Erling Lorentzen Sogge

Postdoctoral Fellow - Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages

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Email e.l.sogge@ikos.uio.no

Phone +47 22844509

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Visiting address Niels Henrik Abels vei 36 P. A. Munchs hus 0371 OSLO

Postal address Postboks 1010 Blindern 0315 OSLO

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Academic interests:
The Palestinian national movement, Lebanese politics and society, refugee camps, rebel governance, youth movements, and Arabic language.

I received my PhD at the University of Oslo in 2018. My monograph, entitled
“The Palestinian national movement in Lebanon: a political history of the ‘Ayn al-Hilwe camp,” will be published on I.B Tauris in the summer of 2021.

As of April 2019, I am engaged as a postdoctoral researcher in the Rebel Government project, which explores the relationship between rebel groups and kinship organizations in the Middle East. I am currently writing about and conducting interviews with leaders of tribal justice committees in the refugee camps of Nablus in Palestine, as well as Palestinian kinship organizations, village committees and civilian initiatives in the refugee camps of Lebanon. I take great interest in following the evolution of non-factional institutions and youth movements in the Palestinian camps of Lebanon, among them the largely youth-organized Palestinian Civil Defense.

I supervise two master students, and teach the Fieldwork research methods module embedded in the MES4000 course at the University of Oslo.

Background:

PhD in Middle Eastern and North Africa studies at the University of Oslo, 2018.

M.A. in Middle Eastern and North Africa studies at the University of Oslo, 2014.

Arabic studies at Institut français du Proche-Orient (IFPO) in Beirut 2011-12.

B.A. in Middle Eastern and North African Studies at University of Oslo, 2011. Major: Arabic language.

Arabic studies at the University of Damascus 2010.

Tags: Midtøsten, CIMS

Sogge, Erling Lorentzen (2019). "Du stinkar også". Ungdomsopprør og protestrørsler i dei palestinske leirane i Libanon. Babylon - Nordisk tidsskrift for Midtøstenstudier. ISSN 1503-5727. (1), s 28- 43 . doi: 10.5617/ba.7057 Full text in Research Archive.
Sogge, Erling Lorentzen (2015). Om utviklinga av militant islamisme i den palestinske flyktningeleiren Ain al-Hilwe : frå global jihad til lokalpolitikk. Babylon - Nordisk tidsskrift for Midtøstenstudier. ISSN 1503-5727. 13(1/2), s 34- 45 . doi: 10.5617/ba.4183

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Anstorp, Henrik Buljo; Tuastad, Dag Henrik & Sogge, Erling Lorentzen (2020). Students Taking to the Streets: Mobilizing for a Secular Lebanon.
Sogge, Erling Lorentzen (2020). Palestinian Refugee First Responders Rush to Aid Beirut. Middle East Report. ISSN 0899-2851. Show summary
The Palestinian Civil Defense was praised for its efforts after the explosion in Beirut. This is the story of how a group of stateless refugees built an organization that saved lives when everything came tumbling down.
Nordenson, Jon; Dølerud, Magnus & Sogge, Erling Lorentzen (2019). En ny kurs for Libanon?. Babylon - Nordisk tidsskrift for Midtøstenstudier. ISSN 1503-5727. 1, s 52- 57
Sogge, Erling Lorentzen (2019). The Youth of Balata: A Generation of Hopelessness. Jadaliyya. Show summary
Enduring weekly incursions by both the Israeli army and Palestinian security forces, West Bank youth in Palestinian refugee camp Balata turn to nihilistic role models far from the nationalist scene.
Janmyr, Maja; Sogge, Erling Lorentzen; Jensehaugen, Jørgen & Berg, Kjersti Gravelsæter (2018). Trump straffer de svakeste palestinerne. Dagbladet. ISSN 0805-3766.
Maktabi, Rania; Skare, Erik & Sogge, Erling Lorentzen (2018). Forord som redaktør for spesialnummer av Babylon - Nordisk tidsskrift for Midtøstenstudier: "Stat, statsborgerskap og territorialitet" - Festskrift for Nils A. Butenschøn 70 år.. Babylon - Nordisk tidsskrift for Midtøstenstudier. ISSN 1503-5727. (2)
Sogge, Erling Lorentzen (2018). Ein palestinar i det libanesiske parlamentet? Eit intervju med aktivisten Manal Kortam. Babylon - Nordisk tidsskrift for Midtøstenstudier. ISSN 1503-5727. (1), s 62- 67
Sogge, Erling Lorentzen (2018). No one can Rule Us. Politics of exile in the Refugee camp ‘Ayn Al-Hilwe, Capital of the Palestinian Diaspora (1993-2017). Show summary
The aim of this study is to investigate Palestinian politics in exile by exploring the trajectory of refugee camp ‘Ayn al-Hilwe in South Lebanon, from the signing of the Oslo accords (1993) until the present day (2017). As an autonomous refugee camp governed by a patchwork of Palestinian para-military political factions, 'Ayn al Hilwe has come to serve as a symbol of Palestinian resistance outside of the homeland. Nicknamed the “Capital of the Diaspora”, the camp is many ways indicative of the current predicament the Palestinian people — they are without a state, but not without forms of sovereignty. While the Oslo peace accords saw the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and its main movement, Fatah, take on the role as state-supporting entities and vowed to end their armed struggle against Israel, these organizations have continued to exist as guerilla movements in the camps of Lebanon. This study offers insight into the ways in which the contentious struggles ofa fragmented Palestinian national movement continue in the refugee camps ofthe diaspora, while the fate of the homeland remains undecided. Why has the camp remained so contested? Despite being surrounded by fences, checkpoints and constituting an impoverished urban slum, ‘Ayn al—Hilwe offers something the Palestinians hardly enjoy anywhere else in the world, let alone in Palestine: autonomy. That being said, the self-governed camp does not operate within the boundaries of conventional statehood. In a place ruled by rival guerilla movements, the art of manipulating fragile power balances between the many armed forces — to claim influence by disrupting others, influence — becomes the main way of exerting control. Local militia leaders become influential powerbrokers by virtue of facilitating or obstructing the access ofa wide array of political forces vying to stake their claim in these autonomous spaces, or to speak on behalf ofthe Palestinian refugees, ranging from the PLO, to Syria, Iran, the Gulf countries or others. These acts of contention are not only employed by typical oppositional movements such as the Damascus-based Alliance of Palestinian Forces (APF) and Hamas, but run deep within the local chapters of the Fatah movement and the PLO itself — all of whom have steadily reinforced their presence within the camps of Lebanon since Israel’s withdrawal from the country at the turn ofthe millennium. A range of other actors have also thrown themselves into the struggle for the camp space, ranging from jihadis with ties to al-Qaida to Palestinian youth activists and protest movements. Moreover, Lebanese state actors across political blocs have attempted to initiate alliances with their respective proxy groups within the camp, as a means of attaining influence in territories beyond the fragmented state’s control. Scholars have tended to overlook the internal dynamics of refugee camps. Drawing on the theories of philosopher Giorgio Agamben, researches have depicted the camps as “spaces of exception,” where the encamped populations live at the mercy of a sovereign, repressive state. While the agency of the sovereignties within the camp are to a lesser degree discussed. Others have simply concluded that ‘Ayn al-Hilwe and the camps of Lebanon fell into a state of lawlessness after the PLO initially abandoned the Palestinian diaspora following the Oslo accords, allowing them to become breeding grounds for international terrorism. Based on extensive fieldwork and archival research, this study seeks to move beyond these conceptualizations of the camp space, and strives to offer a deeper understanding of the Capital of the Diaspora”s internal life. Arguing that ‘Ayn al-Hilwe has retained the function of a Palestinian state-in-exile, the dissertation offers valuable insight into how the refugee camps of the near diaspora have continued to play a role in Palestinian politics beyond the Oslo accords.
Sogge, Erling Lorentzen (2017). Managing Security Webs in the Palestinian Refugee Camp of Ain al-Hilweh. Middle East Report. ISSN 0899-2851. 47(4), s 14- 17
Gade, Tine & Sogge, Erling Lorentzen (2016). Libanon på en knivsegg. nrk.no/ytring.

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Published Feb. 2, 2015 1:21 PM - Last modified Mar. 24, 2021 3:26 PM

Erling Lorentzen Sogge

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