Sveinung Sandberg is a sociologist and professor at the Department of Criminology and Sociology of Law at the University of Oslo. His research focuses on processes of marginalisation, violence, masculinity, illegal drugs, radicalization and social movements, often using a narrative or discourse analytical approach.

Using insights from anthropology, psychology, literature studies and socio-linguistics, he has been central in paving the way for narrative theory and methods in sociological studies of crime and deviance. In his own empirical work he has used narrative analysis to study different phenomenon, such as binge drinking, illegal drug use, drug dealing and trafficking, street culture, parenting in prison, right-wing and jihadi terrorism and recently the developments of crime in Latin America during the Covid-19 pandemic. He has also been inspired by Pierre Bourdieu and attempted to synthesize this with narrative analysis in studies of crime.

The talk covers a range of examples from Prof. Sandberg’s work, including the case of Breivik, drug dealers, drinking stories, or coronavirus related crime in Latin America. The seminar will be moderated by Dr. Michał Wanke (Department of Cultural Studies, University of Opole). It is held in connection to the development of the Special Issue of Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy journal on ‘Cannabis Cultures and Cannabis Markets in Global Perspective’ guest edited by Prof. Sandberg, Dr. Wanke and their colleagues. The meeting will consist of a lecture and a discussion. Registered participants will receive access to Prof. Sandberg’s reading list for preparation prior to the seminar if they so wish. Any questions related to the seminar can be sent to Mr. Marcin Deutschmann (Department of Sociology and Social Work, University of Opole), the secretary of the Opole branch of the Polish Sociological Association at: marcin.deustschmann@uni.opole.pl.

Event brochure

 The seminar is a spinn off effect of the DAPY (dapy.org) Erasmus+ strategic partnership project.