helmsc
Department of Management, Society and Communication
- CBS Sustainability
- Centre for Business and Development Studies (CBDS)

I am a social anthropologist focusing broadly on processes of political and economic transformation, in particular in eastern Africa where I have been conducting research since 2009. My research has explored the sociality of markets and money; land and property; migration; and the temporal politics of development and planning. My current postdoctoral research focuses on tea production in Kenya as part of the SUSTEIN project, which examines how certified sustainability standards shape global supply chains. Here, I examine how ideas and practices of sustainability enacted through standards play out in sites of tea production, in particular plantations and their associated factories and outgrower farms. I hold bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Anthropology from the University of Manchester and the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS, University of London) and a PhD in African Studies from the University of Copenhagen.
- Economic anthropology
- Political anthropology
- Politics of sustainability
- Property rights and relations
- Value
At CBS, I have taught bachelor’s and master’s students in social and cultural theory, ethnographic research methods and critical approaches to circular economy, corporate sustainability and CSR.
I am interested in supervising Master’s and PhD projects examining the politics of sustainable development, corporate sustainability, CSR / corporate ethics, and circular economy.
In: Economic Anthropology, Vol. 9, No. 1, 1.2022, p. 112-124
In: Exertions: Society for the Anthropology of Work, 20.9.2021
In: Commodity Frontiers, Vol. 2, 2021, p. 16-23
In: Critique of Anthropology, Vol. 41, No. 3, 9.2021, p. 227-246
In: Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Vol. 26, No. 1, 2020, p. 202-203
In: Land, Investment and Politics: Reconfiguring Eastern Africa's Pastoral Drylands. . ed. /Jeremy Lind; Doris Okenwa; Ian Scoones. Woodbridge : James Currey 2020, p. 43-54
In: Mobile Urbanity: Somali Presence in Urban East Africa. . ed. /Neil Carrier; Tabea Scharrer. New York : Berghahn Books 2019, p. 97-117 (Integration and Conflict Studies, Vol. 20)
København : Teologisk Fakultet. Københavns Universitet 2018, 256 p.
København : Dansk Institut for Internationale Studier, DIIS 2018, 26 p. (DIIS Working Paper, No. 2018: 2)
In: The Corridor: How the East African Corridor Spanning the Indian Ocean from Somalia to South Africa is being Radically Reshaped. . ed. /Tau Tavengwa; Leonie Newhouse. Göttingen : Max-Planck-Institut für Gesellschaftsforschung 2017, p. 28-29
In: Journal of Eastern African Studies, Vol. 10, No. 3, 8.2016, p. 511-529
Nairobi : FSD Kenya 2014, 15 p. (FSD Insights, No. 8)
In: Displacement Economies in Africa: Paradoxes of Crisis and Creativity. . ed. /Amanda Hammar. London : Zed Books 2014, p. 127-144
In: Journal of Eastern African Studies, Vol. 6, No. 3, 2012, p. 383-404
Nairobi : FSD Kenya 2012, 46 p.
Firenze : European University Institute 2012, 38 p.
Frederiksberg : The Business of Society 27.11.2020
: The Business of Society 2020
Frederiksberg : SUSTEIN 8.1.2019
Frederiksberg : SUSTEIN 17.1.2019
8.1.2019
Frederiksberg : SUSTEIN 30.1.2019
Frederiksberg : SUSTEIN 15.2.2019
Currently no outside activities.