Received Sylff Fellowship in 2019-2021
Academic supervisor: Keir Martin and Sylvia Yanagisako
Current Affiliation: University of South-Eastern Norway
Ola G. Berta holds a PhD in social anthropology from the University of Oslo. He has done ethnographic fieldwork with Marshall Islanders living in rural and urban atolls, as well as abroad (Honolulu). He has also done archival research in several archives in the Honolulu area. His doctoral thesis followed the circulation of cultural commodities in space and time. This lead to an analysis of local conceptualisations of and contestations over culture, economy, and community in a post-colonial setting in which people strive to maintain a sense of self-reliance. Ola has also published research on the missionary history and contemporary (political) role of Christianity in the Marshall Islands.
