Ruth Bjorkenwall
Assistant Academic Professional Lecturer

Biography:
Ruth Bjorkenwall, a sociologist, began her career as a police officer in Sweden before
earning her undergraduate degrees in journalism and peace-and-conflict studies in
Berkeley, California. Her Ph.D. candidacy at the University of California at Berkeley
focuses on social deviance and comparative police interrogations. Ruth Bjorkenwall
now studies extreme techniques of influence, global terrorism, and state emergency
responses. She regularly teaches a course on terrorism, torture, and truth but remains
focused on power, social structures, and agency, also researching labor migration,
state power, and the social safety net in the Nordic countries of Europe.