New think piece with Larissa Vetters: Liberal legalism is under attack from authoritarian movements worldwide. Legal anthropology must respond by studying both: alternative legal orders and how liberal law itself is being transformed and weaponised. doi.org/10.15460/eth....

Join arjunraj for a hands-on collaborative storytelling workshop in Dubai that explores creating narratives with others through embodied and collaborative practices. 🗓 Friday, 23 January 2026 🕜 4:00 – 8:00 PM 📍 KAVE, Dubai 👥 Age: 18+ thestoryofthings.com...

I've published something new: In this piece "Property as Affect", I explore how property as an affective relation shapes the hierarchies of modern life - in its global entanglements of colonialism, capitalism, and modern statehood: doi.org/10.4324/9781....

Michael Schnegg and Jonas Bens have recently contributed an entry on "Atmospheres" in the Open Encyclopedia of Anthropology. Find it here: anthroencyclopedia.c...

We are inviting contributions to the workshop 'Ethnography and Law: Methods and Challenges in Times of Crisis', which will take place at the University of Hamburg on July 2-3, 2026. Deadline for submission is December 31, 2025. Find full CfP here: www.ethnologie.uni-h...

The new issue of Ethnoscripts Vol. 27 (2025) is out now: Think Pieces and Special Issue: ‘Jewish Cultural Heritage, Minority Agency, and the State’ and more. journals.sub.uni-ham...

New publication by Julia Pauli: Namibian Wedding Stories: Narrating Kinship and Social Class in Urban Namibia. Appears in the Journal of Southern African Studies. Read it here (open access): www.tandfonline.com/....

What a pleasure to have Can Akin present his PhD research with Mexican return migrants for us in the first colloquium of the winter term.

In next week's anthropology colloquium: Tim Burger (Austrian Academy of Sciences) on "Calculating a Free Gift: Perfect Transfers and the Holy Ghost Festival on the Azores".

Can Akin will be our guest in the first colloquium of the winter semester, with a presentation titled "No longer alone: Return migration, social isolation and infrastructures of belonging in Mexico City". On next Tuesday, October 21, in room 222, ESA West at 6 PM. See you then!

I have published a new article in the new issue of Oñati Socio-Legal Series: Capitalist Property as Epistemic Violence: Ethnographic Museums, Colonial Restitution and the Cosmopolitical Challenge. The article is available open access here: opo.iisj.net/index.p...

What Moves Us? Affects, Materialities, Politics We are thrilled and honoured to bring the 2027 conference of the DGSKA to our institute in Hamburg. Thank you to all participants at the conference in Cologne for your support. We are looking forward to welcoming you all in Hamburg in two years!

On Sept 20, our Hamburg anthropology team visited the Slavery Museum in Zanzibar Old Town. The site explores the history of enslavement and the Indian Ocean slave trade. The visit is part of our preparation for extended research on materialities, colonialism & enslavement. Photos: Arjunraj

On Sept 19, our colleague Arjunraj (Anthropology, Hamburg) hosted a collaborative storytelling workshop at Ajabu Ajabu screen collective in Dar es Salaam. The workshop explores practices of storytelling beyond boundaries. Photos: Habib

On Sept 18, our Hamburg anthropology team hosted a panel on collaborative museum restitution at Ajabu Ajabu in Dar es Salaam. We discussed decolonizing art & academia with artists and activists, and shared visuals from our 7-year collaboration with Maasai communities. Photos: Arjunraj, Leonie Benker

On Sept 16 we visited the University of Dodoma in Tanzania during our research trip. Our colleague Laibor Kalanga Moko, is both at Hamburg Anthro Dept. and is a Lecturer in Dodoma. UDOM is both an inspiring place of scholarship and has a most beautiful campus. Photos: Arjunraj

Im Gespräch mit @DLF Kultur habe ich die geplante Streichung der Professur für Kunst Afrikas an der FU Berlin kritisiert. Das wäre nicht nur ein Rückschritt für die Stärkung postkolonialer Perspektiven, sondern auch ein fatales politisches Signal im aktuellen Rechtsruck: www.deutschlandfunkk...

On Sept 12, our Hamburg anthropology team visited Olduvai Gorge, one of the most important sites for human history. Here, remains over 2 million years old were found — a powerful reminder that all humans have more in common than we often think. Photos: Arjunraj

On Sept 11, our Hamburg anthro team held a second workshop in Oltukai, Monduli. We discussed colonialism, restitution & Maasai belongings in German museums. Our interlocutors stressed to prioritize Maasai cosmologies regarding their belongings. Photos: Arjunraj, Soipey Parkipuny

On Sept 9–10, our Hamburg anthro team visited En’donyo Olmorwak (Elders’ Hill) in northern Tanzania. Every ~15 years the olng’eherr ritual is held here, when Ilmuran become elders. The site is now encroached by a military base and houses. Photos: Arjunraj, Michael Olekooni Laizer

On Sept 9–10, Laibor Kalanga Moko, Arjunraj, Bille Sachers, Leonie Benker & I held a workshop with Maasai Trad. Leaders in Boma Ng’Ombe, Tanzania on colonialism, museums & restitution, in our collaborative project Contested Property (co-led with Paola Ivanov). Photos: Arjunraj

Really looking forward to the start of our fourth workshop in the DFG-funded research network "Pluralizing the Value of Things", this time at the University of Cambridge, with a special focus on Oceania. A highlight will be Nicholas Thomas’ keynote on Tuesday at 4pm in the McDonald Seminar Room.

Makieu Daniels, Absolventin unseres M.A. Ethnologie, hat im Kolloquium spannende Einblicke in ihre Arbeit bei der EAF Berlin gegeben. Sie hat gezeigt, wie Diversity Management in der Beratungspraxis funktioniert – und wie ethnologisches Wissen Organisationen verändern kann.

📣 Tutor*innen gesucht! Für „Einführung in die Ethnologie“ (WiSe 25/26, Uni Hamburg). 💼 2 SWS, 315,48€/Monat. 🎓 Für BA/MA Ethno ab 3. Sem. 📅 Bewerbt euch bis 30.06. mit CV & Kursliste an jonas.bens@uni-hamburg.de

📢 Hiring 1 TextTutor for my seminar "Anthropology of Slavery" (WiSe 25/26, Uni Hamburg)! 💬 Support peers w/ writing 🧠 Training by HuL-Schreibzentrum 💼 Great teaching opp. 📅 Apply by June 13 📨 CV + course list → jonas.bens@uni-hamburg.de BA/MA Anthro (3rd sem+), paid Aug–Jan

Wunderschöner Beitrag von Johann Olenitsch gestern in unserer Reihe „Bewegte Bilder“ im Ethnologischen Kolloquium an der Uni Hamburg: der kurze Dokumentarfilm „Nocturne STERN Op. 283“. Super spannendes Material und eine inspirierende Diskussion!

Die Literatur in meinem Seminar „Anthropologie des Staates“ dieses Semester an der Uni Hamburg. (Weiterführende Literatur im zweiten Bild). Heute ist die vorletzte Sitzung mit einer ganz wundervollen Gruppe schlauer Studierender! @uni-hamburg.de

The readings for my seminar "Colonialism and Politics in the Americas" this semester at the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Hamburg.

Check out my new article „Revisiting Forum Shopping: Navigating Normative Orders, Navigating Sentiments“ in Legal Pluralism and Critical Social Analysis - in an issue honoring the work of my friend and colleague, the late Keebet von Benda-Backmann: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Consider submitting a paper for the workshop "Politics as Affective Encounters" at the next DGSKA conference by Leonie Benker and me. We investigate recent trends towards materiality and affect in political anthropology. Deadline: January 15, 2025. nomadit.co.uk/conference/d...