Current position
Professor of Cultural and Social Anthropology (W3) at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
Academic training
2012
Habilitation, Venia Legendi for Cultural and Social Anthropology at the Faculty for Philosophy at the Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg
2004
Doctorate at the Philipps University of Marburg
1999
MA in Cultural and Social Anthropology (Völkerkunde), Philipps University Marburg
1991-1999
Master’s degree
: Cultural and Social Anthropology (major), Educational Science, Religious Education and Philosophy (minor subjects) at the universities of Münster, Westphalia and Marburg
Academic positions
Since 3/2020
University professorship (W3) for Cultural and Social Anthropology, Institute for Cultural Anthropology and African Studies, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
7/2016-2/2020
Heisenberg Professorship, Institute for Cultural and Social Anthropology and African Studies, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
3/2015-5/2016
Heisenberg Fellowship of the German Research Foundation (DFG), affiliated with the Freiburg Institute of Advanced Studies (FRIAS), Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg
2004-2011
Research assistant (C1) at the Institute for Cultural and Social Anthropology, Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg
Fellowships, scholarships and prizes
3/2025
Visiting Fellow at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Department of Social Anthropology
10/2024
Visiting Professor at the Instituto de Ciências Sociais (ICS), Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (UERJ), funded by the ‘Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior’ (CAPES)
8-10/2016
Visiting Scholar at the New School for Social Research, New York City
2/2014
Fellow at the Bayreuth Academy of Advanced African Studies
2013-2014
Fellow at the Research Training Group funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) 1288: “Freunde, Gönner, Getreue: Praxis und Semantik von Freundschaft und Patronage in historischer, anthropologischer und kulturvergleichender Perspektive”, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg
3-4/2014
Visiting researcher at the Centro de Estudos de Migrações Internacionais (CEMI) – UNICAMP, Campinas, Brazil
11/2013
Receipt of the Albert-Bürklin Prize, Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg
9/2012
Visiting researcher at the Centro Brasileiro de Análise e Planejamento (CEBRAP), Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil
2011-2012
Fellow at the Käthe-Hamburger co-worker program “Work and Life Course in Global Historical Perspective” (re:work), Humboldt University Berlin
2006-2007
Post-doc fellowship of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) for field research in Cape Verde
2002-2003
Fellow at the Centre d’Etudes Ethniques (CEETUM), University of Montréal
2001-2004
Doctoral scholarship from the state of Hesse
7-10/2000
Postgraduate scholarship for participation in the International Women’s University (IFU), German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)
Since 2024
Member of the Leibniz-WissenschaftsCampus – “Resiliencies: Comparing and Integrating Methodologies, Methods, Narratives, and Theories” (RECOMENT) – TransRegio Mainz/Trier
2022 – 2025
Migration and Im/Mobility in the Global South during a Pandemic (scientific network, funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG)), with A. Mißbach, University of Bielefeld
2022 – 2025
The Management of Loss: Politics of Life and Death in Minas Gerais (Brazil) (grant, German Research Foundation (DFG)), with T. Mentrup
2021 – 2025
Sorting with care. Human differentiation in contact zones of support in Brazil and Portugal. Subproject of the Collaborative Research Center (CRC) funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) 1482 “Human Differentiation“, with E. Reichl and E. Hernández.
2018 – 2022
African trajectories across Central America: Dynamics of displacements, transitory emplacements, and ambivalent migration nodes (grant German Research Foundation (DFG)), with N. Winters, Y. Guevara, E. Reichl and P. Delgado
2015 – 2020
Access of migrants to support and care in humanitarian and activist contexts in Brazil (German Research Foundation (DFG), Heisenberg Program)
2006 – 2011
Negotiations of family support. The Moral Dimension of Care in Transnational Cape Verdean Fields (German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)).
2001 – 2004
Spirits in the Diaspora. Haitian discourses on gender, youth and power in Montréal, Canada (doctoral scholarship from the State of Hesse)

Janis Geschke: “Deportation Work. Insights into bordering processes, decision making and moral implications in German deportation bureaucracies”

Elena Hernández: “Prekarisiertes Wohnen und Humandifferenzierung in Lissabons Kontaktzonen der Unterstützung”

Theresa Mentrup: “The Management of Loss: Politics of Life and Death in Minas Gerais”

Elena Maria Reichl: “Informelle Unterstützungspraktiken zwischen Solidarität, Sortierung und Transformation in Brasilien”

Prof. Dr. Heike Drotbohm
Room 01-665
Forum universitatis 6
55099 Mainz
Tel.: 06131-39 20796
E-Mail: drotbohm@uni-mainz.de

Office hours after appointment via e-mail