Distinguished alumna 2012 Birgit Storgaard Madsen

THE FIRST LADY OF ANTHROPOLOGY

She was the first Danish anthropologist to join the Danish diplomatic corps, where she worked with development in Africa and India for many years. Birgit Storgaard Madsen, MA in anthropology and former Danish ambassador, has been named 2012 Aarhus University Distinguished Alumnus.

Ms Birgit Storgaard Madsen, the first person to graduate from Aarhus University with a Master’s degree in anthropology, is this year’s distinguished alumnus. She was also the first anthropologist to become a Danish ambassador: from 1994 to 2003, Dr Madsen was ambassador to a number of countries, including Ghana, India and Tanzania. In addition, she has held numerous key positions in the field of development work and development aid. Birgit Storgaard Madsen had no idea that her career path would take her to the world of international diplomacy when she began reading ethnography at AU in 1962 together with three other students. By the time she had finished her degree in 1969, interest in the field had exploded: now there were 300 ethnography students, and Birgit Storgaard Madsen was hired as assistant professor. But fieldwork had previously taken her to Africa, and she felt drawn to return. In 1971 she moved to Tanzania to participate in a major interdisciplinary research programme on the concept of ujamaa, which had been proclaimed the basis of so-called African socialism. Birgit Storgaard Madsen felt that she was truly in her element here. ’Fundamentally, I am quite preoccupied with how research can be applied in practice,’ she explains.

Anthropology in play

Since the early 70s, Ms Madsen has worked with development and development aid, for example in Danida, as an official in the Mnistry of Foreign Affairs and as ambassador in Africa and India. In all of these roles, she has drawn on the knowledge she gained from her studies at Aarhus University – whether in establishing new infrastructure, the optimisation of agriculture or new initiatives in the healthcare sector. ’The core expertise of anthropologists is knowledge about different cultures and societies and methods for analysing and evaluating the individual aspects of a society as a totality and in a larger context. This is absolutely necessary when working with development aid. Taking our own models and trying to impose them on another culture often goes wrong. The more you involve people in the changes that are going to take place, the better are the results you get. Though this sounds banal, it hasn’t been entirely straightforward to carry out in practice,’ she says.

Dialogue through cultural encounters

Throughout her career, Ms Madsen has focussed on working with culture, both as a communicator and a builder of bridges between people with different cultural backgrounds. ’The better we understand each other, the stronger our cooperation can become,’ she explains. Dr Madsen has contributed to a more nuanced perception of Africa as other and more than hunger, war and misery, and to raising awareness of Africa’s strong, creative and dynamic forces – for example, through establishing dialogue between Danish and African artists, artisans and journalists. ’We owe these positive forces in Africa that they’re not constantly represented as people who aren’t capable of doing anything themselves. And we owe our partners, both in Africa and elsewhere, a chance to get to know us as something more and other than simply aid donors. Culture and dialogue are good tools for achieving this,’ Birgit Storgaard Madsen explains. Now retired, Ms Madsen follows developments at AU closely from her home in Copenhagen. And she is pleased with the development of the programme she was involved in establishing. ’I’m pleased to see that the programme has had such success. Anthropology has founds its place, for example in the private sector, where businesses need knowledge in connection with activities such establishing divisions in alien cultures. Anthropology has a lot to contribute in a globalised world and in a multiethnic society.’