Research

My research, publications, and teaching are centered on the Anthropology of Religion, of Mental Health and Spiritual Wellbeing, Political Anthropology, Islam in Africa, Gender Studies and Media Studies. I also bring to my research and teaching a strong background in critical theory, social theory, and the anthropology of social organization. I have extensive field research experience in West and East Africa, particularly in southern Mali and southwestern Uganda.

In my 2021 book “Political Legitimacy in Postcolonial Mali”, I capitalize on my long-standing acquaintance with Malian politics and social history to make sense of the political crisis that has shaken the country for more than a decade. My analysis centers on the attitudes, judgments and practices by which inhabitants of a rural area in southwestern Mali attribute (or disclaim) the legitimacy of the state and of individual powerholders. I also draw on my earlier work on praise-singers – often referred to as "griots"– whose mass-mediated performances aimed to bestow praise and legitimacy on Mali’s changing political regimes, At the heart of this analytic endeavor is an effort to interrogate different dimensions, meanings and limits of political legitimacy in Mali.

My new book “Muslims as a Religious Minority in Uganda: Snapshots of Religious Plurality” (forthcoming with James Currey, Oxford) offers a fine-grained analysis of the practices, historical experiences, and aspirations of Muslims in Uganda to shed light on the challenges of religious plurality for religious minorities in Sub-Saharan Africa. It examines the dynamics resulting from the interplay between state regimes of governing inter-religious relations and the everyday, lived plurality and traces how conflicts result from long-standing structural inequalities and state regulatory measures that made religious groups into minorities and majorities. Unlike most studies on Islam in East Africa, which focus on the Swahili coast, my book pays attention to Muslim communities in the interior. Altogether, it challenges Eurocentric frameworks and normative Western ideas of pluralism while countering one-sided accounts of religious plurality to provide a more nuanced understanding of religious governance in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Since 2014, I have embarked on a research project that addresses questions pertaining to the broader thematic fields of religious pluralism and of spiritual and emotional well-being. Drawing on empirical research on Muslim minorities in two different regions of Uganda, I address the interplay between mental health, mourning, emotional coping, and future-making in a society haunted by traumatic experiences related to civil war. My analysis reaches beyond common approaches to „trauma“ through a sustained attention to the discursive and auditory practices and symbolic-aesthetic forms through which Muslims and Christians seek to achieve greater public prominence and to partake in debates over the ordering of moral and social life. By situating these dynamics in the broader context of Ugandan state politics, I explore points of articulations and tensions between local-level and national politics of religious difference, and between conflicting understandings of how past “trauma“ can be healed.

Research Focus

• Anthropology of Religion
• Health and Well-being
• Political Anthropology
• Islam in Africa
• Gender Studies
• Media Anthropology

Research Area

Mali, Uganda

Teaching Approach

My teaching approach is grounded in the conviction that a solid understanding of a discipline requires both solid theoretical grounding and methodological competence, combined with an awareness of its broader political and social relevance. At the core of my approach lies the systematic introduction to key theoretical frameworks and the history of ideas that have shaped the field. Rather than presenting theories as static bodies of knowledge, I teach them as historically situated and contested approaches and perspectives, enabling students to grasp their underlying assumptions, internal tensions, and evolving trajectories.
At the same time, I consistently seek to connect these theoretical foundations to contemporary socio-political debates. By relating classical and modern theories to current issues, students are encouraged to see academic knowledge not as isolated from the world, but as deeply implicated in ongoing public discussions. This fosters the ability to critically engage with present-day challenges using conceptually informed perspectives.
A further central component of my teaching is to offer sound training in empirical methods, both qualitative and, where appropriate, quantitative. Students learn how to design research projects, collect and analyze data, and reflect on the methodological choices they make. Particular emphasis is placed on the critical reflection of the political and ethical dimensions of research, including questions of power, representation, and responsibility toward research participants.