Vignettes

My name is Erik Winther Paisley, and this is my blog. I’m a Danish-American anthropology student, youth politician and a larper.

Current projects: As always, life is a project. My studies take their toll, as does work and my KU commitments. The 5th of April this year, I took over as full international secretary for DEMYC in KU, only to see mayhem erupt. We’re now in a political conflict, but none the less, it’s given me time and reason to reflect on KU and our international program. I’m taking this time in limbo to think things over and regroup.

I’m still working in the Conservatism-project – publishing brief reviews and summaries of important conservative texts and organizing a conference on conservatism – with the gentleman and scholars behind the Conservative Reaction blog. I’ve contributed with a text on count Joseph de Maistre, and I’m preparing one on Hegel for them at the moment. I’ve also recently contributed to the magazine Critique, also by the esteemed scholars and gentlemen of the Conservative Reaction-blog, with an article on Conservatism, in part inspired by Daniel A. Bell’s interesting work.

Formerly in KU, I was vice chairman of the Copenhagen Young Conservatives, and coordinated the Young Conservatives’ Middle-Eastern Affairs Committee. My good friend miss Karolina Dolata is now vice chair in Copenhagen, and Esbern David Christian Pontoppidan, my former partner in crime in Copenhagen, is the 1st regular chairman of the committee.

Until Dec06, I was also one of the co-organizer of on the larp-conference Knudepunkt, 15-18th of Feb. I was however luckily able to host a lecture and discussion at the conference, Larpography, on using ethnographic methods to study larps.

More me: Born 1988 in Basseterre, St. Kitts and Nevis to a Danish mother and American father. Subsequent moves to Frederiksberg, Denmark; San Juan, Puerto Rico; Clifton Park, New York; Oslo & Lillestrøm, Norway; Østerbro, Copenhagen & Hvidovre, Denmark; Helsinki, Finland; Hvidovre, Denmark.

Various primary schools 1994-2002, high school diploma with Classical Greek, Latin and philosophy from Østre Borgerdyd Gymnasium 2002-2005, 2005- Anthropology at the University of Copenhagen, 2007 – Political Science at the Swedish School of Social Science at the University of Helsinki, 2008 – Anthropology again, 2008-2009 – China Studies 

Worked as a assistant in a Blockbuster; as a telemarketer for an insurance company, as an interviewer for a market research institute, where I got to use my Norwegian, since I worked at the Nordic headquarters. Now, I’m a student aide at the market research bureau Optimizers, where I do surveys, questionnaires and prepare presentations, i.a.

Member of the Young Conservatives of Denmark since 2005. Vice-chairman for political affairs in Copenhagen Jan 2006- Jan 2007, Vice-chairman Jan 2007- August 2007. June 2007 – International Secretary for the national organization, previously oversaw the Middle-Eastern Affairs Committee.  Chairman of the International Committee, June 2008 -. Trained as a KU consultant in 2006, did a project manager course this fall.