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Dr Kari B. Jensen

Kari B.

Professor of Global Studies and Geography, Department of Global Studies and Geography, Hofstra University, United States

Email: kari.jensen@hofstra.edu

Profile

After completing her M.Phil. degree and Bachelor degree in Human Geography at the University of Oslo (Norway) and before starting her doctoral studies at Penn State, Dr. Jensen worked for the immigration authorities in Norway and for a non-governmental organization helping orphan children in Bangladesh get an education. She has conducted research in Bangladesh intermittently the last thirty years, focusing mostly on the lived experiences of children from low-income households, including their work and access to education, especially for children who are domestic workers for wealthier families in Dhaka. She has focused on the cultural context of children's relationship with employers and the prospects for increasing the children’s quality of life through access to public and semi-public spaces where they can develop their social network and seek help in case of neglect and abuse, and she has explored the work that governmental and non-governmental organizations do to help working children in general, and child domestic workers in particular. She has also done research with youth of the South Asian diaspora in Norway and the USA, focusing on their perceived advantages and disadvantages of being raised in a multi-cultural setting, and their negotiation of identity and cultural codes, as well as people's experiences with and viewpoints on colorism in Bangladesh and beyond. Her current research focuses on Rohingya children and youth's experiences as refugees in Bangladesh, and especially their challenges in terms of access to education and healthcare.

Research

Publications

Jensen, Kari B. 2020. “Colorism in Bangladeshi Society”. Focus on Geography, Vol. 63(2). (Peer reviewed, double-blinded.) http://www.focusongeography.org/publications/articles/bangladeshi/index.html

Jensen, Kari B. 2015. “Female Child Domestic Workers' Limited Agency: Working and Living in the Private Homes of Employers in Bangladesh”. In: Freeman, C. and Tranter, P. (eds) Risk, protection, provision and policy, Vol. 12 in Skelton, T. (editor-in-chief) Geographies of Children and Young People, Springer, Singapore. (Invited.)

Jensen, Kari B. 2015. “Learning Skills, Building Social Capital, and Getting an Education: Actual and Potential Advantages of Child Domestic Work in Bangladesh.” In: Abebe, T. and Waters, J. (eds) Work and education—labouring and learning, Vol. 10 in Skelton, T. (editor-in-chief) Geographies of Children and Young People, Springer, Singapore. (Invited.)

Jensen, Kari B. 2013. “Child slavery and the fish processing industry in Bangladesh”. Focus on Geography, Vol. 56 (2), pp. 54-65. (Peer reviewed, double-blinded.)

Jensen, Kari B. 2011. “It’s hard to balance it”: Cultural identity production among youth of the South Asian diaspora in metropolitan New York and Oslo”. The Middle States Geographer, Vol. 44, pp. 82-94. (Peer reviewed, double-blinded.)

Jensen, Kari B. 2007. “Opportunities for agency and social participation among child domestic workers in Bangladesh.” Children, Youth, and Environments, Vol. 17 (1), pp. 148-170. http://www.colorado.edu/journals/cye/ (Peer reviewed, double-blinded.)

Expertise

Child Labor discourses (especially focused on child domestic workers in Bangladesh). Young people's experiences growing up in multi-cultural families in the US and Norway. Colorism (discrimination based on skin tone) among Bangladeshi people in Bangladesh and North America. Qualitative Research Methodology: critical ethnography, participant observations, in-depth interviews, discourse analysis. Cultural Geography. Geography of South Asia. Engaged teaching about social justice issues, especially pertaining to children, youth and low-income people.
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