Information Brochure

M.A. Program
Visual and Media Anthropology

Department of Political and Social Sciences

Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology

Head of the Program: Prof. Dr. Undine Frömming │ E-mail: fromming@zedat.fu-berlin.de

Program coordinator: Tobias Becker M.A - Teaching Coordinator: M.A. Florian Walter.
Artistic Supervisor: M.A. Kristian Petersen - Program/admission information requests:

www.master.fu-berlin.de/visual-anthropology/ - E-mail: mainfo@zedat.fu-berlin.de

Content

1   Editorial  ........................................................................................................................  3  
2   Facts  about  the  Program  ..............................................................................................  5  
2.1   Students  and  Alumnis  ............................................................................................................................................  5  
Nationalities  ............................................................................................................................................................................  5  
Example  CVs  of  some  of  our  students  ...........................................................................................................................  6  
2.2   Technical  Facilities  ..................................................................................................................................................  7  
Editing  Work  Stations,  Cameras  and  Sound  Systems  ............................................................................................  7  
2.3   National  and  international  cooperation’s  .....................................................................................................  8  
3   Overview:  Program  Structure  .......................................................................................  9  
4   E-­‐learning-­‐  and  social  network  tools  ...........................................................................  10  
5   Example  Online-­‐courses  .............................................................................................  11  
5.1   Example  Online  course  Profile  Module  2B:  Social  Anthropology  in  virtual  Worlds  ...............  11  
5.2   Example  Online  course  Profile  Module  C2:  Africa  Online  ...................................................................  14  
5.3   Example  Online-­‐Course:  Basic  Module  1b  Classics  and  Varieties  of  Ethnographic  Film  ......  16  
5.4   Example  Online-­‐course:  Profile  Module  B2  Indigenous  Media  ........................................................  19  
6   Virtual  3D-­‐classrooms  .................................................................................................  21  
6.1   Special  Activities  in  3D  environments  .........................................................................................................  23  
7   Research  Activities  .....................................................................................................  23  
7.1   Steps  for  a  continuous  improvement  of  our  E-­‐learning  tools  ...........................................................  23  
7.2   Papers  and  Conference  Participations  (selection)  .................................................................................  24  
7.3   Research  and  PhD  Projects  ...............................................................................................................................  24  
Third  Party  Research  project  ........................................................................................................................................  24  
Examples  for  running  PhD-­‐Projects  ...........................................................................................................................  25  

2
1 Editorial
During the Bologna process in the years 2006-2008, I had the idea to create this new M.A. Program in
Visual and Media Anthropology. The institute had to restructure the old Magister Program, “Ethnolo-
gie,” into B.A. and M.A. Programs. This lead to the creation of the M.A. in Visual and Media Anthro-
pology (inception 2008), the B.A. Sozial- und Kulturanthropologie (inception 2005), and the M.A.
“Sozial- und Kulturanthroplogie” (inception 2008).

The Program in Visual and Media Anthropology, as a sub-

field of Social and Cultural Anthropology, should be even
more radical in its renewal than our new B.A. and M.A. pro-
grams in Social and Cultural Anthropology. I had the vision
to build up a program that should bring visual and media
anthropological knowledge to people who have already set-
tled, and are future leaders, in the film industry or govern-
mental and non governmental organizations, as well as to
the current and future leading voices of the museums, new Most  of  the  in-­‐house  courses  take  place  
media and art production industries. The continuous high at  the  new  conference  centre  of  Freie  
number of applications since the inception of the program in Universität  Berlin  „The  Dahlem  Cube“  
the year 2008, demonstrates that there is a strong interest in
our program, which is unique in Germany. None of the existing programs worldwide (e.g. University of
London, University of Manchester, University of Barcelona; University of Tromsø; University of South-
ern California; University of Kent) offer a M.A. program in Visual and Media Anthropology as an online
program with in-house courses. Our lectures are visual and media anthropologists from different uni-
versities worldwide (see international cooperation’s).

The aim of the program is to overcome the Eurocentric, non-scientifically grounded, audio-visual doc-
umentations about non-European countries that often give the local or indigenous communities of
“least,” or better to say alternatively developed countries, no voice and ignore other important ethical
guidelines in documenting and interpreting cultures. Furthermore the role of new media, especially
social networks in political processes, resistance, transnational migration and community building is
one important research area of Media Anthropology.

Another idea of the program is to widen the traditional concept of ethnographic audiovisual research in
terms of integrating ideas of sensual, artistic and fictional ethnographic film/photography-making and
herewith cross the boundaries from a mere distant scientific interpretation of cultures to a participation
in trans-regional cultural processes.

According to the Bologna declaration, the program should fulfill the following criteria:

1. International Program: students from all over the world and media professionals or profes-
sionals engaged in the development cooperation sector (with a first degree (BA) in Social and
Cultural Anthropology and related subjects such as Philosophy, Sociology, Human Geogra-
phy, Mass Communication studies etc.) have the opportunity to apply for this program, there-
fore all courses are taught in English.

2. The Program is open for professionals in sectors that are relevant for Visual and Media An-
thropology:

· Professionals from governmental and non-governmental organizations in the sector of sus-

tainable development and capacity building in “least or alternatively developed countries.”

· People employed in the media / documentary film industry (e.g. journalist) or independent pro-
fessional photographers engaged in documentary photography.

· People engaged in the museum landscape and art industry (curators, artists).

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3. Flexible Program: The use of e-learning tools in combination with in-house courses in
workshop /block-style with a duration of two to three weeks, twice a year, enables students
and lecturers to study this program flexibly, in the sense of being able to participate in the
weekly courses from all over the world with abilities such as:

· staying in the home to take care of their children and families (opportunities for single
mothers or fathers)

· staying in different countries (idea of the global /transnational citizenship as a oppor-

tunity for professionals with a global job description such as international governmen-
tal and non-governmental organizations).

· being on long-term ethnographic fieldwork (opportunity for students interested in a

professional carrier as Anthropologists)

4. Real-time-Online-Meetings: The difficult question was: how can our lecturers, besides our own
staff, coming from different international universities, be in more personal contact with the stu-
dents during the online-courses other than only in terms of a written communication (Black-
board Discussion board, E-mail), and how can the students tie their social network with each
other and feel comfortable in our academic community without being present the whole time.
The solution for this question leads us to establish the following steps: 1) 3D-virtual classroom
lectures and courses with avatars and voice chat; 2) Virtual 3D office hours of lecturers with
avatars and voice-chat; 3) Virtual real time 3D-Film screenings; 4) Social Network tools: news-
letter, Facebook group, student Blog; 4) Skype video call meetings.

5. Multimedia Content Management System (CMS)-Online Modules: The idea was to present the
whole content of the online courses in attractive multimedia online-modules in the form of a
combination of the course in weekly units, that with content in form of text, film and picture,
supplemented with mandatory and recommended readings, questions and assignments. Each
course is written / designed by the lecturer who teaches the course as well. The courses are
only to a small part self-learning courses and are accompanied by weekly online meetings
with the lecturer, similar to the traditional in-house courses where students give weekly
presentations in the virtual classroom and discuss the
mandatory readings with the lecturer and fellow students.

We offer two forms of Online courses: 1.) Synchronal real-

time courses in the 3D classroom with avatars and voice
chat and 2.) asynchronal non-real-time courses (the course
discussion takes place via LMS Blackboard), which allow a
wider flexibility for students and lecturers by offering partici-
pation in the discussions at any time with their posts. Fur-
thermore, mini online units that offer a reading, in form of
pfd. downloads, on the most important course content,
questions and assignments, accompany each in-house
course. In March 2011 we start the fourth application pro-
cess and again about 20 students will be matriculated to Prof.  Dr.  Undine  Frömming-­‐  Junior  
start the Master’s Program in Visual and Media Anthropology Professor,  Head  of  the  M.A.  Program  
in October 2011. Visual  and  Media  Anthropology      

Berlin, February 28, 2011

4
2 Facts about the Program
The Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology (Department of Political and Social Sciences) at the
Freie Universität Berlin is offering an innovative new Master's (M.A.) program in Visual and Media
Anthropology. The two-year-full-time Master's program comprises 120 ECTS. We offer 25 places each
year. The M.A. program is a blended learning Program (a combination of e-learning and in-house-
classes). Our E-learning philosophy is a mixture of different web based learning tools: 1) LMS Black-
board 2) CMS-Online modules with multimedia content 3) Avatar based 3D-virtual classrooms with
multi-learner scenarios, notably simulation of ethnographic field work in 3D environments.

The program is a combination of E-learning and in-house learning with five main units:
1. The distance-e-learning modules
2. Four in-house workshops (lasting from two to three weeks long)
3. An internship in a TV production company, film festival, Ethnological Museum, film archive or other
related fields
4. A short film or media project
5. The Master's thesis and/ or the film/media project

This two-year-full-time Master's program comprises 120 ECTS and is educating both researchers with
a background in anthropology and media professionals. The Master's Program focuses on the rela-
tionships between culture and media in a number of areas, such as: virtual cultures; problems in rep-
resentation of culture and gender through media, the significance of ethnographic films and photog-
raphy for Social and Cultural Anthropology, the development of media in Indigenous, Diaspora, and
non-Western communities. The language of instruction is English. The program is highly international.
For our real-time online-classes (via avatars and voice-chat) with students coming from countries all
over the world we use a world-clock meeting planner.

Tuition Fees

The tuition fees are 4,450 € per year of study (2,225 € per Semester). In addition, there are the uni-
versity’s regular registration fee of approximately 88,18 Euro per semester and 158,50 Euro Semes-
terticket (allows to use one year the whole Berlin railway / U-Bahn-System). Please note that the addi-
tional university registration/semester fees may change slightly. Students must assume additional
(travel, room) costs arising from the in-house and fieldwork periods. In the cases of financial need and
in particular social circumstances of the applicant, the fee may be reduced upon written request. This
shall be decided by the Selection Committee (see §2 (3), tuition statue).

2.1 Students and Alumnis

Nationalities

Angola, Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil (2), Bulga-

ria, Colombia, China, Denmark, United Kingdom
(2), Estonia, Finnland, Germany (10), Greece (2),
Hungaria, Iran (2), Italy (2), Latvia, Malawi, Nepal,
Netherlands (2), Panama, Pakistan, Poland, South
Africa, Switzerland (2), Thailand, USA (2), Viet-
nam.

Institute  of  Social  and  Cultural  Anthropology,  Freie  

Universität  Berlin  

5
Example CVs of some of our students

Farhana v. Mitzlaff

Nationality: Bangladeshi

I studied Mass Communication and Journalism in Bangladesh. Being

interested in photography and social issues, I worked for a news agency
and reported on sensitive issues including those of tribal communities.
Later I had the opportunity to work on issues to improve the situation of
industrial workers in the clothing sector. Few years back I moved to
Germany adding my experience with a television project and working
with an Internet Radio.

Socio-cultural differences, I regard as opportunities although

realizing that often this is the beginning of non-understanding and
hostility. Talking about ethnic minorities can easily happens in a context
of vulnerability and being bias whereby it may be worth to examine the
impact of non-representative media.
Indigenous knowledge is often not visualized and is not acknowledged
with its alternative concepts of human coexisting with global sustainabil-
ity. Those and other questions brought me to this study at the FU
Berlin and I look forward to experiment in the fieldwork.

Nora Mertens

Having a BA degree in Cultural Studies (social studies, literature and languages such as English,
French and Russian), I’m currently doing my MA is Visual and Media Anthropology at FU Berlin. I pre-
viously worked in the music business -both on the side of a record label and as a band-/tour manager
for an international music band.
Since childhood I have been fascinated by people's differing realities, values, ideas and stories, while
trying to find my individual 'truth'. Realizing that I was already doing 'ethnographic fieldwork' in my daily
life by visually documenting and observing (video and
photography) my own experiences and surroundings,
combined with an artistic/aesthetic approach and a great
interest in 'others' and traveling, it came natural to me to
pursue a degree in Visual and Media Anthropology,
where I'm improving my technical and academic skills
and am enjoying to meet and be inspired by similar
minded people.
I'm intending to apply my skills and knowledge in an aes-
thetic and respectful approach, looking to be involved in
projects that help promote understanding and tolerance
with all kinds of forms of expression, people and back-
grounds, without being too sophisticated and while being
true to my own values.

6
Lefteris Fylaktos

Eleftherios Fylaktos
Born in Thessaloniki, Greece in 1973.
Studied Communication Arts in the United States from 1991 to 1995.
Have been working as a TV director for ERT (Greek Radio Television)
from 1997 to date.
Have directed documentaries, corporate videos, etc. for television, private,
public and international institutions.
At the moment living in Berlin, Germany, in pursuit of a Master of Arts in
Visual and Media Anthropology in Freie Universität Berlin.
Homepage: http://web.me.com/lefterisfylaktos

Thomas John

Born 1984 in Germany, currently living in several places,

predominantly in Granada, Spain.

After doing a year alternative civilian service and trekking and

traveling for a year in India and Nepal, I did from 2006-2010 a B.A.
in Cultural- and Social Anthropology and a B.A. in Comparative
Religious Science in Münster, Germany. In 2010 I started with the
Visual and Media Anthropology M.A. at FU Berlin. Within under-
graduate studies I got in touch with anthropological film, went to
ethnographic film festivals, did two visual anthropology classes
and resulting from those a few documentary films and participation
in an ethnological intercultural youth-film project. The combination
to do science and being in the same time creative in an audio-
visual way turned out to be something I like and enthuse over. I
tasted blood and decided therefore to follow this path by doing the M.A. of Visual and Media Anthro-
pology. Besides other reasons for developing skills in this field, I really appreciate the possibility to
combine anthropological research and knowledge with the creation of very visible outcomes as repre-
sentation, to have a practical emphasis through combining anthropology with creativity and audio-
visual art. I`m looking forward to make something out of it!

2.2 Technical Facilities

Editing Work Stations, Cameras and Sound Systems

The M.A. Program purchased together with the institute of Communication Studies and the Depart-
ment of Political and Social Sciences two new Avid-Editing Work stations and two Final Cut-Editing
Work stations. The M.A. Program furthermore purchased for the in-house courses (camera and edit-
ing) several new HD-Sony cameras (Sony VX 2100; HVR-A1), Sennheiser wireless sound systems
(SK 100 G2) and Tascam’s (DR 100) and uses several cameras (Sony VX 1000) and other camera
equipment (statives, light, sound) of the department.

7
2.3 National and international cooperation’s

Universities and international lecturer

• Loughborough University, UK, Department of Social Sciences, Sociology, Prof. Dr. Sarah Pink
• University of Tromsø, Norway, Department of Cultural Sciences, Dr. Rosella Ragazzi, Associate
Professor
• Centre for Transcultural Research and Media Practice, Dublin Institute of Technology (Marc Cur-
ran)
• Goldsmiths, University of London Department of Anthropology, Dr. Christopher Wright, Assistant
Professor
• Australian National University, Department of Anthropology, Dr. Gary Kildea, Prof. Dr. Peter Craw-
ford
• CIESAS Sureste in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Mexiko – Social Anthropological Research Centre
(Jose Luis Escalona, Director)
• Photography programme at Institute of Art, Design and Technology, Dun Laoghaire, Dublin (Marc
Curran)
• Zentrum Moderner Orient (ZMO) (Dr. Samuli Schielke)
• The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Department of Linguistics, cooperation on EduNa-
tion Island (Dr. Randall Sadler)
• Ludwig Maximilian University Munich (LMU), Department of Ethnology and Africa Science (Prof.
Dr. Frank Heidemann)
• Freie Universität Berlin: Department of Media and Communication Science (Prof. Dr. Juliana
Raupp, Margret Lünenborg); Seminar for Film Science, Department of Theatre Studies (Prof. Dr.
Gertrud Koch)

Group  of  students  with  lecturer  

Florian  Walter  
during  in-­‐house-­‐class    

8
3 Overview: Program Structure

Master Thesis / Film/Media Project 4. Semester, 30 credits

IV Picturing Intangible Cultural Heritage V The Ambiguity of Photography

I Visualizing Environmental II) Visual Anthropology of III Beyond overser-

Anthropology Childhood and Migration vation
Supervision Courses (Collouium) 4. Semester, 15 credits (choose on)

P1b Professional Perspectives (online)

P2b Exploring boundaries (in-house)

P2a Haptic Cinema (Super 8 work-

P1a Internship (9 weeks - 15 credits) shop)

Project Module 1 Internship Project Module 2: Film/Media Project

Project Modules 3. Semester, 30 credits

C1 Photography and An- C2 Africa Online C3 Applied Visual

thropology (in-house course (online-course) Anthropology (online-
+ mini-online-unit) course)

Profile Module C: Applied Visual and Media Anthropology (15 credits)

B1 Montage and the reflex- B2 Indigenous B3 Experimental Film

ive application of the pho- Media (online- (in-house course +
tograph (in-house course) course) mini-online-unit)

Profile Module B: Communication/Mediascapes (15 credits)

A1 Ethnographic Short A2 Ethnographic Short A3 Poetic Framing

Film Workshop I Film Workshop II (online Course, with in-
(in-house-course) (in-house-course) house supervison)

Profile Module A: Basics and Varieties of Ethnographic Film Production

Profile Modules (2. Semester, 15 credits, choose two Profile Modules)

2a) Introduction to Media Anthro- Social Anthropology in Virtual Worlds

pology (in-house-course + mini-online-unit) (online-course)

Basic Module 2: Media Anthropology (1. Semester, 15 credits)

1c) Producing and reading moving im- 1d) Reading and editing moving images
ages (camera workshop, in-house) (Digital Editing workshop, in-house-course)

1a) Introduction to Visual Anthropology 1b Classics and Varieties of Ethnograph-

(in-house course + mini-online-unit) ic Film (online course)

Basic Module 1: Visual Anthropology (1. Semester, 15 credits)

9
4 E-learning- and social network tools

Virtual office – cinema - 3D-classrooms

Communication Tools Social Network Tools

Newsletter
Website News Student
E-mail Blog
M.A. Programm
Visual and Media
Anthropology
Video Calls
Join us on

Multimedia CMS-Online-Modules Blackboard (Discussion-

Board,Chatroom)

10
5 Example Online-courses

See below three examples of CMS-Online-Courses of the M.A. Program in Visual and Media Anthro-
pology. The aim of the courses is to deliver content of the courses written by the lecturer and profes-
sors in form of a lecture to each unit. Supplemented by mandatory and recommended readings (with
pdf. downloads), streamed film material and assignments or questions for each unit. Students can
navigate to each weekly unit with the unit navigation. The weekly online-lectures to the courses take
place either on the discussion Board (LMS Blackboard) or at real-time-classes with Avatars and voice-
chat in our virtual classrooms on EduNation Island, according to the preference of the responsible
lecturer.

5.1 Example Online course Profile Module 2B: Social Anthropology in

virtual Worlds

Image  1  Startpage  Online  course:  Module  B2:  Social  Anthropology  in  Virtual  Worlds  

11
Image  2  Content  Example  Unit  3  

Image  3  Readings  Unit  3  

12
Image  4  Assignments  Unit    

13
5.2 Example Online course Profile Module C2: Africa Online
(The classes take place via Discussion Board - LMS Blackboard. This course has 13 units –
you see parts of one unit)

This module focuses on modern Information- and Com-

munication Technology (ICT), especially the Internet, for
the purpose of audio-visual self-representation of African
people. Special emphasis will be placed on a currently
significant anthropological, but also political and even
economic, subject: the mediation of transformation- and
appropriation processes as they actually accrue after
dramatically improved broadband Internet connectivity
since Sept. 2009 in (East-) Africa. Indeed some scientists
also prognosticate a “leap frogging” effect of ICT for the
continents “development”. The module is created for a
highly practical approach to the topic as we are also co-
operating with media companies such as the Kenyan
based online news agency A24 Media. A24 calls itself
“An African Voice telling the African Story...” So it aims to
“self-represent” the African complexity by selling video
content of African freelance journalist to broadcasters
worldwide.
Does the Internet offer any potential for the sus-
tainable transformation of the predominately
negative perception of African reality to a more
balanced one? Students will analyse and have a
closer look at it by discussing and using the
recent scientific approaches to media anthro-
pology. Doing so, students will furthermore ana-
lyse which role Open Source Applications, Web
2.0 and mobile technology can play also to-
wards an “e-democracy” and Africans forms of
“development”. In addition students will also
learn more about indigenous and traditional
forms of self-representations and their continui-
ties or even dis-continuities. Because of the
topics complexity, the cooperation with A24
Media and the improved broadband access in
East Africa, the focus of the Module lies firstly
on developments in Kenya

14
Image  5  Startpage  Online  course:  Africa  Online  

Image  6  Content  Unit  1  

Image  7  Questions  Unit  1  

15
5.3 Example Online-Course: Basic Module 1b Classics and Varieties of
Ethnographic Film
This course has 12 units (you can see a part of unit 1)

Image  1  )  Introduction  to  the  course  

Image2)  Content    

16
Image  3  Films  

Image  4  Students  can  watch  the  films  directly  

17
Image  5  Readings  

Image  6  Assignments  

18
5.4 Example Online-course: Profile Module B2 Indigenous Media
This course has 12 units (you can see a part of unit 1)

Image  8  Content  

19
20
 6 Virtual 3D-classrooms
The M.A. Program in Visual and Media Anthropology has rented two plots on EduNation is-
land (Second Life Software). Some courses of the program take place in our virtual class-
room on this island. Students and lectures meet up with Avatars and communicate (via
voice-chat). Furthermore we simulate ethnographic fieldwork situations and practice visual
anthropological methods. At the beach of the plots is an outdoor cinema available that ena-
bles to watch films together. Click here for Teleport

Image  9  Virtual  3-­‐D  classrooms  M.A.  Program  Visual  and  Media  Anthropology  on  EduNation  Island  

21
Image  10    Class  of  the  course  „Social  Anthropology  in  Virtual  Worlds“  Virtual  3-­‐D  classroom  of  the  M.A.  Pro-­‐
gram  on  EduNations  Island  

Image  11  Class  of  the  course  „Professional  Perspectives  in  Visual  and  Media  Anthropology“  -­‐  Virtual  3D  class-­‐
room  of  the  M.A.  Program  on  EduNation  Island  

Image  12  Our  professors  and  lecturers  offer  virtual  office  hours  for  all  students.  

22
6.1 Special Activities in 3D environments

The 3D environment on EduNation Island enables us to offer special events such as excursions to
exhibitions, or seasonal special happenings, e.g. a winter party which was used to evaluate the course
in form of a personal feedback discussion between students and lecturers of the Program. After ice
skating and sledding with the avatars we met up in an igloo to start the feedback discussion.

Image  13  Virtual  winter  party  with  students  and  lecturers  in  Second  Life

7 Research Activities

7.1 Steps for a continuous improvement of our E-learning tools

The future development of our program according to the ongoing changes in E-learning technologies
and new forms of E-Didactic is one of our aim, therefore professors and research associates of the
Program participate regularly at international E-learning conferences. The focus of our interest lies in a
concentration of the best E-learning tools for Visual and Media Anthropology. Furthermore we partici-
pate at several conferences to present our own research in the field of Visual and Media Anthropolo-
gy.

Image 14 Prof. U. Frömming partici-

pated with her Avatar at the
Roundtable: conference: „Universi-
ties in Second Life“ 8th INST World
Conference CCKS, Cities, Cultures
and Knowledge Society (UNESCO),
Click here to a video link of the
conference and panel discussion

23
7.2 Papers and Conference Participations (selection)
• 28.01. 2011 Tobias Becker und Martin Tscholl: Vortrag: Experimentelle Repräsentationsstrategien in
der Visuellen Anthropologie. Kunstakademie Düsseldorf
• 26.11.2010: Undine Frömming: 8th INST World Conference CCKS, Cities, Cultures and Knowledge
Society (UNESCO)Section title: Cities, Cultures and Language in virtual worlds. Panel discussion: Uni-
versities in virtual words. Organisation: INST Vienna, Austria and in Second Life

• 15.10.2010 Undine Frömming and Tobias Becker: Vortrag: "Visual Anthropology in Virtual Culture.
The construction of Culture through Language and Image" with short machinima-film presentation:
"Jazmin Orfan" by Tobias Becker, based on a visual anthropological research in virtual muslim cultures.
Slanguages conference, organisation: University of Manchester, UK
• 24.-27.8.2010 Florian Walter: Vortrag „On the road with Maruch: the promises and limits of open,
non-linear hypermedia documents in anthropological work after the crisis of representation and
Web 2.0” im Rahmen der 11th EASA Biennial Conference in Maynooth, Irland / 24.-27. August 2010

• 10.11.2009 Undine Frömming, Vortrag: "Visuelle Anthropologie in virtuellen Kulturen". (Visual Anth-
ropology in Virtual Cultures) Institutskolloquium Institut für Europäische Ethnologie, Humboldt Universität
Berlin mit Live-Übertragung aus Second Life
• Oktober 2009 DGV-Tagung Vortrag: "Ethnographic Machinimia. Kulturelle Aneignungen virtueller
Räume" (Ethnographic Machinima. Cultural Appropriation of virtual spaces) Workshop der AG Vi-
suelle Anthropologie auf der DGV-Tagung 30.09.-03.10.2009: Kulturelle Aneignungen - Anverwandlung -
Camouflage
• 14.09.2009 Participation Workshop "Virtuelle Welten - 3D-Seminar- und Tagungsorte als internatio-
nale und hochschulübergreifende E-Learning-Architekturen" Pre-Conference "E-Learning 2009:
Lernen im Digitalen Zeitalter".

• 15.09.09-17.09.09 Participation Conference "E-Learning 2009: Lernen im Digitalen Zeitalter" A con-

ference of: GMW'09, DeLFI 2009 und Verleihung des Medida-Prix
• 2.10. 2007 paper: "Digital iconic tun. Über die Bedeutung globaler Digitalisierungsprozesse für die
ethnologische Forschung und Theoriebildung", Tagung der deutschen Gesellschaft für Völkerkunde,
Halle (Salle).

7.3 Research and PhD Projects

We try to offer the best graduates of our program further research positions in our research areas of
our institute (besides Visual and Media Anthropology, Environmental Anthropology, Anthropology of
Emotions and Medical Anthropology) and integrate them during their time as PhD candidates into
teaching activities of the M.A. program. Therefore we offer them teaching contracts for in-house clas-
ses and online-courses and help them in finding appropriate PhD scholarships. See a list of all running
PhD projects under this link. See a list of all running PhD projects under this link

Third Party Research project

BMBF-project: “Visualizing and mapping of local knowledge in the alps” (Prof. Dr. U. Frömming)
(part of the joint research project: Alpine risks in times of climate change (Alpine Naturgefahren im
Klimawandel) (Prof. Dr. W. Dombrowsky).

One Phd candidate (Christian Reichel M.A) and one Postdoc (Dr. Josef Bordat) are employed in this
project at the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology (April 2011-March 2014).

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Examples for running PhD-Projects

PhD-Project: Africa Online How World Wide is the Web? Africa between Adaptation und audio-
visual Innovation
Kani Tuyala (PhD project funded by DAAD: Promos, supervision: Prof. Dr. U. Frömming)
Start: October 2010

A  24  Media  Kenia,    

Photo:  ©Kani  Tuyala  2010  

Abstract of the PhD project

Kani Tuyala’s research project „Africa Online. Audio-visual self-representation of African People in the
Internet” is based on the cooperation with the Kenyan Media Company A24 Media. Through an ade-
quate and contemporary methodology the aim is to scientifically analyze the dictum of “media as a
motor of social and political transition” – in an African and virtual context. Even to “leapfrog” whole
stages of ‘development’ now seems possible for several parts of the African continent. The potential of
online-communication to overcome the biased and all to frequent single-sided perception of the mysti-
fied African continent, forms a further vital pillar of the thesis – not least because both emphases de-
scribe two sides of the same coin.

Due to the issues’ and the African continent’s complexity, the research project ‘Africa Online’ focuses
on the state of Kenya and local online-initiatives (A24 Media, Ushahidi etc.), with the potential to en-
sure a scientifically funded analysis. Furthermore, besides representatives of the corresponding facul-
ties of the university of Nairobi, also the opinions and estimations of journalist e.g. from the ARD Stu-
dio in Nairobi will be considered, to ensure a holistic approach to the topic.

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PhD-project: Critical theory on new media and Internet and the impact of the internet on social
commonality - case study of Iran

Sadaf Javdani Haji, PhD project funded by DAAD (Stibet-Program), Supervision: Prof. Dr. Undine
Froemming
Start of the project: January 2011

No  country  for  young  men  

©Sadaf  Javdani  2010  

Abstract

This study will focus on Iranian students between the age of 20 and 30 in two groups: Students who
live and study in Iran; students who has left Iran in favor of continuing their education. The first part will
explore the role of Internet as a new way of communication. With the special focus on the critical theo-
ries about technology in the work of Marcuse, Habermas and Heidegger, the second part will explore
the role of Internet in changing social interaction and commonality in my target group. Comparing my
two target groups, one aim of this study is to analyze if the role of Internet and its negative/positive
sides could be altered by the context of the study.

The theoretical focus throughout both parts will be on media studies and critical theories starting out
from Martin Heidegger and the Frankfurt School, that is, from doctrines keenly sensitive to the failure
and indeed the threat of modern technology. On the other hand, this study also aims to go beyond the
pessimist approaches about modern technology and look into the advantages of the Internet and the
alternatives and new possibilities that it provides. Internet open new opportunities for human commu-
nication and build an integrated and unified picture of our world. Consequently there are two sides
while studying this new media: “Capitalism has survived its various crisis and now organizes the entire
globe in a fantastic web of connections with contradictory consequences (...) The internet opens fan-
tastic new opportunities for human communication, and is inundated with commercialism. Human
rights prove a challenge to regressive costumes in some countries, while providing alibis for new im-
perialist ventures in others” (Feenberg 2005). Therefore while studying this subject, we should pay a
parallel attention to both sides. In summary, the study has two aims: the first is the theoretical explora-
tion of internet and analyzing its impacts on human interactions and the second is to use these studies
and gather data that enable the author to analyze the impact of internet on the social interactions of
Iranian students living both inside and outside of country.

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