Jan Christian Brøgger (January 13, 1936 in

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– February 28, 2006 in

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) was a Norwegian

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

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 ...

and a clinical

psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and interpretation of how indi ...

. He was one of the most well-known Norwegian academics of his generation. He first worked together with the internationally more notable Fredrik Barth at the University of Bergen. Brøgger later travelled to

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where he studied under Victor Turner. He received his

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in 1970 at the University of Oslo. From 1969 to 1974 he was curator at the Ethnographic museum of Oslo. Jan Brøgger became full professor in social anthropology at the University of Trondheim (later NTNU) in 1975, a position he held until he died in 2006. He was also dean of studies at the Faculty of humanities at NTNU. He did fieldwork in

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, the

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

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, and

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. Jan Brøgger was probably most known as an active participant in the Norwegian

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for several decades. He was a popular lecturer and regular columnist in national newspapers. His initial notability was due to his strongly anti-Communist/anti-radical stance in a university environment where this was unconventional, with several books (in Norwegian only ) published. Brøgger also published on a variety of topics.

Selected publications

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Brogger, Jan 1936 births 2006 deaths Norwegian anthropologists Norwegian psychologists University of Oslo alumni Academic staff of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology 20th-century anthropologists 20th-century psychologists