The Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology (

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

: ''Max-Planck-Institut für ethnologische Forschung'') is a scientific research institute founded in 1999 in

Halle Halle may refer to: Places Germany * Halle (Saale), also called Halle an der Saale, a city in Saxony-Anhalt ** Halle (region), a former administrative region in Saxony-Anhalt ** Bezirk Halle, a former administrative division of East Germany ** Hal ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

. It is one of the institutes of the

Max Planck Society The Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science (german: Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften e. V.; abbreviated MPG) is a formally independent non-governmental and non-profit association of German research institutes. ...

Organization

The institute consists of five departments and several independent research institutes.

Law and Anthropology

Headed by Prof. Dr. Marie-Claire Foblets, the Department of Law and Anthropology was established in 2012 to focus on the effects of societies and cultures towards law and politics and vice versa. This department also carefully looks how scholars of this specific discipline can and should take responsibility for implications surrounding the interplay of these societal factors.

Resilience and Transformation in Eurasia

Headed by Prof. Dr.

Chris Hann Chris Hann (born 4 August 1953) is a British social anthropologist who has done field research in socialist and post-socialist Eastern Europe (especially in Hungary and Poland) and the Turkic-speaking world ( Black Sea coast and Xinjiang, ...

, the Department of Resilience and Transformation in Eurasia is concerned with the interaction of economics, politics and anthropology within

Eurasia Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Japanese archipelag ...

. Research sub-groups are focusing and have done studies on

kinship In anthropology, kinship is the web of social relationships that form an important part of the lives of all humans in all societies, although its exact meanings even within this discipline are often debated. Anthropologist Robin Fox says that ...

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 ...

economic anthropology Economic anthropology is a field that attempts to explain human economic behavior in its widest historic, geographic and cultural scope. It is an amalgamation of economics and anthropology. It is practiced by anthropologists and has a complex re ...

, urban anthropology, culture and socialism, and citizenship.

Anthropology of Politics and Governance

Headed by Prof. Dr. Ursula Rao, the Department of Anthropology of Politics and Governance brings together a group of successful scholars undertaking research in form of in-depth case studies in Asia, Africa and Europe about the tactics, strategies, and motivations that shape political action in times of perceived crisis to study programmes and initiatives that aim to shape the future by proposing new ways of managing complexity and caring for relations in a more-than-human world.

Anthropology of Economic Experimentation

Headed by Prof. Dr. Biao Xiang, the Department of Anthropology of Economic Experimentation focuses on a wide range of political economy issues, including state-society relations, labour, social reproduction, and mobility governance, through the lens of migration.

Integration and Conflict

Formerly headed by retired Prof. Dr. Günther Schlee, the discontinued Department of Integration and Conflict focused on social systems particularly based on identification and differentiation among groups. The department looked into the holistic elements that build ethnic identity through kinship, friendship, language, history, religion, and how ethnicity plays a role across social systems at individual and supra-individual levels.

Management

The Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology is mainly represented by the following people: Directors * Prof. Dr. Marie-Claire Foblets * Prof. Dr. Ursula Rao * Prof. Dr. Biao Xiang Fellow * Burkhard Schnepel Services * Bettina Mann (Research Coordinator) * Anja Neuner (Head Librarian)

Controversies

In January 2017, the Department of Law and Anthropology has invited the controversial American activist and political scientist

Norman Finkelstein Norman Gary Finkelstein (; born December 8, 1953) is an American political scientist, activist, former professor, and author. His primary fields of research are the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and the politics of the Holocaust. He is a g ...

as a visiting scholar. The Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology has thus been criticized for providing a platform for a controversial speaker. In a statement the Max Planck Institute said that the purpose of Finkelstein's invitation to the Institute was to engage in a dialogue with him to discuss his work within an academic context. The research institute is dedicated to basic research where controversy cannot be ruled out; controversy is a “trait of academic work”.

References

External links

Homepage of the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology
Research institutes established in 1999 Anthropological research institutes Social anthropology

Social Anthropology Social anthropology is the study of patterns of behaviour in human societies and cultures. It is the dominant constituent of anthropology throughout the United Kingdom and much of Europe, where it is distinguished from cultural anthropology. In ...

1999 establishments in Germany {{sci-org-stub