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Polynesian Kava-drinking and ceremonial "altered states of consciuosness"; Neoplatonic features in the texts of mediaeval mystics; Ismailism, Sufism, Zoroastrianism and Judaism in Central Asia; eschatology and funeral rituals; soul journeys and transgressions in different forms, identity issues, and nationalism, are areas that interest me.
At the Dept. of History of Religions, Stockholm Universty, I had Polynesia as my field of interest for almost 20 years, with fieldwork in Hawaii, Samoa and among Polynesians in New Zealand. (Still studying freemasonry among the Hawaiian kings in the 19th century.)
Three ongoing research projects:
(1) Kava ceremonies in Polynesia (at The Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm)
(2) Freemasonry among Zoroastrians, and Funeral rituals among Zoroastrians living in the Gulf States (at Central Asian Studies, Stockholm University)
(3) Chabad-Lubavitch and Bukharan Jews in Central Asia (at Central Asian Studies, Stockholm University)
(4) Savonarola (private research)

I am a researcher at the Dept. of South and Central Asian Studies, Stockholm University, with a project at The Museum of Ethnography. I lecture on Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism, Neoplatonism, Gnosticism, Nestorianism, and different kinds of Islam in the Central Asian area (especially Ismailism and Sufism).
I have a Ph.D in the History of Religions, and an MA in Political Science (and some BA's in other subjects).

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