Katrine Mellingen Bjerke
Associate Professor
NLA University College | Sandviken, Bergen
Publications
Competence
Katrine Mellingen Bjerke holds a PhD in Sociology. In 2020, she completed her PhD with the dissertation “Transnational Ageing in Place: The Case of Pakistani and Polish Older Migrants in Norway.” The dissertation examines the experience of growing old in Norway among people of Pakistani and Polish origin. Based on life history interviews and participant observation, the study explored issues related to encounters with the Norwegian welfare state through home-based care services, as well as questions of identity and belonging in the context of migration and ageing.
Katrine has published the article “Bodily Attachment to Place: The Case of Elderly Migrants in Norway” and the book chapter “‘Picking Fruit from Our Gardens’: Welfare Nationalism and Immigrants as a ‘Burden’” in the anthology “Multicultural Scenarios: Wall, Bridge or Boat,” edited by Sharam Alghasi and Thomas Hylland Eriksen.
Bjerke’s academic interests focus on questions of diversity and multiculturalism in contemporary Norway. Amongst other things, she has worked on issues of racism, representation, and boundary-making in Norwegian schools and education. In this context, she published the chapter “Mirrors, Windows and Sliding Doors: Picture Books as an Entry Point to Teaching Cultural Diversity in Social Studies” in the volume “Early Social Studies Education,” edited by Kari-Mette Walmann Hidle and Espen Helgesen. She is currently working on a project exploring the teaching of racism in higher education.
Katrine has published the article “Bodily Attachment to Place: The Case of Elderly Migrants in Norway” and the book chapter “‘Picking Fruit from Our Gardens’: Welfare Nationalism and Immigrants as a ‘Burden’” in the anthology “Multicultural Scenarios: Wall, Bridge or Boat,” edited by Sharam Alghasi and Thomas Hylland Eriksen.
Bjerke’s academic interests focus on questions of diversity and multiculturalism in contemporary Norway. Amongst other things, she has worked on issues of racism, representation, and boundary-making in Norwegian schools and education. In this context, she published the chapter “Mirrors, Windows and Sliding Doors: Picture Books as an Entry Point to Teaching Cultural Diversity in Social Studies” in the volume “Early Social Studies Education,” edited by Kari-Mette Walmann Hidle and Espen Helgesen. She is currently working on a project exploring the teaching of racism in higher education.
Intercultural encounters, diversity and inclusion
Research group in social studies
Research group in social studies
Bjerke’s primary teaching areas include multicultural Norway, professional practice in multicultural contexts, theories of power, inclusion and exclusion, multiculturalism, intersectionality, and racism. She also teaches courses on the philosophy of science and qualitative research methods. In addition, she supervises Bachelor's and Master's theses in the Primary and Lower Secondary Teacher Education Programme and in Intercultural Studies.