Research areas

Primary research areas

Nauja Kleist's research focuses on the linkages between mobility, belonging and socio-political engagement. Her research interests include diaspora engagement in humanitarianism and development; how migration is perceived, practiced and governed; and the role of hope and uncertainty in future-making.

Current research

Nauja Kleist analyses Somali diaspora engagement in humanitarianism and development in Somalia, with attention to mobility regimes, conflict, the international humanitarian system as well as gender and family relations, belonging and affect. Her research also explores the role of migration for local communities, migration as an imagined pathway for a better future,  including in situations of climate change, return migration and the politicization of these issues. Kleist works ethnographically, with expertise in multi-sited fieldwork and longitudinal studies. Theoretical focus on mobility and immobility, infrastructure, temporality, gender and belonging.

Projects

Nauja Kleist coordinates the collective research program Diaspora Humanitarianism in Complex Crises (D-Hum) with focus on Somalia and Somali diaspora groups. She was part of the Governing Climate Mobility (GCM) research program that explored links between climate change, mobility and governance in Ghana and Ethiopia. Nauja is affiliated with the Centre of Excellence MOBILE – Center of Excellence for Global Mobility Law as permanent visiting professor.