Thomas Fibiger has a PhD from Aarhus University in Anthropology and Ethnography, on “Engaging Pasts: Historicity and Political Imagination in Contemporary Bahrain” (2010). Since completing his PhD, he has worked partly in the Department of Anthropology and Ethnography at Aarhus, and partly at the Moesgaard Museum, where he recently co-curated the exhibition “On the Steppes of Djengis Khan: Nomads of Mongolia.” He has also taught in the program in Arab and Islamic Studies in the the Department for the Study of Religion.

Thomas Fibiger’s research during his PhD focused on the use of the past in contemporary political and religious imagination, and involved a study of the historical narratives of various religious and ethnic groups in Bahrain (Shia, Sunni, Arab, Persian, Indian), as well as an understanding of the political history and current political situation. He then did a postdoctoral project as part of the wider project on “Negotiating Authority in Contemporary ShiꜤite Thought and Practice,” headed by David Thurfjell at Södertörn Högskola (Stockholm). This involved fieldwork in Kuwait on Shia ideas of authority (marjaꜤiyya). He next participated in an Aarhus project on “Sectarianism in the Wake of the Arab Revolts,” headed by Morten Valbjørn (Political Science), together with other members of the ICSRU. His main project is now on the Bahraini diaspora in Denmark and London in connection with a project on “Mediatized Diaspora” headed by Ehab Galal at Copenhagen University.