I am a social/cultural anthropologist by training, but have worked in various capacities as lecturer/trainer, researcher, fieldworker, consultant, reader, editor, translator, coordinator and organizer. Since September 2023, I have been employed at the Lake Constance Arts an Sciences Associaton, supporting the cooperation and collaboration among 25 institutions of higher education in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. My portfolio encompasses both the programs “Arbeit und Talente” (Labor and Young Talents) and “Nachhaltige Vierländerregion” (Sustainable Four-Country-Region) and oversight over all the projects within these fields, as well as management of our EU funding.
In my capacity as a Bodenseher, I offer trainings, process consultations and similar services deeply grounded in my anthropological background, specifically in, around and for the Lake Constance region.
I was trained at the universities of Mainz, where I got my MA, and Canterbury (UK). Later, I received my PhD from the Martin Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg. (Yes, my degree is from the same school that Hamlet went to.)
At various times, I’ve been employed at HE institutions in Mainz, Bielefeld, Halle-Wittenberg (2), and Konstanz (2). See my CV for details.
I am the world’s leading academic specialist on the Kara (South Omo, Ethiopia). If you haven’t seen it yet, maybe take 26 minutes out of your busy day to check out the film I made together with a good friend.
Additionally, I have done a research and published on the politics of cultural heritage in Myanmar.
Most recently, I have studied customs and traditions of the Lake Constance region, where I was born and to where I returned in 2015.
I greatly enjoy teaching, and have a certificate to prove it.
I have had a distributed social media presence for the longest time; this website is intended to serve as a hub to ground these other more ephemeral manifestations. Old school.
From 2018 until early 2023, I was a member of the Allegra Lab editorial collective. Allegra Lab is one of the foremost independent anthropological publishing platforms, has been steadily growing since its inception in 2013, and I still am really proud of the work we have been doing. Check it out. Still: It was time to move on and write a bittersweet departure note.
I lost the very nice hat pictured above on the bus to the Trelleborg-Sassnitz ferry in 2018. Alas.
Felix Girke 