Prof. Dr. Michaela Haug

Academic Career

• Since 02/2023: Professor at the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Freiburg
• 10/2022 – 01/2023: Visiting Professor at the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Freiburg
• 04/2022 – 09/2022: Visiting Professor at the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, Free University of Berlin
• 2021: Habilitation, University of Cologne; Title of Habilitation thesis: Living on a Resource Frontier: Power, Gender and Future Making in Indonesian Borneo
• 2015 – 2022: Senior Researcher, Global South Studies Center, University of Cologne
• 2009: PhD, University of Freiburg; Title of Dissertation: Poverty and Decentralisation in East Kalimantan: The Impact of Regional Autonomy on Dayak Benuaq Wellbeing (summa cum laude)
• 04/2007 – 04/2022: Research Assistant, Institute of Ethnology, University of Cologne
• 2003 – 2006: Research Assistant, Institute of Ethnology, University of Freiburg; Project: Making Local Government more Responsive to the Poor: Developing Indicators and Tools to Support Sustainable Livelihood under Decentralization, conducted by CIFOR (Centre for International Forestry Research) in cooperation with the University of Freiburg
• 2003: Magister Artium, University of Cologne; Title of MA thesis: Ressourcenwahrnehmung und Bodenrecht der Dayak Benuaq in Ost-Kalimantan, Indonesien: Ein Fallbeispiel aus Engkuni Pasek [Resource Perception and Land Rights of the Dayak Benuaq in East Kalimantan, Indonesia: A Case Study from Engkuni Pasek] (awarded the Faculty Prize)
• 1995 – 2003: Studies in Anthropology, Art History, Malay Studies, and Philosophy in Karlsruhe, Cologne, and Yogyakarta (Indonesia)

Committee Work & Memberships

Memberships

• Member of the Directorate, Center for Planetary Health, University of Freiburg (link)
• Member, Research Initiative Sharing a Planet in Peril (link)
• Member, Research Initiative Future Forest (link)
• Associated Member, Multidisciplinary Environmental Studies in the Humanities (MESH), University of Cologne (link)
• Associated Member, Global South Studies Center, University of Cologne (link)
• Member, Freiburg Environmental Humanities Network
• Board Member, European Association of Southeast Asian Studies (EuroSEAS)
• Member, European Association of Social Anthropology (EASA)
• Member, EASA Network Environment & Anthropology
• Member, German Association for Social and Cultural Anthropology (DGSKA)
• Member, DGSKA Regional Group Southeast Asia
• Founding Member, DGSKA Working Group Environmental Anthropology
• Founding Member, DGSKA Working Group Family in the Field
• Member, Southeast Asia Working Group, German Society for Geography (DGfG)
• Member, German-Indonesian Society (DIG)
• Member, Society for Geography and Ethnology in Freiburg/Breisgau

Committee Work

• Member of the Faculty Council of the Faculty of Humanities
• Member of the Tenure Commission of the Faculty of Humanities
• Member of the Habilitation Committee of the Faculty of Humanities
• Member of the Committee for State Graduate Funding of the Faculty of Humanities
• Member of the Committee for Bavaria Master Scholarships of the Faculty of Humanities

Peer-Review Activities

• Peer Reviewer for leading international journals, including American Ethnologist, Current Anthropology, HAU – Journal of Ethnographic Theory, Ethnos, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Critical Asian Studies, PoLAR: Political and Legal Anthropology Review, Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, Austrian Journal of South-East Asian Studies (ASEAS), Indonesia and the Malay World, Journal of Social and Cultural Anthropology, Asien, Paideuma, Tapuya: Latin American Science, Technology and Society, The European Journal of Social Science Research, and Jurnal Ilmu Sosial Mamangan (Indonesian Social Science Journal).
• Reviewer of research proposals for the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the Scholarship Program of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Science.

My research focuses on social, economic, political, and ecological transformation processes in the Global South. I address both theoretical and practice-oriented questions concerning human–environment relations, resource use, the (re-)production of social inequalities, and future-making.

Regional Focus

• Southeast Asia / Indonesia

Thematic Focus

• Environmental Anthropology
• Political Ecology
• Socio-economy
• Anthropology of the Future
• Theories and Methods

Future-Making, Environmental Change and Socio-Economic Transformations in East Kalimantan, Indonesia

• Funding: German Research Foundation (DFG)
• Principal Investigator: Prof. Dr. Michaela Haug
• Team Members:
  • Dr. Deasy Simandjuntak
  • David Meschede, M.A.
• Project Website: https://www.ethno.uni-freiburg.de/de/future-making
• Duration: First Funding Phase 2019–2023 / Second Funding Phase 2023–2026

Deforestation of tropical rainforests is part of the increasingly alarming global ecological crisis. In Indonesia, large rainforest areas are being subjected to new forms of use in the name of development and environmental protection, brought under novel governance regimes, and incorporated into new production systems – based on competing and sometimes contradictory visions of the future. Using the province of East Kalimantan as a case study, this project examines how different actors generate future imaginaries, how these visions are expressed, and how they are translated into practice.

Interdisciplinary Research Network: Beyond the Domesticated and Wild Divide: Plant Biology and the Politics of Nutrition (BiPoN)

• Forum of the Excellent Research Support Program, University of Cologne (2021–2022)
• Project Website: https://bipon.uni-koeln.de/

The BiPoN forum aims to determine how human action and environmental factors interact in decision-making processes about edible food plants, including crops and trees, that are introduced and cultivated in different parts of the world. This brings about a range of interrelated questions addressing the establishment and crossing of both conceptual and physical boundaries.

 Monographs and Edited Volumes

• forthcoming (with Anu Lounela and Christian Oesterheld) (eds). Making and Unmaking Frontiers in Borneo
• 2024 2024. Being Torn between Hope and Despair: Future Visons of Dayak Youth in East Kalimantan. Borneo Research Bulletin 54: 159-180.
• 2023 (with Guido Sprenger, Timo Duile and Kristina Großmann) (eds). Plural Ecologies: Beyond Ontology and Political Ecology in Southeast Asia. Milton Park: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003368182
• 2022 (with Rosalie Stolz) (eds). Ethnographic Encounters: Essays in Honour of Martin Rössler. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag.
• 2020 (with Timo Kaartinen and Kristina Großmann) Special Issue on Frontier Temporalities in der Zeitschrift Paideuma https://journals.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/paideuma/index.php/paideuma/issue/view/2
• 2020 (with Fabienne Brauckmann, Katja Metzmacher and Rosalie Stolz) (eds). Being a Parent in the Field: Challenges and Implications of Accompanied Fieldwork. Bielefeld: Transcript.
• 2018 (with Sara de Wit and Arno Pascht) Special Issue on Translating Climate Change der Zeitschrift Sociologus Band 68 (Heft 1/2018) https://www.jstor.org/stable/45174769
• 2018 (with Kristina Großmann) Special Issue on Gender and Environmental Change der Zeitschrift Antropologia 5(1) https://doi.org/10.14672/ada201813847-21
• 2017 (with Martin Rössler and Anna-Teresa Grumblies) (eds). Rethinking Power Relations in Indonesia: Transforming the Margins. London [u.a.]: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315659190
• 2017 (with Cathrin Arenz, Stefan Seitz and Oliver Venz) (eds). Continuity under Change in Dayak Societies. Wiesbaden: Springer. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-658-18295-3
• 2010. Poverty and Decentralisation in East Kalimantan: The Impact of Regional Autonomy on Dayak Benuaq Wellbeing. Centaurus: Freiburg.

Journal Articles and Book Chapters

• 2024 Being Torn between Hope and Despair: Future Visons of Dayak Youth in East Kalimantan. Borneo Research Bulletin 54: 159-180.
• 2024 (with Peter Dannenberg, Boris Braun, Clemens Greiner, Alexander Follmann, Pujo Semedi Hargo Yuwono, Markus Stetter, Thomas Widlok, and Stanislav Kopriva). Eight Arguments why Biodiversity is Important to Safeguard Food Security. Plants, People, Planet 6 (3): 604-610. https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10492
• 2023. Home of Spirits and Loggers: Plural Perspectives on the Forest in Indonesian Borneo. In: Timo Duile, Kristina Großmann, Michaela Haug and Guido Sprenger (eds). Plural Ecologies: Beyond Ontology and Political Ecology in Southeast Asia. Milton Park: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003368182
• 2023 (with Deasy Simandjuntak and David Meschede). Identifying Potential Social Challenges in IKN: Perspectives of Civil Society and Villagers in East Kalimantan. In: Julia M. Lau, Athiqah Nur Alami, Siwage Dharma Negara und Yanuar Nugroho (eds). The Road to Nusantara: Process, Challenges and Opportunities, Singapore: ISEAS Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1355/9789815104233
• 2021. Curing a Brain Tumor with High Tech Operations and the Help of Spirits: The Appropriation of Biomedicine among the Dayak Benuaq, Moussons 38: 167-191. https://journals.openedition.org/moussons/8144
• 2021. Framing the Future through the Lens of Hope: Environmental Change, Diverse Hopes and the Challenge of Engagement. Zeitschrift für Ethnologie 145: 71-92. https://www.jstor.org/stable/27124116
• 2020 (with Kristina Großmann and Timo Kaartinen). Introduction: Frontier Temporalities: Exploring Processes of Frontierisation, Defrontierisation and Refrontierisation in Indonesia and Africa, Paideuma 66: 171-182. https://journals.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/paideuma/index.php/paideuma/article/view/38/182
• 2020 (with Rosalie Stolz, Katja Metzmacher and Fabienne Brauckmann). Being a Parent in the Field: Practical, Epistemological, Methodological and Ethical Implications of Accompanied Fieldwork. In: Fabienne Brauckmann, Michaela Haug, Katja Metzmacher und Rosalie Stolz (Hrsg.) Being a Parent in the Field: Challenges and Implications of Accompanied Fieldwork. Bielefeld: Transcript, pp. 9-36.
• 2020. Returning to the Field as Mother: Reflections on Closeness and Difference in Long-Term Fieldwork. In: Fabienne Brauckmann, Michaela Haug, Katja Metzmacher and Rosalie Stolz (Hrsg.) Being a Parent in the Field: Challenges and Implications of Accompanied Fieldwork. Bielefeld: Transcript, pp. 101-123.
• 2018. Claiming Rights to the Forest in East Kalimantan: Challenging Power and Presenting Culture. SOJOURN: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia 33 (2), pp. 341-361. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26538528
• 2018 (with Sara de Wit und Arno Pascht). Translating Climate Change: Anthropology and the Travelling Idea of Climate Change. Introduction to the Special Issue. Sociologus Band 68 (Heft 1/2018): 1-20. https://www.jstor.org/stable/45174769
• 2018 (with Kristina Großmann). Gender and Environmental Change: Recent Debates and New Perspectives in Anthropological Research. Introduction to the Special Focus: Gender and Environmental Change. Antropologia 5(1): 7-21. https://doi.org/10.14672/ada201813847-21
• 2018. Eine Zukunft ohne Wald? Indigene Perspektiven auf Umweltveränderungen, Waldverlust und Entwicklung in Kalimantan. Geographische Rundschau, 4/2018, pp. 32-38.
• 2017. Men, Women and Environmental Change: The Gendered Face of Development in Kalimantan, Indonesia. Austrian Journal of South-East Asian Studies (ASEAS), S. 29-46. https://doi.org/10.14764/10.ASEAS-2017.1-3
• 2017 (with Martin Rössler and Anna-Teresa Grumblies). Introduction: Contesting and Reformulating Power Relations in Indonesia’s Outer Islands. In: Michaela Haug, Martin Rössler and Anna-Teresa Grumblies (Hrsg). Rethinking Power Relations in Indonesia: Transforming the Margins. London [u.a.]: Routledge, S. 1-25. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315659190
• 2017. Rich Regency – Prosperous People? Decentralisation, Marginality and Remoteness in East Kalimantan. In: Michaela Haug, Martin Rössler and Anna-Teresa Grumblies (Hrsg). Rethinking Power Relations in Indonesia: Transforming the Margins. London [u.a.]: Routledge, S. 132-149. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315659190
• 2017 (with Martin Rössler and Anna-Teresa Grumblies). Concluding Remarks. In: Michaela Haug, Martin Rössler and Anna-Teresa Grumblies (Hrsg). Rethinking Power Relations in Indonesia: Transforming the Margins. London [u.a.]: Routledge, S. 150-159. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315659190
• 2017 (with Cathrin Arenz, Stefan Seitz und Oliver Venz). Introduction: Continuity under Change in Dayak Societies. Wiesbaden: Springer, S. 13-43.
• 2017. “Transforming Borneo”: Ökologische, wirtschaftliche und soziale Wandelprozesse in Indonesien. In: Beatrice Hendrich, Sandra Kurfürst and Anna Malis (Hrsg). Grenzüberschreitend Forschen: Kulturwissenschaftliche Perspektiven auf TransSyndrome*. Bielefeld: Transcript, S. 117-137.
• 2015. Quo Vadis Regenwald? Hintergründe, Zentrale Ursachen und Auswirkungen der Entwaldung in Indonesien. In: Kristina Grossmann, Rolf Jordan and Gunnar Stange (eds). Handbuch Indonesien. Berlin: Horlemann Verlag, S. 371-378.
• 2015. Auf der Suche nach Gerechtigkeit: Widerstand, rituelle Reinigung und Mediation in einem Dayak Dorf in Ost-Kalimatan, Indonesien. Südostasien 2015(2), S. 41-43.
• 2014. Resistance, Ritual Purification and Mediation: Tracing a Dayak Community’s Sixteen-Year Search for Justice in East Kalimantan. The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology 15 (4), S. 357-375. https://doi.org/10.1080/14442213.2014.927522
• 2014. Disputed Normativities and the Logging Boom in Kutai Barat: Local Dynamics During the Initial Phase of Regional Autonomy in East Kalimantan, Indonesia. Paideuma 60, S. 89-113. https://journals.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/paideuma/index.php/paideuma/article/view/247
• 2014. What Makes a Good Life? Emic Concepts of ‘Wellbeing’ and ‘Illbeing’ among the Dayak Benuaq in East-Kalimantan, Indonesia. In: Thomas Stodulka and Birgitt Röttger-Rössler (eds). Feelings at the Margins: Dealing with Violence, Stigma and Isolation in Indonesia. Frankfurt and New York: Campus, S. 30-52.
• 2014 (with Deasy Simandjuntak). Doing Anthropological Fieldwork with Southeast Asian Characteristics? Identity and Adaptation in the Field. In: Mikko Huotari, Jürgen Rüland und Judith Schlehe (Hrsg). Methodology and Research Practice in Southeast Asian Studies. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, S. 67-90. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9781137397546_4
• 2012 (with Cathrin Bullinger). In and Out of the Forest: Decentralisation and Recentralisation of Forest Governance in East Kalimantan, Indonesia. Austrian Journal of South-East Asian Studies (ASEAS), 5(2): 243-
• https://doi.org/10.14764/10.ASEAS-5.2-4
• 2008 (with Peter Cronkleton, Christian Gönner, Kristen Evans, Wil de Jong, and Marco Antonio Albornoz). Supporting Forest Communities in Times of Tenure Uncertainty: Participatory Mapping Experiences from Bolivia and Indonesia. Proceedings of the International Conference on Poverty Reduction and Forests, Bangkok, 3.-7. September 2007.
• 2006. Poverty and Decentralisation in East Kalimantan: The Impacts of Regional Autonomy on Dayak Benuaq Livelihoods. In: FPG – Forests, People and Governance. CIFOR Governance Programme Bulletin, Volume 7 (3): 5-6.

Transfer and Applied Publications

• 2021 (with Oliver Pye, Fitri Arianti, Rizal Assalam, and Janina Puder) Just Transition in der Palmölindustrie: Eine erste Annäherung. Köln/Bogor: Stiftung Asienhaus, Sawit Watch, Transnational Palm Oil Labour Solidarty (TPOLS) https://www.asienhaus.de/archiv/asienhaus/veranstaltungen/AG_Ressourcen/Just_Transition_Palmoel_Deutsch.pdf
• 2021 (with Oliver Pye, Arianti Fitri, Rizal Assalam and Janina Puder) Just Transition in the Palm Oil Industry: A Preliminary Perspective. Köln/Bogor: Stiftung Asienhaus, Sawit Watch, Transnational Palm Oil Labour Solidarty (TPOLS). https://www.asienhaus.de/archiv/asienhaus/veranstaltungen/AG_Ressourcen/Just_Transition_Palmoel_English.pdf
• 2021 (with Oliver Pye, Arianti Fitri, Rizal Assalam und Janina Puder) Transisi yang Adil dalam Industri Sawit: Sudut Pandang Awal Köln/Bogor: Stiftung Asienhaus, Sawit Watch, Transnational Palm Oil Labour Solidarty (TPOLS). https://www.asienhaus.de/archiv/asienhaus/veranstaltungen/AG_Ressourcen/Just_Transition_Palmoel_Bahasa.pdf
• 2015 Kohleförderung in Kalimantan: Konflikte, sozio-ökologische Auswirkungen und aktuelle Debatten. Infobrief der Reihe „Konflikte um Rohstoffe in Asien“. Stiftung Asienhaus. https://www.asienhaus.de/aktuelles/kohlefoerderung-in-kalimantan-konflikte-sozio-oekologische-auswirkungen-und-aktuelle-debatten/
• 2007 Poverty and Decentralisation in Kutai Barat: The Impacts of Regional Autonomy on Dayak Benuaq Wellbeing. Research Report. Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Bogor, Indonesia. https://doi.org/10.17528/cifor/002359
• 2007 Kemiskinan dan Desentralisasi di Kutai Barat: Dampak Otonomi Daerah terhadap Kesejahteraan Dayak Benuaq. Laporan Penelitian. Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Bogor, Indonesia. https://doi.org/10.17528/cifor/002359
• 2007 (with Christian Gönner, Ade Cahyat, Lini Wollenberg, Wil de Jong, Godwin Limberg, Peter Cronkleton, Moira Moeliono and Michel Becker) Capturing Nested Spheres of Poverty: A Model for Multi-dimensional Poverty Analysis and Monitoring. CIFOR Occasional Paper No. 46. Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Bogor, Indonesia. https://www.cifor-icraf.org/publications/pdf_files/OccPapers/OP-46.pdf
• 2007 (with Christian Gönner, Ade Cahyat and Godwin Limberg) Towards Wellbeing: Monitoring Poverty in Kutai Barat, Indonesia. Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Bogor, Indonesia. https://doi.org/10.17528/cifor/002345
• 2007 (with Christian Gönner, Ade Cahyat and Godwin Limberg) Menuju Kesejahteraan: Pemantauan Kemiskinan di Kutai Barat, Indonesia. Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Bogor, Indonesia. https://doi.org/10.17528/cifor/002345
• 2007 (with Ade Cahyat and Christian Gönner) Assessing Household Poverty and Wellbeing: A Manual with Examples from Kutai Barat, Indonesia. Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Bogor, Indonesia. https://doi.org/10.17528/cifor/002265
• 2007 (with Ade Cahyat and Christian Gönner) Mengkaji Kemiskinan dan ´Kesejahteraan Rumah Tangga: Sebuah Panduan dengan Contoh dari Kutai Barat, Indonesia. Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Bogor, Indonesia. https://doi.org/10.17528/cifor/002265
• 2007 (as part of the CIFOR-BMZ team). Towards Wellbeing in Forest Communities: A Source Book for Local Government. Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Bogor, Indonesia. https://doi.org/10.17528/cifor/002290
• 2007 (as part of the CIFOR-BMZ team). Menuju Kesejahteran dalam Masyarakat Hutan: Buku Panduan untuk Pemerintah Daerah. Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Bogor, Indonesia. https://doi.org/10.17528/cifor/002290
• 2007 (as part of the CIFOR-BMZ team). Hacia el Bienestar de las Comunidades Forestales: Guía para la Acción de los Gobiernos Locales. Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Bogor, Indonesia. https://doi.org/10.17528/cifor/002290

Winter Semester 2025/26

• Einführung in die Sozial- und Kulturanthropologie (Vorlesung)
• Anthropological Approaches to the Anthropocene
• Reading and Writing Ethnographies
• Planetary Health: Exploring Notions of Healing, Repair and Ecological Restoration
• Exkursion “Mensch-Umweltbeziehungen in und um Freiburg“ zusammen mit Felipe Fernández
• Lehreinheit “Introduction to Qualitative Research” (M.A. Global Urban Health)
• Lehreinheit „Sozial- und kulturwissenschaftliche Anthropologie“ zusammen mit Tobias Schlechtriemen im Seminar „Anthropologische Forschungsmethoden“ (M.A. Interdisziplinäre Anthropologie)

Summer Semester 2025

• Methoden der Sozial- und Kulturanthropologie (Lecture)
• Einführung in die Umweltanthropologie
• Alternative Foodways (with Pujo Semedi)
• Kolloquium für Examenskandidat*innen
• Methods of Social and Cultural Anthropology and Geography (with Annika Mattissek / GSP Programme)
• Tandem Research Training: Alternative Food- & Agri-Cultures (with Pujo Semedi and Sita Hidayah / in Yogyakarta, Indonesia)

Winter Semester 2024/25

• Einführung in die Sozial- und Kulturanthropologie (Lecture)
• Einführung in die Sozialanthropologie
• Reading and Writing Ethnographies
• Frontiers as Object of Anthropological Research and Theory
• Green Future Making (with Felipe Fernandez)
• Teaching Unit “Introduction to Qualitative Research” (M.A. Global Urban Health)
• Anthropologische Forschungsmethoden (M.A. Interdisziplinäre Anthropologie / Teaching Unit „Sozial- und kulturwissenschaftliche Anthropologie“ with Ulrich Bröckling)

Summer Semester 2024

• Wissenschaftsgeschichte II (Lecture)
• Einführung in die Stadtethnologie: Urbane Transformationen
• Utopien und ihre gesellschaftliche Relevanz: Tandem-Praxis-Seminar mit dem Team des iz3w
• Methods of Social and Cultural Anthropology and Geography (with Annika Mattissek / GSP Programme)
• Tandem Research Training: Urban Future-Making (with Pujo Semedi and Sita Hidayah / in Freiburg)

Winter Semester 2023/24

• Einführung in die Ethnologie (Lecture)
• Lektüre ethnologischer Texte
• Kolloquium für Examenskandidat*innen
• Teaching Unit “Introduction to Qualitative Research” (M.A. Global Urban Health)
• Anthropologische Forschungsmethoden (M.A. Interdisziplinäre Anthropologie / Teaching Unit „Sozial- und kulturwissenschaftliche Anthropologie“ with Tobias Schlechtriemen)

Summer Semester 2023

• Wissenschaftsgeschichte II (Lecture)
• Die politische Ökologie des Palmöls
• Urbane Transformationen und urbane Zukunftsgestaltung in Indonesien
• Partizipative Methoden
• Mentorat
• Methods of Social and Cultural Anthropology and Geography (with Annika Mattissek / GSP Programme)
• Tandem Research Training: Urban Future-Making (with Pujo Semedi and Sita Hidayah / in Yogyakarta, Indonesia)

Winter Semester 2022/23

• Einführung in die Ethnologie (Lecture)
• Einführung in die Sozialethnologie
• Aktuelle Ethnologische Debatten
• Kolloquium für Examenskandidat*innen
• Teaching Unit “Introduction to Qualitative Research” (M.A. Global Urban Health)