). [Radio]. Nrk P1. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2008). Dagsnytt 18, Nrk2 (Kinas myndigheter og Dalai Lama). [Radio]. Nrk P2. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2008). Dagsrevyen Nrk1 (om Kinas reaksjoner på demonstrasjoner i Tibet). [TV]. Nrk1. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2008). Dagsrevyen Nrk1 (Kinas reaksjoner på demonstrasjoner i Tibet). [TV]. Nrk1. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2008). Dagsnytt 18 om den kinesiske folkekongres' møde 2008. [Radio]. NRK P2. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2007). "Kinesiske bønder på krigsstien". [Journal]. Dagbladeet. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2007). Dagbladet, Folkekongressen Kina. [Journal]. Dagbladet. Full text in Research Archive
• Rots, Nhung Lu; Hansen, Mette Halskov & Ngo, Tam (2026). Engaged Buddhism and environmentality among religious minorities in Vietnam. Universitetet i Oslo. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Denne artikkelbaserte avhandlingen diskuterer hvordan buddhistiske samfunn i Mekongdeltaet forholder seg til sosiale, kulturelle og miljø-endringer, med hovedvekt på to minoritetsgrupper i Vietnam: Hòa Hảo-buddhistene og Khmer Theravada-buddhistene. Den undersøker hvordan den regionale miljø-forvaltningen påvirker lokale buddhistiske organisasjonenes responser på helse- og miljøutfordringer, og hvordan dette påvirker lokale institusjoner og deres ressurser. Avhandlingen bygger på ni måneders etnografisk feltarbeid i flere lokaliteter, med en kombinasjon av deltakende observasjon og oppfølgingsintervjuer med religiøse ledere og tilhengere, herunder buddhistiske abbeder, lekfolk og tjenestemenn i lokalsamfunnene. Forskningen bidrar til akademiske debatter innen miljøhumaniora ved bruk av teorier fra politisk økologi, utviklingsstudier og buddhismestudier. Avhandlingen bruker begrepene environmentality og engasjert buddhisme for å analysere en fremvoksende subjektivitet i de buddhistiske minoritetene, ved å se på hvordan de responderer på lokale økologiske- og helseutfordringer. Den legger vekt på hvordan den nye subjektiviteten kan skifte deres miljøpolitikk fra motstand til samarbeid med statelige myndigheter. Avhandlingen sammenligner og analyserer fremvoksende praksiser, nye strategier og endrede maktforhold innenfor de to buddhistiske gruppene i kontekster preget av utfordringer innen forurensning, klimaendringer og initiativer for bærekraftig utvikling. De tre artiklene illustrerer samfunnenes responser på nye sykdommer, utilstrekkelig helsevesen, plastforurensing, saltinntrenging, og sårbarhet i møte med ekstremvær. De belyser ulike veier som de to buddhistiske samfunnene har valgt i møtet med disse utfordringene. Avhandlingen konkluderer med at den fremvoksende subjektiviteten har motivert Hòa Hảo-institusjoner til å samarbeide med myndighetene i statlig ledet miljøforvaltning og alternative helseløsninger. En slik respons er imidlertid ikke synlig innen Khmer-samfunnet, noe som kan forklares med mangel på lokal deltakelse, forsømmelse av kunnskap om lokal økologi, og asymmetrisk fordeling av makt i bærekraftig politikk.  

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