Johanna Adolfsson

Doctoral Research Fellow

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Email j.s.adolfsson@sum.uio.no

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Visiting address Sandakerveien 130 Bygg 2 0484 OSLO

Postal address Postboks 1116 Blindern 0317 OSLO

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Academic Interests

My research interests include the intersection of psychology and development policy and practice, neoliberal subjectivities, gender-relations, power structures, knowledge production, language and discursive negotiations. My specific research focus on promoting an understanding of how maternal and reproductive health policies transfer between the global-, national- and local levels, and how these alterations have consequences for people subjected to and dependent on these policies. The regional focus of the study is Malawi.

Norm-critical approaches to psychology
Sexual, reproductive and maternal health
Language, gender relations and power structures
Global health policy making
Interdisciplinary research

Background

Administrative and Scientific Coordinator, LEVE – Livelihoods in Developing Countries, University of Oslo
Research Assistant, Centre for Development and the Environment, University of Oslo
Research Assistant, LEVE – Livelihoods in Developing Countries, University of Oslo
Master degree in Cultural- and Societal Psychology, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo
LEVE-fellow, Centre for Development and the Environment
Bachelor in Culture and Communication, University of Oslo
Exchange student, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina

Tags: Social Psychology, Global South, Africa, Health and Development, Malawi, qualitative research

Adolfsson, Johanna & Madsen, Ole Jacob (2019). “Nowadays there is gender”: “Doing” global gender equality in rural Malawi. Theory & psychology. ISSN 0959-3543. s 1- 21 . doi: 10.1177/0959354319879507 Show summary
This article analyzes the intersection of psychology with global development policy and practice, reviewing how gender as a concept is negotiated and understood amongst men and women in rural Malawi. We argue that gender, considered from a psychological perspective, has been narrowed down to meet the standards of global policy actors. By empowering individuals to “self-actualize,” policy implementers expect social and economic spin-off effects such as lower birth rates, higher education levels, and poverty reduction. The focus on individuals acts to obscure the broader structural power inequities, is especially prevalent in rural Malawi. To explain this, we use Haslam’s idea of “concept creep,” on how psychological concepts tend to affect other institutional traditions. The everyday understandings of gendered life described here show how gender is a fluid concept that shifts according to cultural, social, and ideological norms.

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Adolfsson, Johanna (2019). “Moving forward together”: International individualism meets local communalism when discussing empowerment and development with rural Malawians.
Adolfsson, Johanna (2019). SUM-Forum: "Negotiating Girl Power: empowering women and girls to build sustainable livelihoods".
Adolfsson, Johanna (2019). Spiritual insecurity and political power.
Adolfsson, Johanna (2019). The Philosophy of Nudge and the Psychology of Consumption.
Adolfsson, Johanna (2018). Diskurs- og narrativ analyse.
Adolfsson, Johanna (2018). "There is no gender in this car!": Psychological Concepts Constructing the Global Development Agenda.
Adolfsson, Johanna & Madsen, Ole Jacob (2018). 'Nowadays there is gender': 'doing' global gender policy in rural Malawi'.

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Published Aug. 16, 2013 12:59 PM - Last modified Sep. 4, 2019 2:39 PM

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Johanna Adolfsson

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