Since July 2025, Simon Schneider has been conducting research on reconstruction in Turkey. Here he describes his impressions.

In my research project ‘Between Encounter and Distancing,’ I examined the affective-emotional experiences as well as the relationship dynamics and processes of knowledge transfer in a civic encounter format – mentorships with refugee children and young people – from a psychological anthropology perspective. During my research, these children and young people came mainly from Syria. The format aimed to overcome segregation along socio-cultural and socio-spatial lines of difference as well as educational inequality.

The project analyzes how the transport transition in rural areas is framed politically and enabled or limited administratively. The focus is on financial viability, responsibilities, and location policy as criteria that make certain futures appear realistic, while others remain invisible. The work combines ethnographic field research with a power-theoretical perspective on municipal governance.

On June 18th 2025 the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg hosted Michael Rothberg as part of the ANTON WILHELM AMO LECTURES series.

During a seminar on psychological anthropology led by Prof. Dr. Anita von Poser, we had the opportunity to talk to Alexandra Bauer. She had been invited to talk about her exciting research. Alexandra Bauer is a social and cultural anthropologist. She received her PhD from the Freie Universität Berlin.

Why research-based learning?
Research-based seminars are an important part of the teaching program at our Institute for Social and Cultural Anthropology. As professors and lecturers, we consider these teaching formats particularly valuable. Why?

Why focus our attention on plants as actors, and what can we learn from Vanuatu's People-Plant interactions about understanding human-environment relationships elsewhere?

From January 14 to 16, 2026, the workshop "Envisioning (un)democratic futures" at the University of Gothenburg gathered international researchers from Sweden, Italy, Germany, Great Britain, Finland, Romania, and Argentina to discuss new approaches in the study of populism, illiberalism, and authoritarianism. The event was organized by the Research School FUDEM and supported by a research grant from the Riksbankens Jubileumsfond.The contributions presented there made it clear that we must move away from simplistic notions about right-wing populist actors: Instead of a crude rejection of modernity and science, we are observing a sophisticated appropriation of progressive concepts aimed at restructuring the existing social order according to (eco-)nationalist and moral ideas.

Bridging university research and public participation

Does the German energy transition really suffer from transformation fatigue? No, but its lacking the right participation formats. Particularly in the east German mining districts people are tired of bullshit.