Publications
Monographs
2023 State of the Arts. An Ethnography of German Theatre and Migration. Cambridge: Cambridge University [Shortlisted for the University of Waterloo Centre for German Studies Prize 2023]
Edited books/special issues
2024 The Trouble with Art. An Anthropology Beyond Philistinism, edited with Roger Sansi. London: Routledge. [link]
2024 Universalism(e) & … Conversations, edited by the ERC Minor Universality Research Team. Berlin, Boston: de Gruyter. [open-access link]
2023 Minor Universality. Rethinking Humanity After Western Universalism, edited with Markus Messling, Berlin, Boston: de Gruyter. [open-access link]
2022 Awkward Archives. Ethnographic Drafts for a Modular Curriculum, edited with Margareta von Oswald. Berlin, Dakar, Milan: Archive Books. [open-access link]
2020 Across Anthropology. Troubling Colonial Legacies, Museums, and the Curatorial, edited with Margareta von Oswald. Leuven: Leuven University Press. [open-access link]
2020 Der Fremde Blick. Roberto Ciulli und das Theater an der Ruhr (two volumes), edited with Alexander Wewerka. Berlin: Alexander Verlag. [Reviews: FAZ, SZ, WDR 5 Scala, WDR 3 Kultur, WESTART, Die deutsche Bühne, Der Freitag, nachtkritik, theater heute, WAZ, NRZ, kultur.west]
2018 Otherwise: Rethinking Museum and Heritage, edited with Christine Gerbich, Larissa Förster, Sharon Macdonald, Katarzyna Puzon, Margareta von Oswald. Berlin: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. [open-access link]
2016 ‘Micro-utopias: connections in anthropology, art, relationality and creativity’ (special issue co-edited with Ruy Blanes, Alex Flynn, and Maïté Maskens. Journal of Art and Anthropology/ Cadernos de Arte e Antropologia. 5 (1). [open-access link]
2015 Anthropology, Theatre, and Development: The Transformative Potential of Performance, edited with Alex Flynn. Basingstoke/New York: Palgrave Macmillan. [link]
Book Chapters
2024 ‘Existential Present: The Moment as a Way in to Humanity (Introduction, co-authored with the Minor Universality ERC Research Team), in: Universalism(e) & … Conversations, edited by the Minor Universality ERC Research Team. Berlin, Boston: de Gruyter, pp. 1–8. [open-access link]
2024 ‘The Trouble with Art in Anthropology’ (Introduction), in: The Trouble with Art. Anthropology Beyond Philistinism, edited with Roger Sansi. London: Routledge, pp. 1–16. [download link]
2024 ‘What Has Theatre Ever Done for Us? Traditions of Anti-theatricality’, in: The Trouble with Art. Anthropology Beyond Philistinism, edited with Roger Sansi. London: Routledge, pp. 35–61. [download link]
2024 ‘Fieldwork as Method in Theatre and Performance Studies’, in: The Cambridge Guide to Mixed Methods Research for Theatre and Performance Studies, edited by Tracy C. Davis and Paul Rae. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 188–210.
2023 ‘On Minor Universality’ (with Markus Messling), in: Minor Universality. Rethinking Humanity After Western Universalism, edited by Markus Messling and Jonas Tinius. Berlin, Boston: de Gruyter, 1–30.
2023‘(ir)reparability begins in the body. Towards a museum of disrepair’ (with Angelica Pesarini), in: Reparation, Restitution, and the Politics of Memory. Perspectives from Cultural, Historical, and Literary Studies, edited by Carla Seemann, Mario Laarmanns, Clément Ndé Fongang, Laura Vordermayer. Berlin, Boston: de Gruyter, pp. 91–108. (translated and published in Italian in 2023 as: ‘La (ir)reparabilità comincia nel/dal corpo. Per un museo del disfacimento’, in: performance + decolonialità, edited by Anna Serlenga. Venice: Luca Sossella Editore, pp. 65–81.
2022 ‘Dis-Othering Diversity: troubling differences in a Berlin-Brussels Afropolitan curatorial collaboration’, in: Doing Diversity in Museums and Heritage. A Berlin Ethnography, edited by Sharon Macdonald. Bielefeld: transcript, pp. 157–172.
2022 ‘Awkward Archives. Introduction’ (with Margareta von Oswald’, in: Awkward Archives. Ethnographic Drafts for a Modular Curriculum, edited by Margareta von Oswald and Jonas Tinius. Berlin / Dakar / Milan: Archive, pp. 13–30.
2021 'Animated Words, Will Accompany my Gestures”. Seismographic Choreographies of Difficult Heritage in Museums', in: Moving Spaces. Enacting Dance, Performance, and the Digital in the Museum, edited by Susanne Franco and Gabriella Giannachi. Venice: Università Ca’ Foscari Press / Edizioni Ca’ Foscari, pp. 77–92.
2020 ‘Across Anthropology: Introduction’ (with Margareta von Oswald), in: Across Anthropology: Troubling Colonial Legacies, Museums, and the Curatorial, edited by Jonas Tinius and Margareta von Oswald. Leuven: Leuven University Press, pp. 17–42.
2020 ‘Porous Membranes: Alterity, Hospitality, and Difference in a Berlin District Gallery’, in: Across Anthropology: Troubling Colonial Legacies, Museums, and the Curatorial, edited by Jonas Tinius and Margareta von Oswald. Leuven: Leuven University Press, pp. 255–276.
2020 ‘Ein gemeinsames Denken zwischen und jenseits von Anthropologie und Theater (Vorbemerkung)‘, in: Der fremde Blick. Roberto Ciulli und das Theater an der Ruhr, edited by Jonas Tinius and Alexander Wewerka. Berlin: Alexander Verlag.
2020 ‘Theater als Kunst. Zu diesem Buch‘ (co-authored with Alexander Wewerka), in: Der fremde Blick. Roberto Ciulli und das Theater an der Ruhr, edited by Jonas Tinius and Alexander Wewerka. Berlin: Alexander Verlag, S. 7–9.
2020 ‘Die Ethnografie as Methode der Theaterwissenschaften?’, in: Balme, Christopher and Berenika Szymanski-Düll. Eds. Methoden der Theaterwissenschaft. Forum Modernes Theater Schriftenreihe. Tübingen: Narr Francke, pp. 313–334.
2020 ‘The recursivity of the curatorial’ (with Sharon Macdonald), in: Roger Sansi. Ed. The Anthropologist as Curator. London: Bloomsbury, pp. 35-58. [LINK]
2020 ‘Phantom Palaces: Prussian Centralities and Humboldtian Horizontalities’ (with Khadija von Zinnenburg Carroll), in: Jonathan Bach and Michal Murawski. Eds. Re-Centring the City. Global Mutations of Socialist Modernity. London: UCL Press. (Open-access), pp. 90–103. [LINK]
2019 Traces, Legacies, and Futures: A Conversation on Art and Temporality’ (with Nora-Al-Badri, Khadija von Zinnenburg Carroll, Silvy Chakkalakal, Alya Sebti, and Jonas Tinius). Third Text Forum 01/2020. Open-access [LINK].
2019 ‘Interstitial Agents: Negotiating Migration and Diversity in Theatre’, in: Bock, Jan-Jonathan and Sharon Macdonald. (eds) Refugees Welcome? Differences and Diversity in a Changing Germany. Oxford/New York: Berghahn Books, pp. 241–264. [LINK]
2018 Alterity’, in: Tinius et al. Otherwise: Rethinking Museums and Heritage. Berlin: CARMAH, pp. 40–54. [LINK to pdf of volume]
2018 ‘(Per)former de nouvelles institutions artistiques: autoritéet travail créatif au Theater an der Ruhr’, in: Troupes, compagnies, collectifs dans les arts vivants: organisations du travail, processus de création et conjonctures’, edited by Bérénice Hamidi-Kim and Séverine Ruset-Penketh. Paris: Édition L’Entretemps, pp. 407-420.
2018 ‘Artistic Diplomacy: On Civic Engagement and Transnational Theatre’, in: Breed, Ananda and Tim Prentki. (eds.) Performance and Civic Engagement. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 269-300. [LINK]
2018 ‘Awkward Art and Difficult Heritage: Nazi Art Collectors and Postcolonial Archives’, in: Thomas Fillitz and Paul van der Grijp. Eds. An Anthropology of Contemporary Art: Practices, Markets, and Collectors. London: Bloomsbury, pp. 130–145. [LINK]
2017 ‘Prekarität und Ästhetisierung: Reflexionen zu postfordistischer Arbeit in der freien Theaterszene', in: Ove Sutter and Valeska Flor (eds.) Ästhetisierung der Arbeit. Kulturanalysen des kognitiven Kapitalismus. Bonner Beiträge zur Alltagskulturforschung, Band 11. Münster: Waxmann, pp. 139–156. [LINK]
2017 ‘The privilege of life itself: sovereignty, power, and the figure of the refugee’, in: Bare Lives. [Exhibition catalogue, edited by Mario Rizzi, based on an exhibition curated by Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung and Solvej Helweg Ovesen.] Berlin: Archive books, pp. 68–75. [LINK]
2017 ‘Anthropologische Beobachtungen zu künstlerischer Subjektivierung und institutioneller Reflexivität: Das Theaterprojekt Ruhrorter mit Geflüchteten am Theater an der Ruhr’, in: Matthias Warstat et al. 2017. Applied Theatre – Frames and Positions. Berlin: Theater der Zeit, S. 205–235.
2015 ‘Between professional precariousness and creative self-organisation: the free performing arts scene in Germany’, in: Mobile Autonomy. Organizing Ourselves as Artists Today, edited by Pascal Gielen and Nico Dockx. Amsterdam: Valiz, pp. 159-181.
2015 ‘Reflecting on political performance: Introducing critical perspectives’ (co-authored with Alex Flynn), in: Anthropology, Theatre, and Performance: The Transformative Potential of Performance, edited by Alex Flynn and Jonas Tinius. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 1-28.
2015 ‘Aesthetics, Ethics, and Engagement: Self-cultivation as the politics of engaged theatre', in: Anthropology, Theatre, and Development: The Transformative Potential of Performance, edited by Alex Flynn and Jonas Tinius. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 171-202.
2015 ‘Activism and autonomy: political aesthetics and aesthetic politics (Editor’s Note)’, in: Anthropology, Theatre, and Performance: The Transformative Potential of Performance, edited by Alex Flynn and Jonas Tinius. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 263-267.
2015 ‘Bilder, Reisen, und Theaterlandschaften: Roberto Ciullis Theater an der Ruhr’, in: Aspekte des deutschen Theaters im 20. Jahrhundert. Berlin: Gesellschaft für Theatergeschichte. Hg. Lothar Schirmer, pp. 127-151.
2015 'Colonial copies and ethnographic conceptualism: artistic experiments at the intersection of anthropology, history, and science', in: Allegory of the Cave Painting. A Reader, edited by Mihnea Mircan and Vincent van Gerven Oei. Milan: Mousse Publishing, pp. 257-275.
Articles
2025 ’Un’antropologia spettropolitica. Dal museo del mondo al situazionismo mondano’. Roots § Routes. Research on Visual Cultures 47 (Jan-April 2025). (English: An anthropological spectropolitics. From the museum of world to worldly situationism)
2024 ‘Oltre l’Arcadia. Politica culturale e istituzionalizzazione dell’arte. La Villa Romana a Firenze in una nuova fase’. Art e Dossier. February 2024. Number 416: 14–17. (English: Beyond Arcadia. Cultural Politics and the Institutionalisation of Art)
2022 ‘Il lavoro (im)possibile della riparazione. Kader Attia e la Biennale di Berlino‘. Art e Dossier. Sept. 2022. Number 401: 18–21. (English: The (im)possible work of reparation. Kader Attia and the Berlin Biennale)
2021 ‘Il palazzo dell dubbio’. Art e Dossier. Sept. 2021. Number 390: 38–43. (English: The Palace of Doubt)
2021 ‘The Anthropologist as Sparring Partner: Instigative Public Fieldwork, Curatorial Collaboration, and German Colonial Heritage’. Berliner Blätter. Ethnographische und Ethnologische Beiträge 83: 65−85.
2021 ‘Verso un museo postuniversale‘. Art e Dossier. 384: 26–29. (English: Towards a Postuniversal Museum)
2020 ‘Traces, Legacies, and Futures: A Conversation on Art and Temporality’ (with Nora-Al-Badri, Khadija von Zinnenburg Carroll, Silvy Chakkalakal, Alya Sebti, and Jonas Tinius). Third Text Forum 01/2020. Open-access [LINK].
2019 ‘Value, Correspondence, and Form: Recalibrating Scales for a Contemporary Anthropology of Art (Epilogue)’. Anthrovision. Journal of the Visual Anthropology Network of the Association of Social Anthropologists. 7(1). [LINK]
2018 ‘Capacity for Character: Fiction, Ethics, and the Anthropology of Conduct’. Social Anthropology/Anthropologie Sociale 26 (3): 345-360. [LINK]
2017 ‘Art as ethical practice: anthropological observations on and beyond theatre’. World Art 7(2): 227–251. Open-access article [LINK]
2016 ‘Authenticity and otherness: reflecting statelessness in German postmigrant theatre’. Critical Stages/Scènes Critiques. 14 (2016). Open-access article. [LINK]
2016 ‘Palace coups: reconstructing history in the heart of Berlin’ (with Prof Khadija von Zinnenburg). Calvert Journal. June 2016. [LINK]
2016 ‘Rehearsing detachment: refugee theatre and dialectical fiction’. Journal of Art and Anthropology/Cadernos de Arte e Antropologia. 5(1): 21-38.
2016 ‘Micro-utopias: anthropological perspectives on art, creativity, and relationality’ (introduction to special issue). With Ruy Blanes, Alex Flynn, and Maïté Maskens. Journal of Art and Anthropology/Cadernos de Arte e Antropologia. 5(1): 5-20.
2015 ‘Institutional formations and artistic critique in German ensemble theatre’. Performance Research: A Journal of the Performing Arts. 20(4): 71-77.
2015 ‘Was für ein Theater. Überlegungen zum Spielraum zwischen ethnografischer Praxis und performativer Kunst', in: Katrin Amelang und Silvy Chakkalakal. Hg. 'Abseitiges. An den Rändern der Kulturanthropologie'. Berliner Blätter: Ethnographische und ethnologische Beiträge. Heft 68/2015. Berlin: Panama Verlag, S. 30-42.
Public Engagement & Short Articles
2024 ‘Foreigners Nowhere. A reflection on the curation of the Venice Biennale 2024’. Machina Rivista. (Translated into Italian: Stranieri da nessuna parte). 3 October 2024.
2024 ‘In Schwellenzeiten. Der Deutsche Pavillon der Venedig Biennale 2024‘. Arts of the Working Class. 23 May 2024.
2020 ‘Fragments and Fiction’, in: Viron Erol Vert: Family Matters. Conversations about Old Spirits, the Question of Belonging, and Complementary Spaces, edited by. K. Kramer, D. Yazici. Berlin: Distanz Verlag, pp. 241–243.
2020 ‘Museums as Crime Scenes: Conversation with Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung and Ariella Aïsha Azoulay’, Arts of the Working Class 14 (December 2021): 26–27.
2019 ‘We go to Venice and we will walk on water. Jonas Tinius in conversation with Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung on Bauhaus, rematriation, and photography’. Something We Africans Got 7: 38–42.
2017 ‘Art and Anachronisms.’ Second column for ifa-gallery 2017-2018 one-year programme Untie to tie: Colonial Legacies and Contemporary Societies, ifa-Galerie, Berlin/Germany. [LINK]
2017 ‘The Porosity of Darkness: A Conversation on Architecture, Multimedia Arts, and the Venice Biennale’ (with Danish artist Kirstine Roeppstorff and curator of the Danish Pavilion Solvej Helweg Ovesen). Mousse Magazine. 13 September 2017. [LINK]
2016 Review: Sansi, Roger (2015): Art, Anthropology and the Gift. London: Bloomsbury. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. 22 (1): 215-216.
2016 Review: Stegemann, Bernd (2015): Lob des Realismus. Theatre Research International. 41 (1): 86-87.
2015 'Der Theaterberater'. Interview. Magazin Tanzraumberlin. 11/2015.
2015 ‘Theatre and Democracy’. Interview. Revista Cardamomo [Portuguese & English]. 20 October 2015.
2015 ‘New Anthropologies of Political Performance’. Allegra Laboratory. 19 Oct 2015.
2015 ‘Good without God?’ Interview with Prof Matthew Engelke (Anthropology, LSE). King’s Review. 5 August 2015.
2015 ‘State of the art relations: new approaches to the anthropology of art’ (co-authored with Alex Flynn). British Academy Blog. Published 13 March 2015.
2015 ‘‘15 Minutes’: Artistic responses to German refugee temporalities’. Allegra Laboratory. February 2015.
2014 ‘The Politics of Framing and Staging. Interdisciplinary Approaches to Performance’. Allegra Laboratory. 13 November 2014.
2014 Review: Alloa, Emmanuel (2013): Erscheinung und Ereignis: Zur Zeitlichkeit des Bildes. Paderborn: Wilhelm Fink Verlag. Theaterforschung.de. 6 October 2014.
2013 Feature Review Article: ‘40,000 years of Modern Art: A Re-Enactment’. Written and directed by Khadija von Zinnenburg Carroll, Commissioned for 'On Language', curated by Lauren Godfrey. Visual Arts Australia.