PhD Student

Visiting Fellow

Di Puppo, Lili
PhD

Time period: 01.04.2025 - 28.02.2026
Research title: Sufi practices and knowledge through surrender: Developing a new knowledge approach in and for uncertain times
Research Region: Belgium, France

Visiting Fellow

Engler, Steven
Prof. Dr.

Time period: 01.04.2025 - 31.07.2025
Research title: Views of healing among Brazilian Spiritists and medical professionals
Research Region: Brazil

Visiting Fellow

Farrer, Douglas Stephen
PhD Anthropology

Time period: 01.10.2024 - 31.07.2025
Research title: ‘Dreamcraft’ in Austronesian art
Research Region: Southeast Asia, Micronesia

Permanent Fellow

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

Time period: 01.10.2022 - 31.03.2026
Research title: Key Dimensions of Divination in Senegal and Gambia
Research Region: Senegal, Gambia

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

Visiting Fellow

Marino, Davide
Ph.D (Religious Studies, The Chinese University of Hong Kong)

Time period: 01.10.2024 – 31.07.2025
Research title: Translating Esotericism: Scholarly Translingual Practices in Contemporary China
Research Region: Mainland China

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 https://academiccommons.columbia.edu/doi/10.7916/d8-yzj3-tj81
Research Region: Russia

Permanent Fellow

Otto, Bernd-Christian
PD Dr. habil.

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

Visiting Fellow

Palmie', Stephan
Dr. phil. habil.

Time period: 01.04.2025 - 31.07.2025
Research title: What I Have Learned about Afro-Cuban Religion over the Past 40 Years
Research Region: Cuba, Afro-Atlantic World

Visiting Fellow

Pregadio, Fabrizio
Prof.

Time period: 01.04.2025 - 31.07.2025
Research title: Daoist Internal Alchemy and Science in Contemporary Taiwan
Research Region: Taiwan, China

Visiting Fellow

Previato, Tommaso
Ph.D. (“Civilizations, Cultures and Societies of Asia and Africa” and “Ethnology”)

Time period: 01.10.2024 - 31.07.2025
Research title: Sufi Saints and Their Contestation in the Modern Islamic Revival: Lessons from the Chinese Qadiriyya and Jahriyya
Research Region: Western China

Visiting Fellow

Spät, Eszter
PhD

Time period: 01.04.2025 - 28.02.2026
Research title: Divination Through the “Written Word” in Yezidi Oral Tradition: “Bookish” Techniques of Prognostication as Sources of Esoteric Knowledge
Research Region: Northern Iraq, (Yezidi diaspora in Germany)

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

Visiting Fellow

Varela, Sergio González
Dr. habil.

Time period: 01.04.2025 - 31.07.2025
Research title: Discovering What You Cannot Learn: The Configuration of Esoteric Power in Afro- Brazilian Capoeira
Research Region: Brazil, Europe

Visiting Fellow

Xavier, Merin Shobhana
PhD, Religious Studies

Time period: 01.04.2025 - 31.07.2025
Research title: Sufi Shrines and Saints in Post-war Sri Lanka
Research Region: Sri Lanka, Canada, United States