Noomi Matthiesen
Biographic Data
| ID | 130037 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Noomi Matthiesen |
| GIVEN NAMES | Noomi |
| FAMILY NAME | Matthiesen |
| SIGNATURE | MATTHIESEN N |
| AFFILIATIONS | Aalborg University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-0357-1952 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 14 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 24 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 14 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2015 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Child as Method
This interview is a slightly modified transcript from the fifth Psyche Talk, hosted at the Department of Communication and Psychology at Aalborg University, October 22, 2025. Psyche Talks are hosted as biannual events, where prominent psychological researchers are invited to discuss fundamental questions about the nature and subject matter of psychology through an interview-based format. The focus of this interview is on Child as Method and how i…
Windows of (Dis) Trust
Based on the Danish philosopher Knud Ejlar Løgstrup’s understanding of trust as a spontaneous and sovereign expression of life, we argue that trust is a radically relational phenomenon that manifests itself in a situated manner between people. Distrust arises when our trust is betrayed, either because the other does not live up to our expectations or in some other way raises suspicion that trust may potentially be betrayed. Distrust is thus the n…
Situated Psychology
This article—and this special issue—focuses on situated psychology. The purpose of this article is to provide a brief theoretical outline of what situated psychology is. If the reader wonders why they are not immediately familiar with the term ‘situated psychology,’ there is a simple explanation: it is a new concept (except for Phillip Cushman’s argument that psychology should be “historically situated” (Cushman, 1990). However, despite the novel…
Special Issue
Parents as psychological coaches
In this article, we argue that contemporary parenting ideals are characterised by labour-intensive introspective emotional work akin to the techniques used by psychological coaches. We situate these ideals of contemporary parenting in an emotionalized culture that focuses on the production of happy, thriving children that is simultaneously linked to the production of moral subjectivities. We analyse examples from contemporary Danish parenting lit…
The Politics of Parenting
This special issue addresses questions of how the practices of (welfare) state practitioners and policy makers (trans)form the lives of families. The aim is to illuminate how social policies and educational institutions influence parents’ hope for the wellbeing and future success of their children through new forms of audit culture and policies of early interventions. We invited contributions that explore how politicized ideals, norms and practic…
The Trust Imperative
This article develops a conceptual framework of the dynamics of trust between parents and professionals in early childhood education and care. In contemporary Western society, the heightened risk awareness with respect to early childhood has led to an increased focus on the collaboration between home and daycare. Mutual trust is a core aspect of this collaboration, resulting in a trust imperative. Drawing on Knud Eilar Løgstrup, Noomi Matthiesen,…
Encountering the stranger
It is a notion often taken for granted in contemporary Western everyday life that there is an intimate connection between empathy and moral action. Yet, in recent years, this connection has come under scrutiny. In this article, we first ask the question, “What is empathy?” A brief survey of the psychological and philosophical approaches to the notion of empathy shows that it remains a highly contested concept. The field has a propensity to discus…
A question of access
This article takes a closer look at the issue of access by describing the author’s process of access during an ethnographic study on the home–school collaboration between Somali diaspora mothers and teachers in Danish public schools. The article is structured around metaphors of the field and unfolds as a progressive narrative of these metaphors; field as landscape, field as labyrinth, field as marketplace and field as coming to be. It is argued …
Control and Responsibility
Mom, Dad, and the Research Object
Doing research into the everyday lives of one's own children allows for a unique in-depth insight into the complexities of educational life. This article discusses the ethical dilemmas of this kind of research including issues of power, consent, emotional involvement, objectivity, and researcher positioning, arguing that research is always a risk-filled endeavor requiring vigilant ethical astuteness and moment-to-moment judgments, which are parti…
Working together in a deficit logic
Drawing on discursive psychology this article examines the understandings teachers and principals in Danish Public Schools have regarding Somali diaspora parenting practices. Furthermore, the article investigates what these understandings mean in interaction with children in the classrooms and with parents in home–school communication. It is argued that in a society with increased focus on parental responsibility the teachers and principals draw …
Methods of materiality
This article challenges the hegemonic status of “language” as the primary substance of qualitative research in psychology, whether through interviews or recordings of naturally occurring talk. It thereby questions the overt focus on analyzing linguistic “meaning.” Instead, it is suggested that researchers should start paying attention to the material world (consisting of both human bodies and material objects) and what it means for how people liv…
Understanding silence
This article questions the dominant understanding that immigrant and refugee parents in parent–teacher conferences are silent because they come from a culture where one does not question the authority of the teacher. Instead, it is argued that they become silent through certain interactional processes. Building on material from an explorative case study of the home–school relations of Somali diaspora families in Danish public schools, the article…
Working together in a deficit logic
Drawing on discursive psychology this article examines the understandings teachers and principals in Danish Public Schools have regarding Somali diaspora parenting practices. Furthermore, the article investigates what these understandings mean in interaction with children in the classrooms and with parents in home–school communication. It is argued that in a society with increased focus on parental responsibility the teachers and principals draw …
Understanding silence
This article questions the dominant understanding that immigrant and refugee parents in parent–teacher conferences are silent because they come from a culture where one does not question the authority of the teacher. Instead, it is argued that they become silent through certain interactional processes. Building on material from an explorative case study of the home–school relations of Somali diaspora families in Danish public schools, the article…
A question of access
This article takes a closer look at the issue of access by describing the author’s process of access during an ethnographic study on the home–school collaboration between Somali diaspora mothers and teachers in Danish public schools. The article is structured around metaphors of the field and unfolds as a progressive narrative of these metaphors; field as landscape, field as labyrinth, field as marketplace and field as coming to be. It is argued …
Methods of materiality
This article challenges the hegemonic status of “language” as the primary substance of qualitative research in psychology, whether through interviews or recordings of naturally occurring talk. It thereby questions the overt focus on analyzing linguistic “meaning.” Instead, it is suggested that researchers should start paying attention to the material world (consisting of both human bodies and material objects) and what it means for how people liv…
Situated Psychology
This article—and this special issue—focuses on situated psychology. The purpose of this article is to provide a brief theoretical outline of what situated psychology is. If the reader wonders why they are not immediately familiar with the term ‘situated psychology,’ there is a simple explanation: it is a new concept (except for Phillip Cushman’s argument that psychology should be “historically situated” (Cushman, 1990). However, despite the novel…
Control and Responsibility
Methods of materiality
This article challenges the hegemonic status of “language” as the primary substance of qualitative research in psychology, whether through interviews or recordings of naturally occurring talk. It thereby questions the overt focus on analyzing linguistic “meaning.” Instead, it is suggested that researchers should start paying attention to the material world (consisting of both human bodies and material objects) and what it means for how people liv…
Understanding silence
This article questions the dominant understanding that immigrant and refugee parents in parent–teacher conferences are silent because they come from a culture where one does not question the authority of the teacher. Instead, it is argued that they become silent through certain interactional processes. Building on material from an explorative case study of the home–school relations of Somali diaspora families in Danish public schools, the article…
Working together in a deficit logic
Drawing on discursive psychology this article examines the understandings teachers and principals in Danish Public Schools have regarding Somali diaspora parenting practices. Furthermore, the article investigates what these understandings mean in interaction with children in the classrooms and with parents in home–school communication. It is argued that in a society with increased focus on parental responsibility the teachers and principals draw …
A question of access
This article takes a closer look at the issue of access by describing the author’s process of access during an ethnographic study on the home–school collaboration between Somali diaspora mothers and teachers in Danish public schools. The article is structured around metaphors of the field and unfolds as a progressive narrative of these metaphors; field as landscape, field as labyrinth, field as marketplace and field as coming to be. It is argued …
Control and Responsibility
Mom, Dad, and the Research Object
Doing research into the everyday lives of one's own children allows for a unique in-depth insight into the complexities of educational life. This article discusses the ethical dilemmas of this kind of research including issues of power, consent, emotional involvement, objectivity, and researcher positioning, arguing that research is always a risk-filled endeavor requiring vigilant ethical astuteness and moment-to-moment judgments, which are parti…
Encountering the stranger
It is a notion often taken for granted in contemporary Western everyday life that there is an intimate connection between empathy and moral action. Yet, in recent years, this connection has come under scrutiny. In this article, we first ask the question, “What is empathy?” A brief survey of the psychological and philosophical approaches to the notion of empathy shows that it remains a highly contested concept. The field has a propensity to discus…
The Trust Imperative
This article develops a conceptual framework of the dynamics of trust between parents and professionals in early childhood education and care. In contemporary Western society, the heightened risk awareness with respect to early childhood has led to an increased focus on the collaboration between home and daycare. Mutual trust is a core aspect of this collaboration, resulting in a trust imperative. Drawing on Knud Eilar Løgstrup, Noomi Matthiesen,…
The Politics of Parenting
This special issue addresses questions of how the practices of (welfare) state practitioners and policy makers (trans)form the lives of families. The aim is to illuminate how social policies and educational institutions influence parents’ hope for the wellbeing and future success of their children through new forms of audit culture and policies of early interventions. We invited contributions that explore how politicized ideals, norms and practic…
Parents as psychological coaches
In this article, we argue that contemporary parenting ideals are characterised by labour-intensive introspective emotional work akin to the techniques used by psychological coaches. We situate these ideals of contemporary parenting in an emotionalized culture that focuses on the production of happy, thriving children that is simultaneously linked to the production of moral subjectivities. We analyse examples from contemporary Danish parenting lit…
Windows of (Dis) Trust
Based on the Danish philosopher Knud Ejlar Løgstrup’s understanding of trust as a spontaneous and sovereign expression of life, we argue that trust is a radically relational phenomenon that manifests itself in a situated manner between people. Distrust arises when our trust is betrayed, either because the other does not live up to our expectations or in some other way raises suspicion that trust may potentially be betrayed. Distrust is thus the n…
Situated Psychology
This article—and this special issue—focuses on situated psychology. The purpose of this article is to provide a brief theoretical outline of what situated psychology is. If the reader wonders why they are not immediately familiar with the term ‘situated psychology,’ there is a simple explanation: it is a new concept (except for Phillip Cushman’s argument that psychology should be “historically situated” (Cushman, 1990). However, despite the novel…
Special Issue
Child as Method
This interview is a slightly modified transcript from the fifth Psyche Talk, hosted at the Department of Communication and Psychology at Aalborg University, October 22, 2025. Psyche Talks are hosted as biannual events, where prominent psychological researchers are invited to discuss fundamental questions about the nature and subject matter of psychology through an interview-based format. The focus of this interview is on Child as Method and how i…
Sociology (11 works) · Psychology (9 works) · Epistemology (8 works) · Philosophy (5 works) · Social Psychology (5 works) · Early Childhood Education and Development (4 works) · Parental Involvement in Education (4 works) · Pedagogy (4 works) · Political science (4 works) · Artificial Intelligence (3 works)