Research

Since October 2016, I’m working as a postdoctoral researcher in the research group of Prof. Julia Verne on translocal human-environment-technology relations in the Western Indian Ocean. Since 2019, the project is funded by the DFG. My research focuses on the translocality of Phelsuma day geckos as an endangered species that enjoys protection, an invasive species that is fought, and a loved species that is cared for in terrariums.

Their various entanglements with humans and technology, with historical relations between the Indian Ocean and Europe, with genetical research and conservation biology, with the internet and globalized communities of Phelsuma friends is in the focus of this project. I conduct ethnographic fieldwork with the German terrarium community, with scientists from different countries working on Phelsuma day geckos, and on Mauritius and La Réunion.

Until the end of 2016, I’ve been working as a postdoctoral researcher at the Chemical Youth project at the Anthropology Department of the University of Amsterdam with Prof. Anita Hardon. My work there explored the possibilities of integrating digital and computational methods with ethnography, and is inspired by cooperations with the DMI Amsterdam, the Utrecht Data School, the Density Design Lab Milan, and Calibro Design Lab.

In October 2016, I defended my PhD thesis on social memory in Germany at the Anthropology Department at Utrecht University. For my PhD, I conducted fieldwork with young adults in Cologne, in two settings of Holocaust education: at the museum NS-DOK, and at an evening school.