• 2005 PhD Cultural Studies (Amsterdam School of Cultural Analysis)
• 1998 MA (University of Cologne)

• 2021             Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin, African Studies, University of Cologne
• 2020             Lecturer MA programme at Hoogeschool van de Kunsten Utrecht
• 2017-2020     Lise Meitner Fellow, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (paused 1.1. 2018-31.10. 2018)
• 2018             Research Fellow at the Humboldt University in Berlin, Institut für Kulturwissenschaften
• 2016             Visiting Fellow at Archive and Public Culture Research Initiative, University of Cape Town, South Africa
• 2016             Fellow at the Research Centre for Material Culture, Leiden, Netherlands
• 2015             Lecturer, History Department, University of Basel, Switzerland
• since 2015    Honorary Research Fellow, Archive and Public Culture Research Initiative, University of Cape Town
• 2011-2015     Senior Research Fellow, Archive and Public Culture Research Initiative (APC), University of Cape Town, South Africa
• 2010-2011     Postdoctoral Fellow, Research Chair in Social Change (SARCHI), University of Fort Hare, East London, South Africa
• 2007-2009     Postdoctoral Fellow, Centre For Humanities Research, University of the Western Cape, Bellville, South Africa
• 2001-2005     Ph.D. candidate (promotie beursal), Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis (ASCA), University of Amsterdam, Netherlands

• 2021-2023     Fritz Thyssen Research Grant on the topic Artikulationen von Sprache und “Rasse“ in der frühen Afrikanistik in Bild, Ton, und Text  
• 2017-2020     Lise Meitner Fellowship, Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna, Austria
• 2018             Volkswagen Fellowship ‚Originalitäsverdacht’, Humboldt Universität Berlin, Institut für Kulturwissenschaften, Germany
• 2016             Visiting Fellow at the Research Centre for Material Culture, Leiden, The Netherlands
• 2016             Visiting Fellow at Archive and Public Culture Research Initiative, University of Cape Town, South Africa
• 2011-2015     Mellon Foundation Grant, University of Cape Town, Archive and Public Culture Research Initiative, South Africa
• 2011             SARCHI Chair Grant (National Research Foundation), University of Fort Hare, South Africa
• 2007-2009     Mellon Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship, Centre For Humanities Research, University of the Western Cape, South Africa

• 2025 - Alan Merriam Prize (Society for Ethnomusicology, USA) für “Knowing by Ear”
  Der ‘Alan Merriam Prize’ wird jährlich für die herausragendste englischsprachige Monografie im Bereich der Ethnomusikologie verliehen, die als zweite oder spätere Monografie veröffentlicht wurde. 
   
• 2025 - Offermann-Hergarten-Preis (Philosophische Fakultät der Universität zu Köln) für “Knowing by Ear”
  Der ‘Offermann-Hergarten-Preis’ zeichnet besondere geisteswissenschaftliche Leistungen aus, die im wissenschaftlichen Bereich der Philosophischen Fakultät der Universität zu Köln entstanden sind.
   
• 2025 - ARSC Award for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research (Certificate of Merit, Association for Recorded Sound Collections) für “Knowing by Ear”
  Die ‘ARSC Awards for Excellence’ würdigen die besten Forschungsarbeiten zur Geschichte der Tonaufzeichnung.

My current research engages with the historical practices and collections of German linguistics in southern Africa, which have articulated concepts of language and race. Ongoing research topics are sound archives as sources of colonial and transcontinental histories.

see List of Publications