Curriculum Vitae
Head of Research Group
Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle/S., Germany (hereinafter MPI for Social Anthropology)
Extraordinary Professor of Social Anthropology
Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle/S., Germany (hereinafter MLU Halle-Wittenberg)
Office
Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology
Advokatenweg 36
06114 Halle/S., Germany
email: knoerr@eth.mpg.de
Current Research, Scholarly presentations, Teaching
Content
1 School education
2 Tertiary education and academic degrees
3 Academic positions and functions
4 Grants, honours, fellowships
5 Publications
6 Scholarly presentations
7 Teaching
8 Organization of conferences, workshops, colloquia
9 Memberships and functions in scientific, academic and political organizations
1 School education (selection)
-1980
Düsseldorf/Germany: Kollegschule Kikweg/Lore-Lorentz-Schule (A-Levels/ Abitur)
Accra/Ghana. Ghana International School (G.I.S.) (Secondary School)
Accra/Ghana: Ramseyer Memorial School (R.M.S.) (Primary School)
2 Tertiary education and academic degrees
2006
Habilitation, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg
1994
Dr. phil. (Ph.D.) in Social Anthropology (major), Developmental Sociology (1st minor),
English Literature (2nd minor), University of Bayreuth
1989
Master of Arts in Social Anthropology (major), Political Sciences (1st minor), English Philology (2nd minor), University of Cologne
1984-88
Student of Social Anthropology, University of Cologne
1983
Student of Cultural Anthropology at the University of California, Irvine
1982-83
Student of Social Anthropology and Political Sciences, University of Hamburg
1980-81
Student at Nora-Hengstenberg-Schauspielschule (Drama School) in Düsseldorf
3 Academic positions and functions
ongoing
Extraordinary Professor at the MLU Halle-Wittenberg
ongoing
Head of the Research Group “Integration and Conflict along the Upper Guinea Coast (West Africa)” (hereinafter Research Group IC_UGC, MPI for Social Anthropology
ongoing
Supervisor of PhD students, advisor and mentor of Postdocs at the MPI for Social Anthropology (and beyond)
2003-04
Senior Researcher, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology
2000-02
Visiting Fellow, University of Indonesia, Jakarta
1997-99
Scientific Coordinator, Research School “Cultural Diversity and the Construction of the Polity in Southeast Asia: Continuity, Discontinuity, Transformation”, University of Münster
1994-96
Researcher (Postdoc), Research School (Graduiertenkolleg) “Conflicts in the Context of Social and Cultural Diversity”, University of Münster (see “Grants”)
1990-93
PhD candidate, Research School (Graduiertenkolleg) “Intercultural Relations in Africa” (linked to the SFB “Identity in Africa”), University of Bayreuth (see “Grants”)
4 Grants, honours, fellowships
2022
Visiting Professor, École normale supérieure (ENS), Paris (April/May 2022)
2021
Visiting Professor, École normale supérieure (ENS), Paris (April/May 2021) (postponed due to Covid pandemic)
2016
Visiting Professor, Departamento Antropologia, Universidade Brasília (Jan./Feb.)
2010
Upon nomination by the Max Planck Society: Inclusion in AcademiaNet (http:www.academianet.de)
2008-09
Recurrent Visiting Professor, Department of Anthropology and Centre for Society, Technology and Development, McGill University, Montreal
2007
Visiting Professor, Departamento Antropologia, Universidade Brasília (Aug./Sept.)
2006
Visiting Fellow at Indiana University Bloomington (Dec.)
2006
Visiting Professor, Institute for Social Sciences, Lisbon (Nov.)
2004-09
Minerva Professor, Programme “Promotion of Exceptional Female Scientists and Researchers at the Max Planck Society”
2000-02
Visiting Fellow, University of Indonesia, Jakarta
2000-03
Lise Meitner Habilitation Grant, Ministry of Education, Science and Research, State of North-Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), Germany
2001
Archival research grant, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
1994-96
Postdoctoral grant of the German Research Foundation (DFG), Graduate Center (Gra-duiertenkolleg) “Conflicts in the Context of Social and Cultural Diversity”, University of Münster
1990-93
PhD grant of the German Research Foundation (DFG), Graduate Center (Graduiertenkolleg) “Intercultural Relations in Africa” (linked to the SFB “Identity in Africa”), University of Bayreuth
1991-92
Visiting Fellow, University of Sierra Leone, Fourah Bay College, Freetown
1983
Foreign exchange scholarship, awarded by the Academic Foreign Office, University of Hamburg to study at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) (1983)
5 Publications
Monographs and edited books
The Upper Guinea Coast in Global Perspective (co-edited with C. Kohl). Oxford and New York: Berghahn Books, 2023 (paperback); (first published 2016/hardcover; Open Access since 2018/ funded by Knowledge Unlatched Round 2).
Creolization and Pidginization in Contexts of Postcolonial Diversity: Language, Culture, Identity (co-edited with W. Trajano Filho). Leiden: Brill, 2018.
Creole Identity in Postcolonial Indonesia. Oxford and New York: Berghahn Books, 2018 (paperback) (first published 2014/hardcover).
Politics and Policies in Contemporary Upper Guinea Coast Societies: Change and Continuity (co-edited with C. K. Højbjerg and W. P. Murphy). New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017.The Powerful Presence of the Past: Integration and Conflict along the Upper Guinea Coast (co- edited with Wilson Trajano Filho). Leiden: Brill, 2010.
The Powerful Presence of the Past: Integration and Conflict along the Upper Guinea Coast (co- edited with Wilson Trajano Filho). Leiden: Brill, 2010.
Kreolität und postkoloniale Gesellschaft. Integration und Differenzierung in Jakarta. Frankfurt/M. and New York: Campus Verlag, 2007.
Childhood and Migration. From Experience to Agency (editor). Bielefeld and Somerset, N.J.: Transcript and Transaction Publishers, 2005.
Women and Migration: Anthropological Perspectives. (co-edited with B. Meier). Frankfurt/M. and New York: Campus Verlag and St. Martin’s Press, 2000.
Kreolisierung versus Pidginisierung als Kategorien kultureller Differenzierung. Varianten neoafrikanischer Identität und Interethnik in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Beiträge zur Afrikaforschung 10, SFB 214: Identität in Afrika, University of Bayreuth, Münster and Hamburg: LIT-Verlag, 1995.
Zwischen goldenem Ghetto und Integration. Ethnologische Autobiographie und Untersuchung über das Aufwachsen deutscher und Schweizer Kinder in der 3. Welt am Beispiel Ghanas und ihre anschließende Eingliederung in Europa. Frankfurt/M. and New York: Verlag Peter Lang, 1990.
Articles and book chapters
Creolization in Atlantic West Africa: the example of Sierra Leone. In: Lüpke, F. (ed.) The Oxford Guide to the Atlantic Languages of West Africa, pp. 28-56 (expected). Oxford: Oxford University Press, in press 2022.
Integration and Conflict along the Upper Guinea Coast of West Africa. MPI for Social Anthropology, Report 2017-2020, pp. 37-58. Halle/S., 2020.
Global and local models of governance in interaction: Configurations of power in Upper Guinea Coast societies (with C. K. Højbjerg and A. Schroven). Journal of Contemporary African Studies, 37, 1, 2019: 57-71.
Transnationalism. In: Callan, H. (ed.) The International Encyclopedia of Anthropology, pp. 6179-6189. New York: Wiley Blackwell, 2018.
Creolization and pidginization as concepts of language, culture and identity. In: Knörr, J. and W. Trajano Filho (eds.) Creolization and Pidginization in Contexts of Postcolonial Diversity: language, culture, identity, pp. 15-35. Leiden: Brill, 2018.
Creolization and pidginization in contexts of postcolonial diversity. Content, context, structure (with W. Trajano Filho). In: Knörr, J. and W. Trajano Filho (eds.) Creolization and Pidginization in Contexts of Postcolonial Diversity: language, culture, identity, pp. 3-14. Leiden: Brill, 2018.
Integration and Conflict along the Upper Guinea Coast of West Africa. MPI for Social Anthropology, Report 2013-2016, pp. 31-41. Halle/S., 2017.
A war and after: Sierra Leone reconnects, within itself and with the world. In: Hannerz, U. and A. Gingrich (eds.) Small Countries. Structures and sensibilities, pp. 250-264. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2017.
Deconstructing tropes of politics and policies in Upper Guinea Coast societies (with C. K. Højbjerg and W. P. Murphy). In: Højbjerg, C. K., Knörr, J. and W. P. Murphy (eds.) Politics and Policies in Contemporary Upper Guinea Coast Societies: Change and Continuity, pp. 1-26. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017.
Female Genital Cutting in context: The example of Sierra Leone. The Expert Witness 16, 2016: 36-42.
The Upper Guinea Coast in global perspective (with C. Kohl) (2016). In: Knörr, J. and C. Kohl (eds.) The Upper Guinea Coast in Global Perspective, pp. 1-18. Oxford and New York: Berghahn.
Sprachliche Diversität und die Konstruktion gemeinsamer Identität in postkolonialen Kontexten / Linguistic diversity and the construction of common identity in postcolonial contexts. In: Jahrbuch der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft 2014/ Max Planck Society Yearbook 2014.
The interaction of global and local models of governance in articulations of traditional authority and local leadership in contemporary Upper Guinea Coast societies (with C. K. Højbjerg and A. Schroven). MPI for Social Anthropology Working Papers 149, 2013.
Einheit in Vielfalt? Zum Verhältnis ethnischer und nationaler Identität in Indonesien. Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte (APuZ) 11-12, 2012: 16-23. http://www.bpb.de/files/2UWAUR.pdf.
Childhood and migration in the context of globalization. In: Ritzer, G. (ed.) (2012) Wiley- Blackwell Encyclopedia of Globalization, pp 177-179. New York: Wiley-Blackwell.
Creolization. In: Ritzer, G. (ed.) (2012) Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Globalization, pp. 335-342. Wiley-Blackwell.National, ethnic and creole identities in contemporary Upper Guinea Coast societies (Knörr et al.).
MPI for Social Anthropology Working Papers 135, 2012.
Integration and Conflict along the Upper Guinea Coast (West Africa). MPI for Social Anthropology, Report 2010-2011, Vol. I, pp. 27-32. Halle/S., 2012.
Some comparative notes on local leadership and traditional authority in the Upper Guinea Coast region (with C. Højbjerg and A. Schroven). MPI for Social Anthropology, Report 2010-2011, Vol. I. Halle/S., 2012.
Das Coming-out der Diaspora als Heimat? Kreolische Identität in Sierra Leones Nachkriegsge- sellschaft Sierra Leones. Zeitschrift für Ethnologie 136, 2011: 331-356.
Mardijker: Creoles in Batavia. In: Andrea, A. J. (ed.) World History Encyclopedia, Era 6: The First Global Age, 1450-177, pp. 184-185. ABC-CLIO 2011.
Nationaler Zusammenhalt in schwachen Staaten/National Unity in Weak States. Jahrbuch der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft / Yearbook of the Max Planck Society 2011.
Contemporary creoleness, or: The world in pidginization? Current Anthropology, Vol. 51, No. 6, December 2010: 731-759.
Introduction (with Trajano Filho). In: Knörr, J. and W. Trajano Filho (eds.) (2010) The Powerful Presence of the Past. Integration and Conflict along the Upper Guinea Coast, pp. 1-23. Leiden: Brill.
Out of hiding? Strategies of empowering the past in the reconstruction of Krio identity. In: Knörr, J. and W. Trajano Filho (eds.) (2010) The Powerful Presence of the Past. Integration and Conflict along the Upper Guinea Coast, pp. 205-228. Leiden: Brill.
From ‘Expat Brat’ in Africa to ‘Third Culture Kid’ in Germany. In: Karentsos, A., A. E. Kittner and J. Reuter (eds.) (2010) Topologies of Travel. Tourism, Imagination, Migration, pp. 229-236.
Creolization and nation-building in Indonesia. In: Cohen, R. and P. Tonninato (eds.) (2009) The Creolization Reader. Studies in Mixed Identities and Cultures, pp. 353-363. London: Routledge.
‘Free the Dragon’ versus ‘Becoming Betawi’. Chinese identity in contemporary Jakarta. Asian Ethnicity 10 (1), 2009: 71-90.
Postkoloniale Kreolität versus koloniale Kreolisierung. Paideuma 55, 2009: 93-115.
Towards a more comprehensive and comparative approach in the study of migrant children. In: Report of the Interdisciplinary Workshop on Changing Childhood in a Changing Europe, European Science Foundation, February 2009, pp. 23-28.
Indigenisierung vs. Re-Ethnisierung. Chinesische Identität in Jakarta. Anthropos 1, 2008: 159-177.
Towards conceptualizing creolization and creoleness, MPI for Social Anthropology Working Papers, No. 100, 2008.
(Re-)Constructions of national identity in the Upper Guinea Coast. MPI for Social Anthropology, Report 2006/07, pp. 30-40. Halle/S. 2008.
Creole identity and postcolonial nation-building. Examples from Indonesia and Sierra Leone. Série Antropologia, No. 416, Departamento Antropologia, Universidade Brasília, Brasília 2007.
Integration und Konflikt im Verhältnis von Nation, Staat und Ethnie. Max-Planck-Institut für ethnologische Forschung, Bericht 2007, pp. 82-83. Halle/S. 2007.
Integration und Konflikt an der Upper Guinea Coast (Westafrika). MPI für ethnologische Forschung, Sonderausgabe, pp. 83-87. Halle/S. 2005.
Integration and Conflict along the Upper Guinea Coast (West Africa). MPI for Social Anthropology, Report 2004-2005, pp. 111-115. Halle/S. 2005.
Introduction. In: Knörr, J. (ed.) (2005) Childhood and Migration, pp. 9-21. Bielefeld and Somerset, N.J.: Transcript and Transaction Publishers.
When German children come ‘home’: Experiences of (re-)migration to Germany – and some remarks about the ‘TCK’-issue. In: Knörr, J. (ed.) (2005) Childhood and Migration. From Experience to Agency, pp. 51-66. Bielefeld and Somerset, N.J.: Transcript and Transaction Publishers.
Freetown. In: Ember, M. and C. R. Ember (eds.) (2002) Encyclopedia of Urban Cultures. Cities and Cultures around the World, pp. 212-219. Danbury: Grolier: Vol. II.
Im Spannungsfeld von Traditionalität und Modernität: Die Orang Betawi und Betawi-ness in Jakarta. Zeitschrift für Ethnologie 128, 2002, 2: 203-221.
Women and migration: Anthropological perspectives (with B. Meier). In: Knörr, J. and B. Meier (eds.) (2000): Women and Migration: Anthropological Perspectives, pp. 9-17. Frankfurt/M. and New York: Campus and St. Martin’s Press.
Female secret societies and their impact on ethnic and transethnic identities among migrant women in Freetown, Sierra Leone. In: Knörr, J. and B. Meier (eds.) (2000): Women and Migration: Anthropological Perspectives, pp. 62-80. Frankfurt/M. and New York: Campus and St. Martin’s Press.
Kulturelle Transformationsprozesse in Jakarta im Spannungsfeld von Ethnisierung und Transethnisierung. In: Krasberg, U. and B. Schmidt (eds.) (2000): Stadt in Stücke: Entstehungsprozesse neuer urbaner Traditionen, pp. 247-270. Marburg: Curupira.
Definitionen und Erklärungsansätze von Prostitution (with Holter, U. and E. Heinser-Ueckert). In: Holter, U. (ed.) (1995) Bezahlt, geliebt, verstoßen. Prostitution und andere Sonderformen institutionalisierter Sexualität in verschiedenen Kulturen, pp. 9-16. Bonn: Holos.
Creolization and pidginization as categories of cultural differentiation: Varieties of cultural identity and interethnic relations in Freetown. In: Riesz, J. (ed.) (1994) Échange Franco-Allemands sur l´Afrique: Bayreuth African Studies: 115-131.
Kreolisierung versus Pidginisierung auf kultureller Ebene. In: Laubscher, S. and B. Turner (eds.) (1994) Regionale Völkerkunde, Band 2, 15-25. Munich: edition anacon.
Reviews
Legêne, Susan, Bambang Purwanto, and Henk Schulte Nordholt (eds) (2015) Sites, Bodies and Stories: Imagining Indonesian History. Singapore: NUS Press. Journal of Historical Geography 55, 2016.
Cole, Gibril R. (2013) The Krio of West Africa. Islam, Culture, Creolization, and Colonialism in the Nineteenth Century. Athens: Ohio University Press. Comparativ 2, 2016.
Kelley, Carol E. (2013) Accidental Immigrants and the Search for Home. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. American Anthropologist 117, 4, 2015.
Hoffman, Danny (2012): The War Machines: Young Men and Violence in Sierra Leone and Liberia. Durham and London: Duke University Press. Critique of Anthropology 34: 124, 2014.
Bolten, Catherine E. (2012) I Did It to Save My Life. Love and Survival in Sierra Leone. Berkeley: University of California Press. Anthropos 108, 2: 636-637, 2013.
Jackson, Michael (2011) Life Within Limits: Well-being in a World of Want. Durham and London: Duke University Press. Anthropos 107, 1: 268-269, 2012.
6 Scholarly presentations
Towards decolonizing concepts of decolonization
Workshop: “Out of Control? How Concepts and Practices Circulate across Boundaries”, Käte Hamburger Kolleg/Centre for Global Cooperation Research (KHK/GCR21) and Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities (KWI) University of Duisburg-Essen. October 2022.
From West Africa to Indonesia (and back): A personal and intellectual encounter
École normale supérieure (ENS), Paris, May 2022.
Interactions between decolonization and creolization: Towards an anthropological turn in decolonization studies
École normale supérieure (ENS), Paris, April 2022.
Creole variants of language in contexts of decolonization: Krio versus Afrikaans (with Mariana Kriel)
Annual Work-in-Progress Meeting, Research Group IC_UGC, Düsseldorf, December 2021.
Teaching to treat: medical education in empires (18-20c) (invited as discussant)
University of Oxford, Centre for the History of Science and Technology, June 2021.
Anthropological research as (personal) life experience
MPI for Social Anthropology, Halle/S., October 2020.
Anthropological research as (personal) life experience.
MPI for Social Anthropology, October 2020.
Creolization and pidginization in contexts of postcolonial diversity: language, culture, identity (in connection with book launch)
Conference “Language and the decolonization of the African coast”, co-organized by the MPI for Social Anthropology (J. Knörr) and Nelson Mandela University (M. Kriel and R. Boswell), Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth, October 2018.
Constructing the nation in postcolonial contexts of diversity: Concepts and contestations
Advanced Course, Institute for Social Anthropology, MLU Halle-Wittenberg, November 2018.
What about those who stay? How out-migration affects West African societies
Conference “Those Who Stay: How Out-migration Affects West African Societies”, 6th International Conference of the Research Group IC_UGC, MPI for Social Anthropology, Halle/S., April 2018.
Fremde Wunden oder: Was hat (weibliche) Genitalbeschneidung mit Kreolen, Kolonialismus, der Zusammensetzung von Parlamenten und der Angst der Männer vor Impotenz zu tun?
Themenkonzerte 2018, Deutsche Oper in Kooperation mit der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft Munich, December 2018.
‘Beyond autochthony discourses…’: On the work of Otto Hahn medalist and awardee Anaïs Ménard, member of the Research Group “Integration and Conflict along the Upper Guinea Coast”
Meeting of the Scientific Advisory Board at the MPI for Social Anthropology, Halle/S., October 2017.
Revisiting repatriates. About getting old(er) ‘back home’
Conference of The International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences (IUAES), Dubrovnik, May 2016.
Krio ideologies of descent in current nation-state context
Annual Meeting of the African Studies Association (ASA), San Diego, November 2015.
Towards liberating African Studies from the ‘triangular bias’: African-Asian interaction and exchange as a new research frontier
Conference “Africa-Asia: A New Axis of Knowledge”, ICAS (International Convention of Asia Scholars), Accra, September 2015.
Creoles of Asia in processes of inclusion and exclusion: The example of the Betawi and Peranakan in Jakarta, Indonesia
Asian Conference on Arts and Humanities (ACAH), Osaka, April 2015.
Mixed heritage and connectivity as constituents of Jakartan identity: Betawi, Peranakan, Indo
Conference “Connectivity in Motion: New Studies on the Indian Ocean World”, MPI for Social Anthropology), Halle/S., October 2014.
Creolization versus Pidginization: Why conceptual differentiation matters when trying to understand postcolonial diversity in terms of language and identity
Conference “Creole Languages and Postcolonial Diversity in Comparative Perspective”, 5th International Conference of the Research Group IC_UGC, MPI for Social Anthropology, Halle/S., October 2014.
Creoles of Asia in processes of inclusion and exclusion: the example of the Betawi and Peranakan in Jakarta, Indonesia
Conference “Eurasians”, University of Leiden, March 2014.
About serving as expert witness in asylum cases
Institute’s Colloquium, MPI for Social Anthropology, Halle/S., February 2014.
Krio ideologies of descent in current public discourse and performance
Panel “Travelling Models of Policy Making in Contemporary Upper Guinea Coast Societies”, organized by the Research Group IC_UGC,
Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association (AAA), Chicago, November 2013.
The research program of the research group “Integration and Conflict along the Upper Guinea Coast” at the MPI for Social Anthropology (Halle/S., Germany)
Northwestern University (NWU), Evanston, Program of African Studies (PAS), November 2013
How size and scale affects Sierra Leone’s post-war condition
Annual Work-in-Progress Meeting, Research Group IC_UGC, Düsseldorf, July 2013.
Repatriates revisited: How it feels to get old(er) ‘back home’ … and where is home anyway? Conference “Migration and Well-being: Research Frontiers”, organized by The International Sociological Association (ISA)/Research Committee on Sociology of Migration. Tel Aviv University, January 2013.
Towards liberating African Studies from the ‘triangular bias’: African-Asian interaction and exchange as a new research frontier
Annual Meeting of the African Studies Association (ASA), Philadelphia, November 2012.
Bodies of circulation: juxtaposing migration and adoption
Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association (AAA), San Francisco, November 2012 (discussant).
Transcending traditional tropes: conceptualizing politics and policies in 21st century Upper Guinea Coast (with Christian K. Højbjerg)
Conference “Transcending Traditional Tropes: Conceptualizing Politics and Policies in 21st Century Upper Guinea Coast”, 4th International Conference of the Research Group IC_UGC, MPI for Social Anthropology, Halle/S., September 2012.
Surviving peer review
Anthropological Workshop, MPI for Social Anthropology, Halle/S., April 2012
North-South dimensions in the construction of anthropological theory
Annual Work-in-Progress Meeting, Research Group IC_UGC, Düsseldorf, February 2012.
Smallness matters in Sierra Leone
Conference “Small Countries”, organized by Ulf Hannerz (Stockholm) and Andre Gingrich (Vienna), Landskrona, Sweden, May 2012.
Coming of age and getting old(er) “back home”: repatriates revisited
Conference of the Social Sciences History Association (SSHA), Boston, November 2011.
Creole identity in postcolonial Indonesia
Conference “Asian Identities: Trends in a Globalized World”, University of Bangkok, February 2011.
The Upper Guinea Coast in transnational perspective
Conference “The Upper Guinea Coast in Transnational Perspective”, 3rd International Conference of the Research Group IC_UGC, MPI for Social Anthropology, Halle/S., December 2010.
On the role of performances in the construction of identity and belonging
1st annual conference of the Centre for Area Studies (CAS) at the University of Leipzig. Panel: “Whose culture? Migrations and mutations of performance”, Leipzig, October 2010.
Out of hiding? Strategies of empowering the (Nigerian) past in the reconstruction of Krio identity in Sierra Leone
Biennial conference of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Völkerkunde [1] (DGV)/(hereinafter) German Anthropological Association, Frankfurt/M., September 2009.
The Pidgin factor of creoleness or: postcolonial pidginization beats colonial creolization
Conference “Conceptualizing Cultural Hybridization: A Transdiciplinary Approach”, University of Heidelberg, September 2009.
Über das Verhältnis ethnischer, religiöser und lokaler Identifikationen in Prozessen der Indigenisierung: Beispiele aus Indonesien und Sierra Leone
University of Zurich, May 2009.
Towards a more comprehensive and comparative approach in the study of migrant children
Interdisciplinary Workshop “Changing Childhood in a Changing Europe” / Section “Immigration and Migration”, European Science Foundation / SCH and SCSS, European University Nicosia, Cyprus, February 2009.
Krio identity in post-war Sierra Leone
Conference “Margins, Diasporas, Networks: The Upper Guinea Coast and the Making of the Atlantic”, 2nd International Conference of the Research Group IC_UGC, co-organized by the MPI for Social Anthropology and the Institute for Social Sciences in Lisbon (ICS), Lisbon, December 2008.
The North-South politics of knowledge in the production of contemporary anthropological theory
Department of Social Anthropology, University of Capetown (UCT), December 2008.
Beyond the ‘C-word’.
Conference “Multiculturalism, Conflict and Belonging”, Mansfield College, Oxford University, September 2008.
Pidginization as historical creolization’s contemporary outcome
Conference of the European Association of Social Anthropology, Ljubljana, August 2008.
Postcolonial creolization beats colonial creolization
Department of Social Anthropology, McGill University, Montreal, May 2008.
Comparative perspectives on postcolonial nation-building and concepts of nationhood in Africa
Biennial conference of the German Anthropological Association, Halle/S. October 2007.
Creole identity and postcolonial nation-building. Examples from Indonesia and Sierra Leone
Departamento Antropologia, Universidade Brasilia (DAN), September 2007.
‘Out of Africa’ or ‘back home’? Expat children in Germany
Conference “Topologien des Reisens”, University of Trier, Juni 2007.
The presence of the past in processes of integration and conflict in Upper Guinea Coast societies.
Conference “The Powerful Presence of the Past: Integration and Conflict along the Upper Guinea Coast”, 1st International Conference of the Research Group IC_UGC, MPI for Social Anthropology, December 2006.
Die modernen Bedeutungen traditioneller Geheimgesellschaften in Sierra Leone
Institut für Afrikanistik, University of Leipzig, December 2006.
Creole populations’ roles in the creation of transethnic and national Identity: the cases of the Krio (Sierra Leone) and the Betawi (Indonesia)
Intercongress of the International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences (IUAES), University of Cape Town, December 2006.
Integration and conflict as dimensions of cultural tradition, social dynamics and historical experience
Workshop of the Volkswagen Project “Travelling Models in Conflict Management”, University of Stellenbosch, November 2006.
Settlers in processes of nation-building: examples from Sierra Leone and Indonesia
105th Annual Meeting of the American Association of Anthropology (AAA), San José, USA, November 2006.
Creolization as ethnogenesis
Institute of Social Sciences, University of Lisbon, November 2006.
What’s alternative about alternative modernities?
University of Indiana, Bloomington, November 2006.
From ‘Expat Brat’ in Africa to ‘Third Culture Kid’ in Germany: about children’s ‘return’ to a foreign home
Biennial conference of the European Association of Social Anthropology (EASA), Bristol, September 2006.
Social and political dynamics of creole concepts of culture and identity
University of Stellenbosch, Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology, March 2006.
Experiences of (re-)migration to Germany and some remarks about the ‘TCK’ issue
Conference of the Social Sciences History Association (SSHA), Amsterdam, March 2006.
‘Orang Betawi’: construction and transformation of a creole notion of Jakartan identity
International Symposium of Journal Antropologi Indonesia, Jakarta, July 2005.
About the politicization of identity in Jakarta
Research Colloquium, Institute for Social Anthropology, MLU Halle-Wittenberg, June 2005.
Comparing creole ethnographies of historicity in (post)colonial settler societies: the cases of the Krio (Freetown/Sierra Leone) and the Betawi (Jakarta / Indonesia)
Conference of the African Studies Association of Australasia and the Pacific (AFSAAP), Perth, November 2004.
Zum Verhältnis ethnischer, urbaner und nationaler Identität in Jakarta
Anthropological Colloquium, Institute for Social Anthropology, University of Leipzig, June 2004.
Wenn deutsche Kinder 'heim'kehren: Erfahrungen der Remigration nach Deutschland
Biennial conference of the German Anthropological Association, Hamburg, October 2003.
Creolization in context: Historical, social and political dimensions of intercultural and interethnic processes in Jakarta
MPI for Social Anthropology, July 2003.
Creole communities as agents of national and state identity: The Orang Betawi of Jakarta
Conference of the American Anthropological Association (AAA), New Orleans, November 2002.
Repräsentationen von Modernität und Traditionalität in Jakarta: Die Wahl der ‘None Jakarta’ (Miss Jakarta)
Biennial conference of the German Anthropological Association, Göttingen, October 2001.
About studying Social Anthropology in Germany
Universitas Indonesia, Jakarta, June 2001.
Migrants in Germany
Universitas Indonesia, Jakarta, June 2001.
What about 'tribalism' in Germany? Is there an ethnic divide between the East and the West in post-wall Germany?
Universitas Indonesia, Jakarta, June 2001.
Orang Betawi, Orang Jakarta, Orang Indonesia: Konstruktion und Transformation ethnischen und transethnischen Gemeinwesens in Jakarta
Wissenschaftszentrum NRW/Science Center NRW, Düsseldorf, February 1999.
Kreolität im Vergleich: Krio vs. Betawi
Institute for Social Anthropology, University of Heidelberg, June 1998.
Representations of ethnicity and intercultural processes in Jakarta
Biennial conference of the German Anthropological Association, Frankfurt/M., October 1997.
Kulturelle Kreolisierung als Konzept alternativer Modernen
Institute of Sociology, University of Bielefeld, October 1997.
Creole languages as languages of ethnic and national identification
Union of Africanists in Germany (VAD) Conference, Humboldt University Berlin, September 1996.
Urbanität in Jakarta: Konzepte kultureller Synthese und Transformation
Institute of Social Anthropology, University of Münster, May 1996.
Writing in the field
Institute of Social Anthropology, University of Bayreuth, December 1995.
Nationale Identität im Spannungsfeld ethnischer und transethnischer Zuordnung
Institute of African and Asian Studies, Humboldt-University of Berlin, November 1995.
Ethnic and transethnic concepts of identity and intercultural relations in Sierra Leone
Institute of Sociology, University of Bielefeld, October 1995.
The Ojeh- and Odelay-Societies in Freetown, Sierra Leone: Secret societies as institutions of interethnic contact and transethnic identity in the urban context
Biennial conference of the German Anthropological Association, Vienna, September 1995.
Kulturelle und ethnische Identität im Licht ethnologischer Symbolforschung
Institute of Social Psychology, University of Münster, April 1995.
Ethnologische Forschung in Krisengebieten
Institute of Social Anthropology, University of Cologne, February 1995.
Nischenkultur im Lebenslauf von Ostberlinern
Institute of Social Psychology, University of Münster, November 1994.
Kreolen zwischen Sklaven- und Eliteideologie und -Kultur
Institute of Social Anthropology, University of Bayreuth, November 1994.
Zu den Hintergründen des Konfliktes in Sierra Leone
Biennial conference of the German Anthropological Association, Leipzig, October 1993.
Varianten kreolischer Identität in Sierra Leone
Biennial conference of the German Anthropological Association, Munich, October 1991.
[1] The Association has meanwhile (2017) been renamed to Deutsche Gesellschaft für Sozial- und Kulturanthropologie/German Society for Social and Cultural Anthropology.
7 Teaching
Institute for Social Anthropology, MLU Halle-Wittenberg (since 2006)
Seminars:
Language and identity in postcolonial societies (WS2021)
Queer Anthropology (SS 2020)
Political interaction and exchange in the Global South (SS 2019)
Constructions of the postcolonial nation in comparative perspective (SS 2018)
Perspectives on cosmopolitanism (SS 2017)
Migration as experience and social practice (SS 2016)
History of anthropology (II): Functionalism, Structural Functionalism Structuralism (SS 2015)
Language and identity in postcolonial societies (SS 2014)
Ethnography of Southeast Asia II: Integration and Conflict (SS 2013)
Ethnography of Southeast Asia I: Indonesia (SS 2012)
African-Asian relationships: Migration, exchange, identity (WS 2011/12)
Anthropology of migration (SS 2011)
Anthropology of childhood (WS 2010/11)
Construction of identity and personhood in postcolonial societies (SS 2010)
Atlantic West Africa II (WS 2009/10)
Atlantic West Africa I (WS 2007/08)
Creole and (trans-)national identities in postcolonial societies (WS 2006/07)
Urban anthropology (SS 2006)
Institute for Social Anthropology, University of Bayreuth, (WS 2008/09, Professor (replacement)
Seminars:
Economic anthropology
Ethnographic methods
Cultural theory: (Trans-)national, local, religious and ethnic identifications
Anthropology of the Upper Guinea Coast
Department of Anthropology and Centre for Society, Technology and Development, McGill University, Montreal (April 2008-September 2009)
Lectures
o Nation-building and transnationalism in contexts of social and ethnic diversity
Theories of creolization
Departamento Antropologia, Universidade Brasília (DAN), (August-September 2007)
Lectures
Postcolonial nationhood and transnational connections in comparative perspective
Ethnic and transethnic identifications among creole populations
Institute for African Studies, University of Leipzig
Seminar
Sierra Leone: History, culture, society (WS 2004/05)
University of Indonesia/Jakarta (2000-02)
Seminars/Lectures
Identity in Jakarta
Creole societies
Religious identity and ethnic differentiation
Institute for Social Anthropology and Interdisciplinary Graduate School, University of Münster
Seminars
Anthropological methodology (WS 1998/99)
Collective identities (SS 1998)
Anthropology of West Africa (WS 1997/98)
Urban anthropology I and II (SS 1997)
PhD colloquium (WS 1996/97)
Conflict and integration in periods of radical social transformation (SS 1996)
Biographic research (WS 1995/96)
Ethnographic methods (SS 1995)
Free University of Berlin, Institute for Sociology
Seminar
Urban culture and identity in comparative perspective: examples from Africa and Southeast Asia (WS 1996/97)
University of Cologne, Institute for Social Anthropology
Seminar
Neo-African identity: the case of Sierra Leone (WS 1994/95)
University of Sierra Leone, Freetown/Sierra Leone (1991-92)
Seminars/Lectures
Creole and pidgin languages as interethnic means of communication
Ethnic identities and nation-building in postcolonial societies
8 Organization of conferences and workshops
New Research and Publication Projects on the Upper Guinea Coast and (far) beyond
Workshop, Düsseldorf, December 2021.
Annual Work-in-Progress Meeting, Research Group IC_UGC
Workshop, Düsseldorf, July 2019.
Language and the Decolonization of the African Coast
Conference co-organized by the MPI for Social Anthropology (J. Knörr) and Nelson Mandela University (M. Kriel and R. Boswell)
Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth, October 2018.
Book Launch: Creolization and Pidginization in Contexts of Postcolonial Diversity: Language, Culture, Identity
Biennial Conference of the European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA), Stockholm, August 2018.
Annual Work-in-Progress Meeting, Research Group IC_UGC
Workshop, Düsseldorf, July 2018.
Those Who Stay: How Out-migration Affects West African Societies
6th International Conference of the Research Group IC_UGC, Halle/S., April 2018.
Annual Work-in-Progress Meeting, Research Group IC_UGC
Workshop, Düsseldorf, October 2017.
Annual Work-in-Progress Meeting, Research Group IC_UGC
Workshop, Düsseldorf, July 2016.
Annual Work-in-Progress Meeting, Research Group IC_UGC
Workshop, Düsseldorf, March 2015.
Creole Languages and Postcolonial Diversity in Comparative Perspective
5th International Conference of the Research Group IC_UGC, Halle/S., September 2014.
Annual Work-in-Progress Meeting, Research Group IC_UGC
Workshop, Düsseldorf, July 2014.
Annual Work-in-Progress Meeting, Research Group IC_UGC
Workshop, Düsseldorf, July 2013.
Workshop in the Field, Research Group IC_UGC
Freetown/Sierra Leone, March 2013.
Transcending Traditional Tropes: Conceptualizing Politics and Policies in 21st Century Upper Guinea Coast
4th International Conference of the Research Group IC_UGC, Halle/S., September 2012.
Annual Work-in-Progress Meeting, Research Group IC_UGC
Workshop, Düsseldorf, February 2012.
Workshop in the Field, Research Group IC_UGC
Gomoa Fetteh/Ghana, October 2011.
Annual Work-in-Progress Meeting, Research Group IC_UGC
Workshop, Düsseldorf, March 2011.
The Upper Guinea Coast in Transnational Perspective
3rd International Conference of the Research Group IC_UGC, MPI for Social Anthropology, Halle/S., December 2010.
Workshop in the Field, Research Group IC_UGC
Cape Coast/Ghana, October 2010.
Margins, Diasporas, Networks: The Upper Guinea Coast and the Making of the Atlantic
2nd International Conference of the Research Group IC_UGC, co-organized by the MPI for Social Anthropology, Halle/S. and the Institute for Social Sciences (ICS), Lisbon, December 2008.
Workshop in the Field, Research Group IC_UGC
Banjul/Gambia, July 2008.
Comparative Perspectives on Postcolonial Nation-Building and Concepts of Nationhood in Africa
Biennial conference of the German Anthropological Association (DGV), Halle/S., October 2007
Workshop in the Field, Research Group IC_UGC
Freetown/Sierra Leone, March 2007.
The Powerful Presence of the Past: Integration and Conflict along the Upper Guinea Coast
1st International Conference of the Research Group IC_UGC, MPI for Social Anthropology, December 2006.
Conflicts–Human Rights–Interventions
Biennial conference of the German Anthropological Association (DGV) (member of organizing committee), Halle/S., October 2005.
Childhood and Migration
Workshop of the section “Migration, Multiculturality and Identity”, Biennial conference of the German Anthropological Association (DGV), Hamburg, October 2003.
Representations of Modernity and Tradition in Processes of Cultural Transformation
Workshop of the section “Migration, Multiculturality and Identity”, Biennial conference of the German Anthropological Association (DGV), Göttingen, 2001.
Concepts of Intercultural and Transcultural Identity in connection to Gender Theories
Workshop of the section “Migration, Multiculturality and Identity”, Biennial conference of the German Anthropological Association (DGV), Heidelberg, October 1999 (with Nadig and Schlehe).
Virtual Diasporas
Workshop of the section “Migration, Multiculturality and Identity”, Biennial conference of the German Anthropological Association (DGV), Heidelberg, October 1999.
Representations of Ethnicity and Intercultural Processes in the Global City
Workshop of the section “Migration, Multiculturality and Identity”, Biennial conference of the German Anthropological Association (DGV), Frankfurt/M., October 1997.
Women and Migration: Anthropological Perspectives
International conference of the section “Migration, Multiculturality and Identity”, German Anthropological Association (DGV), Münster, October 1997.
Migration, Multiculturality and Identity as Areas of Anthropological Research
Workshop of the section “Migration, Multiculturality and Identity”, Biennial conference of the German Anthropological Association (DGV), Vienna, October 1995.
Anthropology of Migration
Workshop of the section “Migration, Multiculturality and Identity”, German Anthropological Association (DGV), Bonn, July 1995.
9 Memberships and functions in scientific, academic and political organizations
Memberships in scientific organizations
European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA)
European Association for Southeast Asian Studies (EUROSEAS)
African Studies Association (ASA)
American Anthropological Association (AAA)
Vereinigung der Afrikanisten in Deutschland (VAD)/Union of Africanists in Germany
West African Research Association (WARA)
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Sozial- und Kulturanthropologie/German Association for Social and Cultural Anthropology (formerly DGV)
Social Sciences History Association (SSHA)
Society for Cross-Cultural Research (SCCR)
Working Group on Childhood and Migration, Rutgers State University of New Jersey
Anthropology of Children and Youth Network, University of Amsterdam
LeadNet, Max Planck Society
Minerva FemmeNet, Max Planck Society
Deutscher Hochschulverband (DHV)/Assembly of German Universities
Leadership roles and committee work in scientific/academic organizations and joint research projects
Member of the Executive Board, Graduate School Society and Culture in Motion, MLU Halle-Wittenberg (since 2011)
Representative of Scientific Staff, Max Planck Society (12-15, 18-21)
Mentor, Minerva FemmeNet, Max Planck Society (since 09)
MPI for Social Anthropology’s Project Head (with G. Schlee), Principal Investigator and Supervisor within the Volkswagen Foundation Project: “Travelling Models in Conflict Management: a comparative research and network building project in six African countries (Chad, Ethiopia, Liberia, Sierra Leone, South Africa and Sudan)” (2006-2011)
https://www.eth.mpg.de/3418057/vw_project_travelling_models
Head of the Project Development Group, MPI for Social Anthropology, (05-07)
Board member of the German Anthropological Association (DGV) (03-07)
Chairwoman of the section “Migration, Multiculturality and Identity” and Associate Board Member of the German Anthropological Association (DGV) (95-03)
Representative of Scientific Staff, Faculty of History/Philosophy, University of Münster (98-99)
Editorial boards
Member of the Editorial Board, Integration and Conflict Studies, MPI for Social Anthropology, Berghahn
Project evaluation for funding agencies and reviewing activities
European Science Foundation (ESF)
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO)
Schweizerischer Nationalfonds (SNF)
Ludwig Boltzmann Gesellschaft Austria
Deutsch-Französische Hochschule (DFH)
Robert Bosch Stiftung
German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)
Wenner-Gren Foundation
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P. (FCT)
National Science Centre, Poland
Transfer of knowledge, advisory functions in (and beyond) political/development organizations
Expert witness and Country of Origin (CoO) expert in asylum cases concerning West Africa (Gambia, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone) and Insular Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Philippines), working with lawyers, legal advisory organizations, state institutions in the UK, USA, Germany, Netherlands (recurrent)
Expert/advisor/consultant concerning human rights issues in West Africa (Gambia, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone) and Insular Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines), working with legal advisory and human rights organizations
Scientific advisor to members and work groups of the German Parliament (recurrent)
Member of the Advisory Board on Migration Policy, Social Democratic Party (SPD), Berlin (00-03)
Member of Flüchtlingsrat Nordrhein-Westfalen (Refugee Council North Rhine-Westphalia)
Member of Netzwerk Migration in Europa (Network Migration in Europe)
Member of Pro Asyl Germany
Member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), Working Group Migration and Diversity, Working Group Science
Member of International Refugee Rights Initiative, Rights in Exile Programme
Counsellor for expatriates, repatriates (to be) (Germany, Switzerland) (recurrent)
Freelancer at the German Foundation for Development (DSE), Bad Honnef (90/91)
Teacher of English and German as foreign languages (VHS and ASG Düsseldorf, 1985-1990)
Volunteer in a law-firm specialized in immigration law, Santa Ana, California (83)
Miscellaneous professional activities (selection)
Scientific advisor to the German Parliament (recurrent)
Expert witness in asylum cases (UK, USA, Germany, Netherlands) (recurrent)
Counsellor for expatriates, repatriates (to be) (recurrent)
Reviewer for German and international funding agencies (DFG, ESF etc.)
Freelancer at the German Foundation for Development (DSE), Bad Honnef (90/91)
Teacher of English and German as foreign languages (VHS and ASG Düsseldorf, 1985-1990)
Volunteer in a law-firm specialized in immigration law, Santa Ana, California (83)