Tone Bleie (PhD) has been a Senior Researcher of the Chr. Michelsen Institute for Development Studies and Human Rights in Bergen and an Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Troms, Norway. Having lived and worked in Norway, Bangladesh, Nepal and Thailand, her professional engagements range from theoretical feminist studies and teaching to development studies, advisory work for international development organisations and aid administration. Dr. Bleie's published academic works include the edited volume Carved Flesh-Cost Selves: Gendered Symbols and Social Practices (Berg Publishers, 1993), articles in several international journals, and volumes on topics as varied as evolutionary perspectives on sex and gender, the historical causes for the violent political conflict in Nepal, and livelihood-environment dynamics in Bangladesh and in the Himalayas.