Niklas Hultin

Associate Professor

West Africa, Scandinavia, human rights, security studies, small arms, conflict prevention/early warning, dis/misinformation, anthropology.

My research sits at the intersection of anthropology, law, history, and international relations and focuses on contemporary security practices in West Africa. Most of my research has been conducted in The Gambia, with additional research carried out in Liberia, Nigeria, and Senegal. My first book, Domestic Gun Control and International Small Arms Control in Africa, uses The Gambia as a case study to examine the globalization/regionalization of small arms control norms (including is historical connections to colonialism); the socio-culturally specific meanings of guns and gun control in this West African contexts; the efficacy and composition of national small arms control bodies in West Africa; and more broadly, the intersection between guns and the pluralization of law and law-like enforcement mechanisms common in developing countries.

I have also published on a wide range of Gambian issues, including migration, freedom of expression, and the politics of information. I have consulted on Gambian issues for a range of organizations such as the World Bank, the French government, and Transparency International. I have also been an expert witness in a number of Gambia-related legal proceedings (ranging from asylum cases to alleged human rights violations by Gambian officials) in the US, Canada, Sweden, United Kingdom, and Germany, and been interviewed by media outlets from the US, Switzerland, Sweden, Congo, France, Belgium, and elsewhere.

My research in Liberia, which I began while on leave from Mason to work for the Folke Bernadotte Academy, Sweden's government agency for peace, security and development, examines conflict early warning systems, with the aim to elucidate the political economy of early warning in the Liberian context and the possibilities of crowdsourced/human dependent forecasting systems, and the adoption of new technologies by such systems. In 2024, I was invited to participate with experts from industry, civil society, and academy in an ad hoc working group on developing an index (forecasting) for African political transitions convened by the UNDP Nordic Office.

Outside of West Africa, I have also carried out research in the United Kingdom and Sweden—most recently, I received a small grant from the American-Scandinavian Foundation for a project on Covid-19 misinformation in Sweden.

I am currently researching training programs accompanying international arms transfers, with a focus on arms transfers to Africa and to Ukraine (from Sweden specifically). I am also working on two book projects: one on the anthropology of guns and a second one on The Gambia under Yahya Jammeh (1994-2017).

My research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the Isaac Newton Trust at the University of Cambridge, and the American Scandinavian Foundation. Prior to Mason, I held teaching or research appointments at University of Virginia, Cambridge University, University of The Gambia, and Swarthmore College.

At Mason, I have taught a variety of courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels. My special topics teaching has focused on human security and international development. I have also led study abroad programs at both the graduate and undergraduate levels to Sweden and The Gambia.

Click here for a short video on Dr. Hultin's research and teaching.

Selected Publications

2022. Domestic Gun Control and International Small Arms Control in Africa. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan

2020. “Anticipatory Tribalism: Accusatory Politics in the New Gambia.” Journal of Modern African Studies 58(2): 257-279. [co-authored with Tone Sommerfelt.]

2020. “Public, Private, and the Politics of Information in Late Colonial Gambia,” in Private Lives, Public Histories: An Ethnohistory of the Intimate Past. Rachel Corr and Jacqueline Fewkes, eds. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.

2020. “Responding to the Backway: Migration in the Gambia.” In Deadly Waters: Migrant Journeys across the Mediterranean. Veronica Fynn Bruey and Steven Bender, eds. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books [co-authored with Francisca Zanker.]

2020. “Waiting and Political Transitions: Anticipating the New Gambia.” Critical African Studies. DOI: 10.1080/21681392.2019.1697310

2019. “Human Flourishing and Conflict in African Human Rights Law.” In Law, Religion, and Human Flourishing in Africa. M. Christian Green, ed. Stellenbosch, South Africa: SUN MeDIA.

2017. “Bulletproofing: Small Arms, International Law, and Spiritual Security in The Gambia.”. In Politics and Policies in Upper Guinea Coast Societies. Change and Continuity. C. Højbjerg, J. Knörr, and W. P. Murphy, eds. New York: Palgrave

2017. “Autocracy, Migration, and Gambia's 'Unprecedented' 2016 Election.” African Affairs 116(463):321-340 [co-authored with Baba Jallow, Benjamin N. Lawrance, and Assan Sarr.]

2015. “Leaky Humanitarianism: The Anthropology of Small Arms Control in The Gambia.” American Ethnologist 42(1):68-80.

2014. “Law, Opacity, and Information in Urban Gambia.” Social Analysis 57(3):42-57.

Courses Taught

GLOA 101
GLOA 387
GLOA 400
GLOA 450
GLOA 480
GLOA 491/492 (GLOA Honors sequence)
GLOA 599
GLOA 600
GLOA 620
GLOA 710
GLOA 720

Education

PhD, University of Pennsylvania (anthropology)

LLM, Queen's University Belfast (human rights law)

BA, University of the South–Sewanee (history and anthropology)