08
Fachbereich
Institut für Ethnologie
Toggle navigation EN

Dr. Gabriel Klaeger

Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter / Academic staff (bis Februar 2022)

E-Mail: g.klaeger (at) em.uni-frankfurt.de


Regional and thematic expertise

West Africa, Ghana; chieftaincy, Christianity, roads and (auto)mobilities, speed and temporalities, entrepreneurship and informal work, bodies and senses, assisted reproductive technologies (ART), in/voluntary childlessness, counselling cultures

Research projects

  • ongoing: reproductive medicine/assisted reproductive technologies (ART), in/voluntary childlessness, masculinity and 'diversity' in infertility counselling settings
    Reproduktionsmedizin/-techniken, un/gewollte Kinderlosigkeit, Maskulinität und ‚Diversität' in der Kinderwunschberatung
  • completed: Roadside and Travel Communities (Sudan, Ghana), subproject under the Priority Programme “Adaptation and Creativity in Africa" (SPP 1448), funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG)
  • completed: Experiencing the Accra-Kumasi Road (Ghana), Ph.D. research, SOAS, University of London
  • completed: Kirche und Königspalast im Konflikt (Kyebi, Ghana), M.A. research, LMU München and University of Ghana

Academic career

  • 2011 to date: position as Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter, Institut für Ethnologie, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main
  • 2011–2016: project leader (with Kurt Beck, Bayreuth), Roadside and travel communities, subproject under SPP 1448 (DFG)
  • 2005–2014: Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Department of Anthropology and Sociology, SOAS, University of London
    Thesis “Speed Matters: An Ethnography of a Ghanaian Highway, its Perils and Potentialities"
  • 2001–2002: research affiliate, Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana
  • 1998–2005: Magister Artium (M.A.), Social Anthropology, Human Geography and Intercultural Communication, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
    Thesis “Kirche und Königspalast im Konflikt. Christenviertel und Tradition in den Debatten zum Ohum-Festival in Kyebi (Ghana)"

Publications


  • 2019 (with M. Stasik). “Station waka-waka: The temporalities and temptations of (not) working in Ghanaian bus stations”. In: Africa Today 65 (2): 93-109.
  • 2018 (with M. Stasik). “Reordering Ghana’s roadside spaces: hawking in times of infrastructural renewal”. In: U. Engel, M. Boeckler, D. Müller-Mahn (eds.): Spatial Practices: Territory, border and infrastructure in Africa. Leiden: Brill 153-172.
  • 2017 “Wissen, Wahrnehmung und Bewegung im kompetitiven Straßenalltag von ghanaischen Minibusfahrern”. In: M. Verne, P. Ivanov, M. Treiber (eds.): Körper Technik Wissen. Kreativität und Aneignungsprozesse in Afrika - In den Spuren Kurt Becks. Berlin: LIT. 389–404.
  • 2017 (with K. Beck and M. Stasik, eds.). The Making of the African Road. Leiden: Brill.
  • 2017 (with K. Beck and M. Stasik). “An introduction to the African road”. In: K. Beck, G. Klaeger and M. Stasik (eds.): The Making of the African Road. Leiden: Brill. 1–23.
  • 2017 “Stories of the road: perceptions of power, progress and perils on the Accra-Kumasi road, Ghana”. In: K. Beck, G. Klaeger and M. Stasik (eds.): The Making of the African Road. Leiden: Brill. 86–115.
  • 2014. "Rush and relax: the rhythms and speeds of touting perishable products on a Ghanaian roadside". In: D. Dalakoglou and P. Harvey (eds.): Roads and Anthropology: Ethnography, infrastructures, (im)mobility. London: Routledge. 79-96. - Reprint of article in Mobilities 7 (4), 2012.
  • 2013. Editor of ‘Ethnographies of the Road’. Part-special issue, Africa 83 (3).
  • 2013. “Dwelling on the road: Routines, rituals and road blocks in southern Ghana”. In: Africa 83 (3): 446-469.
  • 2013. “Introduction: The perils and possibilities of African roads”. In: Africa 83 (3): 359-366.
  • 2012. “Rush and relax: The rhythms and speeds of touting perishable products on a Ghanaian roadside”. In: Mobilities 7 (4): 537-554.
  • 2012. “Movements into emotions: Kinetic tactics, commotion and conviviality among traffic vendors in Accra”. In: H. P. Hahn and K. Kastner (eds.): Urban life-worlds in motion. African perspectives. Bielefeld: transcript. 131-156.
  • 2009. “Religion on the Road: The Spiritual Experience of Road Travel in Ghana”. In: J.-B. Gewald, S. Luning and K. van Walraven (eds.): The Speed of Change. Motor Vehicles and People in Africa, 1890-2000. Leiden, Boston: Brill. 212-231.
  • 2007. Kirche und Königspalast im Konflikt. Christenviertel und Tradition in den Debatten zum Ohum-Festival in Kyebi (Ghana). Münster, London: LIT.
  • 2007. “Palastbräuche versus Missionarsrechte: Traditionspluralismus und angefochtene Souveränitäten im Konflikt um das Ohum-Festival in Kyebi (Ghana)“. In: Zeitschrift für Ethnologie 132 (1): 91-108.
  • 2006. “’A Monarch of His Time’: Traditional leadership and the staging of AIDS awareness campaigns in Ghana”. In: J. Reuter, C. Antweiler and C. Neudorfer (eds.): Strand Bar Internet: Neue Orte der Globalisierung. Münster, London: LIT. 141-165.

Online publications

Workshops and panels (2009 to date)

  • 2014. Panel chair: "Travelling Africa", Biennial conference of the African Studies Association in Germany (VAD), Bayreuth University
  • 2013. Workshop convenor (with Kurt Beck, Michael Stasik, Rami Wadelnour): “Anthropology of the road”, German Anthropological Association (DGV) Conference, Mainz.
  • 2013. Panel convenor (with Ute Röschenthaler): “Moving markets, travelling goods: Exploring the paths of trade in Africa”. European Conference on African Studies (AEGIS), Lisbon.
  • 2012. Panel convenor (with Michael Stasik): “Waiting for Godot & Co: modes and moods of the uneventful”. European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA) biennial conference, Nanterre.
  • 2012. Workshop organizer (with Kurt Beck, Michael Stasik, Rami Wadelnour): “The Makings and Uses of the Motor Road”. Thurnau, Bayreuth University.
  • 2011. Panel convenor (with Jennifer Hart): "Uncertainty, danger and the productive life of risk on and alongside African roads." 4th European Conference of African Studies (AEGIS), Uppsala.
  • 2010. Panel convenor (with Tatiana Argounova-Low): “Thinking about roads, movement, and environment”. European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA) biennial conference, Maynooth.
  • 2009. Panel convenor (with Julie Soleil Archambault): “Death, deceit and other personal disasters: When connections backfire”. European Conference on African Studies (AEGIS), Leipzig.

Papers and presentations (2009 to date)

  • 2017. “The temporalities and temptations of (not) working in bus stations in provincial Ghana”, European Conference on African Studies (AEGIS), Basel. 
  • 2016. “Technologies, arts and performative/‘inventive’ methods”, Final Results Conference, Priority Programme 1448 “Adaptation and Creativity in Africa” (DFG), Potsdam.
  • 2016. “’Macho Men’ and the muscular body multiple in Ghana”, Association of Social Anthropologists of the UK and Commonwealth (ASA) conference, Durhham. 
  • 2015. “Bodybuilding and the Meanings of Muscles: Konturen eines Forschungsprojekts”, Afrika-Kolloquium, Institut für Ethnologie, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt.
  • 2015. “Shaping the body in times of unemployment: muscularity as capital among young Ghanaian men”, German Anthropological Association (DGV) Conference, Marburg.
  • 2015. (with Michael Stasik). "Hawking in times of infrastructural renewal: technology and technique in Ghana's new roadside spaces", European Conference on African Studies (AEGIS), Paris.
  • 2015. “Averse speeds, available spaces: The limits and opportunities of hawking in a hostile road environment”, Workshop “Technologies of control and the limits of social creativity”, Kloster Banz, Bayreuth University.
  • 2014. "'Roadside and travel communities': Methodische und sozio-technische Innovationen in einem vergleichenden Forschungsprojekt (Ghana, Sudan)", Vorlesungsreihe 'Innovationen', Institute für Afrikanist und Ethnologie, Leipzig University.
  • 2014. "Poverty and potentialities in African informal economies", Main Model United Nations conference, Goethe University Frankfurt.
  • 2013. Discussant at workshop “Anthropology of the road”, German Anthropological Association (DGV) Conference, Mainz.
  • 2013. “Moving markets: The trails of bread in a Ghanaian roadside community”. Young Scholars Workshop “Ethnologie der Straße in Afrika”, Wallenfels, Bayreuth University.
  • 2012. (with Kurt Beck, Michael Stasik): “Reinterpretation of North Atlantic models: The case of roads and roadsides”. Biennial Conference, Priority Programme 1448 “Adaptation and Creativity in Africa” (DFG), Maputo, Mozambique.
  • 2012. “Bottlenecks and roadside vending on a Ghanaian road under construction”. Workshop “The makings and uses of motor roads”, Thurnau, Bayreuth University.
  • 2011.“Moving with traffic: an ethnography of work, speed and change on Ghanaian through-roads”. African Studies Association (ASA) Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C.
  • 2011. "Touting perishable products: The temporalities of trading, and at times tricking, on through-roads in urban Ghana". 4th European Conference of African Studies (AEGIS), Uppsala.
  • 2011. “Fast business? Konkurrenz und Kalkül im Straßenalltag von ghanaischen Minibusfahrern”.Afrika-Kolloquium, Institut für Ethnologie, Goethe University Frankfurt.
  • 2010. “Movements into emotions: Kinetic tactics and joviality among roadside hawkers in Accra”. Biennial conference of the African Studies Association of the UK (ASAUK), Oxford.
  • 2010. "Chasing cars, mocking mates: Movements, emotions, and joviality among road hawkers in Accra". Biennial conference of the German Association for African Studies (VAD), Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz.
  • 2009. “"Blutopfer zur Rush Hour: Fordernde Gottheiten, traditionelle Autoritäten und die Verhandlung von Multireligiosität in Accra (Ghana)". German Anthropological Association (DGV) Conference, Frankfurt am Main.
  • 2009. “Endstation Aneignung? Verkehr und der alltägliche Umgang mit Stop-and-go auf ghanaischen Straßen“. German Anthropological Association (DGV) Conference, Frankfurt am Main.
  • 2009. “Reconstructing the Accra-Kumasi road: Chances and drawbacks of a modernizing project”. The ‘Revisiting Modernization’ Conference, University of California African Studies MRG and University of Ghana, Legon/Accra.
  • 2009. “Fast business? The chances and drawbacks of speed for Ghanaian minibus drivers”. European Conference on African Studies (AEGIS), Leipzig.
  • 2009. “Chasing, dodging, lapping: Ghanaian minibus drivers and their tactical moves for money”. African Studies Seminar, African Studies Centre, University of Oxford.