I hold a PhD in Media Rhetoric from the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Bergen (2020) and was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Faculty of Humanities at UiB (2020–2023).
My research explores the role and resources of rhetoric in fostering – or hindering – meaningful democratic participation under different circumstances and for diverse groups of people. This includes studies of citizens’ access to public debate, their opportunities for participation and recognition, as well as the challenges and barriers that may stand in the way of such engagement and agency. I examine these issues particularly in the context of climate and environmental debates, with a special interest in social movements and activist rhetoric.
I have conducted research on political and public debates in editorial and social media, journalism, and activist rhetoric. My work combines perspectives from the humanities and the social sciences and is primarily based on qualitative textual analysis – including rhetorical criticism, discourse analysis, document analysis, and visual/multimodal analysis. In addition, I am concerned with how people receive and respond to different forms of communication, and therefore also make use of participatory methods, interviews, and qualitative reception and audience studies.
I am currently involved in three major research projects funded by the Research Council of Norway:
- The impacts of land use conflicts on society and citizens aims to provide new knowledge about how local communities work through conflicts over land use and the management of natural resources, and how such conflicts affect individuals, local communities, and democracy. The project examines how people experience and discuss these conflicts, and how these experiences and discussions shape local identity, social relations, political attitudes, democratic participation and trust.
- Protesting controversial climate policies: avenues of opposition aims to generate new knowledge about the effects and legitimacy of different forms of climate protest in Norway. We examine, among other things, why protest movements choose different strategies, such as street activism, litigation, or founding a political party, and what the consequences of these choices are. The project seeks to understand how protest movements contribute to shaping democratic processes, and the role they play in influencing both public opinion and political decision-making.
- Understanding societal conflict in consumption reduction aims to provide new insights into why certain environmental policy measures trigger conflict and political mobilisation against them, as well as how such measures can be designed and communicated in order to be perceived as acceptable and legitimate by the public. We explore, among other things, what underlies strong resistance among particular groups, how polarisation arises between groups, and the significance of reflection, dialogue with others, and access to information for people’s attitudes towards both policy measures and political opponents.
In addition to my research, I am engaged in professional and public initiatives. I serve on the board of the Rhetoric Society of Europe and work to strengthen young people’s rhetorical competence and civic participation through the public speaking competition Ta ordet!
