Christoph Wulf (born 4 August, 1944, in
Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
, Germany) is a German professor of
Anthropology
Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, society, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...
and
Education
Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...
at the
Free University of Berlin
The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public university, public research university in Berlin, Germany. It was founded in West Berlin in 1948 with American support during the early Cold War period a ...
.
Education and career
Wulf completed his studies of
history
History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...
,
education sciences
Education sciences, also known as education studies or education theory, and traditionally called ''pedagogy'', seek to describe, understand, and prescribe education including education policy. Subfields include comparative education, educational ...
,
philosophy
Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
, and
literature studies at the
Free University of Berlin
The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public university, public research university in Berlin, Germany. It was founded in West Berlin in 1948 with American support during the early Cold War period a ...
in 1968. The next year, he commenced his studies for a
PhD
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...
at the
University of Marburg
The Philipps University of Marburg () is a public research university located in Marburg, Germany. It was founded in 1527 by Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse, which makes it one of Germany's oldest universities and the oldest still operating Prote ...
on a grant from the
Volkswagen Foundation
The Volkswagen Foundation (German: ''VolkswagenStiftung'') is the largest German private nonprofit organization involved in the promotion and support of academic research. It is not affiliated to the present company, the Volkswagen Group.
It wa ...
. Following educational travels throughout the US at the invitation of the
US Department of Education
US or Us most often refers to:
* ''Us'' (pronoun), the objective case of the English first-person plural pronoun ''we''
* US, an abbreviation for the United States
US, U.S., Us, us, or u.s. may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Albums
* ...
, he completed research stays at the universities of
Stanford
Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...
,
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
,
Boulder
In geology, a boulder (or rarely bowlder) is a rock fragment with size greater than in diameter. Smaller pieces are called cobbles and pebbles. While a boulder may be small enough to move or roll manually, others are extremely massive. In ...
and
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
New York may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* ...
. Between 1970 and 1975, Wulf was a researcher at the German Institute for International Research in Education in
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...
. In 1973, he obtained his PhD, and in 1975 his
habilitation
Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excelle ...
from Marburg and was appointed Professor of Education at the
University of Siegen
The University of Siegen () is a public research university located in Siegen, North Rhine-Westphalia and is part of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, a society of Germany's leading research universities. The university was founded in 1972. ...
. Wulf has held the position of Professor of
Anthropology
Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, society, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...
and
Education
Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...
at the Free University of Berlin since 1980. His other roles include: member of the Interdisciplinary Center for
Historical Anthropology
Historical anthropology is a historiographical movement which applies methodologies and objectives from social and cultural anthropology to the study of historical societies. Like most such movements, it is understood in different ways by differe ...
at the Free University of Berlin, past member of the post-graduate program "Körper-Inszenierungen" ("Stagings of the Body") (1997-2006), of the
Collaborative Research Centre "Cultures of the Performative" (1999-2010), of the Cluster of Excellence "Languages of Emotion" (2007-2014; Principal Investigator) and of the
post-graduate
Postgraduate education, graduate education, or graduate school consists of academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications usually pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachelor' ...
program "InterArts Studies" (2006-2015) at the same university. Since 1988 he has been a member and since 2008 a Vice President of the German Commission of
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
. His books have been translated into 20 languages.
In 1972 Wulf founded the Peace Education Commission of the
International Peace Research Association
The International Peace Research Association is a global network of academics. It was founded in 1964, and promotes peace by supporting national organizations, hosting conferences, publishing and supporting the publication of peace-promoting journ ...
, whose first secretary he served as, and he co-founded the commission on Pedagogical Anthropology of the German Educational Research Association. He was a member of the board of directors of the German Association for Peace and Conflict Research, the International Peace Research Association (
Oslo
Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...
), the Groupe d’Études et de Recherches sur les Mondialisations (
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
), the
German Academic Exchange Service
The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD; ), founded in 1925, is a joint organization of German universities and student bodies to foster their international relations. Since 1 January 2020, the president has been Joybrato Mukherjee.
Organisa ...
(
Bonn
Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...
), and the scientific advisory group for the
Comprehensive School
A comprehensive school is a secondary school for pupils aged 11–16 or 11–18, that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to a selective school system where admission is restricted on the basis ...
Experiment in
North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...
(
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...
). He has served as the president of the Network Educational Science Amsterdam and on the scientific advisory boards of the
Institut National de Recherche Pédagogique
Institut national de recherche pédagogique (INRP) () was the national French research institute for the field of education
Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education ...
(
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
/
Lyon
Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...
) and the International Research Center for Cultural Studies (
Vienna
Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
). The
University of Bucharest
The University of Bucharest (UB) () is a public university, public research university in Bucharest, Romania. It was founded in its current form on by a decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza to convert the former Princely Academy of Bucharest, P ...
awarded him the title "professor
honoris causa
An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...
" for his anthropological research.
Research stays and invited professorships have included the following locations:
Stanford
Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...
,
Tokyo
Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...
,
Kyoto
Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...
,
Beijing
Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...
,
Shanghai
Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...
,
Mysore
Mysore ( ), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of Mysore district and Mysore division. As the traditional seat of the Wadiyar dynasty, the city functioned as the capital of the ...
,
Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...
,
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
,
Lille
Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...
,
Strasbourg
Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...
,
Modena
Modena (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. It has 184,739 inhabitants as of 2025.
A town, and seat of an archbis ...
,
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
,
Stockholm
Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...
,
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...
,
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
,
Vienna
Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
,
Rome
Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
,
Lisbon
Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...
,
Moscow
Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
,
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
,
Kazan
Kazan; , IPA: Help:IPA/Tatar, ɑzanis the largest city and capital city, capital of Tatarstan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka (river), Kazanka Rivers, covering an area of , with a population of over 1. ...
;
São Paulo
São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...
.
In 1992, he founded and has since been the
editor-in-chief
An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held accoun ...
of the international
journal
A journal, from the Old French ''journal'' (meaning "daily"), may refer to:
*Bullet journal, a method of personal organization
*Diary, a record of personal secretive thoughts and as open book to personal therapy or used to feel connected to onesel ...
of
historical anthropology
Historical anthropology is a historiographical movement which applies methodologies and objectives from social and cultural anthropology to the study of historical societies. Like most such movements, it is understood in different ways by differe ...
"Paragrana"; he is also a co-editor of the "Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft" ("Journal of Educational Science") and a member of the scientific advisory board of numerous national and international journals and book series.
Selected publications
Monographs
*''Human beings and their images''. London, 2021.
*''Bildung als Wissen vom Menschen im Anthropozän''. Weinheim, 2020.
*''Homo Imaginationis. Le radici estetiche dell'antropologia storico-culturale''. Milano-Udine, 2018.
*''Anthropology. A Continental Perspective''. Chicago, 2013.
*''Das Rätsel des Humanen. Eine Einführung in die Historische Anthropologie''. Paderborn, 2013.
*''Une anthropologie historique et culturelle: Rituels, mimesis sociale et performativité''. Paris, 2007.
*''Anthropologie kultureller Vielfalt. Interkulturelle Bildung in Zeiten der Globalisierung''. Bielefeld, 2006.
*''Science of Education. Hermeneutics, Empirical Research, and Critical Theory''. Münster, 2002.
*''Anthropologie der Erziehung. Eine Einführung''. Weinheim, 2001
*''Spiel, Ritual, Geste. Mimetisches Handeln in der sozialen Welt''. Reinbek, 1998 (with G. Gebauer).
*''Mimesis. Culture–Art–Society''. Berkeley, 1995 (with G. Gebauer).
*''Das politisch-sozialwissenschaftliche Curriculum''. Munich, 1973.
Project reports
*with G. Kress, S. Selander, R. Saljö (eds.). ''Learning as Social Practice. Beyond Education as an Individual Enterprise''. London, 2021.
*with G. Brougère, L. Colin, C. Délory-Momberger, I. Kellermann, K. Lichau. ''A la rencontre de l’autre. Lieux, corps, sens dans les échanges scolaires''. Paris, 2018.
*with Gabriele Brandstetter, Michael B. Buchholz., Andreas Hamburger. ''Balance – Rhythmus – Resonanz''. Paragrana 27 (2018) 1.
*with S. Suzuki et al. ''Das Glück der Familie. Ethnographische Studien in Deutschland und Japan''. Wiesbaden, 2011.
*et al. ''Die Geste in Erziehung, Bildung und Sozialisation. Ethnographische Feldstudien''. Wiesbaden, 2011.
*et al. ''Ritual and Identity. The Staging and Performing of Rituals in the Lives of Young People''. London, 2010.
*et al. ''Geburt in Familie, Klinik und Medien. Eine qualitative Untersuchung''. Opladen, 2008.
*et al. ''Lernkulturen im Umbruch. Rituelle Praktiken in Schule, Medien, Familie und Jugend''. Wiesbaden, 2007.
*et al. ''Bildung im Ritual: Schule, Familie, Jugend, Medien''. Wiesbaden, 2004.
*et al. ''Grundlagen des Performativen. Eine Einführung in die Zusammenhänge von Sprache, Macht und Handeln''. Munich, 2001.
Edited books
*''Handbook of the Anthropocene. Humans between Heritage and Future''. Berlin, 2023 (with N. Wallenhorst).
*''The Palgrave Handbook of Embodiment and Learning''. London, 2022 (with A. Kraus).
*''Science and Scientification''. London, 2020 (with A. Michaels).
*''Repetition, Recurrence, Returns. How Cultural Renewal Works''. Lanham, 2019 (with. J. R. Resina).
*''Global Youth in Digital Trajectories''. London, 2017 (second edition, with M. Kontopodis, C. Varvantakis).
*''Exploring Alterity in the Globalized World''. London, 2016.
*''Hazardous Future. Disaster, Representation, and the Assessment of Risk''. Berlin, 2015 (with I. Capeloa Gil).
*''Handbuch Pädagogische Anthropologie''. Wiesbaden, 2014 (with J. Zirfas).
*''Exploring the Senses''. London, 2013 (with A. Michaels).
*''Emotions in Rituals and Performances''. London, 2012 (with A. Michaels).
*''Children, Development and Education. Cultural, Historical, Anthropological Perspectives''. Dordrecht, 2011 (with M. Kontopodis and B. Fichtner).
*''Der Mensch und seine Kultur. Hundert Beiträge zur Geschichte, Gegenwart und Zukunft des menschlichen Lebens''. Cologne, 2010.
*''Dynamics and Performativity of Imagination. The Image between the Visible and the Invisible''. New York, 2009 (with B. Huppauf).
References
External links
Personal websiteat the
Free University of Berlin
The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public university, public research university in Berlin, Germany. It was founded in West Berlin in 1948 with American support during the early Cold War period a ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wulf, Christoph
Living people
German anthropologists
1944 births
Academic staff of the Free University of Berlin