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ConFront’s research team is now in place

Six months after the start of the project Contested Frontiers (ConFront), the project’s research team is now in place.

Photo of ConFront team
Photo:
Magnus Buseth Danielsen

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The principal investigator of ConFront is Dr. Aaron John Spitzer, an associate professor in the Department of Comparative Politics at the University of Bergen. With the launch of the project in May 2024, his first major task was to recruit an interdisciplinary team of scholars to help implement the project.

The first new team member hired was postdoctoral researcher Dr. Ragnhild Nilsson. A South Sami woman from Sweden, Nilsson earned her PhD in Political Science at the University of Stockholm. She now holds an assistant professorship at Mid-Sweden University in Östersund. Her postdoctoral research with ConFront will explore the organization and implementation of Sami self-determination.

The next team member hired was PhD candidate Anja Christine Rørnes Tucker. An American/Norwegian dual citizen, Tucker is from Bergen and earned both her BA and MA at the Department of Comparative Politics at the University of Bergen. Her PhD research will focus on the contested nature of citizenship and representation in US “insular territories” (e.g., Guam, American Samoa) and related jurisdictions.

The third and final team member hired was PhD candidate Andrew Newman. An American, Newman earned his BA in Economics and Sociology at Trinity College, Dublin, and his MA in Political, Legal, and Economic Philosophy at the University of Bern. His PhD research will explore normative justifications regarding Indigenous ownership and/or authority over coastal waters and traditionally used waterways.

ConFront’s next major milestone will be hosting an international, interdisciplinary workshop focusing on “Borderlands constitutionalism in settler states.” The workshop will convene political scientists, normative political theorists, and constitutional law scholars from the Nordic states, the United States, Canada, and Australia. The workshop’s keynote speaker will be Native American constitutional law professor Maggie Blackhawk. The workshop will take place in Bergen on May 13-14, 2025.

Housed at the Department of Comparative Politics at the University of Bergen, the ConFront project runs until April 2029. It is funded by a €1.544-million Starter Grant from the European Research Council.