Critical Cultural Theory and Collective Identities 

Stefan Jonsson’s research is multidisciplinary with a base in critical cultural theory and aiming toward an understanding of the social and historical formation of collective identities. Originally a scholar and critic of literature, aesthetics, and intellectual history, Stefan has increasingly focused on the social and historical processes through which identities are constituted and transformed in the crossroad between the psychic and the political or the social.

Stefan Jonsson is Professor of Ethnic Studies at REMESO. He received his Ph.D. from the Program in Literature at Duke University, USA, in 1997. Between 1998 and 2000 he was a fellow in residence at Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles, and in 2006 Visiting Professor at University of Michigan. He has also been associate professor of aesthetics and research leader in cultural theory at Södertörn University, Sweden.



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Together with professor Peo Hansen, Jonsson is working on a project about the colonial prehistory and legacy of the European Union,; their widely acclaimed Eurafrica: The Untold History of European Integration and Colonialism was published in 2014 He also conducts research on ‘the category and fantasy of ‘the masses’ and ‘the people’ in European culture, which has resulted in A Brief History of the Masses: Three Revolutions (2008) and Crowds and Democracy: The Idea and Image of the Masses from Revolution to Fascism (2013) both from Columbia University Press. This line of research continues in new projects, one on ‘monstrous events’ with a focus on collective political protest in 2011 and after, and the other on the ways in which art and literature help us understand democracy, politics, migration and other collective phenomena.

Stefan has also written extensively on racism, multiculturalism, identity politics, postcolonial culture, and globalization. He frequently appears in Dagens Nyheter and other major Swedish media as cultural critic and commentator.

Stefan Jonsson is deputy director of REMESO and responsible for its doctoral and master’s programmes in Ethnic and Migration studies.

Publications

Publications in selection

2023

2022

Research

Research projects

Ongoing

‘How Art and Literature Help Us Understand Democracy”, VR 2018–

‘Monstrous Events: Aesthetic Dimensions of Collective Political Protest, 2011 and after”, RJ 2018–

‘Postcolonial Settlement: Africa and the EEC in the Hour of Decolonization, 1957–1965’, (with Peo Hansen), 2017–

‘Shapes of Racism: An examination of the relation between everyday racism and racially motivated hate crime’, 2018–

Completed

‘Building Eurafrica: Reviving Colonialism through European Integration, 1920-2007’, with Peo Hansen, 2011–2015. Vetenskapsrådet. Listen to EURO-VISION: A conversation with professor Stefan Jonsson and professor Peo Hansen. 

‘European Integration and European Colonialism: Reconstructing a Historical Relation, Deconstructing a Current Historiography’, with Peo Hansen, 2007-2010. Vetenkspsrådet.

‘Cultures of the Crowd: Ideas and Images of the Masses in European History’, with initial support from the Getty Research Institute and the Humanities Laboratory, Stanford University, 1998-2010.

‘Narratives of Europe: Perspectives from its North-East Periphery’, with scholars from Södertörn University, 2011–2015. Directed by professor Johan Fornäs.

‘Austere Histories: Social Exclusion and the Erasure of Historical Memories in European Societies’; 2013–2015. (with Julia Willén).

‘Time, Memory and Representation. A Multidisciplinary Program on Transformations in Historical Consciousness’, financed by Riksbankens Jubileumsfond and organized by Södertörn University, 2010-2015. 

Teaching

Related

News

Organisation