Jun.-Prof. Dr. Felipe Fernández

Academic Career

• Summer 2024: Appointed Junior Professor, Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Freiburg
• Since 04/2024: Research Associate, Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Freiburg
• 10/2023: Guest Lecturer, Universidad Nacional de San Martín, Argentina
• 2022: PhD, Free University of Berlin; Dissertation: Violent Flows. Water Infrastructures and the State in Buenaventura, Colombia (summa cum laude)
• 2019–2023: Research Associate, DFG-funded International Graduate School Temporalities of Future, Free University of Berlin
• 2018–2019: Fellow, DFG-funded International Graduate School Between Spaces, Free University of Berlin
• 08/2018–02/2019: Guest Lecturer, FLACSO (Faculty of Social Sciences), Quito, Ecuador
• 2015–2018: Master in Interdisciplinary Latin American Studies, Free University of Berlin; Master’s thesis: Liquid Sovereignty. Governance Effects in Sabaletas, Colombia
• 2011–2014: Studies in Social and Cultural Anthropology and History in Berlin (Free University of Berlin) and Bogotá (Universidad de los Andes)

Committee Work and Memberships

Memberships

• Associate Member, Arnold-Bergstraesser-Institute (ABI)
• Associate Member, International Graduate School Temporalities of Future, Free University of Berlin
• American Anthropological Association (AAA)
• European Association of Social Anthropology (EASA)
• German Society for Social and Cultural Anthropology (DGSKA)
• Latin American Studies Association (LASA)
• Laboratory for the Anthropology of the State in Colombia (LASC)

Committee Work

• Member of the Admissions Committee, Master’s Program in Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Freiburg

Peer Review and Advisory Work

• Cultural Anthropology
• University of Arizona Press
• Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes

Regional Focus

• Latin America (especially Colombia, Bolivia, and Mexico)

Thematic Focus

• Political Anthropology
• Urban Anthropology
• Anthropology of the State
• Science and Technology Studies (STS)
• Environmental Anthropology
• Anthropology of the Geological
• Extractivism

Page under construction

Monographs and Edited Volumes

• 2025: Flows of Violence. Water, Infrastructures, and the State in Buenaventura, Colombia. The University of Arizona Press.

Journal Articles and Book Chapters

• forthcoming, with Benjamin Schütze, Alke Jenns, Thilo Wiertz, Hussam Hussein and Rosa Lehmann: Introduction to the Special Issue ‘Contested Spatialities of Energy Transition: Political Tensions, Territorial Asymmetries, and New Frontiers. Politic & Space.
• 2026 with David Schröter and Alke Jenss: The Lithium Road. Political practices in favor of extractive infrastructures in the Bolivian Altiplano. Political Geography 128 (June): 103541. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2026.103541.
• 2023: Reparieren im Globalen Süden am Beispiel der Wasserinfrastruktur von Buenaventura, Kolumbien. In: Weber/Venn/Rüsewald (eds.) Reparieren, Warten, Improvisieren. Technikgeschichte des Unfertigen. Berlin: Deutsches Technikmuseum, 126-132.
• 2022: Coping with Extortion. On Violence, Parasites, and Water Infrastructures in Buenaventura, Colombia. Journal of Illicit Economies and Development 4(3): 296-309. DOI: https://doi.org/10.31389/jied.124
• 2022: Construir y reparar frente al desabastecimiento: estado, provisión de agua e infraestructura en Buenaventura, Colombia. Revista Colombiana de Antropología 58 (2): 105-129. DOI: https://doi.org/10.22380/2539472X.2125

Reviews

• 2021: Under Construction. Technologies of Development in Urban Ethiopia (2019) by Daniel Mains. Anthropologica 63(1): 1-5. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18357/anthropologica6312021340
• 2018: Landscapes of Freedom. Building a Postemancipation Society in the Rainforests of Western Colombia by Claudia Leal (in German). H-Soz-Kult, 22.05.2018. URL: https://www.hsozkult.de/review/id/reb-27062

Transfer and Applied Publications

• 2024: Podcast Episode: Lithium, State, and the Future in Bolivia [in Spanish] In: Heidelberg Center for Ibero-American Studies (Heidelberg University) | Link
• 2023: Podcast Episode: Illicities – City-Making and Organized Crime | In: Crime Beyond Borders; Podcast of the Journal of Illicit Economies and Development (JIED) | Link
• 2022: Leaky Pipes. State and Infrastructural Violence in the Colombian Frontier 4S – Society for Social Studies of Science | Link

Winter semester 2025/ 2026:

• Seminar zur Lektüre sozial- und kulturanthropologischer Texte
• Anthropologie des Tourismus. Zwischen Konsum, Mobilität und Spektakel

Summer semester 2025:

• Anthropology of Peace and Violence
• Seminar zur praxisorientierten Methodenlehre
• Research Design and Methods

Winter semester 2024/2025:

• Anthropology of Politics
• Seminar zur Lektüre ethnologischer Texte

Summer semester 2024: 

• Politikethnologie. Eine Einführung in die Anthropologie des Staates
• Anthropologie der Erde

Winter semester 2023/2024:

• Der Untergrund. Raum, Politik und Ausbeutung im (Spät)Kapitalismus (Geographisches Seminar, Universität Heidelberg)

Summer semester 2023

• Anthropologie des Staates aus globaler Perspektive (Institut für Sozial- und Kulturanthropologie, Freie Universität Berlin)