Jethro Norman
Biographic Data
| ID | 323700 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Jethro Norman |
| GIVEN NAMES | Jethro |
| FAMILY NAME | Norman |
| SIGNATURE | NORMAN J |
| AFFILIATIONS | Danish Institute for International Studies |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-8768-3558 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 9 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 11 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 9 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2022 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Isbaaro: Checkpoints and World Making beyond the State in Somalia
This article examines the dynamics of checkpoint authority in Somalia, focusing on how kinship, mobility and checkpoint practices intersect to shape political and social orders. Challenging the notion that checkpoint governance is either an expression of state‐like power or indicative of the state's absence, the authors argue that Somali checkpoints ( isbaaro ) must be understood in relation to the militarization and commercialization of clan‐bas…
The Paradox of Progress: Foreign Investments, Kinship, State-Building, and Conflict in Somaliland
This article explores the complex interplay between foreign investments, state-building, and kin-based political structures and conflict in Somaliland. While foreign investments are often viewed as mechanisms to bolster governance and foster economic development, they can also exacerbate existing socio-political tensions. We argue that this has been the case in Somaliland. By tracing the historical and structural shifts in Somaliland’s governance…
We Are All Netnographers Now? Fieldwork in an Age of Participatory Warfare
This article explores the ethical and practical challenges of conducting long-term ethnographic fieldwork in conflict zones in an era of widespread smartphone and social media use. It argues that digital technology not only transforms methodological approaches but also reshapes the nature of war itself. Drawing on insights from fieldwork in various conflict zones, including Somalia, Ukraine, and South Sudan, it asks: How does rapidly acquired dig…
The crisis in the palm of our hand
The rapid global proliferation of smartphones and their associated information infrastructures has been a defining feature of the past decade's global crises. Yet, while the digital is now a topic of keen interest for scholars working on virtually everything that constitutes the international, the smartphone as an object of study in and of itself has been largely elusive. Moreover, emerging studies of contemporary crisis, such as ‘polycrisis’, of…
Platform kinship and the reshaping of political order in the Somali territories
Numerous studies show that digital technologies facilitate diaspora engagement in homeland affairs. However, communities in home countries also adapt digital platforms to harness diasporic support and drive socio-political change. Despite a rich literature on ‘digital kinship’, there remains a limited understanding of kinship's broader political and developmental impact, especially in (post)conflict regions. This article draws on fieldwork in the…
Logistics, Politics and Berbera in the Eye of an International Storm
Un accord récemment signé entre l'Éthiopie et le Somaliland afin de développer le port de Berbera au Somaliland et d'y construire une base navale a réveillé d'anciennes tensions et craintes d'un conflit avec la Somalie. Cet article replace l'accord dans un contexte où l'on assiste à un accroissement des investissements dans les infrastructures et au développement conjoint de violences dans la Corne de l'Afrique. En tenant compte du rôle des ident…
Porous bunker: Private security contractors and the plasticity of Mogadishu’s international ‘green zone’
From Baghdad’s ‘Emerald City’ to Kabul’s ‘Kabubble’, international green zones have been characterized as ‘bunkerized’ and temporary. Despite efforts to make these spaces appear sealed, they are more porous than we assume. Drawing on fieldwork in Mogadishu and research with private security contractors, this article reconceptualizes international enclaves in terms of their inherent plasticity, moulded by the mobilities, intentions and bureaucraci…
Tensions of Modernity: Privilege, Precarity, and Colonial Nostalgia among European Security Contractors in East Africa
Private security work can be a brutal world of short-term contracts, exploitation, and under-regulation, where the imperative of profit is expected to trump collective notions of military brotherhood. Why then do so many demobilized soldiers turn to it as a vocation? While a rich body of work has revealed the vulnerabilities of demobilized military life, ethnographic investigations into how contractors experience and make sense of precarity are l…
Kinshipping’: Diasporic infrastructures of connectivity, circulation, and exchange
The crisis in the palm of our hand
The rapid global proliferation of smartphones and their associated information infrastructures has been a defining feature of the past decade's global crises. Yet, while the digital is now a topic of keen interest for scholars working on virtually everything that constitutes the international, the smartphone as an object of study in and of itself has been largely elusive. Moreover, emerging studies of contemporary crisis, such as ‘polycrisis’, of…
Platform kinship and the reshaping of political order in the Somali territories
Numerous studies show that digital technologies facilitate diaspora engagement in homeland affairs. However, communities in home countries also adapt digital platforms to harness diasporic support and drive socio-political change. Despite a rich literature on ‘digital kinship’, there remains a limited understanding of kinship's broader political and developmental impact, especially in (post)conflict regions. This article draws on fieldwork in the…
Tensions of Modernity: Privilege, Precarity, and Colonial Nostalgia among European Security Contractors in East Africa
Private security work can be a brutal world of short-term contracts, exploitation, and under-regulation, where the imperative of profit is expected to trump collective notions of military brotherhood. Why then do so many demobilized soldiers turn to it as a vocation? While a rich body of work has revealed the vulnerabilities of demobilized military life, ethnographic investigations into how contractors experience and make sense of precarity are l…
Kinshipping’: Diasporic infrastructures of connectivity, circulation, and exchange
Porous bunker: Private security contractors and the plasticity of Mogadishu’s international ‘green zone’
From Baghdad’s ‘Emerald City’ to Kabul’s ‘Kabubble’, international green zones have been characterized as ‘bunkerized’ and temporary. Despite efforts to make these spaces appear sealed, they are more porous than we assume. Drawing on fieldwork in Mogadishu and research with private security contractors, this article reconceptualizes international enclaves in terms of their inherent plasticity, moulded by the mobilities, intentions and bureaucraci…
Kinshipping’: Diasporic infrastructures of connectivity, circulation, and exchange
Porous bunker: Private security contractors and the plasticity of Mogadishu’s international ‘green zone’
From Baghdad’s ‘Emerald City’ to Kabul’s ‘Kabubble’, international green zones have been characterized as ‘bunkerized’ and temporary. Despite efforts to make these spaces appear sealed, they are more porous than we assume. Drawing on fieldwork in Mogadishu and research with private security contractors, this article reconceptualizes international enclaves in terms of their inherent plasticity, moulded by the mobilities, intentions and bureaucraci…
Tensions of Modernity: Privilege, Precarity, and Colonial Nostalgia among European Security Contractors in East Africa
Private security work can be a brutal world of short-term contracts, exploitation, and under-regulation, where the imperative of profit is expected to trump collective notions of military brotherhood. Why then do so many demobilized soldiers turn to it as a vocation? While a rich body of work has revealed the vulnerabilities of demobilized military life, ethnographic investigations into how contractors experience and make sense of precarity are l…
The crisis in the palm of our hand
The rapid global proliferation of smartphones and their associated information infrastructures has been a defining feature of the past decade's global crises. Yet, while the digital is now a topic of keen interest for scholars working on virtually everything that constitutes the international, the smartphone as an object of study in and of itself has been largely elusive. Moreover, emerging studies of contemporary crisis, such as ‘polycrisis’, of…
Platform kinship and the reshaping of political order in the Somali territories
Numerous studies show that digital technologies facilitate diaspora engagement in homeland affairs. However, communities in home countries also adapt digital platforms to harness diasporic support and drive socio-political change. Despite a rich literature on ‘digital kinship’, there remains a limited understanding of kinship's broader political and developmental impact, especially in (post)conflict regions. This article draws on fieldwork in the…
Logistics, Politics and Berbera in the Eye of an International Storm
Un accord récemment signé entre l'Éthiopie et le Somaliland afin de développer le port de Berbera au Somaliland et d'y construire une base navale a réveillé d'anciennes tensions et craintes d'un conflit avec la Somalie. Cet article replace l'accord dans un contexte où l'on assiste à un accroissement des investissements dans les infrastructures et au développement conjoint de violences dans la Corne de l'Afrique. En tenant compte du rôle des ident…
Isbaaro: Checkpoints and World Making beyond the State in Somalia
This article examines the dynamics of checkpoint authority in Somalia, focusing on how kinship, mobility and checkpoint practices intersect to shape political and social orders. Challenging the notion that checkpoint governance is either an expression of state‐like power or indicative of the state's absence, the authors argue that Somali checkpoints ( isbaaro ) must be understood in relation to the militarization and commercialization of clan‐bas…
The Paradox of Progress: Foreign Investments, Kinship, State-Building, and Conflict in Somaliland
This article explores the complex interplay between foreign investments, state-building, and kin-based political structures and conflict in Somaliland. While foreign investments are often viewed as mechanisms to bolster governance and foster economic development, they can also exacerbate existing socio-political tensions. We argue that this has been the case in Somaliland. By tracing the historical and structural shifts in Somaliland’s governance…
We Are All Netnographers Now? Fieldwork in an Age of Participatory Warfare
This article explores the ethical and practical challenges of conducting long-term ethnographic fieldwork in conflict zones in an era of widespread smartphone and social media use. It argues that digital technology not only transforms methodological approaches but also reshapes the nature of war itself. Drawing on insights from fieldwork in various conflict zones, including Somalia, Ukraine, and South Sudan, it asks: How does rapidly acquired dig…
Politics (5 works) · Political science (4 works) · Sociology (4 works) · Somali (4 works) · Business (3 works) · Global Maritime and Colonial Histories (3 works) · Kinship (3 works) · Law (3 works) · Law (3 works) · African history and culture studies (2 works)