Academic Education
2012PhD (Anthropology). Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology and Martin Luther University Halle/Wittenberg, Germany.
Dissertation title: Deciding Peace. Knowledge about War and Peace among the Arbore of Southern Ethiopia
1998/1999
M.A. at the Free University of Berlin (Anthropology, Sociology, Film Science)
M.A. thesis in Anthropology: Zwischen Pragmatik und Zeichensetzung. Zur materiellen Kultur der Arbore von Gondoroba
1991-1996
Studies at the Free University of Berlin, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Marseille, New York University and Tisch School of the Arts in Anthropology, Visual Anthropology, Sociology and Film Science
1988-1991
Biology Studies, Philipps University in Marburg
Affiliation and Academic Research
2012-2016 (with interruptions, maternal leave)Research Fellow, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle/Saale, Germany
2015 (May-July)
Hiob Ludolf Professor at the Hiob Ludolf Centre for Ethiopian Studies, Hamburg University, Asia-Africa Institute
2014 (June)
Visiting Fellow, Bayreuth Academy of Advanced Studies
Since 2013
Coordination of the Lands of the Future Research Network (LOF). An Open Platform to discuss changing land use on agro-pastoralist territories in Eastern Africa
2005-2009
Member of the UNESCO research group of the project: "Ethiopia: Traditional Music, Dance and Instruments" - Intangible Heritage Section in coordination with UNESCO Addis Ababa, the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and Sorbonne University, Paris
2000 until August 2006 (with interruptions, maternal leave)
Research assistant at the SFB 295 "Kulturelle und Sprachliche Kontakte" of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), Project C7 "Cultural Contact and Cultural Self Esteem", University of Mainz with Professor Ivo Strecker and Professor Thomas Bierschenk
Since 2000
Researcher of the South Omo Research Center SORC in Jinka, Ethiopia
Field Research
Ongoing since September 1993Research in Arbore in Southern Ethiopia on agro-pastoralism, trading networks, material culture, music, bond-friendship, conflict, peace, age-grade systems, clan system, innovation, cultural neigbourhood and cultural change (fieldwork periods in 1993, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2009, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016)
Field research on material culture in Korr, Kenya (2013)
Scholarships / Awards
2013Annual Research Award of the Frobenius-Society for the doctoral dissertation "Deciding Peace. Knowledge about War and Peace among the Arbore of Southern Ethiopia"
1995/1996
Exchange Scholarship (and Fulbright Travel Grant) between Free University of Berlin and New York University at the Program for Culture and Media (Visual Anthropology) and at Tisch School of the Arts (Photography)
1993
KODAK Grant for young Photographers (Nachwuchsförderung)
1993
DAAD fieldwork grant
1992/93
ERASMUS, Studies of "Anthropologie Visuelle", Hautes Ecole des Etudes en Sciences Sociales (E.H.E.S.S.) Marseille, France