Prof. Dr. Melina C. Kalfelis
Melina C. Kalfelis
Juniorprofessor of Social and Cultural Anthropology with a Focus on Social Belonging
E-Mail: melina.kalfelis@uni-bayreuth.de
Phone: +49 (0)921 / 55-4133
Building GW II Room 0.17
Consultation by appointment
Profile
- since Mai 2023: Juniorprofessor for Social and Cultural Anthropology with a Focus on Social Belonging – University of Bayreuth
- 2022-2023: Postdoc in the research initiative „ConTrust: Trust in Conflict“ – Goethe-University Frankfurt
- 2021-2022: Research Associate (postdoc) of Prof. Dr. Andrea Behrends at the department of Social and Cultural Anthropology – University of Bayreuth
- 2020: Visiting Fellow at „Maria Sibylla Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa“ – University of Legon (5 months)
- 2020: Visiting Fellow at the Cluster of Excellence „Africa Multiple” – University of Bayreuth (6 months)
- 2019: VolkswagenStiftung Visiting Fellow at the Institute for African Affairs – German Institute of Global and Area Studies Hamburg (7 months)
- 2015-2018: Collaborative Research Center 1095 “Discourses of Weakness and Resource Regimes”
- 2014-2015: Doctoral Scholarship at the „International Graduate Center for the Study of Cultures“ (GCSC) – Justus-Liebig-University Gießen
- 2019: PhD in Social and Cultural Anthropology. Topic: NGO als Lebenswelt. Transnationale Verflechtungen im Arbeitsalltag von Entwicklungsakteuren" (Campus, 2020) – Justus-Liebig-University Gießen / Goethe-University Frankfurt
- 2013: Magister Artium (excellent) in Historical Anthropology, Political Science and Psychoanalysis – Goethe-University Frankfurt
Scientific Career
Education
Scientific Career
- since Mai 2023: Juniorprofessor for Social and Cultural Anthropology with a Focus on Social Belonging – University of Bayreuth
- 2022-2023: Postdoc in the research initiative „ConTrust: Trust in Conflict“ – Goethe-University Frankfurt
- 2021-2022: Research Associate (postdoc) of Prof. Dr. Andrea Behrends at the department of Social and Cultural Anthropology – University of Bayreuth
- 2020: Visiting Fellow at „Maria Sibylla Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa“ – University of Legon (5 months)
- 2020: Visiting Fellow at the Cluster of Excellence „Africa Multiple” – University of Bayreuth (6 months)
- 2019: VolkswagenStiftung Visiting Fellow at the Institute for African Affairs – German Institute of Global and Area Studies Hamburg (7 months)
- 2015-2018: Collaborative Research Center 1095 “Discourses of Weakness and Resource Regimes”
- 2014-2015: Doctoral Scholarship at the „International Graduate Center for the Study of Cultures“ (GCSC) – Justus-Liebig-University Gießen
Education
- 2019: PhD in Social and Cultural Anthropology. Topic: NGO als Lebenswelt. Transnationale Verflechtungen im Arbeitsalltag von Entwicklungsakteuren" (Campus, 2020) – Justus-Liebig-University Gießen / Goethe-University Frankfurt
- 2013: Magister Artium (excellent) in Historical Anthropology, Political Science and Psychoanalysis – Goethe-University Frankfurt
- Political and philosophical anthropology
- Ethnographies of violence
- Conflict, vigilantism, crime & criminalization
- Ethics and Emotions
- Civil society and transnational NGO work
- Media and visual anthropology
- Critical phenomenology
- West Africa and Western Europe
Research interests
Melina C. Kalfelis is a Junior Professor in Social and Cultural Anthropology with a Focus on Social Belonging at the University of Bayreuth. Drawing on long-term fieldwork in West Africa and Western Europe, she specialises in political anthropology, concentrating specifically on vigilantism, violence, and resistance, as well as North-South relations in transnational architectures of security and development. She is the author of NGO als Lebenswelt [NGOs as Lifeworlds (Campus, 2020) and co-editor of NGOs and Lifeworlds in Africa (Berghahn, 2021) and Afrotopia (Utopian Studies, forthcoming in 2025). Her journal articles have been published with Conflict&Society, Cultural Dynamics, Journal of Intervention and State Building, and Anthropologie&Développement. She also brings expertise in visual anthropology, with particular emphasis on photography and film as means of ethnographic inquiry.
More information on https://www.melinakalfelis.com.
Research interests
- Political and philosophical anthropology
- Ethnographies of violence
- Conflict, vigilantism, crime & criminalization
- Ethics and Emotions
- Civil society and transnational NGO work
- Media and visual anthropology
- Critical phenomenology
- West Africa and Western Europe
Melina C. Kalfelis is a Junior Professor in Social and Cultural Anthropology with a Focus on Social Belonging at the University of Bayreuth. Drawing on long-term fieldwork in West Africa and Western Europe, she specialises in political anthropology, concentrating specifically on vigilantism, violence, and resistance, as well as North-South relations in transnational architectures of security and development. She is the author of NGO als Lebenswelt [NGOs as Lifeworlds (Campus, 2020) and co-editor of NGOs and Lifeworlds in Africa (Berghahn, 2021) and Afrotopia (Utopian Studies, forthcoming in 2025). Her journal articles have been published with Conflict&Society, Cultural Dynamics, Journal of Intervention and State Building, and Anthropologie&Développement. She also brings expertise in visual anthropology, with particular emphasis on photography and film as means of ethnographic inquiry.
More information on https://www.melinakalfelis.com.
Profile
Scientific Career
- since Mai 2023: Juniorprofessor for Social and Cultural Anthropology with a Focus on Social Belonging – University of Bayreuth
- 2022-2023: Postdoc in the research initiative „ConTrust: Trust in Conflict“ – Goethe-University Frankfurt
- 2021-2022: Research Associate (postdoc) of Prof. Dr. Andrea Behrends at the department of Social and Cultural Anthropology – University of Bayreuth
- 2020: Visiting Fellow at „Maria Sibylla Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa“ – University of Legon (5 months)
- 2020: Visiting Fellow at the Cluster of Excellence „Africa Multiple” – University of Bayreuth (6 months)
- 2019: VolkswagenStiftung Visiting Fellow at the Institute for African Affairs – German Institute of Global and Area Studies Hamburg (7 months)
- 2015-2018: Collaborative Research Center 1095 “Discourses of Weakness and Resource Regimes”
- 2014-2015: Doctoral Scholarship at the „International Graduate Center for the Study of Cultures“ (GCSC) – Justus-Liebig-University Gießen
Education
- 2019: PhD in Social and Cultural Anthropology. Topic: NGO als Lebenswelt. Transnationale Verflechtungen im Arbeitsalltag von Entwicklungsakteuren" (Campus, 2020) – Justus-Liebig-University Gießen / Goethe-University Frankfurt
- 2013: Magister Artium (excellent) in Historical Anthropology, Political Science and Psychoanalysis – Goethe-University Frankfurt
Research interests
- Political and philosophical anthropology
- Ethnographies of violence
- Conflict, vigilantism, crime & criminalization
- Ethics and Emotions
- Civil society and transnational NGO work
- Media and visual anthropology
- Critical phenomenology
- West Africa and Western Europe
Melina C. Kalfelis is a Junior Professor in Social and Cultural Anthropology with a Focus on Social Belonging at the University of Bayreuth. Drawing on long-term fieldwork in West Africa and Western Europe, she specialises in political anthropology, concentrating specifically on vigilantism, violence, and resistance, as well as North-South relations in transnational architectures of security and development. She is the author of NGO als Lebenswelt [NGOs as Lifeworlds (Campus, 2020) and co-editor of NGOs and Lifeworlds in Africa (Berghahn, 2021) and Afrotopia (Utopian Studies, forthcoming in 2025). Her journal articles have been published with Conflict&Society, Cultural Dynamics, Journal of Intervention and State Building, and Anthropologie&Développement. She also brings expertise in visual anthropology, with particular emphasis on photography and film as means of ethnographic inquiry.
More information on https://www.melinakalfelis.com.