What do a world –famous Swedish writer, a feminist theologian, a highly praised Norwegian leader and an oppositional from Zimbabwe have in common?

- They are all new recipients of honorary doctor degrees at the University of Oslo, an honour which is only to be received by an exclusive number of people every five years.

Only Three Women

Awarding honorary doctors is usually associated with a vast geographical dispersion, this time represented by thirteen names from eight different countries on three continents. However, there are only three women among the recipients despite the fact that Rector Arild Underdal initially advised the faculties to aim at creating a better gender balance.

Among the three female honorary doctors, there is the first person ever to come out of the University of Oslo itself with a degree in Medicine obtained back in 1963: former politician, representing the Norwegian political party Ap, Prime Minister and Director–General of WHO, Gro Harlem Brundtland (65).

The Faculty of Theology has awarded Dr. Wanda Deifelt from Brazil, renowned, and by certain people considered controversial for her efforts to promote feminist perspectives in Lutheran theology, among others as a co–writer of the academic work Good Sex. In 1998, she initiated a debate on homosexuality in the World Council of Churches (WCC) by the following statement: “All people reflect the divine image independent of class, race, caste, gender, age or sexual preference.”

The American linguist Joan L. Bybee is also among the female honorary doctors.

Great Swede

The Swedish writer Per Olov Enquist is possibly the most commonly known of the new honorary doctors at the University of Oslo. Enquist won the prestigious Nordic Council literary prize in 1968 and has ever since been recognised as one of Scandinavia` s greatest international writers. Furthermore, Enquist is considered to be an ample screen writer for both movie, television and theatre productions. And among his credentials are Jan Troell` s movies Il Capitano and Hamsun.

Another new Swedish honorary doctor is somewhat of a celebrity, at least among people in the academic limelight; the social anthropologist Ulf Hannerz is the writer behind Cultural Complexity, an almost paradigmatic work within contemporary sociological research. Hannerz is known for his studies of the tensions between global and local forces, and he often stresses the significance of urban subcultures in connection to the cultural winds of change in the twentieth century.

Hannerz is awarded an honorary doctor degree the same year as the University of Oslo is implementing its largest interdisciplinary research program so far: Cultural complexity in Modern Norway, led by Dr. Thomas Hylland Eriksen.

Political oppositional

The list of new honorary doctors also includes the highly topical Welshman Ncube, a Professor of Law at the University of Zimbabwe in Harare. In 1999, Ncube was appointed new Secretary General of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). And he has played an important role in the opposition against Robert Mugabe` s regime. MDC lost this spring` s Parliamentary Election, and election which has been influenced by substantial irregularities according to international observers.

The remaining honorary doctors at the University of Oslo include Professors Mads Bryde Andersen (Law), Jörn Thiede (Geology), Ole Fejerskov (Dentistry), Peter J. Hammond (Economics) and Yrjö Engeström (Teacher Education) in addition to the two American Nobel Prize winners Ben R. Mottelson (Physics 1975) and Peter Agre (Chemistry 2003).