Julie Skovgaard Sommer von Würden

CV

Education and professional background

• MA in Educational Science (International Education and Development Studies), Faculty of Humanities, Department of Media, Cognition and Communication, University of Copenhagen.
• MA in African Studies, Faculty of Theology, Centre of African Studies, University of Copenhagen. 
• BA in Educational Science, Faculty of Humanities, Department of Media, Cognition and Communication, University of Copenhagen.     
• Press & Media employee (secretary) at the Department of Press & Media, Danish Red Cross, main office.                                       
• Employee at the Department of Communication (secretary), Danish Red Cross, main office.                                       
• Student Counsellor at the Faculty of Theology, Centre of African Studies, University of Copenhagen.                                               
• Student Counsellor (tutor) at the Faculty of Humanities, Department of Media, Cognition and Communication, University of Copenhagen.
• Member of the Religion in African Reading Group, Faculty of Theology, Centre of African Studies, University of Copenhagen. 
• Vice-chairman/student representative at the Study Board, Faculty of Theology, Centre of African Studies, University of Copenhagen.                                              

Languages

Danish (first language), English (C2), French (B2), German (B2), Swahili (B2), Arabic (A1)

Short presentation

I hold a MA in Educational Science and a MA in African Studies, University of Copenhagen. Currently, I am a PhD Fellow at the Centre of African Studies.

Research area

My main research interests is education and learning processes in African school institutions and the role of religion and culture in African education. My research draws upon inspirations from sociology of education, history of education, ethnography of education, curriculum sociology and classroom research. Central to my research are the relation between school, state, religion and culture and issues of identity politics, knowledge production and the production of youth in urban Zanzibar, Tanzania.

Current research

My current research addresses the educational content and the transformation of knowledge within state regulated schooling and more specifically within Islamic schools and secular schools in Zanzibar Town. With a focus on knowledge producing practices connected to young people and to the production of their identities, I use classroom observations, qualitative interviews, archive research and participant observations of students in their everyday life in order to explore how knowledge is “educationalized”. For instance, I look at how Islamic forms of knowledge become educational forms of knowledge and how educational forms of knowledge become Islamized.