Former Staff and Doctoral Students

Dr. Christina Gabbert

Academic Education

2012
PhD (Anthropology) at the 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. (Anthropology, Sociology, Film Science) at the Free University Berlin, Germany
M.A. thesis in Anthropology: Zwischen Pragmatik und Zeichensetzung. Zur materiellen Kultur der Arbore von Gondoroba.

1991-1996
Studies in Anthropology, Visual Anthropology, Sociology and Film Science at the Free University Berlin, Germany, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales Marseille, France, New York University and Tisch School of the Arts, USA

1988-1991
Biology Studies at the Philipps-University Marburg, Germany

Academic Affiliation

Since 2016
Research Fellow and Lecturer at the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, Georg-August-University Göttingen, Germany

2012-2016 (with interruptions, maternal leave)
Research Fellow at the Max-Planck-Institute for Social Anthropology Halle/Saale, Germany

2015 (May-July)
Hiob Ludolf Professor at the Hiob Ludolf Centre for Ethiopian Studies, Asia-Africa Institute, Hamburg University, Germany

2014 (June)
Visiting Fellow at the Bayreuth Academy of Advanced Studies, Germany

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, based at the Max-Planck-Institute for Social Anthropology Halle/Saale, Germany

2006 until 2012 (with interruption, maternal leave)
PhD Candidate at the Max-Planck-Institute for Social Anthropology Halle/Saale, Germany

2000 until 2006 (with interruption, 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" with Professor Ivo Strecker and Professor Thomas Bierschenk, Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Germany

Since 2000
Researcher of the South Omo Research Center SORC in Jinka, Ethiopia

Dr. Valérie Liebs

2015-2021 Staff at the Göttingen Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology (Scientific coordination of the project "Livelihood Management and Processes of Social and Structural Change", Volkswagen-Stiftung)

2017-2020 Research Project: "Auswertung der Initiative „Wissen für morgen-Kooperative Forschungsvorhaben im sub-saharischen Afrika" (VolkswagenStiftung)

2007-2009: PhD Fellowship Stipendienstiftung Rheinland-Pfalz "Heilen in der Stadt. Probleme und Möglichkeiten für Heilpflanzennutzer im urbanen Kontext Kinshasa (Demokratische Republik Kongo)"

Dissertation: "Heilen in der Stadt. Probleme und Möglichkeiten für Heilpflanzennutzer im urbanen Kontext Kinshasa (Demokratische Republik Kongo)", Göttingen 2018.

Published as: Liebs,Valerie. 2018. "Heilen in der Stadt. Probleme und Möglichkeiten für Heilpflanzennutzer im urbanen Kontext Kinshasa (Demokratische Republik Kongo). Göttingen: eDiss - Georg-August-Universität Göttingen.

Dr. Fabien Affo

2007-2010 Research Project: "BMBF BIOTA West West III: The Socio-political Dimension of Landuse and Conservation in West Africa"

Dissertation: Production cotonnière et enjeux locaux à Banikoara au Bénin (une perspective sociologique) at Ecole Doctorale Pluridisciplinaire de la FLASH, Université d’Abomey-Calavi, Cotonou

Published as: Affo, Fabien. 2012. Production cotonnière et enjeux locaux à Banikoara au Bénin: Une analyse sociologique des politiques publiques. Saarbrücken: Editions universitaires européennes.

Dr. Imogen Bellwood-Howard

2013-2017 Research Project: "BMBF GlobE-UrbanFoodPlus, Sub-project 6: The Socio-political Dimension of Critical Resource and Commodity Flows in Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture"

Dr. Kaderi Noagah Bukari

2013-2017 DAAD Fellowship Project: "Environmental Changes and Farmer-Fulani Herder Conflicts in Ghana: Implications for Security and Livelihoods"

Dissertation: "Farmer-Herder Relations in Ghana: Interplay of Environmental Change, Conflict, Cooperation and Social Networks", Göttingen 2016

Published as: Bukari, Kaderi N. 2017. Farmer-herder Relations in Ghana: Interplay of Environmental Change, Conflict, Cooperation and Social Networks. Göttingen: eDiss - Georg-August-Universität Göttingen.

Dr. Georges Djohy

2013-2017 DAAD Fellowship Project: "Pastoralism and Socio-technological Transformations in Northern Benin: Implications for Environmental Change Policies"

Dissertation: "Pastoralism and Socio-technological Transformations in Northern Benin: Fulani Innovations in Pastoral Migration, Livelihood Diversification and Professional Association", Göttingen 2016

Published as: Djohy, Georges. 2017. Pastoralism and Socio-technological Transformations in Northern Benin. Göttingen Series in Social and Cultural Anthropology 10. Göttingen: Göttingen University Press.

Dr. Sascha Kesseler

2010-2013 Staff at the Göttingen Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology

2008-2010 Research Project: "BMBF BIOTA West West III: The Socio-political Dimension of Landuse and Conservation in West Africa"

Dissertation: "Wir schützen unseren Park. Aushandlungsprozesse von Raum, Identität und Institutionen im Pendjari-Nationalpark (Benin) / We are Protecting our Park. Negotiation of Space, Identity and Institutions in Pendjari National Park (Benin)", Göttingen 2015

Published as: Kesseler, Sascha. 2017. "Wir schützen unseren Park": Aushandlungsprozesse von Räumen, Identitäten und Institutionen im Pendjari-Nationalpark (Benin). Göttingen Series in Social and Cultural Anthropology 9. Göttingen: Göttingen University Press.

Dr. Gabin Korbéogo

2004-2010 Research Project: "BIOTA West: Phytodiversity in the West African Sahel and Sudan Zone - Development and Evaluation"

Dissertation: La sécurité foncière comme compétence politique. Institutions, normes sociales et accès aux ressources naturelles au Gourma (Burkina Faso), Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz

Published as: Korbéogo, Gabin. 2013. Pouvoir et accès aux ressources naturelles au Burkina Faso: La topographie du pouvoir. Etudes africaines. Paris: Harmattan.

Dr. Katrin Langewiesche

2001-2003 Research Project: "BIOTA West: Phytodiversity in the West African Sahel and Sudan Zone - Development and Evaluation" Subproject: "Local Plant Knowledge and Ressource Management in South-eastern Burkina Faso and Northern Benin"

Subproject: "Local Plant Knowledge and Ressource Management in South-eastern Burkina Faso and Northern Benin"

Dr. Annika Mannah

2004-2009 Research Project: "BIOTA West: Phytodiversity in the West African Sahel and Sudan Zone - Development and Evaluation"

Dissertation: Heiltraditionen und Biodiversität. Die ökologischen und soziokulturellen Bedingungen der „traditionellen“ Gesundheitsversorgung der Baatombu Nordbenins, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz 2008

Published as: Mannah, Annika. 2009. “Heiltraditionen und Biodiversität: Die traditionelle Medizin der Baatombu Nordbenins.” Dissertation, Institut für Ethnologie und Afrikastudien, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz.

Dr. Eileen Bogweh Nchanji

2013-2017 Research Project: "BMBF GlobE-UrbanFoodPlus, Sub-project 6: The Socio-political Dimension of Critical Resource and Commodity Flows in Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture"

Dissertation: "Resource Flows and Technology Adoption in Tamale: Implications for Urban and Peri-Urban Vegetable Growers", Göttingen 2016

Dr. Jannik Schritt

2011-2017 DFG Research Project: "Significations of Oil and Social Change in Niger and Chad"

Dissertation: "Petro-Democracy: Oil, Power and Politics in Niger", Göttingen 2016

Dr. Bianca Volk

2010-2013 Staff at the Göttingen Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology

2008-2010 Research Project: "BMBF BIOTA West West III: The Socio-political Dimension of Landuse and Conservation in West Africa"

Dissertation: "W wie Wildnis? Akteure, Ressourcen und Verhandlung im Nationalpark ‘W’, Benin / Actors, Resources and Negotiation in ‘W’ National Park, Benin", Göttingen 2016

Published as: Volk, Bianca. 2019. "Der prekäre Park": Akteure, Ressourcen und Verhandlung im Nationalpark W, Benin. Göttingen Series in Social and Cultural Anthropology 14. Göttingen: Göttingen University Press.

Dr. Annika Witte

2011-2018 Staff at the Göttingen Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology

2011-2018 DFG Research Project: "Significations of Oil and Social Change in Niger and Chad"

Dissertation: "An Uncertain Future - Anticipating Oil in Uganda", Göttingen 2018

Published as: Witte, Annika. 2018. "An Uncertain Future - Anticipating Oil in Uganda". Göttingen Series in Social and Cultural Anthropology 11. Göttingen: Göttingen University Press.