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Photo of Isabelle Johansson.
På svenska

Isabelle Johansson

Doctoral student

På svenska
Photo of Isabelle Johansson.
Contact details
Organisation
  • Social Anthropology
  • Service point: 31
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Doctoral Student

Social Anthropology

Main Research Interests

  • Sexuality
  • Migration
  • Rights
  • Social Norms & The Regulation of Behaviour
  • Qualitative Methods

Current Reserach & Teaching

Isabelle Johansson is a PhD Candidate in Social Anthropology at Lund University. At the moment, Isabelle is teaching the course "Social Anthropology and Contemporary Swedish Society (SASA23)" and supervising students in their thesis projects. She also lectures in criminology and sociology at Kristianstad University. Her dissertation “In My Secret Life – Longing, Love and Loneliness in Paid Sex” looks at paid sexual relations from the client perspective, drawing on interviews and many years of contact with Swedish men who pay for sex. In addition to sex trade related issues, her research interests include sexuality and social norms more broadly, as well as topics such as rights, migration and human trafficking. Isabelle has been involved in several EU-funded research projects on human trafficking. Her dissertation grew out of the project ”Demand-side Measure Against Trafficking" (DemandAT) - an interdisciplinary project that examined the role of demand in relation to human trafficking and measures focusing on the demand side of human trafficking.Together with Petra Östergren, Isabelle conducted a comparative study of prostitution policy in Sweden, Germany and New Zealand.The purpose was to understand how these countries viewed the demand for sexual services and human trafficking for sexual purposes.The study was based on policy analysis and interviews with key actors.Another part of the Swedish study consisted of interviews with men who had paid for sex.

Learn more about the project DemandAT

Currently, Isabelle is involved in the project “INSigHT – Building capacity to deal with human trafficking and transit routes in Nigeria, Italy, Sweden”. The project examines what the anti-trafficking systems look like in the three countries.Cross-border cooperation between actors working with the issue is also in focus.The project aims to strengthen the transnational collaboration and increase the capacity of local actors to deal with human trafficking.

Learn more about INSigHT

Isabelle has also worked as a consultant on trafficking in persons and policies at the United Nation’s Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Vienna, where she developed a global database compiling information on how different countries work with human trafficking.

Isabelle has received a post-graduate scholarship for research on the Swedish anti-trafficking system at the Iuav University of Venice.

Isabelle was awarded the MIM Master Essay award for her master's thesis "Swedish Anti-Trafficking Policy: Official Framework and Local Practices". She has also received stipends from the Centre for European Studies Stipend at Lund University and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).

Publications

  • Johansson, I. & Östergren, P. forthcoming. Vem avgör? Om ansvar och brottsförebyggande åtgärder när sexköp är olagligt. Antologi om sex mot ersättning - presentation av forskning om sex mot ersättning i svensk kontext. Studentlitteratur.
  • Hansen, M. A., Johansson, I. 2021. Predicting Attitudes Towards Transactional Sex: The Interactive Relationship Between Gender and Attitudes on Sexual Behaviour. Sexuality Research and Social Policy. Published online by Springer, 20 January 2021.
  • Hansen, M. A., Johansson, I., Sadowski, K., Blaszcynski, J. & Meyer, S. 2020. The Partisan Impact on Local Government Dissemination of COVID-19 Information: Assessing U.S. County Government Websites. Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique. Preview published online by Cambridge University Press, 12 October 2020.
  • Johansson, I. 2014. Swedish Anti-Trafficking Policy: Official Framework and Local Practices. MIM Working Paper Series 14:5.
  • Johansson, I. 2014. ”Particularly distressing circumstances”. Regularisations and Employment in Sweden. REGANE Assessment Report. ICMPD.

 

Publications

Displaying of publications. Sorted by year, then title.

Bakgrund

I became interested in research on the trade in sexual services during the time I worked with sex workers in Italy, in a project aimed at securing the rights of sex workers, such as access to healthcare and information on immigration and prostitution legislation.  I value applied research and collaboration between researchers and other societal actors.  Among other things, I have worked as a consultant for human trafficking policies at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).  I have a bachelor's degree in social anthropology from Lund University and a master's degree in International Migration & Ethnic Relations from Malmö University.

27 Mar 2023