Dr. Harri Englund

Biography

Harri Englund is a social anthropologist who focuses on obligations, rights, and justice within vernacular forms. His research spans fieldwork and archival studies in the religious, economic, legal, and political contexts of Africa, particularly concerning African-European relations. Englund earned his PhD in social anthropology from the University of Manchester in 1995 and has held research fellowships at the Nordic Africa Institute and the Academy of Finland before joining the University of Cambridge in 2004. He served as the Director of the University's Centre of African Studies from 2013 to 2017 and was elected to the British Academy in 2019. His research interests have evolved since the early 1990s, inspired by the wave of democratization across Africa. He examines liberal reformism, democracy, human rights, and moral obligations through fieldwork that includes interviews with refugees, smallholder farmers, activists, and various community figures. His longstanding commitment to African languages, specifically Chichewa, informs his research. Englund’s recent work utilizes archival research to explore the linguistic and spiritual contributions of 19th-century Scottish missionaries in Malawi, interrogating perspectives on race and equality during the British colonial era. Currently, he is developing a project on encounters between Finns and Africans in the early 20th century. Englund is also a co-editor of the International African Library book series, published by Cambridge University Press and the International African Institute.

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