Network members

Ibrahim Bachir Abdoulaye, M.A.

Ibrahim Bachir Abdoulaye is a PhD candidate at the Bayreuth International Graduate School of African Studies (BIGSAS) and researcher within the "Religious engineering. The making of moralities, development and religion in Niger" project at the "Africa Multiple" Cluster of Excellence.

Dr. Eylem Camuroglu Cig

Dr. Eylem Camuroglu Cig is a postdoctoral researcher at the Media Studies Department at the University of Bayreuth and works at the intersections of Media Studies, Communication Studies and Political Theory. Her research currently focuses on transformation of public sphere in contemporary Turkey under neoliberal Islam, protest movements, resistance and multitude. Furthermore, she explores Turkey’s “third way” combined with construction business and their impact on public sphere in African context. She is also one of the co-founders of Beyond All Borders Association in Frankfurt.

Prof. Dr. Martin Doevenspeck

Martin Doevenspeck’s research interests are located at the interface of migration studies and political geography. He is a project leader within the Cluster of Excellence "Africa Multiple" and spokesperson of its Section "Mobilities." Additionally, he is Deputy Head of the Bayreuth International Graduate School of African Studies (BIGSAS) and member of the Executive Board of the Institute of African Studies.

Dr. Julia Eichenberg

Julia Eichenberg lectures in Modern European History at the University of Bayreuth. She is the Principal Investigator (PI) of the "London Moment" project (Volkswagen Foundation), focusing on exile collaboration during the Second World War in Great Britain, and Co-PI within the "Conflicts.Meanings.Transitions" research network. Additionally, she is the spokesperson of the German Association for Historical Peace and Conflict Studies" (Arbeitskreis Historische Friedens- und Konfliktforschung, AKHF).

Prof. Dr. Joël Glasman

Joël Glasman is professor of African history and coordinator of Global History at Bayreuth. His work focuses on the "bureaucratization of the world" since the 19th century. He is particularly interested in security forces, humanitarian aid agencies, and governmentality approaches. Additonally, he is leader of a subproject within the "Postcolonial Hierarchies" network (BMBF-funded).

Prof. Dr. Isabel Heinemann

Isabel Heinemann will be Professor of Contemporary History at the University of Bayreuth (from February 2023 on). She focuses on entanglements of racism, gender, and knowledge and the long-term effects of political, epistemic, and physical violence in historical perspective. Her research particularly concerns National Socialism, the Second World War, and Nazi extermination policies as well as their impacts on European societies after 1945.

Prof. Dr. Jana Hönke

Jana Hönke holds the Chair for Sociology in Africa at the University of Bayreuth. She leads various projects: INFRAGLOB (ERC), subprojects within "Postcolonial Hierarchies" and "Conflicts.Meanings.Transitions" (both BMBF), and "Crafting the Space to govern" (DFG). Furthermore, she is founder of the UBT Peace and Conflict Research Network, Deputy Spokesperson of the Bavarian Scientific Alliance for Peace, Conflict, and Security Research, and member of the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy Hamburg (IFSH).

Jaschek, Saskia, M.A.

Saskia Jaschek is a PhD candidate at the Bayreuth International Graduate School of African Studies (BIGSAS) and a freelance journalist working on Sudan’s military coup d’état 2021 and the following war.

Kingsley Jima, M.A.

Kingsley Jima is a Political Science Doctoral Candidate at the Bayreuth International Graduate School of African Studies (BIGSAS) as well as a Research Associate on the project “Politics of the Unknown. Conspiracism and Conflict” at the Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence, University of Bayreuth.

Prof. Dr. Melina C. Kalfelis

Melina C. Kalfelis is a Junior Professor in Social and Cultural Anthropology with a focus on Social Belonging. Her work focuses on North-South relations in transnational architectures of security and development as well as everyday politics of vigilance in comparative perspective.

Prof. Dr. Benjamin Kirby

Benjamin Kirby is a Junior Professor for the Study of Religion, with a special focus on global entanglements. Ben’s research explores questions of religious politics, masculinity, and urban mutuality, particularly regarding Islam and Christianity.

PD Dr. Florian Kühn

Florian Kühn is a coordinator of the BMBF-funded research network "Conflict.Meanings.Transitions". He has more than two decades of experience in studying violence and its political organisation, within the state or outside state structures. His research mainly focuses on the interactions of "local" social orders and international interventions.

Dr. Marcus Mühlnikel

Marcus Mühlnikel is a senior lecturer at the Institute for Franconian Regional History, affiliated with the universities of Bamberg and Bayreuth. His research focuses on the experience of war.

Lea Levenhagen, M.A.

Lea Levenhagen is a PhD candidate and member of the research project "The London Moment". Her research focuses on European financial experts in London exile during the Second World War and their ideas for a post-war economic order.

Dr. Cassandra Mark-Thiesen

Cassandra Mark-Thiesen leads the Junior Research Group "African Knowledges and the History Publication since the 1970s" at the "Africa Multiple" Cluster of Excellence. Within the project, she examines global inequalities and contestation in knowledge production.

Dr. Bretton (Bret) McEvoy

Bret McEvoy is a researcher within the “Conflict.Meanings.Transitions" research network. His research addresses how political actors interpret their roles in histories of injustice and engage their consequences through projects of accountability, denial and resistance. In "Conflicts.Meanings.Transitions" he examines the entangled corporate responsibilities of arms manufacturers in (post)colonial violence.

Hamissou Rhissa Achaffert, M.A.

Hamissou is currently a doctoral student at the Bayreuth International Graduate School of African Studies (BIGSAS). He is working in the research programme "Religious Engineering: the Making of Moralities, Development and Religion in Niger" funded by the Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence at the University of Bayreuth. Before joining this programme, he worked on a research-action project on open science in Haiti and Sub-Saharan Africa (SOHA) and in another on the legacies of slavery in Niger (LESLAN).

Patricia Pinky Ndlovu, M.A.

Patricia Pinky Ndlovu is a Ph.D. candidate at the Bayreuth International Graduate School of African Studies (BIGSAS) and researcher within the "Postcolonial Hierarchies" network. Her research deals with racialized capitalism, patriarchy, and violence in South Africa's minibus taxi industry.

Prof. Dr. Sabelo Ndlovu-Gatsheni

Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni is Professor and Chair of Epistemologies of the Global South with emphasis on Africa. He is a leading decolonial theorist with over a hundred publications in the fields of African history, politics, development, and decolonial theory. Furthermore, he is leader of a subproject within the "Postcolonial Hierarchies" network (BMBF-funded).

Prof. Dr. Stefan Ouma

Stefan Ouma is the Chair of Economic Geography at the Department of Geography at the University of Bayreuth. His research interests lie in the economic geography of globalization and development, drawing primarily on insights from heterodox economics, political ecology, and post- and decolonial work.

Dr. Joschka Philipps

Joschka Philipps is a Junior Research Group Leader at the Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence, and interim professor (fall term 2024/25) for the Sociology of Africa at the University of Bayreuth. His work focuses on youth, urban protests, uncertainty, and rumours through interdisciplinary perspectives. His Junior Research Group "Politics of the Unknown" works with photographic and other artistic approaches, as well as social science methods to analyse how information circulates in contexts of emergency and conflict.

Dr. Jan Sändig

Jan Sändig is a researcher within the INFRAGLOB project and co-coordinator of the "Conflicts.Meanings.Transitions" network. His research mainly focuses on local and transnational contestations over large-scale investment projects for agriculture and mining.

Prof. Dr. Cyrus Samimi

Cyrus Samimi is the Head of the Research Group of Climatology at the University of Bayreuth. He is also a Vice Dean for Digital Solutions in the Cluster of Excellence Africa Multiple and Director of the Bavarian Research Institute of African Studies (BRIAS). He has conducted research on various topics, including climate change, food insecurity, political instability, resource governance, and the politics of change.

Dr. Adam Sandor

Adam Sandor is researcher within the BMBF-funded "Postcolonial Hierarchies" network. His research focuses on South-South cooperation in transnational security initiatives and stabilisation missions. He has several years of experience as a consultant.

Prof. Dr. Bernt Schnettler

Bernt Schnettler is Chair of Sociology of Culture and Religion at the University of Bayreuth. He has conducted a number of empirical studies using qualitative methods, including computer-based presentations, religious experiences, and Holocaust commemorations. His current joint research with sociologists at the University of Cali focuses on the analysis of the peace process in Colombia, combining ethnographic methods with visual sociology.

Alexander Schwarz, M.A.

Alexander Schwarz is a PhD candidate and researcher within the "Conflicts.Meanings.Transitions" network (BMBF-funded). His research mainly concerns paramilitary groups, known as Freikorps, after the first World War.

Nicolai Teufel, M.A.

Nicolai Teufel is the leader of the education program Learnopolis.net (funded by the DAAD and BMBF) between the University of Bayreuth and three universities in Ukraine.

Darja Wolfmeier, M.A.

Darja Wolfmeier is a PhD candidate and researcher within the "Postcolonial Hierarchies" network (BMBF-funded). She examines racial inequalities and power in the humanitarian sector.