Helle Rydström

Professor

Rydstrom is specialized in the anthropology of gender in Asia with a focus on Vietnam. She holds a MA in International Development Studies from Roskilde University, Denmark and a Ph.D. from the Institute of Thematic Research, Linköping University, Sweden. She has held positions, for instance, as Senior Lecturer in Social Anthropology, Linköping University; Senior Lecturer in Child and Youth Studies, Linköping University; and been a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in East and Southeast Asian Studies, Lund University.

Research

In her research, Rydstrom explores the entanglements between crisis, precariousness, and harm, and the ways in which resilience is practiced and coping strategies invented. 

She has published on gendered hierarchies, powers, (in)securities, and violences as informed by ideas about masculinities, femininities, and sexualities to unfold how these shape lifeworlds and livelihoods including in the aftermath of climate disasters, colonialism, conflicts, and wars. She has carried out fieldwork, for example, in India and Nepal but foremost anthropological fieldwork for longer periods in rural Vietnam (i.e., 1994-1995 and 2000-2001) and for shorter periods (i.e., 1-4 months) in urban and semi-urban Vietnam, central coastal Vietnam, and the industrial zones of northern Vietnam. 

Collaboration has included being a Visiting Scholar for example, at The Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality, New York University, USA; Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore; and the Department of Social Anthropology, The Max Planck Institute, Germany. In Vietnam, Rydstrom has been affiliated, for instance, with the Institute for Family and Gender Studies, Hanoi and Department of Anthropology, Hanoi University. 

Projects and Publications

Rydstrom has been the PL/PI of many funded research projects in which colleagues at various career levels have participated. Examples of projects and related publications:

Project: Pufendorf Institute for Advanced Studies funded Research Theme on CRISIS. 

 Project publications, e.g.: Global Discourse Volume 12 Issue 3-4: Special Issue: Critical Explorations of Crisis: Politics, Precariousness, and Potentialities. Guest Edited by Helle Rydstrom, Mo Hamza, Thomas Gammeltoft-Hansen and Vanja Berggren (2022) (bristoluniversitypressdigital.com)

Project: Swedish Research Council (VR) funded project on Precariousness at Work in China, India, and Vietnam. 

 Project publications, e.g.:  "The 'Hardship' of Ordinary Crisis: Entanglements and Gendered Lives in Vietnam’s Industrial Zones". Global Discourse, vol. 12(3-4):540-558. 

Project: Swedish Research Council (VR) funded project on Climate Disasters and Gendered Violence in Asia (Pakistan, the Phillippines, and Vietnam). 

 Project publications, e.g.: Climate Hazards, Disasters, and Gender Ramifications - 1st Edition - C (routledge.com) 

Project: Swedish International Development Corporation (Sida) funded project on "Rural Families in Transitional Vietnam". With Vietnamese Academy of Social Sciences and Gothenburg University. Included in long-term capacity building program.

 Project publications, e.g.:Rural families in transitional Vietnam / edited by Trinh duy Luan, Helle Rydstrom and Wil Burghoorn - Catalogue | National Library of Australia (nla.gov.au)

Prizes and Awards

Research Award, Riksbankens Jubileumsfond (i.e. researcher recruitment funding).

Embodying Morality: Growing Up in Northern Rural Vietnam (2003) University of Hawai'i Press, Nominated for the Harry J. Benda Prize, American Association of Asian Studies (AAS), USA.

Embodying Morality: Growing Up in Northern Rural Vietnam (2003) University of Hawai'i Press, Research Prize in Memoriam of Tamara K. Hareven, Faculty of Philosophy, Linkoping University, Sweden.

Outreach

Recent examples:

Film directed by Hà Lệ Diễm Doc Lounge pres. Children of The mist | Volontärbyrån (volontarbyran.org)

Thinking Together: The Politicized Body | Teaterhögskolan (lu.se)

Teaching

Ph.D.: The Philosophy of Science for the Social Sciences; Gendering the Classics.

MA: Gender, Global Development, and Postcolonialism; Fieldwork.

BA: Feminist Theory; Interdisciplinary Studies of Crisis (EduLab).