Welcome to my homepage1

for informations about the Chair of Social Anthropology in Bochum, please click here:

http://www.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/sowi/sozanth/index.html


The anthropologist in a field (if you want to see what happens if you don't choose your field carefully, click here)

Dieter Haller, cultural and social anthropologist (the anthropologist as art object)

1991 PhD (dissertation) University of Heidelberg
2000 PD (habilitation) University of Frankfurt/Oder
2003 Adj Assoc Prof University of Texas/Austin
2005 Prof
Ruhr-Universität Bochum

 


Biographical data

Born March 22, 1962 in 73061 Ebersbach/Fils (Baden-Württemberg, Germany). School until final exam (Abitur) in 1982. In fall 1982 beginning of university studies at Ruprecht-Karls-University, Heidelberg - main subject social & cultural anthropology (Ethnologie) at the Südasien Institut/Heidelberg, additionally sociology and hispanic studies. In anthropology, my teachers were professors Georg Pfeffer, Reinhold Loeffler, Richard Burghart and Thomas Hauschild.

During university studies, the main foci of interests were History of Theories, Symbolic Anthropology, Mediterranean Anthropology, Discourse Analysis, Interpretive Anthropology, Gender, Functionalism, Intercultural Communication (in Cultural Anthropology); Literature of Spain (in Hispanic Studies); Social Inequality, deviance, M.Weber, M.Foucault, power (in Sociology).

In 1985-86 study at the University of Seville, Spain, mainly with professor Isidoro Moreno-Navarro.

In Seville, fieldwork during these 12 months (and also later, in 1988) on the subject of "Machismo and Homosexuality".

Dissertation completed in 1990, in 1991 PhD after passing the final exam with summa cum laude.

1991-2000, lecturing at various universities on different topics.

In 1992 move from Heidelberg to Berlin

1996-98 research director at the Department of Comparative Cultural & Social Anthropology at Europa University-Viadrina in Frankfurt/Oder.

During this time, fieldwork in Gibraltar was carried out (some pictures of Gibraltar here). The project was supported by Prof. Werner Schiffauer (Frankfurt/Oder).

1998 to 2000 working on habilitation (necessary pre-requisite for professorship in German university system), which was completed in November 2000. This was followed by

a visiting professorship in 2000 at the Institut für Europäische Ethnologie und Kulturanthropologie at Johann-Wolfgang-von-Goethe University in Frankfurt/Main,

a guest professorship in 2001 at the Institut für Völkerkunde at University of Hamburg,

a guest professorship in 2002 at the Laboratorio de Estudios Interculturales, Universidad de Granada/Spain and

a position as Theodor-Heuss-Lecturer at Gradudate Faculty of Political and Social Sciences at New School University/New York in Spring 2003.

a position as Adjunct Associate Professor (as anthropologist with specialization Europe) at Dept. for Germanic Studies, University of Texas/Austin from Fall 2003 – Spring 2005

In Spring 2005 fieldwork in Central Texas (3 months)

a position as Professor für Sozialanthropologie at Ruhr-Universität Bochum from Fall 2005 onwards


My specializations

My regional focus is on Mainstream American Culture, on the Iberian Peninsula (esp. Gibraltar), the Mediterranean, the European Union, and global diasporas. Main topics are hegemonial ideologies (americocentism, heteronormativity, nationalism), territoriality (esp. borderlands and diasporas), questions of identity building (mainly in the fields of gender, ethnicity, and nation), Ports and Cities, history of anthropology, and political anthropology (corruption, bureaucracy, networks, friendship). Currently I am working on my field experiences in Central Texas.

I cling to the old fashioned conviction that extended fieldwork is a sine qua non of our discipline; fieldwork is not everything, but without fieldwork, everything is nothing. Jules Henry quite correctly remarked in 1964 that "(e)verywhere the human disciplines run away from the humanity of human beings" - the anthropological ethos is that we resist the temptation to do so - and much to our professional advantage. The central benefit of participant observation, often overlooked by other methods of data collection, lies in noting and discovering informal connections, which can usually only be recognized through long-lasting eyewitness. Fieldwork involves all senses and means living with real people, listening to them carefully, discovering the discrepancies of discourse and practice, focussing on everyday life, on informal knowledge and embodied practices.

Moreover, long term fieldwork is a central asset that secures our professional identity vis á vis neighboring disciplines such as folklore studies, cultural studies, history, psychology, and sociology. Nevertheless, the mutual benefit with these disciplines and their mainly text based methodology is great (i.e. the historical perspective, that sometimes is neglected in anthropological reasoning) and therefore an interdisciplinary perspective should always be taken into account.

I am working mainly with approaches from Symbolic Anthropology, Practice Theories, Political Economy, Performance Theory, Queer Theory, and approaches that are based on Embodiment.

I have been influenced by colleagues, scholars and writers both within and outside the discipline. Most importantly figure Mary Douglas, Eric Wolf, James Fernandez, Pierre Bourdieu, Thomas Hauschild, Michel Foucault, Judith Butler, Clifford Geertz, Richard Burghart, Hastings Donnan, and Jeanne Favret-Saada, but also by non-scientific writers and artists such as Gore Vidal, Studs Terkel, Dionne Warwick, Marianne Hoppe, Hildegard Knef, Elisabeth Flickenschildt, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Manuel Vazquez-Montalbán, and, of course, Carl Barks and Erika Fuchs.

Fieldwork

1985/86 Seville, Andalusia (Spain)

1995/96 Gibraltar

2005 Central Texas (Bush Ranch in Crawford, Alamo in San Antonio, Southfork Ranch in Parker/Dallas, Luckenbach, Johnson City and Austin)


Interesting links

1. Cultural and Social Anthropology

1.1. Introductions into anthropology, journals, dictionnaries, encyclopedia

·         What is anthropology?

·         World Anthropologies Network

·         CULTURAL  ANTHROPOLOGY  TUTORIALS

·         Anthropology Institutes around the Globe

·         General Sources (WWW Virtual Library) 

·         Teach yourself anthropology

·         Social and Cultural Anthropology (SocioSite) 

·         Ethnographic Resources related to Folklore, Anthropology, Ethnomusicology, and the Humanities

·         AnthroBase.com, Searchable database of anthropological texts

·         Conrad Kottaks Cultural Anthropology Tutorial

·         German Anthropological Journal kea

·         Anthrosource

·         Anthromorphemics (ethnological glossar)

·         Bibliography on European Colonialism

·         Virtual Library Anthropology

·         Anthropological Index Online (bibliographical service)

·         Journal-Ethnologie

·         Anthropology.net

1.2. History of anthropology, general history of theories, anthropology in the news

·         Anthropological Theories: A Guide by Students for Students

·         Berufschancen von Ethnologinnen und Ethnologen

·         Theory in Anthropology

·         Symbolic Anthropology

·         Key concepts in anthropology

·         short biographies (anthropologists)

·         Short biographies (anthropologists in Wikipedia)

·         short biographies (sociologists)

·         WEDA - anthropologists

·         postmodern approaches

·         Dead Sociologists homepage

·         anthropology in the news, Texas A&M

1.3. Fieldwork, ethnography, methodology

·         Bibliography of fieldwork, research methods and ethnography in sociocultural anthropology

·         Anthropology : Library Resources for Fieldwork & Research Techniques

·         Methods, Fieldwork, Ethics

·         Qualitative Methods Workbook

·         REFLECTIONS ON DOING FIELDWORK

·         Fieldwork

1.4. Professional Organizations

·         Deutsche Gesellschaft für Völkerkunde;

·         European Association of Social Anthropology;

·         American Anthropological Association;

1.5. Volkskunde and Related Disciplines

·        Deutsche Gesellschaft für Volkskunde;

·        Volkskunde Online

·         Zeitschrift für Volkskunde

·         Société Internationale d'Ethnologie et de Folklore

2. Other anthropologies

2.1. Philosophical anthropology

·         Helmuth Plessner

·         Arnold Gehlen

·         Zum Grundverständnis von Anthropologie

·         Philosophische Anthropologie (Wikipedia)

·         Philosophische Anthropologie II

2.2. Historical Anthropology

·        Interdisziplinäres Zentrum für Historische Anthropologie

·        Historische Anthropologie (ZS)

·         AG Historische Anthropologie

2.3. Sociobiological Anthropology

·         Overview

·         Soziobiologie (Wikipedia)

3. Sources

3.1. Libraries, search machines

·         Google Search Machine

·         Google Search Machine Pictures

·         Deutsch-Englisches Wörterbuch

·         Wikipedia (dt.)

·         Wikipedia (engl.)

·         Subito

·         UT Homepage

·         UT NetCAT

·         UT Interlibrary Services

·         UT Databases and Indexes to Articles

·         UT Austin Library Catalogue

·         Bochum RUB Katalog

·         Berlin FU Katalog

·         Berlin HU Katalog

·         Berlin Stabi Katalog

·         Zentrales Verzeichnis Antiquarischer Bücher

·         RUB Mail

3.2. Newspapers

·         Spiegel Online

·         Tagesspiegel

·         SZ

·         taz

·         Zeit + Jobturbo

·         Le monde diplomatique (dt.)

·         Le monde diplomatique (engl.)

·         El Pais

·         NZZ

·         FR

·         WELT

·         The Lone Star Iconoclast

·         Guardian

·         Al-Ahram

·         Times

·         More than 10 000 newspapers

·         London Review of Books

·         The New York Review of Books

·         The New Yorker

·         The Times Literary Supplement

·         Euronews

·         Café Babel

·         Flatiron Letters

·         Perlentaucher

4. The Mediterranean, Gibraltar and Spain

4.1. The Mediterranean

·                     Réseau thématique des centres européens de recherche en sciences humaines sur l'ensemble euro-méditerranéen - Mediterranean Conundrums

·         La pensée de midi

·         Sabir - A Glossary of Lingua Franca

·        Erzherzog Ludwig Salvator - Forscher und Chronist des Mittelmeeres

·        Literary Alexandria of Cavafy

·         Alexandria Preservation Trust

·         Belmonte

·         Ferdinandea

4.2. Gibraltar

·         The Gibraltar Chronicle

·         Weekly journal Panorama

·         Insight Magazine

·         Live-Camera - pictures of the border

·         Official Site of Miss Gibraltar Beauty Pageant

·         Some of my pictures of Gibraltar

·         Discover Gibraltar

·         The Gibraltar Magazine

·         Gibraltar in the Media

·         Friends of Gibraltar Heritage Society

·         Gibraltar Heritage online

·         Gibraltar Heritage Trust

4.3. Spain

·         Europa Sur

·         Spanish Ethnography in English

·         Links with Spain

·         Andalucia

·         Rio Tinto

·         Sevilla, Paseando por Sevilla

·         Barcelona, Barrio Chino

5. USA allgemein

·        Die USA und ihre Rolle in der Weltpolitik

·        A. Kreyes Berichte aus Amerika

·        A. Kreyes Popberichte aus Amerika

·        Amerika für Christus wiedergewinnen

·       Mein liebes Amerika

·        Gore Vidal pages, and The Gore Vidal Index

·        Michael Lind Publications

·        Claudia Alta (Ladybird) Johnson Site

·        Great Society Speech, Lyndon B. Johnson, 1964

·        Howard Zinn Page

5.1. Texas

·        Austin, Texas (or here or here)

·       Southfork Ranch/Parker Tx 

·        Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center

·        LBJ National Historical Park

·        Daughters of the Republic of Texas

·        Luckenbach/Texas

6. Up, up, and away... with your body, or in your mind

·        Shuttle images of the world

·       Adelberg

·        Bad Rippoldsau

·        Texts about Berlin (by Uwe Rada), Berlin Online Panorama, Westberlin, Schöneberg and more about Berlin

·        Berliner Exklaven und Enklaven

·        The Berlin Wall

·        Berlin Natur-Park Schöneberger Südgelände

·        Christiania

·         Corteglia, Castel San Pietro Casa Wülser

·         Earth from above

·         Enklaven I, Enklaven II, Enklaven III

·         Flaggen (World Statesman)

·         Ghadames

·        Guelta d’Archei

·        Healdton/Oklahoma

·         Heidelberg

·         Islands, islands, islands....

·         Cabo de Hornos

·         Kerguelen, Kerguelen

·         Mare

·         New York Stories

·         New York, Union Square

·         360o Panoramas

·         Das virtuelle Bistum Partenia

·         Pitcairn Island

·         San Francisco, SF or, of course, Oz

·         Schwabenland

·         Principato di Seborga

·         Sindhi Sites

·         Three Sisters

·        Tierra del Fuego

·         Tristan da Cunha

7. Cartography, nations, and state symbols

·         Wahlen in Deutschland

·         1100 to 2000: political maps of Europe

·         MSN Encarta World Atlas

·         International Boundaries Research Unit

·         Atlas of Presidential Elections

·         Le monde diplomatique (cartographie)

·         European History, 1945-90

·         50 States of the US

·         National Anthems I

·         National Anthems II

·         Regenten der Welt - Könige, Präsidenten und Premierminister

·         GENEALOGICAL TABLES OF RULING AND NOBLE HOUSES

·         Généalogies des Maisons Souveraines (actuelles ou éteintes), et des Maisons Princières et Ducales

·         Royal and Ruling Houses of Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas

·         World Statesmen

·        Wahlen in Europa

·        Eurominority

8. Family and Friends Sites

·         Wunderwerk Deutsche Sprache

·         Schoellkopf Geological Museum

·         Tarantula Page of my nephew, Steffen Haller

·         Novel written about one of my ancestors, The Sonnenwirt (used by Friedrich Schiller as model of his "Verbrecher aus verlorener Ehre")

·         Exhibition of paintings by my great-uncle, Samuel Wülser

·         Don Kulick

·         Carl Matthews

·         Loril Gossett

·        Kristian Himmelstrup

·         Museum of my hometown, Ebersbach/Fils

·         Detlef Gürtlers Homepage

·         Tina Strohekers poetry

·         Tarik Dervishs pages

·         Scott Biehle

·         Uwe Radas Pages about Berlin

·         Peter Widmanns page

·         Birgitt Clauss' Esskultur

·         Dunja Carlson-Moellers HP

9. (Divine) heroines and heroes

·         Gore Vidal pages, and The Gore Vidal Index

·         Claudia Alta (Ladybird) Johnson Site

·         Jane Elliotts Programme against Racism

·         Cynthia Karalla and Zeldaland

·         The Seven Timmerman Sisters (Geronimo, Tx) and their Recipes

·         The Golden Girls

·         Atticus Finch: To Kill a Mockingbird

·         Tonnenboys

·        Marie-Luise Haase von der Dr. Oetker Versuchsküche

10. Other links

·         Miserable Musik

·         Awful Plastic Surgery

·         Theyrule

·         Artensterben

·         Lesbian or German Lady?

·         Echte Namen

·         The Golden Girls sing

·        Eurovision Song Contest

·        Verbotene Liebe, Falcon Crest, Tatort und Lindenstrasse

·         JibJab

·        Apostrophen Gruselseite

·         Die Apostroph-S-Hass-Seite

·         Praising the Currywurst

·         Verbreitung von Familiennamen

·         Kulanu and Society For Crypto Judaic Studies

1 Thanks to Steffen Haller, Martin Gross and Paulo Coelho Ribeiro

 hits since 01.02.2002

1766 until 20.01.2003
2566 until 05.07.2003
2680 until 09.08.2003
3449 until 09.12.2003
3601 until 13.01.2004
4436 until 24.05.2004
4741 until 03.08.2004
6000 until 05.04.2005
6380 until 16.06.2005
6560 until 28.07.2005
6849 until 26.08.2005
7028 until 08.09.2005
7274 until 24.09.2005
8047 until 31.10.2005
8290 until 14.11.2005
8683 until 07.12.2005
9000 until 01.01.2006
9440 until 01.02.2006
10000 until 31.03.2006
10400 until 01.05.2006
10909 until 16.06.2006
11312 until 14.07.2006
12575 until 17.10.2006
13571 until 31.12.2006
14163 until 08.02.2007
18084 until 21.11.2007

 

(Last modified: 11/Oct/2007)