Personal Details
Born 1975 in Traunstein, Germany, married, three children
Education
February 2011
Submission of PhD dissertation on Political orientations and repertoires of identification: State and identity formation in northern Somalia, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU)
October 2006 to September 2007
Writing-up stipend at the Graduate school Asia and Africa in World Reference Systems, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU)
April 2003 to May 2006
Ph.D. candidate at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle/Saale, Germany
February 2002
M.A. in Social Anthropology, Faculty of Antiquity and Cultural Studies, Ludwigs-Maximilians University (LMU) Munich. Thesis title: Strategies of peaceful conflict settlement in Somalia at the local and the international level
Autumn 1995 to spring 2002
Studies in Social Anthropology, History, Turkology and International Law at the LMU Munich
Professional Experiences
November 2008-January 2011
Employed as researcher and work-package coordinator in an EU-funded research project on Diaspora engagement in peace-building in the Horn of Africa (www.diaspeace.org); Project ends in February 2011
Since 2005
Working as independent Somalia expert; professionalized in January 2008; writing reports in asylum cases and conducting consultancies (Consultancies among others for the Swiss Refugee Council, the World Bank and the Rift Valley Institute).
Since winter-term 2005
Teaching undergraduate courses in Social Anthropology at the MLU in Halle/Saale on a voluntary basis
July 2002-December 2010
In total 2 years of field research in northern Somalia (Somaliland and Puntland).
Internships
Spring 2001
Internship at the Society for Threatened People (Gesellschaft für bedrohte Völker), Göttingen
Summer 2000
Internship at the Institute of African Affairs (Institut für Afrikakunde), Hamburg
1999/00
Member of the National Model United Nations delegation of the LMU Munich to New York
1999/00
Student Assistant at the Institute for Social Anthropology and African Studies at the LMU Munich
Languages
German (mother tongue)
English (excellent)
Somali (fluent)
French (beginner)