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”, 6^th 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”, 5^th 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 21^st century Upper Guinea Coast (with Christian K. Højbjerg)
Conference “Transcending Traditional Tropes: Conceptualizing Politics and Policies in 21^st Century Upper Guinea Coast”, 4^th 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”, 3^rd 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
1^st 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”, 2^nd 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”, 1^st 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
105^th 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.