Aube Aglae Marie Tollu
Dr. Aube Tollu is a Wallenberg Postdoctoral Scholar at the Ethnography Lab, Department of Sociology. They are a sociologist and criminologist specializing in the study of armed political movements such as far right and jihadist groups, which they study through the lens of 'queer theory'. Based on long ethnographic practices in these milieus, their mission is to illuminate the process of 'othering' that shapes how armed militants are treated and framed as 'exceptionally deviant', in contrast to their self-understanding. This othering process is a critical issue as it impacts democracy, policy design and implementation, and eventually the very social fabric that offers peaceful avenues for resilience, collective actions as well as community building for all.
Dr. Tollu earned their PhD from Lund University, focusing on intimate relationships in the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. Before that, Aube obtained a MA.Hon in Criminology from the University of Cambridge, a MSc in African Studies from the University of Oxford, and a BA.Hon in European and War Studies at King's College London. Their first book, Queer Curiosity, is under discussion with a publisher, and they are currently writing a second book, Trauma Revolution: the Politics of Injurability. In addition, they have six solo-authored publications under review in leading academic journals such as International Affairs and Gender Studies. Their first published paper 'Who's Afraid of the Vulnerable Terrorist' has received the ISA price for Emerging Scholar in 2023.
Alongside their research, Dr. Tollu is a visual artist, using creative practices such as painting and sculpture to explore trauma, memory and families, and convey them to the broader public. They are also a comic maker. Their work has been exposed in museums and galleries, recently at the Grand Theatre in Copenhagen. They have also designed a poster for the National Museum of Art of Denmark, for the exhibition on Michelangelo. You can read their interview in Sociological Reviews (2024) and on podcasts such as Adam Goslett's Helt Higgenem Trans (2025).