PhD Student

Fellows

Adelakun, Abimbola Adunni
Assistant Professor in the Department of African/African Diaspora Studies at the University of Texas at Austin

Research title: Fantastic Ordinary and the Performance of Everyday Life
Research Region: Nigeria/West Africa

Fellows

Bastos, Cecilia

Research title: Building identities among yoga and meditation practitioners in the middle classes of South America
Research Region: South America

Permanent Fellow

Graw, Knut
Dr. (Ph.D. in Social and Cultural Anthropology)

Time period: 01.10.2022-30.09.2024
Research title: Key Dimensions of Divination in Senegal and Gambia
Research Region: Senegal, Gambia

Fellows

Gyimesi, Julia
Dr. habil. (Ph.D. and Habilitation in Psychology)

Time period: 01.10.2023.-31.03.2024.
Research title: A Present-Day Hybridising Reinvention of Esoteric Practices: Bert Hellinger’s Family Constellation Therapy
Research Region: Hungary, Germany

Permanent Fellow

Hayes, Kelly E.
Ph.D. (History of Religions, University of Chicago) Professor of Religious Studies, Indiana University, USA

Time period: 3 months every year for the duration of the project (April – July)
Research title: The Valley of the Dawn: A Case Study of Contemporary Esotericism in Brazil
Research Region: Brazil

Fellows

Hirmer, Monika
PhD, Religions and Philosophies, SOAS, University of London

Time period: 01.10.2023–31.07.2024
Research title: Śrīvidyā goes West: Continuities and Transformations in cross-cultural encounters
Research Region: South Asia, UK and Europe

Fellows

kokal, kalinda

Permanent Fellow

Menzel, Birgit
Prof. Dr. (University of Mainz, Germany)

Time period: Entire duration of the project
Research title: New religious movements and esoteric practices in Late and Post-Soviet Russia
Research Region: Russia

Fellows

Mozias, Ilia
Ph.D

Time period: October 1, 2023 - February 28, 2024
Research title: The Shades of Emptiness: The Alchemical Teaching of the Master Wei Yao 魏堯
Research Region: China, Taiwan

Permanent Fellow

Otto, Bernd-Christian
PD Dr. habil.

Research title: Dancing to the Tree of Life: an Ethnography of a Neo-Amerindian Movement
Research Region: Europe, USA (Arizona)

Fellows

Rivera, Juan

Research title: Indigenous Cosmologies and Esoteric Practices in the cases of Contemporary Andean Ritual and Music
Research Region: South American (particularly, its highlands).

Fellows

Rutkin, Darrel H.

Permanent Fellow

Stoller, Paul
Professor of anthropology (West Chester University, Pennsylvania, USA)

Time period: 3 months every year for the duration of the project (April – July)
Research title: Continuity and Change in Healing Practices among West African Immigrants in New York City: A Case Study

Fellows

Wright, Pablo G.
Ph.D. in Anthropology

Time period: April 15 – July 15, 2024
Research title: Contemporary shamanisms in the Argentine Chaco region. An anthropological comparative exploration of the Qom/Toba and Wichí/Mataco cases
Research Region: Latin America, Argentine Chaco region.

PhD Student

Zheng, Liu
Ph.D. student (University of Erlangen-Nuremberg)

Time period: 01.04.2023 -
Research title: The transmission of Yijing knowledge and divination techniques in contemporary China
Research Region: China