Curriculum Vitae

Education

2008-2012
Ph.D. (summa cum laude) in Anthropology at the Cluster of Excellence „Formation of Normative Orders“, Goethe University Frankfurt

Thesis: "Islamism, Youth and the Contestation of Normative Orders: A Study of Dewan Pemuda PAS, the Youth Wing of the Islamic Party of Malaysia"

2003-2008
MA (very good, with distinction) in Anthropology, Philosophy and Public Law at Goethe University Frankfurt (incl. ERASMUS scholarship at Leiden University, 2006-2007)

Professional Activities

2019-
Professor of Cultural and Social Anthropology, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU).

2016-2019
Head of DFG Emmy Noether Research Group "The Bureaucratization of Islam and its Socio-Legal Dimensions in Southeast Asia“, MPI for Social Anthropology, Department of Law and Anthropology, Halle. (positive Zwischenevaluation 2019, Emmy Noether project transferred to FAU Erlangen-Nüremberg in Nov. 2019, while remaining a cooperating partner with the MPI)

2018-2020
Daimler and Benz Foundation Project "Social Categorization and Religiously Framed State-Making in Contemporary Southeast Asia".

2019
"Program on Law and Society in the Muslim World" Visiting Fellow, Harvard Law School, Harvard University. (Spring Term 2019)

2018
"Islamic Legal Studies Program: Law and Social Change" Visiting Fellow, Harvard Law School, Harvard University. (Spring Term 2018)

2017-2020
Visiting Research Fellow (non-resident), Centre for Asian Legal Studies (CALS), National University of Singapore (Emmy Noether project cooperation).

2013-2016
Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, Cluster of Excellence „Formation of Normative Orders“, Goethe-University Frankfurt.

2016
Visiting Research Fellow, Centre for Asian Legal Studies (CALS), National University of Singapore.

2015
Senior Member (Visiting), St Antony’s College, Asian Studies Centre, University of Oxford, UK.

2014
Post-Doctoral Fellow (Visiting), Academy of Brunei Studies, University of Brunei Darussalam.

2014
Consultancy research for the Human Rights Resource Centre (HRRC), Jakarta.

2013
DAAD Post-Doctoral Fellow (Visiting), Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC), Stanford University, USA.

2012-2013
Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter, Cluster of Excellence „Formation of Normative Orders“, Goethe University Frankfurt; simultaneously Coordinator for International Exchange Programs (ERASMUS, DAAD PROMOS) at Department of Anthropology.

2008-2012
PhD Research (Scholarship), Cluster of Excellence „Formation of Normative Orders“, Goethe University Frankfurt.

2008
Research Associate (Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter), Cluster of Excellence „Formation of Normative Orders“, Goethe University Frankfurt.

Grants/scholarships

2018-2020
Daimler and Benz Foundation, Postdoctoral Grant (€40.000,-). See Interview and List of Fellows

2018
Stipendiary Visiting Fellowship, "Islamic Legal Studies Program: Law and Social Change (ILSP; LSC)", Harvard Law School, Harvard University.

2017
Association for Asian Studies (AAS) Travel Grant. 

2016-2021
DFG Emmy Noether Programme (€1.15 Mio). 

2016
Stipendiary Visiting Research Fellowship, Centre for Asian Legal Studies, Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore.

2015
Competitive workshop grant at Goethe University Frankfurt (€8.000,-). 

2013
DAAD Post-Doc Fellowship, Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, Stanford University, USA.

2012
“Nachwuchswissenschaftler/innen im Fokus“, Goethe University Frankfurt (€3.200,-). 

2008-2012
PhD Scholarship, Cluster of Excellence „Formation of Normative Orders“, Goethe University Frankfurt.

2007
DAAD Scholarship for M.A. research, Brunei Darussalam.

2007
Scholarship for ERASMUS-Southeast Asia Intensive Program Southeast Asian Studies, Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales, Paris, France.

2006-2007
ERASMUS Scholarship, Leiden University, Netherlands.

2004-2008
Magister Artium Scholarship, Nassauischer Zentralstudienfonds.

Awards

2018
John A. Lent Prize, Association for Asian Studies (AAS), Malaysia/Singapore Studies Group (MSB). Committee's commendation available here (in BERITA, Summer 2018, pp. 3-4)

2016-2020
Appointed as a member of Junge Akademie | Mainz, Academy of Science and Literature, Mainz. More information

2015
Commendation, Young Scholar Competition 2014, Journal “Indonesia and the Malay World” (University of London, SOAS) for article “Islamic Politics and Popular Culture in Malaysia: Negotiating Normative Change between Sharia Law and Electric Guitars" (£150,-). See the journal's Editorial

2012
Frobenius Society Research Award (Forschungsförderungspreis der Frobeniusgesellschaft) for PhD dissertation. (€3.000,-). More information

2012
Selected by President’s Office of Frankfurt University for funding under program “Nachwuchswissenschaftler/innen im Fokus“. (€3.200,-).

Teaching

2019/20
Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg "Anthropology of Islam" (BA level Seminar, Dept. of Anthropology), together with Fauwaz Abdul Aziz and Timea Greta Biro.

2019
Harvard University, guest-teaching in Seminar "Islamic Law and Human Rights Advocacy" (taught by Salma Waheedi), session "Islamic Criminal Law and the Hudud Debate", 01.04.2019.

Boston University, guest-teaching in Seminar "Religion and World Affairs" (taught by Jeremy Menchik), 02.04.2019.

2018-2019
Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg "Staat, Religion und Soziale Kategorisierung in Südostasien" (BA level Seminar, Dept. of Anthropology), together with Fauwaz Abdul Aziz, Timea Greta Biro, Rosalia Engchuan, Waseem Naser.

Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Advanced Course Anthropolohy (MA/PhD level), Session "Legal Anthropology", 30.11.2018 (Seminar, Dept. of Anthropology).

Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Emmy Noether Reading Group (PhD level).

2017
Leipzig University „Die Bürokratisierung des Islam: Transdisziplinäre Perspektiven“ (BA level Seminar, Dept. of Anthropology & Institute of Oriental Studies).

Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg "The Anthropology of Bureaucracy: Einführung in die ethnologische Bürokratieforschung" (BA level Seminar, Dept. of Anthropology).

Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Reading Group "The Bureaucratization of Islam" (PhD level, twice weekly).

2016
Heidelberg University „Sharia Politics in Southeast Asia“ (BA level Seminar, Dept. of Anthropology).

2015-2016
Mainz University „Islam und Populärkultur in Südostasien“ (BA level Seminar, Dept. of Anthropology).

2014
National University of Singapore, guest teaching in Seminar „Law and Religion“ (MA level, invited by Arif Jamal, Faculty of Law).

2013-2014
Goethe University Frankfurt: „The Anthropology of Law“ (BA level Seminar, Dept. of Anthropology).

2013
Goethe University Frankfurt: „Berufsfelder der Ethnologie“ (BA and MA level, with S. Schröter, Seminar, Dept. of Anthropology).

2012-2013
Goethe University Frankfurt: „Einführung in die Ethnographie von Malaysia und Brunei Darussalam“ (BA and MA level Seminar, Dept. of Anthropology).

2012
Goethe University Frankfurt: „Einführung in die Politische Ethnologie“ (BA and MA level, Dept. of Anthropology, Seminar)

2007-2008
Goethe University Frankfurt: „Werbewelten: Werbung aus ethnologischer Sicht II“ (MA level Seminar, with U. Röschenthaler, Dept. of Anthropology)

Supervision

Supervision/examination (B.A, M.A. and PhD-level) at Goethe-University Frankfurt, Martin-Luther Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Leipzig University, Australian National University, and Universiti Brunei Darussalam.

Fieldwork

2019
Singapore, Canada

2018
Brunei

2017
Brunei, Singapore

2016
Singapore

2014
Brunei

2013
Brunei, Malaysia, Iran (language course)

2012
Brunei, Malaysia

2009-2010
Malaysia

2008
Indonesia (language course)

2007
Brunei

Presentations at Conferences, Workshops and Universities (selected)

18.10.2019
"Enabling Powers of Authoritarian Coercion: Transformative Appropriations of State-Islam in Brunei", Workshop “Creative State-Making and (Un)intended Consequences of Islamization”, IIAS-CEM Workshop, Fondation Maison des sciences de l’homme, Collège d’etudes mondiales, EHESS Paris.

11.10.2019
"Bureaucratizing Invisible Worlds", Workshop "Political Reason and Unreason in South and Southeast Asia"; Pembroke College, University of Cambridge, UK.

14.06.2019
"The Bureaucratization of Islam in Southeast Asia", ERC Project "Private Pieties: Mundane Forms of Islam and New Forms of Religiosity", University of Göttingen.

06.06.2019
"'Visions and Missions' of Bureaucratic Islam: Thinking Anthropologically about the Enchanting Appeals of Marketization in Southeast Asia", Lecture Series "Islam and the New Spirit of Capitalism", École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), France.

04.04.2019
Opening Lecture Workshop "Bureaucratizing Diversity in Muslim Southeast Asia” (co-organized with Kristen Stilt and Salma Waheedi), Program on Law and Society in the Muslim World, Harvard University, USA.

28.03.2019
Invited Lecture: "Standardizing Islam: An Anthropological Enquiry into the Enchanting Appeals of Bureaucratic Form in Brunei and Singapore", Ronald and Janette Gatty Lecture Series, Southeast Asia Program (SEAP), Cornell University, USA.

27.03.2019
"Dinner and Discussion" Group Presentation, "The Bureaucratization of Islam in Southeast Asia”, Alice Cook House, Cornell University, USA.

23.03.2019
Roundtable contribution: "The Sultan of Brunei", "Rising Messiahs and Fallen Heroes: Charismatic Politics and Power in Southeast Asia” (co-organized with Sophie Lemiere), Association for Asian Studies (AAS) Conference, Denver, USA.

21.02.2019
"Macht, Magie und die Bürokratisierung des (Un-)Sichtbaren im Sultanat von Brunei", Workshop "SPRACHE MACHT MAGIE", Junge Akademie at Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur Mainz, Germany.

04.12.2018
„Sharia Embedded: The Bureaucratization of Islam in Brunei and Singapore", joint KITLV-LUCIS Seminar (Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian Studies KITLV and Leiden University Centre for the Study of Islam and Society LUCIS), Leiden University, Netherlands.

10.11.2018
„The Bureaucratization of Islam and its Socio-Legal Dimensions in Southeast Asia", Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Collaboration with Gesellschaft für Arabisches und Islamisches Recht and Vereniging tot bestudering van het recht van de Islam en het Midden Oosten, Halle (Saale), Germany.

06.11.2018
„Sharia Embedded: The State-ification of Islam in Contemporary Brunei and Singapore", 11th Annual Nordic NIAS Council Conference "Asia on the Move 2018“, Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway.

30.10.2018
„’This is Not an Islamic Country Anymore!!’: LGBT Panics and Uncertainties over the Future of Islamic Governance in ‘Post-Authoritarian’ Malaysia”. Roundtable-Veranstaltung “Malaysia in Transition: An International Seminar”. Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Oriental Institute, Prague, Czech Republic.

17.09.2018
Keynote Lecture „State-Islam Relations in Southeast Asia: A Comparative Perspective",18th Annual International Conference on Islamic Studies (AICIS)”, State Institute for Islamic Studies (IAIN) Palu, Sulawesi, Indonesia.

13.09.2018
Workshop Opening Lecture „The Bureaucratization of Islam in Southeast Asia: A Research Group Project", PhD Students‘ Fieldwork Break Workshop (Emmy Noether Project), Centre for Asian Legal Studies, National University of Singapore.

21.06.2018
„Hybride Wege zur Orthodoxie: Staatsislamischer Exorzismus, Wasserkristallfotographie und die Sichtbarmachung des Unsichtbaren in Brunei Darussalam". Workshop "Das Sichtbare und das Unsichtbare in Südostasien", Deutsche Gesellschaft für Sozial- und Kulturanthropologie, Regionalgruppe Südostasien, Heidelberg University, Germany.

20.06.2018
„Hybrid Pathways to Orthodoxy: Normative Aesthetics and the Staging of State Power During the Sultan of Brunei's Public Birthday Celebrations". 10th Annual Asian Dynamics Initiative (ADI) Conference, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

04.06.2018
„Social Categorization and Religiously Framed State-Making in Brunei: From Criminalizing Supernatural Healers to the Rise of Bureaucratized Exorcism", Workshop Social Categorization and Religiously Framed State-Making in Southeast Asia", St Antony's College, Asian Studies Centre, University of Oxford, UK.

02.06.2018
„Normative Aesthetics and the Staging of State Power During the Sultan's Public Birthday Celebrations in Brunei Darussalam". Conference "Art, Materiality, Representation", Royal Anthropological Institute, Department of Anthropology at SOAS, British Museum, London, UK.

25.04.2018
„The 'Many Islams' of Southeast Asia: Reflections on Anthropological Fieldwork in Brunei, Malaysia and Singapore", co-sponsored by Machtley Interfaith Center and Global Studies Program, Bryant University, USA.

17.04.2018
„The Bureaucratization of Islam and its Socio-Legal Dimensions in Southeast Asia: An Anthropological Perspective", Visiting Fellow Workshop Series, Islamic Legal Studies Program: Law and Social Change (ILSP: LSC), Harvard Law School, Harvard University, USA.

11.04.2018
„The Bureaucratization of Islam in Southeast Asia: IslamicDiscourse in the Context of State Power", Center for Southeast Asia Studies, University of California Berkeley, USA.

10.04.2018
„Nation-State-izing Religion: Bureaucratic Islam in Southeast Asia", co-sponsored by Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC) and Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies, Stanford University, USA.

23.03.2018
„Islamic Governance, Ethical Spying and the Paradox Afterlives of 'Deviant'-Declared Supernatural Practices in Brunei". Annual Conference of Association of Asian Studies (AAS), panel "Contesting Religious Authority in Asia" (co-organized with Matthew Walton), Washington, DC, USA.

30.11.2017
„Pop-Islamist Youth Politics in Malaysia: Rethinking ‘Instruments of the Devil’", Colloquium, Leibnitz-Zentrum Moderner Orient (ZMO), Berlin, Germany.

21.11.2017
„The Bureaucratization of Islam and its Socio-Legal Dimensions in Southeast Asia", Zentrum für Interdisziplinäre Regionalstudien (ZIRS), Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany.

15.09.2017
„The Bureaucratization of Islam and its Socio-Legal Dimensions in Southeast Asia", Southeast Asia Meetup: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Southeast Asia, University of Zürich, Switzerland.

07.09.2017
„The Bureaucratization of Islam and its Socio-Legal Dimensions in Southeast Asia: Outlines of a Collaborative Research Project and Some Empirical Examples", Workshop: Conceptualizing the Bureaucratization of Islam and its Socio-Legal Dimensions in Southeast Asia: Anthropological and Transdisciplinary Perspectives, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle (Saale), Germany.

18.08.2017
„Translating Islam into the Language of State Bureaucracy: Hermeneutic and Functional Dimensions of Islamic Governance in Southeast Asia" (in co-organized panel: Bureaucratizing the Shari'a: Socio-Legal Dimensions in Southeast Asia). Conference of the European Association for Southeast Asian Studies (EuroSEAS), University of Oxford, UK.

17.08.2017
Invited Presentation at Roundtable Discussion Is Southeast Asian Islam Unique? Conference of the European Association for Southeast Asian Studies (EuroSEAS), University of Oxford, UK (invited by Kevin Fogg).

27.07.2017
„Constitutional Pluralism in Brunei", Workshop Constitutional Pluralism in Southeast Asia, Centre for Asian Legal Studies, National University of Singapore (with Kerstin Steiner).

25.06.2017
„Translating Islam into the Language of Bureaucracy: Theorizing Islamic Governance in Contemporary Southeast Asia" (in chaired panel: Between National Histories and Transnational Trends: Conceptualizing the Bureaucratization of Islam in Southeast Asia). AAS-in-Asia 2017 Conference, Korea University, Seoul, Korea.

05.05.2017
„Zwischen Integration und Exklusion: Gegenwärtige Entwicklungen von Scharia-Politik und Staatsislam in Südostasien". Konferenz Scharia und Grundgesetz, Frankfurter Forschungszentrum Globaler Islam (FFGI), Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany.

23.03.2017
„The Bureaucratization of Islam and its Socio-Legal Dimensions in Southeast Asia: Outlines of a Collaborative Research Project”. Annual Conference of Association of Asian Studies (AAS), Toronto, Canada.

18.02.2017
„The Bureaucratization of Islam and its Socio-Legal Dimensions in Southeast Asia" (presentation related to appointment to the Young Academy). Academy of Sciences and Literature Mainz (Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaftliche Klasse), Germany.

01.02.2017
„Doing Modern Brunei Studies as a Foreigner: The Challenge and Opportunity of Finding a Balance between Inside and Outside Perspectives". Academy of Brunei Studies, University of Brunei Darussalam. (presented in Malay)

12.01.2017
„Die Bürokratisierung des Islam in Südostasien: Islamischer Diskurs im Kontext staatlicher Macht". Institute’s Colloquium, Institute of Oriental Studies, Leipzig University, Germany.

29.11.2016
„The Bureaucratization of Islam and its Socio-Legal Dimensions in Southeast Asia". Werkstatt Lecture Series, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle (Saale), Germany.

25.11.2016
„Die Ökonomie der Aufmerksamkeit: Überlegungen zu selektiver Empathie in Zeiten multipler Flüchtlingskrisen am Beispiel der Rohignya in Südostasien”. Annual Conference of Cluster of Excellence „Formation of Normative Orders“, Goethe University Frankfurt.

23.11.2016
„The Bureaucratization of Islam and its Socio-Legal Dimensions in Southeast Asia: Outlines of a Collaborative Research Project”. Southeast Asia Seminar, St. Antony’s College, Asian Studies Centre, University of Oxford, UK.

13.10.2016
„Symbolic Power and its Paradoxes in the Malay Sultanate of Brunei Darussalam: Reflections on the Social Life of Divine Normativity”. Konferenz „6th Prague Conference on Southeast Asian Studies: Strategies of Political Order in Southeast Asia“, Czech Academy of Sciences, Oriental Institute, Prague, Czech Republic.

12.08.2016
„Overlapping Consensus or Clash of Normativities? The Malaysian Approach to Zakat Management and its (In-) Compatibility with Secular Humanitarianism”. Centre for Asian Legal Studies, National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore.

25.06.2016
„Audio-Visuelle Propaganda malaiischsprachiger IS-Rekruten”. Workshop „Die Audio-Visuelle Kommunikation des Dschihadismus: Medien und Methoden des radikalislamischer transnationaler Propaganda”, Institut für Ethnologie und Afrikastudien, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany.

16.06.2016
„Bureaucratizing the Shari’a: Islamic Governance and its Supernatural Counterforces in Brunei”. 8th Southeast Asia Update, Institute for Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology in cooperation with the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Leiden University, Netherlands.

26.05.2016
„‘XPDC Dakwah’ and the Rise of Pop-Islamism in Urban Malaysia”. Workshop „Islam, Urban Life and the Production of Moral Norms“, Zentrum Moderner Orient (ZMO), Berlin, Germany.

08.12.2015
„Reframing ‘Instruments of the Devil’: Political dakwah and Pious Entertainment in Contemporary Malaysia”. Institutskolloquium, Institut für Ethnologie, Heidelberg University.

01.12.2015
„Contesting Sacred Normativity: Pop-Islamism and Youth Culture in Malaysia”. Joint Institutes Colloquium, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle (Saale), Germany.

06.10.2015
„Islamism as a Project of State Elites in Brunei Darussalam”. Workshop „Islamism and the State: Contested Normativities in the Muslim World“, Cluster of Excellence „Formation of Normative Orders“, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany.

27.05.2015
„The Bureaucratization of Islam and its Socio-Legal Consequences in Brunei Darussalam”. Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, University of Oxford, UK.

26.05.2015
„Islamist Politics and Popular Culture in Malaysia: Negotiating Normative Change Between Sharia Law and Electric Guitars”. School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, UK.

05.05.2015
„Sharia Reform and the Dynamics of Socio-Legal Change in the Islamic Monarchy of Brunei Darussalam”. Oriental Institute, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic.

04.05.2015
„Sharia Law and the Powers That Be in Brunei and Malaysia: A Comparative Perspective”. Centre for Indo-Pacific Studies (co-sponsored by Czech Academy of Sciences), Prague Metropolitan University, Czech Republic.

17.03.2015
„The Rise of Pop-Islamism in Malaysia”. Institutskolloquium, Institut für Sozialanthropologie und Kulturwissenschaft, University of Zürich, Switzerland.

10.02.2015
„Islampolitik und Populäre Kultur in Malaysia: Normativer Wandel zwischen Scharia-Recht und elektrischen Gitarren”. Institutskolloquium, Institut für Ethnologie und Afrikastudien, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany.

04.02.2015
„Faith Control and the Politics of Exorcism in Brunei Darussalam”. Southeast Asia Seminar, St. Antony’s College, Asian Studies Centre, University of Oxford, UK.

21.11.2014
„Anti-Secular Modernity and the Rise of Pop-Islamism in Southeast Asia”. Annual Conference of Cluster of Excellence „Formation of Normative Orders“, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany.

06.11.2014
„Staatliche Glaubenskontrolle und Subversion in Brunei Darussalam”. Colloquium of Frankfurter Forschungszentrum Globaler Islam (FFGI), Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany.

23.10.2014
„Islamic Governance and Shariah Law in Brunei Darussalam: Local Dynamics and Cross-Border Impacts”. Workshop: Bureaucratization of Islam in Muslim States and Societies, Zentrum für Interdisziplinäre Forschung (ZIF), Bielefeld University, Germany.

02.10.2014
„Brunei Beyond the Recent Headlines: Emic Perspectives on National Ideology and Socio-Legal Change in a Malay Islamic Monarchy”. Centre for Asian Legal Studies, National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore.

08.08.2014
„Islamic Law, Malay Culture and Socio-Legal Change in Brunei Darussalam”. Fourth Global International Studies Conference (WISC 2014), Panel: „The Politics of Islamic Legal Reform in Southeast Asia”, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany.

04.05.2014
„Religious Freedom in Brunei Darussalam”. Project Workshop „Keeping the Faith: A Study of Religious Freedom in ASEAN”, Human Rights Resource Center (HRRC), Bangkok, Thailand.

23.03.2014
„Paradoxes of Ultra-Conservative Youth Activism in Malaysia”. Southeast Asian Studies Symposium 2014, Keeble College, University of Oxford, UK.

15.12.2013
„Resisting the Post-Islamist Evolution: Pop-Islamist youth politics in Malaysia”. Konferenz: „Islamism versus Post-Islamism? Mapping topographies of Islamic political and cultural practices and discourses”, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany.

08.11.2013
„Marketing Islamic Law: Pop-Islamist Politics and Youth Culture in Malaysia”. 5th Prague Conference on Southeast Asian Studies („Connecting Southeast Asia and the World: Cultural, Historical and Political Ties”), Prague Metropolitan University, Department of Asian Studies, Prague, Czech Republic.

04.10.2013
„Missionary Marketing and the Politics of Islamic Pop-Culture in Malaysia“. Tagung 2013 der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Völkerkunde (DGV), Panel: „Exploring the Intersections between Advertising, Anthropology and Popular Culture”, Mainz, Germany.

24.09.2013
„Durch Rockmusik zum Islamstaat? Moderne Jugendkultur als Ressource islamischer Parteipolitik in Malaysia“. Deutscher Orientalistentag 2013, Section: Südostasienwissenschaft, Münster, Germany.

22.04.2013
„Pop-Islamist Politics in Malaysia: The Cultural Reinvention of PAS”. University of California Berkeley, Center for Southeast Asia Studies (CSEAS), Berkeley, USA.

26.03.2013
„Islamism, Post-Islamism and Pop-Islamism: An Anthropological Reassessment”. Anthropology Department, University of the Philippines Diliman (UP), Quezon City/Metro Manila, Philippines (with S. Schröter).

18.03.2013
„Islamism or Post-Islamism? Cultural and Political Perspectives”. Singapore National University (NUS), Asia Research Institute (ARI), Singapore (with S. Schröter).

09.03.2013
„Islamic Governance and Religious Diversity Management in Malaysia”. Opening Conference of the Southeast Asia Leadership Network, SEALnet („SEA CHANGE: Southeast Asia’s Place in the World”), Stanford University, USA.

26.02.2013
„Muslim Politics and Popular Culture in Malaysia: PAS, Hudud, and Rock 'n' Roll”. Stanford University, Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC), Southeast Asia Forum, Stanford, USA.

07.07.2012
„Self-optimization through marketization? The Youth Wing of the Islamic Party of Malaysia (PAS) and its ‘re-branding’ of the ‘pure struggle’”. Internationaler Workshop: „Following the Path of the Prophet: Islamic Piety, Social Movements, Political Organizations”, Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften, Bad Homburg, Germany.

03.07.2012
„Islamisches Recht vs. Menschenrechte? Aktuelle Debatten in Malaysia”. Workshop: „Menschenrechte und Demokratie: Westliche oder universelle Werte?“, Schülercampus 2012, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany.

15.07.2011
„Islamism, Youth and the Contestation of Normative Orders: An Ethnography of the PAS Youth in Malaysia”. PhD Workshop: „Discourses on State and Society in the Islamic World”, Cluster of Excellence “Formation of Normative Orders”, Fignano, Italy.

11.03.2011
„When ‘PAS is HAMAS’ and ‘UMNO acts like Israel’: Appropriations of the Palestine conflict in contemporary discourses of the Islamic Party of Malaysia (PAS)”. Konferenz: 4th Prague Conference on Southeast Asian Studies („Islam, Society and Politics in Southeast Asia”), Prague Metropolitan University, Department of Asian Studies, Prague, Czech Republic.

19.02.2011
„Zwischen islamisiertem Konsum und konsumiertem Islam: Religiöse Kommodifizierungen in Malaysia und Brunei Darussalam“. Konferenz: „Weingartener Asiengespräche 2011”, Akademie der Diözese Rottenburg- Stuttgart, Weingarten, Germany.

26.08.2010
„Social Problems, Perceptions of Disorder and the Struggle for a ‘Full Implementation’ of Islamic Law and Order by the Youth Wing of the Islamic Party of Malaysia”. Coneference oft he European Association of Social Anthropology (EASA), Panel: „Imagining Disorder, Engendering Change”, Maynooth University, Ireland.

02.10.2009
„‘We are brothers!’ Appropriations of the Gaza conflict and the creation of transnational brotherhood in Malaysia”. Conference of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Völkerkunde (DGV) (Panel: „Engaging Social Change: Imagination and Appropriation in a Glocalised World”), Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany.

14.09.2009
„Rainer Forst: The Basic Right to Justification“. Workshop „Anthropology and the Formation of Normative Orders: A Marriage of Convenience?“, Cluster of Excellence „Formation of Normative Orders“, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany.

11.07.2009
„Republicanism, liberalism and deliberative democracy: Jürgen Habermas’ conceptualization of 'three normative models of democracy' and its critiques”. Workshop „Frankfurter Schule“, Cluster of Excellence „Formation of Normative Orders“, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany.

09.07.2009
„Glocalized Nasyid in Malaysia“. Colloquium „State and Society in the Islamic World“, Cluster of Excellence „Formation of Normative orders“, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany.

06.06.2008
„Melayu Islam Beraja: Islam: Öffentlichkeit und politische Kommunikation in Brunei Darussalam“. Symposion: „Islam und Staat in den Ländern Südostasiens“, Institut für Südostasienwissenschaften, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany.

Organisation of Conferences and Workshops

27.09.2019
International Workshop: Politics and the Supernatural in Southeast Asia, University of Cambridge, UK (co-organized with Iza Hussin, co-organized by Pembroke College, "CamPo" Cambridge-Sciences Po Collaborative, and the MPI, with a CamPo grant).

04.-05.04.2019
International Workshop: Bureaucratizing Diversity in Muslim Southeast Asia and Beyond, Program on Law and Society in the Muslim World, Harvard Law School, Harvard University, USA (co-organized with Kristen Stilt, Salma Waheedi and Emmy Noether Group).

20.-21.02.2019
Workshop: SPRACHE | MACHT | MAGIE, Junge Akademie | Mainz at Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur Mainz, Germany (co-organized with Svenja Nagel, Yuki Asano, Anno Schreier, Rebekka Schirner, Christina Globke).

31.01.-01.02.2019
Workshop: Governance and Processes of Bureaucratization, Leipzig University, Germany (co-organized with Ursula Rao).

07.-08.09.2017
International Workshop: Conceptualizing the Bureaucratization of Islam and its Socio-Legal Dimensions in Southeast Asia: Anthropological and Transdisciplinary Perspectives, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle (Saale), Germany.

17.08.2017
Panel & Panel Chair: Bureaucratizing the Shari'a: Socio-Legal Dimensions in Southeast Asia, Conference of the European Association for Southeast Asian Studies (EuroSEAS), University of Oxford, UK.

17.08.2017
Co-organized Conference: (Re)designing Justice for Plural Societies: Accommodative Practices Put to the Test, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Department 'Law & Anthropology', Halle (Saale), Germany (with Marie-Claire Foblets and Katayoun Alidadi).

25.06.2017
Panel & Panel Chair: Between National Histories and Transnational Trends: Conceptualizing the Bureaucratization of Islam in Southeast Asia, AAS-in-Asia Conference 2017, Korea University, Seoul.

06.-07.10.2015
International Workshop: Islamism and the State: Contested Normativities in the Muslim World. Cluster of Excellence “Formation of Normative Orders”, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany.

13.11.2015
Panel Chair: Inequalities in Europe (Hartmut Kaelble, Susanne Schröter, Kerstin Weiand), Annual Conference of Cluster of Excellence “Formation of Normative Orders”, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany.

23.10.2014
Panel Chair: Saudi Arabia (Muhammad al-Atawaneh, Ondrej Beranek, James Piscatori), Workshop „Bureaucratization of Islam in Muslim States and Societies”, Zentrum für Interdisziplinäre Forschung (ZIF), Bielefeld, Germany.

15.12.2013
Panel Chair: Southeast Asia (Norshahril Saat, Frederike Trottier), International Conference „Islamism versus Post-Islamism? Mapping topographies of Islamic political and cultural practices and discourses”, Cluster of Excellence “Formation of Normative Orders”, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany.

13.-15.12.2013
Co-organized International Workshop Islamism versus Post-Islamism? Mapping Topographies of Islamic Political and Cultural Practices and Discourses. Cluster of Excellence “Formation of Normative Orders”, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany (with S. Schröter).

03.10.2013
Panel Exploring the Intersections between Advertising, Anthropology and Popular Culture. Annual Conference of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Völkerkunde (DGV), Mainz, Germany (with U. Röschenthaler).

03.07.2012
Co-organized Workshop Menschenrechte und Demokratie: Westliche oder universelle Werte?, Schülercampus“, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany (with S. Schröter).

15.09.2011
Panel Negotiating Islam: Between Culture and Religion. Conference of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Völkerkunde (DGV), Vienna, Austria (with K. Rieck).

26.08.2010 
Panel Imagining Disorder, Engendering Change. Tagung 2010 der European Association of Social Anthropology (EASA), Maynooth, Ireland (with K. Rieck).

07.-09.05.2010
Assistance in organizing Conference Formation of Normative Orders in the Islamic World. Cluster of Excellence “Formation of Normative Orders”, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany (with S. Schröter et al.).

05.05.2010
Panel Chair Liberal Islam, Fundamentalism and New Orthodoxies (Farid Esack; Siti M. Mulia; Farish A. Noor), Conference „Formation of Normative Orders in the Islamic World”, Cluster of Excellence “Formation of Normative Orders”, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany.

02.10.2009
Panel Engaging Social Change: Imagination and Appropriation in a Glocalised World. Conference 2009 of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Völkerkunde (DGV), Frankfurt, Germany (with K. Rieck).

14.09.2009
Co-organized Anthropology and the Formation of Normative Orders: A Marriage of Convenience? Cluster of Excellence “Formation of Normative Orders”, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany (with K. Rieck).

Memberships in professional associations

European Association for Southeast Asian Studies (EUROSEAS)

Frobenius-Gesellschaft

Association of Asian Studies (AAS), USA

AAS Malaysia Singapore Brunei (MSB) Studies Group

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Völkerkunde (DGV)

European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA)

Working Group: SPRACHE | MACHT | MAGIE, "Junge Akademie | Mainz," Academy of Sciences and Literature, Mainz

Antonian Alumni Community, University of Oxford

Professional Training

09.07.2019
Betreung von Doktorandinnen und Doktoranden, Deutscher Hochschulverband, Bonn.

13.-14.03.2019
Humor in der Lehre (Prof. M. Suda), Deutscher Hochschulverband, Berlin.

11.12.2018
Verhandlungen bei Erstberufungen, Deutscher Hochschulverband, Berlin.

04.-06.12.2017
Forschungsteams Leiten. Centre for Science and Management (ZWM) and German Research Foundation (DFG), Münster.

23.-25.02.2017
Forschungsprojekte Steuern, Centre for Science and Management (ZWM) and German Research Foundation (DFG), Erfurt.

06.07.2016
Marie S.-Curie Actions: Individual Fellowships and ERC: Starting and Consolidator Grants, Goethe Graduate Academy (GRADE), Goethe University Frankfurt.

01.06. – 31.8.2016
Online-Course: Islam Through its Scriptures, HarvardX (Harvard Divinity School; Prof. Ali Asani) (Certificate).

21.06.2016 
Alternativen zu Referat-Seminaren, Interdisziplinäres Kolleg Hochschuldidaktik, Goethe University Frankfurt.

02. – 03.06.2016
Professionalisierung der Promotionsbetreuung, Goethe Graduate Academy (GRADE), Goethe University Frankfurt.

13.03.2016
Medienarbeit für Nachwuchswissenschaftler, Goethe Graduate Academy (GRADE), Goethe University Frankfurt.

18.05.2015
Die Juniorprofessur als Qualifikationsweg: Bewerbung und Berufung, Deutscher Hochschulverband / Goethe University Frankfurt.

22.05.2014
Science, Policy, and Scientific Advice: How (Your) Research Can Support Decision Makers, Goethe Graduate Academy (GRADE), Goethe Universität Frankfurt.

15.05.2014 
Führungskompetenz für NachwuchswissenchaftlerInnen, Goethe Graduate Academy (GRADE), Goethe University Frankfurt.

04.-06.04.2014
Besser wirken, besser auftreten: Überzeugen durch Rhetorik und Körpersprache in Politik und Beruf, Friedrich Naumann Stiftung für die Freiheit, Theodor-Heuss-Akademie, Gummersbach.

24.-25.02.2014
Methodological Training for project Keeping the Faith: A Study of Religious Freedom in ASEAN, Human Rights Resource Centre (HRRC), Jakarta, Indonesia.

15.-16.11.2013
Menschenkenntnis und Körpersprache in Politik, Alltag und Beruf, Friedrich Naumann Stiftung für die Freiheit, Suhl.

22.-23.10.2012
Individual Coaching for writing grant applications, Nachwuchswussenschaftler/innen im Fokus, Goethe University Frankfurt.

17.09.2012
Aktivierende Gestaltung von großen Seminaren und Vorlesungen, Interdisziplinäres Kolleg Hochschuldidaktik (IKH), Goethe University Frankfurt.

17.09.2012 
E-Learning Schulung: Olat für Einsteiger, Kompetenzzentrum Lernsysteme, Goethe University Frankfurt.

Referee/Reviewer and Editorial Work

Editorial Board Member of Asian Survey (peer-reviewed journal, ed. UC Press / IEAS UC Berkeley), resp. Southeast Asia & Social Sciences - since May 2019

Editor (Chair of Editorial Committee) of Berita, online publication of the Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei Studies Group of Association for Asian Studies (AAS) - since March 2018

Reviewer for Palgrave Macmillan (monograph), Asian Ethnicity, Ethos: Journal of the Society for Psychological Anthropology (AAA), The Pacific Review, Paideuma: Mitteilungen für Kulturkunde, South East Asian Studies (Kyoto University), Austrian Journal of South-East Asian Studies, Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (JMBRAS); Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology Working Paper Series.

Editorial Board Member: Sarjana (University of Malaya) 2015 - 2017

Selection Committee member for positions at Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology (MPI) and Max Planck Cambridge Centre for the Study of Ethics, Human Economy and Social Change

Chair of Selection Committee for John A. Lent Prize 2019 (AAS)

Languages

German (native), English (near-native), Malay (advanced), Persian (intermediate), Dutch (basic)