Ina-Maria Greverus (16 August 1929 in

Zwickau Zwickau (; ) is the fourth-largest city of Saxony, Germany, after Leipzig, Dresden and Chemnitz, with around 88,000 inhabitants,. The West Saxon city is situated in the valley of the Zwickau Mulde (German: ''Zwickauer Mulde''; progression: ), ...

– 11 April 2017 in

Frankfurt am Main 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 ...

) was a German

folklorist Folklore studies (also known as folkloristics, tradition studies or folk life studies in the UK) is the academic discipline devoted to the study of folklore. This term, along with its synonyms, gained currency in the 1950s to distinguish the ac ...

and university lecturer in European ethnology and

cultural anthropology Cultural anthropology is a branch of anthropology focused on the study of cultural variation among humans. It is in contrast to social anthropology, which perceives cultural variation as a subset of a posited anthropological constant. The term ...

Life

Ina-Maria Greverus grew up before and during the Second World War in

on the

Saale The Saale (), also known as the Saxon Saale ( ) and Thuringian Saale (), is a river in Germany and a left-bank tributary of the Elbe. It is not to be confused with the smaller Fränkische Saale, Franconian Saale, a right-bank tributary of the M ...

. After the occupation of Saxony by the Soviet army, she fled to relatives in Alte Land. She completed her A-levels in

Stade Stade (; ), officially the Hanseatic City of Stade (, ) is a city in Lower Saxony in northern Germany. First mentioned in records in 934, it is the seat of the Stade (district), district () which bears its name. It is located roughly to the wes ...

. During her studies in

Marburg Marburg (; ) is a college town, university town in the States of Germany, German federal state () of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf Districts of Germany, district (). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has ...

, she met Will Greverus, to whom she was married from 1952 to 1968. This marriage produced three children. For professional reasons, she later lived in

Giessen Giessen, spelled in German (), is a town in the Germany, German States of Germany, state () of Hesse, capital of both the Giessen (district), district of Giessen and the Giessen (region), administrative region of Giessen. The population is appro ...

, Lahnau-Atzbach and

. Ina-Maria Greverus undertook many research and private trips, which were characterized by her ethnological view. She described herself as a philobatin.

Career

Ina-Maria Greverus initially studied

German Studies German studies is an academic field that researches, documents and disseminates German language, literature, and culture in its historic and present forms. Academic departments of German studies therefore often focus on German culture, German h ...

Scandinavian Studies Scandinavian studies or ''Scandinavistics'' is an interdisciplinary academic field of area studies, mainly in the United States and Germany, that primarily focuses on the Scandinavian languages (also known as North Germanic languages) and cultura ...

Art History Art history is the study of Work of art, artistic works made throughout human history. Among other topics, it studies art’s formal qualities, its impact on societies and cultures, and how artistic styles have changed throughout history. Tradit ...

and Folklore at the

and

University of Uppsala Uppsala University (UU) () is a public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. Initially founded in the 15th century, the university rose to s ...

. In 1956, she was awarded a doctorate in philosophy 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 ...

with the dissertation ''Die Geschenke des kleinen Volkes - KHM 182 - Eine vergleichende Untersuchung''.Online: https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:11-716263. In 1970, she completed her

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 ...

at the

University of Giessen University of Giessen, official name Justus Liebig University Giessen (), is a large public research university in Giessen, Hesse, Germany. It is one of the oldest institutions of higher education in the German-speaking world. It is named afte ...

with the work ''Der territoriale Mensch'', an analysis of the phenomena of

Heimat ''Heimat'' () is a German word translating to 'home' or 'homeland'. The word has connotations specific to German culture, German society and specifically German Romanticism, German nationalism, German statehood and regionalism so that it h ...

and identity. She worked as a professor in Giessen from 1971. In 1974 she founded the Institute for Cultural Anthropology and European Ethnology at the

University of Frankfurt am Main Goethe University Frankfurt () is a public research university located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was founded in 1914 as a citizens' university, which means it was founded and funded by the wealthy and active liberal citizenry of Frankfurt ...

and became its first

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

and director until her

retirement Retirement is the withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from one's active working life. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours or workload. Many people choose to retire when they are elderly or incapable of doing their j ...

in 1997. Greverus' successor since 1998 has been her student Gisela Welz.

Publications (selection)

* ''Scandinavian Ballads of the Middle Ages.'' 1963. * ''The territorial man. A literary-anthropological attempt on the phenomenon of home.'' Frankfurt am Main 1972. * as ed.: ''Denkmalräume - Lebensräume.'' 1976. * ''Kultur und Alltagswelt. An introduction to questions of cultural anthropology.'' Munich 1978 (= ''Beck'sche schwarze Reihe.'' Vol. 182). * with others: ''Tourismus. A critical picture book.'' 1978. * ''In search of home.'' Munich 1979 (= ''Beck'sche schwarze Reihe.'' Volume 189). * with Gottfried Kiesow and Reinhard Reuter: ''Das hessische Dorf. Study on village renewal.'' Frankfurt am Main 1982. * ''Neues Zeitalter oder verkehrte Welt. Anthropology as Critique.'' Darmstadt 1990 (= ''WB-Forum.'' Vol. 52). * ''Die Anderen und Ich. On recognizing oneself, being recognized and being recognized; cultural anthropological texts.'' Darmstadt 1995. * ''Anthropologisch reisen.'' Münster . a.2002.

Prizes and awards

* 1997:

Goethe-Plakette des Landes Hessen Goethe-Plakette (Goethe Plaque) is the highest award by the Hessian Ministry for Science and the Arts of the federal state of Hesse, Germany, named after Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. It has been awarded since 1949 at irregular intervals. The award ...

Literature

Rolf Wilhelm Brednich Rolf Wilhelm Brednich (8 February 1935 – 30 November 2023) was a German Europeanist ethnologist and ethnographer (''Volkskundler'') and folklorist. Biography Rolf Wilhelm Brednich was born on 8 February 1935. He studied ''Volkskunde'', Germ ...

: ''Greverus, Ina-Maria.'' In: ''

Encyclopedia of Fairy Tales The ''Encyclopedia of Fairy Tales'' (''Enzyklopädie des Märchens'') is a German language, German reference work on international folkloristics, which runs to fifteen volumes and is acknowledged as the most comprehensive work in its field. It ex ...

'' Volume 6 (1990), pp. 142–143. * ''Greverus, Ina-Maria.'' In: Walter Habel (ed.): '' Who is who? The German Who's Who.'' 24th edition. Schmidt-Römhild, Lübeck 1985, ISBN 3-7950-2005-0, p. 406. * Ina-Maria Greverus, Erika Haindl (ed.): ''Attempts to escape

civilization A civilization (also spelled civilisation in British English) is any complex society characterized by the development of state (polity), the state, social stratification, urban area, urbanization, and symbolic systems of communication beyon ...

. About .'' C. H. Beck, Munich 1983, ISBN 3-406-09275-6.

External links

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Greverus, Ina-Maria 1929 births 2017 deaths German folklorists German academics University of Marburg alumni People from Zwickau