• PhD Candidate
• Associate Lecturer

• Since 2016: PhD Student (funded by the Helene and Benedict Schmittmann-Wahlen-Stiftung)
• 2014-2014: Magister Artium in Social and Cultural Anthropology, History, and African Studies
  Thesis: 'Zivilisieren und Beherrschen: Diskurse und Praktiken der 'Erziehung zur Arbeit' in den deutschen Afrika-Kolonien und im Kaiserreich' (Civilise and Rule: discourses and practices of 'work education' in Germany's African colonies and in the Kaiserreich)

Of winds and woods: the spirit possession practice of Zâr, (slave) trade, and slavery in southern Iran

• Slavery in the Middle East
• Indian Ocean slave trade
• African diaspora in Asia
• Spirit Possession
• Ritual Studies
• Religious Studies
• Cultural memory
• Critical heritage studies
• Indian Ocean
• Persian Gulf
• Eastern Africa (mainly Tanzania and Kenia)
• Western Africa (Nigeria)

• 2018: Southern Iran, United Arab Emirates
• 2017: Northern Nigeria
• 2016: London (Archival Research), Zanzibar
• 2014-2015: Iran, United Arab Emirates
• 2012: Northern Uganda
• 2010: Kenia
• 2007: Kenia

• Winter term 2015/2016 with Anne Storch: 'Die Afrikanische Diaspora in Asien' ('The African diaspora in Asia')
• Summer term 2018: Organization of a talking series on 'Ritualisierung' (Ritualization) in the Research Colloquium of the Institute of African Studies and Egyptology
• Winter term 2018/2019: 'Postkoloniale Theorien: Basics' (Postcolonial theories: basics)

• 2018
  • (forthcoming, under revision) Healing and Remembering: The Zar Spirit Possession Rituals in Southern Iran.
  • (forthcoming, under revision) We have our own Africans: Public Displays of Zar in Iran
  • 'Under Sheets - The possibilities of Intimacy'. Talk at Third Workshop on Language and Tourism. Language and Intimacy: Discourses and Narratives. El Arenal/Spain.
  • 'Trading Spirits and Slaves: Spirit Possession  in Zanzibar and Iran'. Talk at Muslim Cultures in the Indian Ocean: Diversity and Pluralism, Past and Present. London/United Kingdom.
  • 'Speaking Back - Speaking Loud - Speaking About: Reden und Schweigen über (Homo-)Sexualität in Iran'. Talk at Queer Contradictions – Widerspruchsszenarien der diskursiven Positionierung von Marginalität jenseits heteronormativer Lebensentwürfe. Bremen/Germany
  • 'Just Pretend I'm not here: Autonomie und Verletzlichkeit im Ritual'. Talk at Daten, Sammlung, Kritik: Reflexion zu Disziplinarität und Absurdität. Cologne/Germany.

• 2017
  • 'Slavery in Iran: new approaches in research'. Talk at International conference on African slave trade and slavery across the Sahara, the Mediterranean, the Middle East and the Indian Ocean. Katsina/Nigeria.
  • 'All spirits are gay - whispered anecdotes on homosexuality in spirit possession contexts in Zanzibar and Iran'. Talk at Performance and representation in language: the Other's Other. Cologne/Germany.
  • 'Connectivity in motion: spirit possession in Zanzibar and Southern Iran' Talk at Zar and possession rituals: A Comparatove View. Historical, Ethnographical and Social Aspects. Bochum/Germany.

• 2016
  • 'We have our own Africans: Public displays of Zar in Iran'. Talk at Linguistic entanglements, emblematic codes and languaging in tourism. Cologne/Germany.