Dear visitor and friend
Welcome to my blog, my virtual home, or – if you like – my official site.
Don’t be confused by the spelling of my name. I use Ăberg for work related to Denmark, where I was born, I live in Sweden since 1972 as Ăberg, and in my international life and on social media, I use Oberg.
I created this online home in 2008, and during the first 6 years published only texts in Danish and Swedish.
From July 2014, it is also in English and contains materials from my social media posts and debates, shorter articles and videos.
Naturally, what you find here is a reflection of the fact that I am a peace researcher/teacher and art photographer – and the two are connected to some extent.
In addition, I am citizen and may have things to say beyond those two professional fields.
So this blog is a diverse and integrated affair – the single best place to find out who I am and what I do. It does not, however, contain all I produce; for that, you must go to the various sites and social media where I publish myself.
Having lived the first good 20 years of my life in Denmark and, since 1972, in Lund, Sweden – I feel I have some roots there, but I see myself as a global citizen.
I was so very lucky to meet Christina Spännar in 1983, and we have been together ever since, and she is co-founder of TFF (1985). She had two children when we met, Joen (1968) and Matilda (1975). Joen is married to Charlotte, and they have three girls. Matilda married Magdalena Persson in 2014, and they have one boy. The family also includes the dog Mimi (2009).
My online presence is listed in the Sites menu – all the websites, social media, blogs etc., that I am responsible for concerning peace and photographics; it’s about 30 with various activity levels, but none neglected.
It goes without saying that I’d like to connect, be your friend or be part of your circles on social media. Click also on For you to see how you can make the best use of me.
Danish, born 1951, lives in Lund, Sweden, since 1971. Married to Christina Spännar, PhD in sociology, 2 children and 4 grandchildren. Two main life tracks: Academia and art.
Personal website, mainly in English, Danish and Swedish.
1. Peace and future researcherâ¨â¨
⢠PhD in sociology 1981 at Lund University, docent or associate professor in peace and conflict research 1989 at Lund University. Honorary doctorate (Doctor Honoris Causa) at the Buddhist Soka Gakkai University in Tokyo 1996.
⢠Co-founder and director of the independent TFF – The Transnational Foundation for Peace & Future Research (https://transnational.live) in Lund, Sweden, since 1985.
⢠Visiting professor for over 20 years in peace and conflict studies in Japan, Spain, Austria, and Switzerland, part-time over the years.
⢠3500 pages of published academic literature and more pages for public education, debate and newspaper columns and reviews. Several books in Danish, Swedish, English and other languages.
⢠Its mission is the UN Charter norm âpeace by peaceful meansâ and to abolish war. It works with empirical analysis, criticism and constructive peace ideas and plans. TFF is a network of 60 eminent peace scholars, media people, retired militaries, diplomats, psychologists and others.
⢠The foundation is exclusively people-financed, and receives no funds whatsoever from governments or corporations, thus doing free research in a true sense.
⢠It does theoretical work and publications but also on-the-ground activities aiming at conflict analysis, peace proposal-making, education, mediation and media commentary, e.g. in Somalia/Somaliland, all parts of former Yugoslavia, Georgia, Burundi, Iraq, Iran, Syria and China.
⢠Jan Oberg has received a number of awards for peace research and practice, and has been nominated over several years for the Nobel Peace Prize.
2. Art photographer
⢠Obergâs parents were collectors of now classical contemporary American and European art in the 1960s and 1970s, his father was also a gallerist. So he grew up with art and acquired his first camera at the age of 7 and assisted his father in the gallery and preserved the collection after his parentsâ death.
⢠In 2003, after his pictures from Iraq attracted at least as much attention as his writings from there – he decided to work with photography as a parallel activity.
⢠In 2009, he opened Oberg PhotoGraphics in Lund with his own studio and has held exhibitions there continuously. His main categories are art photography, abstract photography, documentary work from conflict zones (of hope, not of violence), collage, and more.
⢠In this field he is self-taught and constantly experimenting with techniques, mixed and print media.
⢠Youâll find categories of his art photography on his homepage.
⢠Jan Oberg is also a photo and art blogger writing about other artists’ works, and he uses Instagram and here his profile on Linkedin.
Main projects
In 2018 Obergâs two life tracks come together in a joint TFF/Oberg PhotoGraphics project called âSilk Peace Art Roadâ (SPAR) project which stretches from Shanghai to Venice along the new Silk Roads (Belt And Road Initiative, BRI) where he was invited by the Global Art Affairs Foundation to exhibit at Palazzo Mora in the context of the Venice Art Biennale 2019.
Velkommen til min blog
Bloggen hĂŠr er – sammen med de andre indslag hĂŠr – er mit virtuelle hjem. Jeg flyttede ind i det i forĂĽret 2008.
Jeg staver mit navn i relation til sted. Jeg bruger Ăberg i danske sammenhĂŚnge, da jeg er født dĂŠr, Ăberg for mit arbejde i Sverige hvor jeg har boet siden 1972 og Oberg i mit internationale liv, inkl pĂĽ sociale medier.
De første 6 ür var det en dansk-svensk sproget blog. Fra juli 2014 indeholder den ogsü engelske tekster samt poster fra en del af de sociale medier, jeg er pü.
Da jeg er fredsforsker/underviser og kunstfotograf handler det meste naturligis om de ting, men der findes skam ogsĂĽ mange andre temaer. Man er jo ogsĂĽ medborger og menneske pĂĽ andre mĂĽder end den professionelle.
De første godt 20 ĂĽr af mit liv boede jeg i Ă rhus – hvor jeg kom til verden – og i København, og fra 1972 har jeg boet i Lund i Sverige. Man kan sige at det er Danmark hvorfra min verden udgĂĽr. Mine andre lande er, indtil videre, Sverige, det tidligere Jugoslavien, Somalia, Japan, Burundi, Iran og Kina.
I 1983 var jeg sĂĽ utroligt heldig at møde Christina Spännar og vi har levet sammen lige siden og hun er medstifter af TFF – den Transnationale Stiftelse for Freds- og Fremtidsforskning (1985). Hun havde to børn, Joen (1968) og Matilda (1975). Joen er gift med Charlotte og de har tre piger. Matilda giftede sig i 2014 med Magdalena Persson og fik en søn i 2016. Familien omfatter ogsĂĽ hunden Mimi (2009).
Mere om mig hĂŠr. Du kan ogsĂĽ finde mig pĂĽ Facebook og andre sociale medier hvor vi naturligvis kan vĂŚre i kontakt med hinanden.
Da jeg fyldte 60 – den 13. januar 2011 – havde Sydsvenska Dagbladet et portrĂŚt, som jeg er nok sĂĽ fornøjet med.
Kig Dig omkring – god fornøjelse!
Lund 2008, last updated in May 2023, new design theme “Olsen”
Jeg har fundet din blog via artikel i Dagbladet Arbejderen 22/3-2011. Jeg har altid syntes, at du har nogle gode og kloge analyser omkring fredsarbejde.
Fin blog. Osse jeg fandt den i Arbejderen. Rigtig glad for at lĂŚse din dagbog om Libyen.
Mange tak for dine gode input her og der, som jeg har hørt og set.
Her er et link til en anden website med information om globalt fredsarbejde: http://www.tprf.org/
Hjerteligt tak, Maria!
[…] Jan Oberg, the creator of the SPAR installation, is an experienced peace and future researcher and peace studies professor as well as an art photographer. More about him here. […]