Tom Bratrud holds a PhD in social anthropology from University of Oslo (2018) and has previously worked at the University of Oslo, the University of South-Eastern Norway, and as a visiting fellow at the University of Sydney. He has conducted long-term ethnographic research in Vanuatu and Norway.

His research in Vanuatu, based on fieldwork since 2010, focuses on the intersection of religion, morality, and the politics of land. This work has resulted in the monograph Fire on the Island: Fear, Hope and a Christian Revival in Vanuatu. The book examines a startling child-led Christian revival movement that developed on Ahamb Island in 2014 as a social and ethical reform in the wake of enduring political disputes. However, the movement took a dramatic turn when two men, accused of being sorcerers responsible for many of the community’s problems, were murdered. The book’s main theoretical contribution concerns how fear and hope are powerful sentiments that work together to become a potent driving force for change, but where the outcome can easily escape the initiators' control. Other publications include articles on climate change and the question of relocation, the complexity of turning social values into practice, negotiations of kin boundaries in contexts of scarcity, how rituals may become disruptive and problematic, and the special issue Dependence in Oceania (co-edited with Keir Martin and Ingjerd Hoëm).

His research in Norway, starting in 2020, builds on two projects: 
Digital Everyday Lives in Rural Norway (2021-24, part of Private Lives, funded by The Research Council of Norway) examines the digitalization of rural Norway, particularly new forms of urban-rural mobility, farming, and reality formation in enmeshed online/offline worlds. Local Communities and Part-Time Residents in Rural Norway (2020-21, funded by The Falkenberg Foundation) examines relations between rural communities, second-home owners and the second-home industry. Publications from this work include articles on migration to different 'times', identity curation through outdoor activities and social media, navigating quests for individual distinction and egalitarian relations, and the special issues Digital Sociality: Reconfiguring the Public and Private in the Nordics (co-edited with Karen Waltorp) and (The) Home With and After Gullestad (co-edited with Tuva Beyer Broch).

Bratrud is convening the European Association for Social Anthropologists’ Future Anthropologies Network with Kari Dahlgren.

SANT 102: Social Life in a Global Perspective

Interview

• Bratrud, Tom (2025). Bondegårds-TV er populært. Hvordan endrer det bygda?. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2025). Doktorgradsavhandling resulterte i etterspurt lærebok: Nå kommer den i nytt opplag. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2024). Norsk «bygdetinder» tar av i utlandet. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2023). Morethanhumanmatters. An interview with Tom Bratrud.. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2023). Valdrisen Tom underviser i sosialantropologi og prøver å finne svar på den uakseptable oppførselen. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2021). Usikker på munnbind-reglene? Dette må du vite.. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2020). Hvorfor blir det krangel mellom fastboende og hytteeiere?. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2020). - Et gjensidig avhengighetsforhold. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2020). Går mot hyttesommer i Norge. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2020). - Et gjensigig avhengighetsforhold. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2018). Disputerte med guddommeliggjorte barn. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2015). Dette bør du ikke gi til jul. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2015). Black Friday. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2015). Stedstilhørighet og flytting by-land. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2015). Julegaver betyr mye for oss. (external link)

Academic article

• Bratrud, Tom (2025). Antropologiens fremtid med allestedsnærværende digital teknologi. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom; Waltorp, Karen (2024). Introduction: Digital Sociality across Public and Private Spheres . (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom; Waltorp, Karen (2024). Introduction: Digital Sociality across Public and Private Spheres. (external link)
• Broch, Tuva Beyer; Bratrud, Tom; Lien, Marianne Elisabeth et al. (2024). New forms of home blindness: Rethinking fieldwork methods in digitalized environments. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2024). Reluctant Kings of the Mountain: Belonging and Distinction through Context Control in Digitalised Rural Norway. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2024). Climate change in the Pacific and the question of relocation. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2021). Asserting Land, Estranging Kin: On Competing Relations of Dependence in Vanuatu. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2021). What is love? The complex relation between values and practice in Vanuatu. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom; Lien, Marianne Elisabeth (2021). Hytta, bygda og byen: Forhandling om tilhørighet i krisetid. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2020). Paradoxes of (In)security and Moral Regeneration in Vanuatu and Beyond. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2019). Fear and Hope in Vanuatu Pentecostalism. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2019). Ambiguity in a Charismatic Revival: Inverting Gender, Age and Power Relations in Vanuatu. (external link)
• Rangelov, Tihomir; Bratrud, Tom; Barbour, Julie (2019). Ahamb (Malekula, Vanuatu) – Language Context. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2013). Bisnis, risriskure, sosialitet - Melanesisk egalitet og pengebasert modernitet på Ahamb, Vanuatu. (external link)

Interview Journal

• Bratrud, Tom (2024). Overrasker: – Nordmenn er kjent for dette. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2024). Flyttet til Norge fra USA: – Kunne ikke tro det. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2024). Byfolket inntar bygda: «Det er ikke så rosenrødt her som det ser ut». (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2024). Forsker: Slik endrer byfolk bygda. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2024). Krigens avtrykk i Oslos gater. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2024). En tag, en plakat, en button. Slik kommer krigen til uttrykk i Oslo. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2024). En ny type innflyttere endrer bygda. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2024). Livsstilsmigrantene endrer bygdesamfunnet. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2024). Hvordan unngå flauser på julebordet? Vi spurte ekspertene.. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2023). Kastet fra seg 1.055 tonn søppel i Oslo: – Handler om oppdragelse. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2022). Så mange tror norskprodusert mat er tryggest. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2022). Livssyns-shopping til gravferden. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2022). Klemmekultur under press. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2022). Oslo-borgere tar byen sin i forsvar: – Vi har tilgang på fantastisk natur. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2021). Om gaven, i "Ukeslutt", NRK P2. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2021). Tom Cruise-effekten. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2021). Hvem er vi, og hvem vil vi være i framtida?. (external link)

Academic lecture

• Bratrud, Tom (2024). The Necessity of Studying the Digital in Anthropology. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2024). Den moderne norske bygda: Attraktiviteten, mulighetene, spenningene. (external link)
• Lien, Marianne Elisabeth; Bratrud, Tom (2023). Panel 3: Inscribing nature in digital worlds. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2023). Fear and hope: Complementary Drivers of Change in Vanuatu and Beyond. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2023). The Socio-Environmental Dynamics of a Climate Change Poster Child: Vulnerabilities and Creativities on a Vanuatu Island . (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2023). ‘Proper’ ethnographic fieldwork in the digital age: Ambitions, experiences and lessons from rural Norway. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2022). Private Lives: Co-creative Methods and/in the Digital Dimension. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2022). Digital Everyday Lives in Rural Norway. (external link)
• Lien, Marianne Elisabeth; Bratrud, Tom; Salinas, Cecilia G. (2022). Private Lives: Embedding Sociality at Digital 'Kitchen tables' . (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2022). A Sea of Possibilities or Not: The Necessity of Social Work for Accessing Waterways in Vanuatu. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2022). D2 Life: De-territorializing the Urban-Rural Divide in the Mountains of Norway. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2022). Status Work in Egalitarian Spaces: Bragging Posts from Nature in Norway. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2022). When God became Real on Ahamb: Spiritual Experience, Materiality and Persuasion in Vanuatu . (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2022). To Build or Not to Build: The Holiday Home Boom and Future Commons in Valdres, Norway. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2021). «Hvem er egentlig viktigst her?»:Forhandling om tilhørighet, definisjonsmakt og fremtid i hyttebygda Fjelldal . (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2021). Work from nature, save a community: The social grounds and implications of a tech co-working space in rural Norway. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2021). "Repliserbarhet" i kvalitativ forskning. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2021). Fra landsbystudier i Melanesia til den nordiske bygd: Muligheter og utfordringer med ‘den holistiske tilnærmingen’ i digitaliserte hverdagsliv. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2019). Fire on the Island. Fear, hope and a Christian revival movement in Vanuatu. (external link)

Article in business/trade/industry journal

• Bratrud, Tom (2024). By, bygd og mobilitet: Korleis kan framtidas bygdetilflytting sjå ut?. (external link)

Book review

• Bratrud, Tom (2024). Fijians in Transnational Pentecostal Networks. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2022). Like Fire: The Paliau Movement and Millenarianism in Melanesia. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2014). Review of Foodways and Empathy. Relatedness in a Ramu River Society, Papua New Guinea. (external link)

Academic chapter/article/Conference paper

• Bratrud, Tom (2024). The Exurban Timespace: Spatiotemporal Decompression among Urban-Rural Migrants in Norway. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2024). Becoming an Outdoors Person: Identity Transformation through Nature Activity and Social Media in Norway. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2024). Pentecostalisation as Social Reform: The Case of the 2014 Malekula Revival. (external link)
• Kolshus, Thorgeir; Bratrud, Tom (2022). Frihetsbalansen. (external link)
• Kolshus, Thorgeir; Bratrud, Tom (2022). Frihetsbalansen. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2021). The Sorcerer as Folk Devil in Contemporary Melanesia. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2017). Spiritual War: Revival, Child Prophesies, and a Battle Over Sorcery in Vanuatu. (external link)

Museum exhibition

• Salinas, Cecilia G.; Bratrud, Tom; Lien, Marianne Elisabeth et al. (2023). Privatlivets grenser: nye skillelinjer, nye samvær. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2023). Digitalisering av den norske bygda. (external link)
• Salinas, Cecilia G.; Bratrud, Tom; Lien, Marianne Elisabeth et al. (2022). Sosiale medier – privatlivets grenser rute. (external link)

Popular scientific lecture

• Bratrud, Tom (2023). Paradisresorts og åndelig krigføring i Vanuatu. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2023). Livet på en liten øy: Antropologisk forskning i Stillehavet. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2020). Frå Valdres til Vanuatu. (external link)

Popular scientific chapter/article

• Bratrud, Tom (2023). Om Markens grøde som lengsel og kulturelt symbol. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2023). Om bygdedyret, frykt, likhet og likeverd. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2023). ‘Det blir jo feil å selge også’: Følelser, tilknytning og hindre for overlating av småbruk. (external link)

Report

• Bratrud, Tom (2023). Fire on the Island: Fear, Hope and a Christian Revival in Vanuatu (Berghahn Blog post). (external link)

Lecture

• Bratrud, Tom (2022). Et liv med lunefull natur: Noen perspektiver fra Stillehavet. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2022). Fjellets verdi - for hva og hvem? Kryssende linjer av idyll og strid. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2022). Tilflytting til bygda: En erfaringsdeling til Etnedal. (external link)

Academic monograph

• Bratrud, Tom (2022). Fire on the Island: Fear, Hope and a Christian Revival in Vanuatu. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2018). The Salvesen Ami Dance: Custom, Christianity and Cultural Creativity in South Malekula, Vanuatu. (external link)

Programme management

• Lien, Marianne Elisabeth; Bratrud, Tom (2020). Hytta, korona og drømmen om å klare seg selv. (external link)

Documentary

• Bratrud, Tom (2018). Born blei kristna for å redde stillehavsøy frå moralsk krise. (external link)

Doctoral dissertation

• Bratrud, Tom (2018). Fire on the Island: The Transformative Power of a Christian Revival in Vanuatu. (external link)

Programme participation

• Bratrud, Tom (2018). The Prince Phillip Movement. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2018). Cargo-kultene i Stillehavet. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2018). Hva er en hvit elefant?. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2018). Når en vekkelse tar et samfunn. (external link)
• Bratrud, Tom (2015). Gaver - limet som holder oss sammen. (external link)

Academic anthology/Conference proceedings

• Gjøstein, Dagrun Kyte; Knutsen, Lene Vea; Bratrud, Tom et al. (2011). Betwixt & Between 2011. (external link)

See a complete overview of publications in Cristin.

Books
2022. Fire on the Island: Fear, Hope and a Christian Revival in Vanuatu. Oxford and New York: Berghahn Books. https://doi.org/10.3167/9781800734647

2018. The Salvesen Ami Dance: Custom, Christianity and Cultural Creativity in South Malekula, Vanuatu. Oslo: The Kon-Tiki Museum.

Edited volumes
2024. [co-edited with Karen Waltorp] Digital Sociality and Access: New Configurations of Public and Private in the Nordics. Anthropological Journal of European Cultures 33(2).

2021. [co-edited with Keir Martin and Ingjerd Hoëm] Dependence in Oceania (special issue). Oceania 91(2).

2020. [co-edited with Tuva Beyer Broch] (The) Home in and after Gullestad (special issue). Norwegian Anthropological Journal 31(1-2).

Articles
2024. [co-authored with Karen Waltorp] Introduction: Digital Sociality across Public and Private Spheres. Anthropological Journal of European Cultures 33(2): 1-24. https://doi.org/10.3167/ajec.2024.330202

2024. Reluctant Kings of the Mountain: Distinction and Inclusion through ‘Context Control’ in Digitalised Rural Norway. Anthropological Journal of European Cultures 33(2): 127-144. https://doi.org/10.3167/ajec.2024.330208

2024. Climate Change in the Pacific and the Question of Relocation. Human Organization 83(3). https://doi.org/10.1080/00187259.2024.2336011.

2024. [co-authored with Tuva Beyer Broch, Marianne E. Lien and Cecilia Salinas]  New Forms of Home Blindness: Rethinking Fieldwork Methods in Digitalized Environments. Ethnography 0(0): 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1177/14661381241266924

2021. What is Love? The Complex Relation between Values and Practice in Vanuatu. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 27(3): 461-477. DOI: 10.1111/1467-9655.13546.

2021. Asserting Land, Estranging Kin: On Competing Relations of Dependence in Vanuatu. Oceania 91(2): 280-295. DOI: 10.1002/ocea.5305

2021. [co-authored with Marianne E. Lien] The Cabin, the Village and the City: Negotiating Belonging in Times of Crisis. Norwegian Anthropological Journal 32(2): 55-71. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18261/issn.1504-2898-2021-02-02. 

2020. Paradoxes of (In)security and Moral Regeneration in Vanuatu and Beyond. Journal of Extreme Anthropology 4(1): 177-197. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5617/jea.7395. 

2019. Ambiguity in a Charismatic Revival: Inverting Gender, Age and Power Relations in Vanuatu. Ethnos: Journal of Anthropology 87(4): 713-731. DOI: 10.1080/00141844.2019.1696855.

2019. Fear and Hope in Vanuatu Pentecostalism. Paideuma: Mitteilungen zur Kulturkunde 65(1): 111-132. DOI: https://www.jstor.org/stable/26858307 

2019. [co-authored with Tihomir Rangelov and Julie Barbour] Ahamb (Malekula, Vanuatu) – Language Context. Language Documentation and Description 16(1): 86-126. DOI: 10.25894/ldd114

2013. Bisnis, Risriskure, Sociality: Melanesian Egality and Monetary Modernity on Ahamb, Vanuatu. Norwegian Anthropological Journal (24)2: 100-111. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18261/ISSN1504-2898-2013-02-03
 

Book chapters
2024. Becoming an Outdoors Person: Identity Transformation through Nature Activity and Social Media in Norway. In Simon K. Beames and Patrick T. Maher (eds.) Routledge Handbook of Mobile Technology, Social Media and the Outdoors. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003367536-19

2024. The Exurban Timespace: Spatiotemporal Decompression among Urban-Rural Migrants in Norway. In Astrid Marie Holand (ed.) Time in our Times: Stretching Contemporary Understandings of Time. Berlin: De Gruyter, 207-224. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111428970-009 

2024. Pentecostalisation as Social Reform in Vanuatu: The Case of the 2014 Malekula Revival. In Marie Durand, Monika Stern & Eric Wittersheim (eds). Le Vanuatu dans tous ses états: Histoire et anthropologie. Paris: Presses de l'Inalco, 301-323.

2022. [co-authored with Thorgeir Kolshus] Frihetsbalansen. In Charlotte Lundgren (ed). Psykisk oppvekst: Barn og unges psykiske helse fra 0-25 år. Oslo: The Norwegian Council for Mental Health.

2021. The Sorcerer as Folk Devil in Contemporary Melanesia. In Martin Demant Frederiksen & Ida Harboe Knudsen (eds.). Modern Folk Devils: Contemporary Constructions of Evil. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press, 47–61. DOI: https://doi.org/10.33134/HUP-13-3. 

2017. Spiritual War: Revival, Child Prophecies, and a Battle over Sorcery in Vanuatu. In Knut M. Rio, Michelle MacCarthy & Ruy Blanes (eds). Pentecostalism and Witchcraft: Spiritual Warfare in Africa and Melanesia. Cham: Palgrave MacMillan, 211–233. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56068-7_9.

2021-24: Persistence and Change in Social Formations: Digital Everyday Lives in Rural Norway (SIKT project # 912121)

2023: Commoning and Privatization of Land in Norway and the South-Pacific (visiting scholar project, University of Sydney)

2020-22: Local Communities and Part-Time Residents in Rural Norway (SIKT project # 930504)