teaching
I am currently teaching at the University of Cologne, along with block courses and guest lectures at other educational institutions
Therapeutic Cultures—anthropological perspectives
on modern psychology
This Master’s seminar looks at the globalization of modern psychology, examining how it has shaped moral values and codes of interaction, as well as how it evolved in dialogue with economic and political systems. This course takes us beyond the clinic educational methods, entertainment, and everyday expressions. We also dedicate several sessions to the ways psychological ideas and politics blend in many movements and discourses today, bolstered by digital social media. Students always bring fascinating examples from topics and trends that they closely follow.
Research reflection
A Master’s seminar that brings together students who recently returned from fieldwork and are in the early stages of converting their notes into ethnographies. We underscore together the contexts of each project, students’ distinct positionalities and journeys, and the capacity to describe findings in detail while communicating the research questions and significance. The seminar includes several interactive exercises that advance ‘reflection’ through mutual feedback. Throughout these activities, we engage with anthropological questions on the relationship between ethnography and theory, description and argument, and the tenets of qualitative interpretation.
Self-development
& social change
This course looks at the contemporary priorities of ‘self-development’ as they are formed and conceptualized along with socioeconomic transformations. Comparing case studies from diverse contexts, this course delves into a dual process of self-development—the cultivation of qualities and skills along with the enactment of a particular type of self. This course focuses on features that expand through global capitalism along with their intersections with various traditions and moral systems. The course also connects these findings to projects, aspirations, and challenges faced by the students. Key concepts discussed include immaterial labor, enterprising self, moral economy, hope, value pluralism, cruel optimism, involution, and more…
Anthropology of
Chinese society
A Bachelor seminar dedicated to understanding contemporary Chinese society from an anthropological perspective. It introduces diverse issues at the heart of the Chinese experience, including the relationship between the autocratic state and economic reforms, the importance of education in the lives of individuals and families, changing ideas of gender and intimacy, the role of digital media in social life, new forms of self-development, and many more issues. While covering these topics, the seminar highlights the anthropological lens, as it configures topics such as changing norms of filial piety, guanxi, ‘quality’ population (suzhi), civil society, and digital governance, along with questions highlights by social scientists working in Chinese universities.
Space making & social worlds:
Anthropological perspectives
Given mostly as a Master’s seminar, this course looks into analytical perspectives on the production of space in social life. The seminar examines how material elements interact with other features—such as language, affects, regulations, and rituals—to create distinct settings, as well as disruptions between physical properties and the symbolic elements of space. Students cover concepts on spatial governance, social worlds, infrastructures, atmospheres, orientations, and placemaking through ethnographic case studies on informal urban labor, ruins, protests, heritage sites, theme parks, digital blogs, and ‘safe’ spaces. Emphasis is placed on ethical and existential challenges that many communities face in the 21st century.
Additional topics of teaching:
– Relatedness and sociality
– Anthopology of morality
– Anthropology of affect and emotions
– Anthropology of sports
– Introduction to Anthropology
Classes and lectures given in secondary schools:
– Chinese society
– Chinese family and youth
– Contemporary Chinese culture and language
Hizi Anthropology 