Forschung

Aktuelles Forschungsinteresse:

Kulturelle Dimensionen des Klimawandels: Nachhaltiger Konsum, Solidarische Landwirtschaften als Lern- und Erfahrungsorte für nachhaltiges Handeln. 

Thematische Schwerpunkte:

Anthropologie der Sinne (Ästhetik), Materielle Kultur, Soziale Praxistheorie, Visuelle Anthropologie, 

Methodischer Schwerpunkt:

Ethnografische Feldforschung / Teilnehmende Beobachtung 

Regionaler Schwerpunkt Promotionsprojekt:

Südostasien, besonders Philippinen

Promotionsprojekt (2010 - 2018):

Umsiedlungsprojekt auf den Philippinen

Forschungsstandort: Lapu-Lapu City (Mactan Island, Philippinen)

Feldforschung: Mai 2011 bis Januar 2012

Thema der Dissertation: "Changing Lives through Relocation - Ethnography of a Socialized Housing Project in the Philippines"

Abschluss der Promotion: 18.10.2018

Abstract:

Changing lives through relocation - This is the vision of a socialized housing project in the Philippines which is subject of this dissertation. It is a polyphonic ethnography that investigates the transition process from an informal, marginalized, self-organized lifestyle in squatter areas and dumpsite settlements to an institutionalized and policy-based life in the socialized housing project. The transition process is analyzed from a material cultural perspective taking into account selected aesthetic theories. With this approach, the dissertation aims to contribute to the study of the aesthetic dimension of everyday life from an ethnographic perspective. Aesthetics are applied on three levels: (1) On the theoretical level, the concepts of social aesthetics and atmospheres enrich the analysis of the interrelation between the residents and their new house in the socialized housing project. (2) On the methodological level, the relevance of aesthetic experiences for the ethnographic knowledge process are discussed. And (3) on the descriptive level, selected and thematically relevant sensory and aesthetic experiences of the researcher inform the ethnographic account in the form of memoirs. By incorporating aesthetic theories, the dissertation gives a more holistic account of the dynamics active in the transition process. It shows that the change of lifestyle is experienced sensorily through the daily physical engagement with the new material environment, i.e. its specific materiality and infrastructure, its affordances and constraints giving rise to new experiences and needs. In this process, the residents become aware of the differences between the past and present way of life and thus experience the new challenges through their physical being in the new material environment. On the one hand, this evokes a nostalgic attitude towards their previous life, but on the other hand, it also gives form to ideas of a possible future.

Dissertationsschrift, veröffentlicht via OpenAccess. https://kola.opus.hbz-nrw.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/1743