IMPRS Spring School in Halle

From March 23–27, 2026, the Spring School of the International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS) "Global Multiplicity" took place at the Institute for Social and Cultural Anthropology at Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg — an annual format that brings together doctoral researchers and supervisors of the graduate school to collaborate, discuss, and further develop their scholarly practice. This year, the Spring School was jointly organised by Asta Vonderau, Anita von Poser, Olaf Zenker (Social and Cultural Anthropology) and Dirk Hanschel (Law).

The international participants of the IMPRS come, alongside MLU, from the University of Leipzig, the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, and Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen, and conduct research on a wide range of social topics — from political polarisation in eastern Germany to urban infrastructure in Romania and India, and migration law in Europe. This thematic breadth is no coincidence: the IMPRS deliberately brings together researchers working in different contexts in order to understand social processes not in isolation, but within their global connections.

A key element of the programme was interdisciplinary exchange, particularly between anthropology and law, anthropology and sociology, and anthropology and history. Joint sessions explored different approaches to topics such as norms, institutions, and social change. The aim was not to align perspectives with one another, but to develop new questions from their differences.

The opening lecture was delivered by Arzoo Osanloo (Princeton University) on the topic of economic sanctions — a subject that vividly illustrates the connection between global political decisions and local lived realities. Drawing on the example of Iran, she showed how sanctions shape long-term social and material conditions.

Alongside substantive input, a further focus was placed on developing academic skills. Workshops on publishing strategies, data analysis, and grant applications gave participants the opportunity to address concrete challenges in their work as researchers and to learn from one another. These were complemented by exchange formats in which doctoral researchers could present their projects and receive targeted feedback.

The Spring School thus offered above all a space to develop one's own scholarly practice and research through dialogue with others. Research on societies in different parts of the world not only generates knowledge about those societies themselves — it sharpens the eye for fundamental questions that reach far beyond any individual context.