The Expert is a Full Professor of Social and Political Anthropology at the University of Konstanz in Germany.
Legal and political anthropology of Central and Southeast Asia with a focus on questions of legal pluralism, constitutionalism, authority, state-making, statelessness and the role of (ethnic and religious) minorities.
Expert specifically deals with (when concerning Bangladesh and India) Rohingya asylum cases on this ethnic group.
Academic Degrees
2020 Habilitationsäquivalenz (tenure to Full Professor after final evaluation 04/2020)
2017 successful interim evaluation (tenure track to Full Professor)
2004-2009 Dr. Phil. (Anthropology). Max-Planck-Institute for Social Anthropology and Martin- Luther-University Halle/Wittenberg.
1998-2004 M.A (Anthropology, Public and International Law, Slavonic Studies), EberhardKarls-University Tübingen.
Academic Positions
10/2020 Full Professor of Social and Political Anthropology, University of Konstanz
2019 Professeure invitée. École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS). Paris (1 month)
2018 Fernand Braudel Associate Directorship. Fondation Maison des Sciences de l’homme (FMSH), Paris (6 weeks)
10/2014 – 09/2020 Professor of Social and Political Anthropology, University of Konstanz (tenure track)
04/2014 – 09/2014 Lecturer, Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, Martin-LutherUniversity Halle-Wittenberg
01/2010 – 03/2014 Post-Doctoral Research Fellow. Department of Law and Anthropology Max-Planck-Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle/Saale (on parental leave from June 2011 until June 2012)
02/2009 Visiting Research Fellow. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies (MAKAIAS), Kolkata, India (1 month)
10/2004 – 12/2009 PhD Candidate. Project Group “Legal Pluralism”, Max-Planck-Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle/Saale
01/2003 – 06/2003 Exchange Student (Law, Anthropology, Russian and Kyrgyz Languages). American University in Central Asia. Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan (6 months)
Awards / Fellowships
2019 Professeure invitée. École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS). Paris (1 month)
2018 Fernand Braudel Associate Directorship. Fondation Maison des Sciences de l’homme (FMSH), Paris (6 weeks)
2018-2019 Institute for Advanced Study, University of Konstanz. Fellowship (10 months). 2017 German Research Foundation (DFG). 2 Doctoral Positions, travel and material facilities (3 years)
2016 Institute for Advanced Study, University of Konstanz. Fellowship (6 months).
2014 Incentive Program for Women in Higher Education (MWK)
2014 (grant).
2012-2014 International Scholar (Mentor) of the “Central Asia and Caucasus Research and Training Initiative” (CARTI). Open Society Foundations (2 years)
2009 Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research. Workshop Grant (together with Madeleine Reeves und Johan Rasanayagam)
2009 Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies (MAKAIAS), Kolkata, India. Visiting fellowship (1 month)
2006-2009 VolkswagenFoundation und Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology. Research position and fieldwork grant (3 years, 10 months)
2007 Award “Best Graduate Student Paper on Eurasia”. At 'Nation, Community and the State', ASN World Convention, Columbia University, New York City, USA
2005 Graduate School 'Asian and African Studies', Martin-Luther-University Halle/Wittenberg. Stipend (1 year)
Professional Activities (Selection)
since 2020 external examiner in the Division of Social Science, American University in Central Asia, Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan)
since 2019 Associated Member of the Office for Conflict Research. Switzerland.
since 2019 Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery Expert Directory (HTMSE)
since 2014 Member of the International Advisory Board for Central Asian Survey (CAS).
since 2014 Country of Origin Expert (COI). Expert reports for British Asylum Cases. since 2014 Mentor within the MINERVA-FemmeNet of the Max Planck Society (MPG)
since 2015 Associated Member of the European Network on Statelessness (ENS)
Organization of Workshops and Conferences (since 2016)
October 2019 (jointly with Sven Reichardt, Thomas Kirsch, Boris Holzer and Christian Meyer). “Movement, Protest, Activism. Interdisciplinary Approaches to an Elusive Phenomenon". Bodenseeforum, University of Konstanz, 24-25 Oct.
March 2019 (jointly with Yazid Ben-Hounet, EHESS, Paris). "Claiming Justice after Conflict: The Stateless, the Displaced and the Disappeared at the Margins of the State". FMSH Paris, 15 March.
Nov 2017 “Practices of traditionalization in Central Asia”. Institute for Advanced Study Konstanz. 16-18 November.
Sept 2017 (jointly with Madeleine Reeves, Manchester University / Institute for Advanced Study Konstanz) “The future of Central Asian Studies” (with collective book presentations).11-13 September.
July 2017 (jointly organized with Birgit Bräuchler, Monash University, Australia) Divergent resource claims in plural ecologies. Case studies from Southeast Asia. Institute for Advanced Study, Konstanz University. July 6-8, 2017.
April 2016 (jointly with Mya Khin and Felix Girke). “Doing Fieldwork in Myanmar”. University of Yangon. Myanmar-Korea Local Knowledge Centre. Yangon, Myanmar. 1 April.
Recent Publications (Selection)
a) Books and Edited Volumes
1. Special issue for Central Asian Survey. Practices of Traditionalization in Central Asia (together with Peter Finke), 2019 (also published with Routledge in 2020).
2. The force of custom. Law and the ordering of everyday life in Kyrgyzstan. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2016.
3. (together with Madeleine Reeves und Johan Rasanayagam) Ethnographies of the state in Central Asia. Performing politics. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2014.
4. (together with Roman Knee) Kyrgyzstan. A photoethnography of Talas. München: Hirmer, 2007.
5. (together with Zemfira Inogamova) Baiyz apa zhashoo tarzhymaly [The life history of Baiyz Apa]. Bishkek: Gulchynar, 2010.
b) Recent Journal Articles and Articles in Edited Volumes (selection)
6. Law. In: David Montgomery (ed). Central Asia in context. A thematic introduction to the region. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.
7. Introduction. Practices of traditionalization in Central Asia. Special issue of Central Asian Survey. “Practices of Traditionalization in Central Asia”, edited by Judith Beyer and Peter Finke.
8. Women of protest, men of applause. Political activism, gender and tradition in Kyrgyzstan. Central Asian Survey. Special issue “Practices of Traditionalization in Central Asia”, edited by Judith Beyer and Peter Finke (with Aijarkyn Kojobekova).
9. Das Recht der Anderen. Rechtsethnologie zwischen Pluralität und Alterität. In: Christian Boulanger, Julika Rosenstock und Tobias Singelnstein (Hg.). Interdisziplinäre Rechtsforschung. Eine Einführung. Wiesbaden: Springer, pp. 91-108. 2019.
10. Saving Face, evoking law. On the usefulness of symbolization theory for legal anthropology. In: Girke, Felix, Sophia Thubauville and Wolbert Smidt (eds.): Anthropology as homage. Festschrift for Ivo Strecker. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag, pp. 289-304. 2018.
11. ‘Transition’ as a migratory model. Journal of Burma Studies. Special issue ‘Progress for whom?’ Special issue “Progress”, edited by Jane Ferguson, 22,2. pp. 215-241, 2018 (together with Felix Girke).
12. Den Staat (ver-)fassen. Verfassungspolitik und Verfassungsglaube in Asien und Europa. In: Verfassung in Recht und Übersee / Law and Politics in Africa, Asia, Latin America. 51,1. pp. 36-53, 2018.
13. Houses of Islam. Muslims, property rights and the state in Myanmar. In: Crouch, Melissa (ed.): Islam and the State in Myanmar: Muslim-Buddhist Relations and the Politics of Belonging. Oxford University Press, p. 127-155, 2016.
14. Constitutional faith. Law and hope in revolutionary Kyrgyzstan. Ethnos: Journal of Anthropology, 80,3. p. 320-345, 2015.
15. Finding the law in Myanmar. For Anthropology Today, 31,4. p.3-7, 2015.
16. Customizations of law. Courts of elders (aksakal courts) in rural and urban Kyrgyzstan. PoLAR. Special issue, edited by Melissa Demian. Volume 38,1. p. 53-71, 2015.
17. (with Felix Girke) Practicing harmony ideology. Ethnographic reflections on community and coercion. Common Knowledge. Special issue: Peace by other means. Symposium on the role of ethnography and the humanities in the understanding, prevention, and resolution of enmity. Part 3, edited by Jeffrey Perl. Volume 21,2. p. 196-235, 2015.