Current Research
Disciplinary sub-fields
Social Anthropology, Political Anthropology, Linguistic Anthropology, Psychological Anthropology
Regional speicalizations
West Africa (Sierra Leone, Gambia, Liberia, Guinea, Senegal, Ghana)
Insular Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia)
Central Europe (Germany, Switzerland, Netherlands)
Major current research interests
Creolization and decolonization in colonial and postcolonial societies
Constructions and practices of the postcolonial nation in comparative perspective
Ethnic identification and transnationalism as constituents of the postcolonial nation
Gender dimensions of postcolonial nation-building
Practices of inclusion and exclusion in contexts of postcolonial nation-building
Creolization and pidginization of identities, languages and socio-cultural practices in the making of the postcolonial nation: potentials and contestations
Postcolonial concepts and practices of cosmopolitanism; Cosmopolitanism(s) from below; Cosmopolitanism and creolization
Transnational connections and diaspora-home interaction in practices of nation- and statehood
Disparities in access to resources and their effects on postcolonial nation-building and statehood
Identity politics; Autochthony discourses; Indigenization; Ethnogenesis; Racialization
Effects of out-migration on African societies
Class, culture and race in the construction of home and belonging in migrant contexts
Expatriate lifestyles and ideologies; Childhood and migration; Biographies of (so-called) “Third Culture Kids”
Thematic Interests
Decolonization, Ethnic/transethnic identities, creole identities, creole societies, creole languages, ethnogenesis, migration/re-migration, diasporas, expatriates, nationalism, (post)colonialism, integration and conflict, globalization, transnationalism, gender, childhood, urbanization
Regional specializations
West Africa (Sierra Leone, Gambia, Liberia, Guinea, Senegal, Ghana)
Insular Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia)
Central Europe (Germany, Switzerland, Netherlands)
Research foci
- Creolization and pidginization of culture, identity and language in contexts of postcolonial diversity
- Creole strategies of inclusion and exclusion
- Role of creole populations in the construction of postcolonial nationhood
- Cosmopolitanism(s) from below
- Effects of out-migration on (West African) societies
- Transnational connections and diaspora-home interaction
- Conceptualizations and practices of postcolonial nation- and statehood
- Relationship between ethnic, religious and national identities in conceptualizations and practices of inclusion and exclusion
- Relationship between language and ethnic/national identities in conceptualizations and practices of inclusion and exclusion
- Class, culture and race in the construction of home and belonging in migrant contexts
- Childhood and migration; Children’s and youths’ construction of home and belonging and of ‘self’and ‘other’ in processes of (re-)migration/integration
- Expatriate lifestyles and ideologies
Joint projects (current and concluded after 2010)
- Research School and Cluster “Society and Culture in Motion”, MLU Halle-Wittenberg (Board Member, supervisor of PhD students)
- Integration and Conflict across Atlantic and Indian Ocean Societies (joint research project MPI for Social Anthropology Halle/S. and Institute for Social Sciences (ICS), Lisbon (Head of the research cluster at the MPI for Social Anthropology) (2006-2012)
- Creole Social and Cultural Studies (headed by Prof. Robin Cohen, University of Oxford) (Member) (2006-2012)
- Travelling Models in Conflict Management (funded by the Volkswagen Foundation) (Applicant, Country Partner, Supervisor of PhD students) (2006-2012