Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology

The Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology (German: Max-Planck-Institut für ethnologische Forschung) is a scientific research institute founded in 1999 in Halle, Germany. It is one of the institutes of the Max Planck Society.

Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology
AbbreviationMPIEF
Formation1999 (1999)
TypeScientific institute
PurposeResearch in sociocultural anthropology and social change
HeadquartersHalle, Germany
Managing director
Marie-Claire Foblets
Directors
Marie-Claire Foblets
Chris Hann
Ursula Rao
Günther Schlee
Biao Xiang
Key people
Chris Hann and Günther Schlee, founding directors
Parent organization
Max Planck Society
Staff
>175
Website(in English)
(in German)

Organization

The institute consists of five departments and several independent research institutes.

Law and Anthropology

Headed by Prof. Dr. Marie-Claire Foblets, the Department of Law and Anthropology was established in 2012 to focus on the effects of societies and cultures towards law and politics and vice versa. This department also carefully looks how scholars of this specific discipline can and should take responsibility for implications surrounding the interplay of these societal factors.[1]

Resilience and Transformation in Eurasia

Headed by Prof. Dr. Chris Hann, the Department of Resilience and Transformation in Eurasia is concerned with the interaction of economics, politics and anthropology within Eurasia. Research sub-groups are focusing and have done studies on kinship, historical anthropology, economic anthropology, urban anthropology, culture and socialism, and citizenship.[2]

Anthropology of Politics and Governance

Headed by Prof. Dr. Ursula Rao, the Department of Anthropology of Politics and Governance brings together a group of successful scholars undertaking research in form of in-depth case studies in Asia, Africa and Europe about the tactics, strategies, and motivations that shape political action in times of perceived crisis to study programmes and initiatives that aim to shape the future by proposing new ways of managing complexity and caring for relations in a more-than-human world.[3]

Integration and Conflict

Headed by Prof. Dr. Günther Schlee, the Department of Integration and Conflict focuses on social systems particularly based on identification and differentiation among groups. The department looks into the holistic elements that build ethnic identity through kinship, friendship, language, history, religion, and how ethnicity plays a role across social systems at individual and supra-individual levels.[4]

Anthropology of Economic Experimentation

Headed by Prof. Dr. Biao Xiang, the Department of Anthropology of Economic Experimentation focuses on a wide range of political economy issues, including state-society relations, labour, social reproduction, and mobility governance, through the lens of migration.[3]

Management

The Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology is mainly represented by the following people:[5]

Directors

  • Prof. Dr. Marie-Claire Foblets
  • Prof. Dr. Chris Hann
  • Prof. Dr. Günther Schlee

Fellow

  • Burkhard Schnepel

Services

  • Bettina Mann (Research Coordinator)
  • Kathrin Niehuus (Head of Administration)
  • Anja Neuner (Head Librarian)

Controversies

In January 2017, the Department of Law and Anthropology has invited the controversial American activist and political scientist Norman Finkelstein as a visiting scholar. The Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology has thus been criticized for providing a platform for a controversial speaker. In a statement the Max Planck Institute said that the purpose of Finkelstein's invitation to the Institute was to engage in a dialogue with him to discuss his work within an academic context. The research institute is dedicated to basic research where controversy cannot be ruled out; controversy is a “trait of academic work”.[6]

gollark: Start at Getting Started, it seems to make sense.
gollark: You realise that telling people to shut up does not in fact improve your argument?
gollark: ...
gollark: > "don't know how to program"> wants to do complex project
gollark: I don't think people here will do that.

References
  1. "Department 'Law & Anthropology'". Retrieved 15 April 2015.
  2. "Department 'Resilience and Transformation in Eurasia'". Retrieved 15 April 2015.
  3. Schwendtner, Stefan (15 June 2020). "MPI for Social Anthropology Welcomes New Directors Ursula Rao and Biao Xiang". Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
  4. "Department 'Integration and Conflict'". Retrieved 15 April 2015.
  5. "Structure". Retrieved 15 April 2015.
  6. "Statement on the invitation of Norman Finkelstein as visiting scholar January 16, 2017, January 18, 2017". Retrieved 24 January 2017.


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