Katja Werthmann (born May 11, 1964, in

Freiburg im Breisgau Freiburg im Breisgau or simply Freiburg is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fourth-largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, Mannheim and Karlsruhe. Its built-up area has a population of abou ...

, Germany) is a German ethnologist with a regional focus on West Africa. She is a professor for 'Society, politics and economy of Africa' at the Institute for African Studies at the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...

. K. Werthmann conducts research in Anglophone and Francophone Africa (

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in West Africa, bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Ivory Coast to the southwest. It covers an area of 274,223 km2 (105,87 ...

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

) on the handling of material and symbolic resources in the context of spatial and social mobility in contemporary Africa. She has made contributions to political, economic, religious and urban ethnology. After the Doctorate at the

Freie Universität 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 ...

and the

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

Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz The Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz () is a public research university in Mainz, Rhineland Palatinate, Germany. It has been named after the printer Johannes Gutenberg since 1946. it had approximately 32,000 students enrolled in around 100 a ...

she taught at universities in Germany (Frankfurt/Main, Mainz, Halle/Saale), Switzerland (

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

) and Sweden (

Uppsala Uppsala ( ; ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the capital of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019. Loc ...

). Since 2012 she has been a university professor at the

Early life and education

After graduating from high school in 1983, Katja Werthmann began studying

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 ...

and

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 ...

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 ...

(1983–1984) and then

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 ...

and European

ethnology Ethnology (from the , meaning 'nation') is an academic field and discipline that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology). Sci ...

, with the subsidiary subjects historical ethnology and African linguistics. She graduated with a Magister artium (

M.A. A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

, 1990). From 1988 to 1990 she prepared herself through

Swahili Swahili may refer to: * Swahili language, a Bantu language officially used in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda and widely spoken in the African Great Lakes. * Swahili people, an ethnic group in East Africa. * Swahili culture, the culture of the Swahili p ...

and

Hausa Hausa may refer to: * Hausa people, an ethnic group of West Africa * Hausa language, spoken in West Africa * Hausa Kingdoms, a historical collection of Hausa city-states * Hausa (horse) or Dongola horse, an African breed of riding horse See also ...

language courses in

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

and

(funded by the DAAD) for their field research. A graduate scholarship from the DAAD enabled her to do sixteen months of field research in

, which formed the basis for her dissertation on the everyday life of Muslim women in a neighborhood in

Kano Kano may refer to: Places *Kano State, a state in Northern Nigeria *Kano (city), a city in Nigeria, and the capital of Kano State ** Kingdom of Kano, a Hausa kingdom between the 10th and 14th centuries ** Sultanate of Kano, a Hausa kingdom betwee ...

. A doctoral scholarship from the Evangelisches Studienwerk, Villigst e. V. resulted in her doctorate in 1996 at the Institute for Ethnology at the

(FU-Berlin). From January 1997 to December 2001, she was a research associate at the Institute for Historical Ethnology at the University Frankfurt. From 1997 to 2001, she conducted twelve-month field research in

within the SFB 268.

Career and research

Werthmann considers African Studies as a

regional science Regional science is a field of economics concerned with analytical approaches to problems that are related specifically to regional and international issues. Topics in regional science include, but are not limited to location theory or spatial eco ...

with historical responsibility. She and her research team are interdisciplinary in the

humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture, including Philosophy, certain fundamental questions asked by humans. During the Renaissance, the term "humanities" referred to the study of classical literature a ...

and

social sciences Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of society, societies and the Social relation, relationships among members within those societies. The term was former ...

. Since 2002 she has conducted research projects on

gold mining Gold mining is the extraction of gold by mining. Historically, mining gold from Alluvium, alluvial deposits used manual separation processes, such as gold panning. The expansion of gold mining to ores that are not on the surface has led to mor ...

, city life and

vigilantes Vigilantism () is the act of preventing, investigating, and punishing perceived offenses and crimes without legal authority. A vigilante is a person who practices or partakes in vigilantism, or undertakes public safety and retributive justice ...

s. GEPRIS
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), Detailseite laufende und abgeschlossene Projekte, accessed: April 24, 2023. From 1997 to 2001, Werthmann worked as a research assistant at the Institute for Historical Ethnology at Goethe University, where she was involved in Sonderforschungsbereich (SFB) 268 "Cultural Development and Language History in the Natural Space of the West African Savannah". In this context, she spent 12 months researching land rights, settlement history and artisanal gold mining in south-west of

. From 2002 to 2010 she worked at the Institute for Anthropology and African Studies at the

University of Mainz The Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz () is a public research university in Mainz, Rhineland Palatinate, Germany. It has been named after the printer Johannes Gutenberg since 1946. it had approximately 32,000 students enrolled in around 100 a ...

. There she habilitated in 2004 with a thesis on the economic, social, and cultural aspects of gold mining in

. She examined the effects of German development cooperation using the examples of smallholders in a development project in Burkina Faso and local self-government in

. Between 2010 and 2012, Werthmann taught at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, the

University of Zurich The University of Zurich (UZH, ) is a public university, public research university in Zurich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 from the existing colleges of the ...

(Switzerland), and the

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 ...

(Sweden). Since August 2012, she has been a university professor for African society, politics, and economics at the socio-scientifically oriented Institute for African Studies at the University of Leipzig. Furthermore, Werthmann investigated the effects of an agricultural development project (A.V.V., Aménagement des Vallées des Voltas') established in the 1970s and funded by the GTZ, in the course of which farmers from the central parts of the country were relocated to the southwest. Further research focuses were discourses on land rights and " autochthony" as well as on the social relationships between native and immigrant project farmers. In addition, she conducted research in the SFB follow-up project A9 "Land acquisition. Spatial appropriation and local identity in south-west Burkina Faso" with a focus on the effects of massive immigration as a result of the increase in non-industrial gold mining.

Offices and functions

Werthmann was a member of the editorial board of the

Africa Spectrum ''Africa Spectrum'' (also formerly known as ''Afrika Spectrum'') is an interdisciplinary double-blind peer-reviewed academic journal concentrating on current political, sociological, historical, and development matters in Africa. It was founded in ...

from 2004 to 2015. She is currently a member of the editorial board of

Sociologus ''Sociologus: Journal for Empirical Social Anthropology'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal of social anthropology. It was established in 1925 by Richard Thurnwald and is published by Duncker & Humblot. The journal covers empirical research on c ...

and the book series "African Social Studies" at

Brill (publisher) Brill Academic Publishers () is a Dutch international academic publisher of books, academic journals, and databases founded in 1683, making it one of the oldest publishing houses in the Netherlands. Founded in the South Holland city of Leiden, ...

. She has been an active member of the board and main committee of the :de: Vereinigung für Afrikawissenschaften in Deutschland e.V. (VAD) since 2004 and was the main organizer of the VAD conference "African Connections" in Leipzig in 2018.

Selected publications

Monographs

* (2022) City Life in Africa. Anthropological Insights. New York, NY: Routledge * (2009) Bitteres Gold. Bergbau, Land und Geld in Westafrika. Cologne: Köppe * (1997) Nachbarinnen. Das Alltagsleben muslimischer Frauen in einer nigerianischen Großstadt. Frankfurt: Brandes & Apsel

Anthologies and readers

* 2013 (mit Mamadou Lamine Sanogo): La ville de Bobo-Dioulasso au Burkina Faso. Urbanité et appartenances en Afrique de l'ouest. Paris: Karthala * 2008 (mit Gerald Schmitt): "Staatliche Herrschaft und kommunale Selbstverwaltung. Dezentralisierung in Kamerun". Frankfurt: Brandes & Apsel

Articles and book chapters

* (2017): The drawbacks of privatization: Artisanal gold mining in Burkina Faso 1986–2016, ''Resources Policy'', vol. 52, pp. 418–426 * 2016: "Die tanzende Sonne: Frauenlieder in Westafrika". In: Geert Castryck, Silke Strickrodt & Katja Werthmann (Hg.), Sources and Methods for African History and Culture. Essays in Honour of Adam Jones. Leipzig: Leipziger Universitätsverlag, 393–409. * 2014: "Sind Städte in Afrika ‚unkennbar'? Ethnologische Stadtforschung in Afrika". Zeitschrift für Ethnologie 139, 2, 159–178. * 2014: "Local Religion or Cult-Shopping? A Sacrificial Site in Burkina Faso". Anthropos 109, 399–409. * 2011: "Die Dyula in Burkina Faso: von vorkolonialer Elite zu ethnopolitischem Verein". In: Nikolaus Schareika, Eva Spies & Pierre-Yves Le Meur (Hg.): Auf dem Boden der Tatsachen. Festschrift für Thomas Bierschenk. Köln: Köppe, 289–309. * 2009: "Working in a Boom-Town: Female Perspectives on Gold-Mining in Burkina Faso". Resources Policy 34, 18–23. * 2008: "Islam on Both Sides: Religion and Locality in Western Burkina Faso". In: Samuli Schielke & Georg Stauth (Hg.): Dimensions of Locality: The Making and Remaking of Islamic Saints and their Places. Bielefeld: transcript, 125–148. * 2008: "'Frivolous Squandering'. Consumption and Redistribution in Mining Camps". In: Jon Abbink & André van Dokkum (Hg.): Dilemmas of Development. Conflicts of Interest and their Resolutions in Modernizing Africa. Leiden: African Studies Centre, 60–76. * 2007: "Islam in Afrika. Ein Überblick". In: Thomas Bierschenk & Marion Fischer (Hg.): Islam und Entwicklung in Afrika. Köln: Köppe, 37–50. * 2006: "Gold Diggers, Earth Priests, and District Heads: Land Rights and Gold Mining in South-Western Burkina Faso". In: Richard Kuba & Carola Lentz (Hg.): Landrights and the Politics of Belonging in West Africa. Leiden: Brill, 119–136. * 2005: "Wer sind die Dyula? Ethnizität und Bürgerkrieg in der Côte d'Ivoire". Afrika Spectrum 40, 2, 221–240. * 2004 (mit Richard Kuba, Andrea Reikat, Andrea Wenzek): "Erdherren und Einwanderer: Bodenrecht in Burkina Faso". In: Klaus Dieter Albert, Doris Löhr & Katharina Neumann (Hg.): Mensch und Natur in Westafrika. Ergebnisse aus dem Sonderforschungsbereich 268 "Kulturentwicklung und Sprach-geschichte im Naturraum Westafrikanische Savannne". Weinheim: Wiley-VCH, 373–399. * 2003: "'Ils sont venus comme une nuée de sauterelles': chercheurs d'or dans un village au sud-ouest du Burkina Faso". In: Richard Kuba, Carola Lentz & Claude Nurukyor Somda (Hg.): Histoire du peuplement et relations interethniques au Burkina Faso. Paris: Karthala, 97–110. * 2003: "The President of the Gold Diggers: Sources of Power in a Gold Mine in Burkina Faso". Ethnos 68(1): 95–111. * (2003): Cowries, Gold and 'Bitter Money' Gold-Mining and Notions of Ill-Gotten Wealth in Burkina Faso.''Paideuma: Mitteilungen zur Kulturkunde'', vol. 49, pp. 105–124 * 2002: "Matan Bariki, 'Women of the Barracks'. Muslim Hausa Women in an Urban Neighbourhood in Northern Nigeria". Africa 72(1): 112–130. * 2001 (mit Modeste Somé & Andrea Wilhelmi): "'Il y a l'entente comme il y a la mésentente'. Vingt ans de cohabitation entre Dagara et Mossi dans les anciens villages A.V.V.". In: Richard Kuba, Carola Lentz & Katja Werthmann (Hg.): Les Dagara et leurs voisins. Histoire de peuplement et relations interethniques au sud-ouest du Burkina Faso. Frankfurt/Main: Berichte des Sonderforschungsbereichs 268, Bd. 15, 159–178. * (2000): Gold rush in West Africa. The appropriation of 'natural' resources: non-industrial gold mining in Burkina Faso. ''Sociologus'' 50:1, 90–104 * (1995): Die Frauen der Barracks. Identitätsmanagement in einer nordnigerianischen Großstadt. ''Sociologus'' 45(2), 169–180 (1995)

Filmography

* 2002 (with Holger Kirscht): "Sanmatenga. Goldgräber in Burkina Faso". BF/D, 45 min. IWF Wissen und Medien, Göttingen

References

External links

Personenprofil: Prof. Dr. Katja Werthmann-Kirscht, Universität Leipzig
aufgerufen: April 9, 2023
Literatur von und über Katja Werthmann-Kirscht
im Katalog der

Deutschen Nationalbibliothek The German National Library (DNB; ) is the central archival library and national bibliographic centre for the Federal Republic of Germany. It is one of the largest libraries in the world. Its task is to collect, permanently archive, comprehensiv ...

retrieved April 9, 2023. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Werthmann, Katja 1964 births Living people German anthropologists German ethnologists Scientists from Berlin Academic staff of Leipzig University Free University of Berlin alumni African studies Area studies scholars Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz alumni