Participation in the Cluster of Excellence
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Co-Head of the research collaboration “Contesting Knowledge Formations in a Multi-Polar World”
Dr. Victoria Sakti
Research Focus
The experiences of ageing in contexts of forced migration and protracted displacement. The dynamics of care, everyday life, and inequality in urban environments. The emotional and social dimensions of memory and violence
My research and teaching centre on three interconnected areas: the experiences of ageing in contexts of forced migration and protracted displacement; the dynamics of care, everyday life, and inequality in urban environments; and the emotional and social dimensions of memory and violence, including processes of social repair. My approach combines ethnographic, multi-modal, and creative methods to examine how individuals and communities navigate shifting social and political landscapes. With a regional focus on Southeast Asia—particularly Indonesia and Timor-Leste—I am also developing a new line of research at the University of Münster on faith-based practices and spiritual ecologies of care, exploring how belief, ritual, and intergenerational memory shape human relationships with urban environments.
CV
Academic Education
- PhD in Social and Cultural Anthropology
Positions
- Postdoctoral Researcher at the Max Planck Research Group "Ageing in a Time of Mobility" at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity
- PhD Candidate at the Freie Universität Berlin
- Research Assistant at the Cluster of Excellence "Languages of Emotions", Freie Universität Berlin
Teaching
- Practice: Preparing for Fieldwork [084889]
- [ – | Single Course | STU 102 (2.4)]
- [ – | Single Course | STU 102 (2.4)]
- Seminar: Writing Ethnography: Method and Craft [080880]
- Practice: Preparing for Fieldwork [080887]
- Practice: Preparing for Fieldwork [084889]
Publications
Book (Monograph)
- Amrith, Megha, Sakti, Victoria K., and Sampaio, Dora (Eds). . Aspiring in Later Life: Movements Across Time, Space, and Generations New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.
Articles
Research Articles (Journals)
- Sakti, Taek, V.K. and, and D., Y. . “Reflections on Ethics in Research with Older Displaced Persons in West Timor: Considering the ‘Time Effect’.” International Quarterly for Asian Studies 54 (1): 39–58. doi: 10.11588/iqas.2023.1.14992.
- Sakti, V.K. . “Older Refugee Perspectives on Death, Remembrance, and Burial: The East Timorese in Indonesia.” Journal of Refugee Studies fead010: 1–18. doi: 10.1093/jrs/fead010.
- Sakti, V.K. . “Ageing at the Margins: Gendered and Southern Narratives of Displacement among the East Timorese in Indonesia.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 49 (4): 1065–1081. doi: 10.1080/1369183X.2022.2115632.
- Sakti, V.K., and Amrith, M. . “Introduction: Living in the here and now: Extended temporalities of forced migration.” Journal of Intercultural Studies 43 (4): 457–463 . doi: 10.1080/07256868.2022.2088084.
- Sakti, V.K. . “‘Here for Now’: Temporalities of ageing and forced displacement through pension narratives.” Journal of Intercultural Studies 43 (4): 497 –513. doi: 10.1080/07256868.2022.2086227.
- Sakti, V.K. . “Aging in Timorese Exile: (Im)mobilities of Care and Intergenerational Relationships.” Journal of Intergenerational Relationships 18 (3): 301–319. doi: 10.1080/15350770.2020.1787039.
- Sakti, V.K. . “Im/mobile Subjects: Identity, Conflict and Emotion Work among East Timorese Meto Diaspora.” Social Identities 23 (4): 467–477.
- Sakti, V.K. . “‘Thinking Too Much’: Tracing Local Patterns of Emotional Distress After Mass Violence in Timor-Leste.” Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology 14 (5): 438–454.
Research Article (Book Contributions)
- Sakti, V.K. . “Ageing and Senescence.” in The Cambridge Handbook of Psychological Anthropology, edited by E. Lowe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Amrith, M., Sakti, V.K., and Sampaio, D. . “Introduction.” in Aspiring in Later Life: Movement Across Time, Space, and Generations, edited by M Amrith, V.K. Sakti and D. Sampaio. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.
- Sakti, V.K. . “‘It’s like a big family feud!’ Researching social trauma and repair through the lens of emotion and culture.” in Anthropologie der Emotionen: Affektive Dynamiken in Kultur und Gesellschaft, edited by T. Stoduka, A.V. Poser, G. Scheidecker and J. Bens. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer Verlag.
- Sakti, V.K. . “Im/mobile Subjects: Identity, Conflict and Emotion Work among East Timorese Meto Diaspora.” in Patterns of Im/mobility, Conflict and Identity, edited by B. Bräuchler. London and New York: Routledge.
- Sakti, V.K. . “The Politics of Loss and Restoration: Massive Bad Death in the Oecussi Highlands.” in The Dead as Ancestors, Martyrs, and Heroes in Timor-Leste, edited by L. Kent and R.G. Feijo. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
- Sakti, V.K., and Reynaud, A.M. . “Understanding Reconciliation through Reflexive Practice: Ethnographic Examples from Canada and Timor-Leste.” in Ethnographic Peace Research – Approaches and Tensions, Rethinking Peace and Conflict Studies, edited by G. Millar. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
- Sakti, V.K. . “The act of killing and dealing with present-day demons of impunity – a conversation with Joshua Oppenheimer.” in Feelings at the margins – dealing with violence, stigma and isolation in Indonesia, edited by T. Stodulka and B. Röttger-Rössler. Frankfurt am Main: Campus Verlag.
- Sakti, V.K. . “Erinnerungsarbeit in Osttimor: Das Living Memory Project.” in Die Freiheit, für die wir kämpfen – Osttimor in der Unabhängigkeit, edited by H. Myrttinen, M Schlicher and M. Tschanz. Berlin: regiospectra.
- Sakti, V.K. . “Trauern um das Unfassbare.” in Die Freiheit, für die wir kämpfen – Osttimor in der Unabhängigkeit, edited by H. Myrttinen, M. Schlicher and M. Tschanz. Berlin: regiospectra.
Special Issue of a Journal
- Sakti, V.K., and Amrith, M.(Eds.), eds. .“Living in the here and now: Extended temporalities of forced migration.” Special Issue Journal of Intercultural Studies 4.
AbstractThesis (Doctoral or Postdoctoral)
- Sakti, V.K. . “Bonds and Boundaries: Emotion, Memory and Social Repair in Timor-Leste.” Dissertation thesis, Freie Universität Berlin.
Objective, Multimedia-based or Online Publications
Web Publications (Blog Articles)
- Sakti, V.K. . “Who Cares for Older Refugees? An East Timorese Healthcare Worker’s Mission.” American Ethnological Society (AES) essay collection
- Sakti, V.K. . “Die unsichtbare Diaspora.” südostasien - Zeitschrift für Politik, Kultur, Dialog
- Sakti, V.K. . “Portraits of Ageing in Displacement: East Timorese Diasporas in Indonesia.” MMG Blog
Website (Publicly Available)
- Sakti, V.K. . “Ageing in displacement: The East Timorese diaspora in indonesia.”
Review in a Digital Collection
- Sakti, V.K. . “The Cultural Dimension of Peace: Decentralization and Reconciliation in Indonesia by B. Bräuchler (2015), London: Palgrave Macmillan.” Journal for Peace Research