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Combining a sociological interest in insecurity and uncertainty, the professorship “Soziologie der Unsicherheit” investigates how the causes of insecurity are identified, prioritized, and socially negotiated. It thereby addresses the tension between insecurity as a sense of threat and the uncertainty as to where such a threat is coming from and to what degree it is “real” or projected. At the professorship, we are interested in how groups coalesce around specific images of an enemy, how disruptive events are declared as such and disseminated through various media, how rumours accompany and subvert official accounts, and how individuals and institutions position themselves in the midst of, and via, heterogeneous discourses. Within the context of our focus on Africa, we treat uncertainty not merely as a negative lack of certainty, but also as a resource that is deliberately produced and utilized by various actors. Methodologically, the professorship is focused on qualitative research, with various interdisciplinary overlaps and a reflexive interest in the social and political role of scientific practice in contexts of uncertainty and insecurity. Its affiliation with the Cluster of Excellence Africa Multiple, and in particular the Research Section “In/securities”, as well as the Research Center C³ (Conflict, Crisis, and Change), embeds the professorship in various transnational fields of research.