Ebba Tellander left PRIO in 2022. The information on this page is kept for historical reasons.
Ebba Tellander
Doctoral Researcher
Research Interests
Ebba Tellander is a Doctoral Researcher within the Societal Transformation in Conflict Contexts project. She was previously a Researcher and Research Assistant at the Social Dynamics Department and a Communicator at the Communication Department.
She came home from 6 month of field-research in Somaliland in the beginning of 2019. She had then collected around 100 interviews and recorded conversations, fieldnotes and archival material. Currently, she is coding and analysing her data as well as writing up the insights and findings. Read more about the PhD project here.
She is also collaborating with Postive Negatives to develop a 5 part graphic illustration (a cartoon) based on her research. Follow Postive Negative's Facebook page for updates.
She has also been part of a production of a TV series about a group of professionals who restored a hosptial as an act of resistance in Hargiesa 1981, which became a transformative moment in Somalia's and Somaliland's history. Read more about the TV production and the professionals' inspirational story here.
Tellander's areas of interest are:
- Civil resistance, social movements and collective action in high risk settings.
- Societal transformation in repressive and conflict contexts.
- Somalia's and Somaliland's recent history.
- Norwegian-Somalis' role in Norwegian foreign policy.
- Lived experiences of citizenship, belonging and civic engagement in Norway.
- Accountability in Somaliland.
Tellander has worked and studied in Kenya, Palestine, Germany, England, Somalia, Somaliland, Norway, the Netherlands and Sweden.
News
Friday, 25 Jun 2021
New Online Exhibition from the TRANSFORM Project
In societies at war or facing severe repression, what motivates individuals to take action for social justice when doing so involves great risk and uncertainty? How do such small but often heroic everyday acts of common people inspire larger transformations? And what is the impact of storytelling about everyday acts that challenge inequalities and injustices in places like Myanmar, Somaliland and Syria?
The TRANSFORM research team has grappled with these questions for four years, and you will find some answers in this online exhibition.
News
Friday, 4 Dec 2020
PRIO's Youth & Peacebuilding Research
Next Tuesday December 8th at 14.00 CET (Oslo time) we will have the PRIO Annual Peace Address, this time with young peacebuilders Hajer Sharief and Ilwad Elman.
On this occasion we wanted to highlight projects and research that focus on youth activism. We're sharing our work on young engagement in political change, because social movements that turn into positive societal transformation are not only initiated by people in power, but very often are initiated or inspired by youth trying to improve their communities. Here are some of the projects showing the importance of youth in peacebuilding.
Education
Ph. D. project in International Social Sciences within the larger PRIO project ‘Social transformation in conflict settings’, with a focus on civil resistance and collective action in northern Somalia (today's Somaliland), at PRIO and International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
Supervisors: Cindy Horst (PRIO) and Kees Biekart (ISS, Erasmus University Rotterdam).
Work
2017 – Present: Doctoral Researcher
2017: Coordinator for Media Research Group at PRIO autumn 2017.
2017: Communicator at PRIO
2016 – 2017: Researcher and Research Assistant at PRIO. Selected projects: Dimensions of Accountability in Somaliland; Active Citizenship in Culturally and Religiously Diverse Societies; Governing and Experiencing Citizenship in Multicultural Scandinavia. Assisted in the organization of the ‘Seventh High-Level Seminar on Gender and Inclusive Mediation Processes’.
2016: Accompanier at the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel, World Council of Churches/Norwegian Church Aid
2015
– 2016: External Research Assistant at PRIO
2014 – 2015: Project Coordinator at the Oslo Center for Peace and Human Rights
2014: Internship at the Oslo Center for Peace and Human Rights
2011 – Present: Freelance photographer (various assignments). Selected clients: Peace Research Institute Oslo (various assignments); World Council of Churches 2016; Nationellt kompetenscentrum för anhöriga 2015; the Oslo Center 2014, 2015; Sunnmørsposten 2015; Vikebladet 2015; Kolofin forlag 2011.
2011 – 2014: Board member (Leader in 2013) of the Palestine Committee at the University of Oslo
2007: International Culture Youth Exchange Program in Kisii, Kenya
2004
– 2005: Secretary of the Swedish Afghanistan Committee, Falun – Dalarna, Sweden
Language skills
Mother tongue: Swedish
Fluency: English, Norwegian
Upper intermediate: German
Basic (currently studying): Somali
All but forgotten: Swahili
Latest publications
All publications
A Foreign Policy Actor of Importance? The Role of the Somali Diaspora in Shaping Norwegian Policy towards Somalia
Journal Article in Foreign Policy Analysis
How citizenship matters (or not): the citizenship–belonging nexus explored among residents in Oslo, Norway
Journal Article in Citizenship Studies
Insights from Migration Research at PRIO
PRIO Research Summary
Norsk-somaliere blir glemt i utenrikspolitikken
Popular Article in VG Meninger, 13 March
Isla-xisaabtanka Nidaamka Cashuuraha ee Somaliland
PRIO Policy Brief
Soldaten siktar rakt på mig
Popular Article in Dala-Demokraten
The right to pray does not have an age limit
Popular Article in EAPPI Blog
Accountability in the Taxation System in Somaliland
PRIO Policy Brief
The Somali Diaspora and Norwegian Foreign Policy
Master Thesis
Latest news
Successful PhD Defence by Ebba Tellander
Ebba Tellander defended her PhD successfully on 20 Septeber 2022 at the Erasmus Univeristy Rotterdam. The title of her thesis is: The Wind That Blows Before the Rain: Resistance against oppression in Northern Somalia in the 1980son 20 September 2022.
Congratulations from all at PRIO!
New Online Exhibition from the TRANSFORM Project
In societies at war or facing severe repression, what motivates individuals to take action for social justice when doing so involves great risk and uncertainty? How do such small but often heroic everyday acts of common people inspire larger transformations? And what is the impact of storytelling about everyday acts that challenge inequalities and injustices in places like Myanmar, Somaliland and Syria?
The TRANSFORM research team has grappled with these questions for four years, and you will find some answers in this online exhibition.
PRIO's Youth & Peacebuilding Research
Next Tuesday December 8th at 14.00 CET (Oslo time) we will have the PRIO Annual Peace Address, this time with young peacebuilders Hajer Sharief and Ilwad Elman.
On this occasion we wanted to highlight projects and research that focus on youth activism. We're sharing our work on young engagement in political change, because social movements that turn into positive societal transformation are not only initiated by people in power, but very often are initiated or inspired by youth trying to improve their communities. Here are some of the projects showing the importance of youth in peacebuilding.
New Comic on Resistance in Somaliland from PRIO
PRIO is proud to share a five-part comic based on the true story of the Uffo group made in collaboration with PositiveNegatives. Available in both English and Somali, these graphic narratives explore how brave actions by small groups of people can inspire collection action and societal change.
Call for Abstracts: ‘Political agency and moral action in times of war’
Successful conference on 'Storytelling about Diversity'
On 13 September, artists, academics, entrepreneurs and individuals working in the public sector and civil society came together to discuss the different stories that are told about diversity in Norway today.
Successful Kick-off Workshop for the TRANSFORM project
The TRANSFORM project had its kick-off workshop 1-2 June 2017.
The workshop functioned as the formal start of the TRANSFORM project.
The project researchers devloped a shared understanding of aims, research questions, methods, communication strategy and output.
The team members also defined each other's roles and responsibilities.
PRIO Leads New Project on Social Transformation in Conflict Settings
The project will focus on how individual deeds, in times of radical uncertainty and flux, inspire collective action or lead to new institutional practices in ways that determine the direction a society takes. The emphasis will lie on the small but often heroic everyday acts of common people who attempt to challenge dehumanizing trends of exclusion and abuse in violent conflict and civil war in Syria, Somalia and Myanmar.
Call for Abstracts: Asserting and Contesting ‘the good citizen’ Workshop
This workshop focuses on tensions and contestations in debates on what it means to be a good citizen and how lived experiences of citizens today challenge existing models of democracy. Call for abstracts - deadline 31 January 2017.
Seventh High-Level Seminar on Gender and Inclusive Mediation Processes
The first of a new series of High-Level Seminars on Gender and Inclusive Mediation Processes will be held in Oslo this autumn.
The seminar will be opened by Norway’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Børge Brende. He will be joined by Director of Policy and Meditation at the UN Department of Political Affairs (DPA) Teresa Whitfield, who will also be participating in the three-day seminar. Other participants will include high-level mediators, special envoys and mediation experts, including representatives from various UN agencies, national governments and international organizations as well as researchers and religious leaders.
Latest events
Stories from the Past - Inspiring the Future: Acts of Courage in Somali History and Today
Fighting for Social Justice
The Uffo Struggle for Justice: Creating Historical Comics on Resistance in Somaliland
Political Agency and Moral Action in Times of War
Ten Years of Migration Research at PRIO
Seventh High-Level Seminar on Gender and Inclusive Mediation Processes
