Gísli Pálsson is a Icelandic anthropologist, born in 1949 in

Vestmannaeyjar Vestmannaeyjar (, sometimes anglicized as Westman Islands) is a municipality and archipelago off the south coast of Iceland. The largest island, Heimaey, has a population of 4,414, most of whom live in the archipelago's main town, Vestmannaeyja ...

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

. He was a professor of anthropology at the

University of Iceland The University of Iceland ( is, Háskóli Íslands ) is a public research university in Reykjavík, Iceland and the country's oldest and largest institution of higher education. Founded in 1911, it has grown steadily from a small civil servants' s ...

until his retirement in 2019. He is currently holding the

Professor Emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

title in the anthropology Department at the university of Iceland. Gísli has published works in the fields of

Social Anthropology Social anthropology is the study of patterns of behaviour in human societies and cultures. It is the dominant constituent of anthropology throughout the United Kingdom and much of Europe, where it is distinguished from cultural anthropology. In t ...

Environmental Anthropology Environmental anthropology is a sub-discipline of anthropology that examines the complex relationships between humans and the environments which they inhabit. This takes many shapes and forms, whether it be examining the hunting/gathering pattern ...

and

Molecular Anthropology Molecular anthropology, also known as genetic anthropology, is the study of how molecular biology has contributed to the understanding of human evolution. This field of anthropology examines evolutionary links between ancient and modern human popu ...

. Gísli's main focus in anthropology has been involving

Ethnography Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject o ...

, and more specifically, in the field of Genomic Anthropology.

Contributions

Genomic anthropology

Gísli is an anthropologist who focuses specifically on Genomic Anthropology. Genomic Anthropology is also referred to as

. According to Gísli, Genomic Anthropology is used "to denote a hybrid field that increasingly involves anthropologists in the fusion of the “social” and the “biological” in the wake of genomic studies." Genomic Anthropology is used in Anthropology as a way to expand the knowledge of the variations of Human genomes. Genomic Anthropology for anthropologists can be used to explain human variation and has been used in DNA profiling in forensics. Gísli work relating to Genomic Anthropology has been focusing on Inuit populations in Nunavut and Greenland, as well as Icelandic populations.

Academics

Gísli was a professor of anthropology at the

. He celebrated his retirement in 2019. His main field of focus in Anthropology was environmental and social anthropology. He is the author, editor, or co-editor of several books, including a biography of one of the first people of colour to live in Iceland,

Hans Jonatan Hans Jonatan (1784– 18 December 1827; also known as Hans Jonathan) was an escaped slave, soldier, farmer and trader. Following his participation in the Battle of Copenhagen (1801), Battle of Copenhagen, after which he was initially given his fr ...

Awards and fellowships

Gísli has been awarded a fellowship for the

Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland The Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland (RAI) is a long-established anthropological organisation, and Learned Society, with a global membership. Its remit includes all the component fields of anthropology, such as biolo ...

. He is also a Fellow of the European Association of Social Anthropology. Gísli was awarded the

Rosenstiel Award The Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award for Distinguished Work in Basic Medical Research is awarded by Brandeis University. It was established in 1971 "as an expression of the conviction that educational institutions have an important role to play in the en ...

in Oceanographic Science at the

Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science The Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science (RSMAS ) is the University of Miami's academic and research institution for the study of oceanography and atmospheric sciences. Founded in 1943, the University of Miami's Rosenstiel Schoo ...

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, incl ...

in 2000. He has been awarded th
Vinson Sutlive Book Prize in Historical Anthropology
which had been awarded to him by the

College of William and Mary The College of William & Mary (officially The College of William and Mary in Virginia, abbreviated as William & Mary, W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. Founded in 1693 by letters patent issued by King William III a ...

in 2018. He is a member (fellow) of the

. He is also a member of the European Association of Social Anthropology. He has been awarded th
Vinson Sutlive Book Prize in Historical Anthropology
which had been awarded to him by the

in 2018. He was a Scientific committee member for the

European Association of Social Anthropologists The European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA) is an organization of scholars in the field of anthropology founded in 1989. EASA serves as a major professional organization for social anthropologists working in Europe. It is supported by ...

for the 10th EASA Biennial Conference: Ljubljana, Slovenia in 2008.

References

External links

Palsson - The University of Manitoba Press
{{DEFAULTSORT:Palsson, Gisli 1949 births Living people Gisli Palsson Ethnographers Fellows of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland Gisli Palsson