Dr. Mag. Peter Rohrbacher

PostDoc

Teaching

Past Courses: u:find

Research Focus Areas

  • History of anthropology
  • History of catholic church and nazism
  • History of african and oriental studies

Short Biography

Peter Rohrbacher is a senior researcher at the Institute for Social Anthropology at the ÖAW. His research focuses on the academic history in the fields of cultural and social anthropology, African and Oriental studies. He is the author of the book “Die Geschichte des Hamiten-Mythos” (Vienna 2002, i.e. A History of the Hamitic Myth). In 2013, he was a research fellow at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin (Veronika Lipphardt). As a collaborator in the project “Pius XI and Austria” Austria” (Rupert Klieber, Vienna), he is investigating the influential role of Father Wilhelm Schmidt SVD in the Roman Curia using files from the Vatican Secret Archives. He is co-editor (with Andre Gingrich) of the three-volume book “Völkerkunde zur NS-Zeit aus Wien (1938-1945)” (Vienna 2021). His current research projects examine the scholarly history of Viennese Caucasus and “Turkestan” research during the Nazi period (ÖAW-funded) and the ecclesiastical and political networks of “Völkerkunde” from Austria in the interwar period (Austrian Fund Science P33427).

 

 

Selected Publications

2026    (with Andre Gingrich) Socio-Cultural Anthropology German-speaking countries, in: Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Anthropology. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://oxfordre.com/anthropology (in prep, Nov 2026)

2026    Wiener Völkerkunde im autoritären „Ständestaat“: Interaktionen zwischen Kirche und Politik, in: Anthropos. Internationale Zeitschrift für Völker- und Sprachenkunde (in prep)

2026    Wilhelm Schmidt 1868–1954, in: Evangelisches Lexikon für Theologie und Gemeinde, Bd. 4. Zweite Auflage (in press, Nov 2026)

2025    Gusinde, Martin, in: NDB-online, URL: https://www.deutsche-biographie.de/sfz49268.html#indexcontent (in prep)

2025    Thurnwalds Beitrag zu Theorien ethnischer Schichtung und Staatsbildung, in: Sociologus. Journal for Social Anthropology 75 (in peer review)

2025    Review: Robert Obermair: Oswald Menghin. Science and Politics and the Age of Extremes. Oldenburg: De Gruyter 2023, in: Anthropos. Internationale Zeitschrift für Völker- und Sprachenkunde 120, 1 (in press, Jun 2025).

2025    Johannes Lukas – Afrikanist, in: Thomas Pittrof (ed.), Handbuch zum literarischen Katholizismus im deutschsprachigen Raum des 20. Jahrhunderts. Münster: Aschendorff (01.06.2025)

2025    Walter Ferber – Redakteur, Publizist und Schriftsteller, in: Thomas Pittrof (ed.), Handbuch zum literarischen Katholizismus im deutschsprachigen Raum des 20. Jahrhunderts. Münster: Aschendorff (01.06.2025)

2025    Albert Drexel – Priester, Sprachwissenschafter, Völkerkundler und Mystiker, in: Thomas Pittrof (ed.), Handbuch zum literarischen Katholizismus im deutschsprachigen Raum des 20. Jahrhunderts. Münster: Aschendorff (01.06.2025)

2025    “White Africa”: A Counter Concept to the “Aryan Northern Thesis” during the Nazi Era, in: Heike Behlmer; Annette Zgoll; Andreas Effland; Orell Witthuhn; Thomas L. Gertzen (eds.), „Semitische Wissenschaften“? Ägyptologie und Altorientalistik im „Dritten Reich“. Wiesbaden: Hassarowitz (in press, 26 pages)

2024    Review: Robert Obermair: Oswald Menghin. Science and Politics and the Age of Extremes. Oldenburg: De Gruyter 2023, in: Tiroler Heimat. Zeitschrift für Regional- und Kulturgeschichte Nord-, Ost- und Südtirols 88: 301–304 (in press, 18.12.2024).

2024    Politisches Chamäleon: Richard Thurnwald und seine kolonialethnologischen Ansätze in der NS-Zeit, in: Zeitschrift für Ethnologie 149, 2 (in press, Nov 2024)

2024    The Vienna “Kulturkreislehre”: Significant Early Attempts to Combine Ethnology and Prehistory for a Universal Historiography, in: Sabina Cveček; Barbara Horejs (eds.), The Seasonal and the Material: Anthropology of Seasonal Practices, Anthropos, Special Issue 4, pp. 183–202 (31.10.2024)

2024    Applied anthropology in a colonial context: The life and work of Hugo Adolf Bernatzik, in: Bérose – Encyclopédie internationale des histoires de l'anthropologie, Paris, pp. 1–14 (24.10.2024) www.berose.fr/article3790.html

2024    A Priest Ethnologist in South America and Central India: Life and work of Wilhelm Koppers, in: Bérose – Encyclopédie internationale des histoires de l'anthropologie, Paris, pp. 1–16 (02.10.2024) https://www.berose.fr/article3739.html?lang=fr

2024    Bernatzik, Hugo Adolf (1897–1953), Ethnologe, Fotograf und Fachschriftsteller, in: Österreichisches Biographisches Lexikon Online-Edition, Lfg. 12 DOI:10.1553/0x003f39b4 (15.07.2024)

2024    Bleichsteiner, Robert Josef August (1891–1954), Ethnologe und Orientalist, in: Österreichisches Biographisches Lexikon Online-Edition, Lfg. 12 DOI:10.1553/0x003f39d6 (15.07.2024)

2024    Review: Stanisław Grodź; Sebastian M. Michael; Roger Schroeder (eds.): Giants‘ Footprints. 90th Anniversary of Anthropos Institute (1931–2021) (Collecteana Instituti Anthropos 53). Baden-Baden: Academia 2021, in: Anthropos. Internationale Zeitschrift für Völker- und Sprachenkunde 119, 1: 264–265 doi.org/10.5771/0257-9774-2024-1-264

2024    Richard Thurnwald's Position in the Nazi Period: Some Methodological Reflections on the History of Anthropology, in: History of Anthropology Review 48 (2024): histanthro.org/notes/richard-thurnwald/ (01.03.2024) (peer reviewed)

2024    Baumann, Hermann, in: NDB-online, published on 01.01.2024, URL: https://www.deutsche-biographie.de/119264218.html#dbocontent (peer reviewed)

2024    Koppers, Wilhelm, in: NDB-online, published on 01.01.2024, URL: https://www.deutsche-biographie.de/116339012.html#dbocontent (peer reviewed)

2023    Die Archäologie Altägyptens und die Hamiten-Hypothese: Ausgewählte ethnologische Fallbeispiele aus der Zwischenkriegszeit Österreichs, in: Michaela Zavadil (Hg.), Archäologie und Republik. Reflexionen zur Archäologie in Österreich in der Ersten und in der Zweiten Republik (Oriental and European Archaeology 28). Wien: Verlag der OeAW, pp. 539–561 (28.12.2023) (peer reviewed)

2023    (with Victoria Immervoll) Diffusionismus trifft Prähistorie. Vere Gordon Childe (1892–1957) und sein archäologisches und ethnologisches Netzwerk in Wien, in: Archaeologia Austriaca 107 (2023), pp. 241–276 (peer reviewed) doi:10.1553/archaeologia107s241 (13.12.2023)

2022    The Vienna School of Ethnology and the Vatican, 1923-1945: selected chapters (in Russian language), in: Антропологии/Anthropologies 2: 42–86 (20.12.2022) doi.org/10.33876/2782-3423/2022-2

2022    Das Ringen um Kolonialexpertise: Richard Thurnwalds Mitarbeit an kolonialen Handbüchern über Afrika während des Zweiten Weltkriegs, in: cultura & psyché – Journal of Cultural Psychology 3: 115–129 (28.11.2022) doi.org/10.1007/s43638-022-00045-z

2022    (with Andre Gingrich) Socio-Cultural Anthropology under Hitler: An Introduction to Four Case Studies from Vienna, in: History of Anthropology Review 46: histanthro.org/notes/socio-cultural-anthropology-under-hitler/ (06.04.2022)

2022    A Priest in the Resistance: Father Wilhelm Schmidt, the Vatican and the British Special Operations Executive in World War Two, in: History of Anthropology Review 46: histanthro.org/notes/a-priest-in-the-resistance/ (06.04.2022)

2022    Leitartikel zu „Pius XII. und der Zweite Weltkrieg“, in: Schweizerische Kirchenzeitung 190, 3 (10.02.2022) www.kirchenzeitung.ch/article/papst-pius-xii-und-der-zweite-weltkrieg-23429

2021    (with Andre Gingrich) Völkerkunde zur NS-Zeit aus Wien: Einleitung der Herausgeber, in: Andre Gingrich; Peter Rohrbacher (Hg.), Völkerkunde zur NS-Zeit aus Wien (1938–1945): Institutionen, Biographien und Praktiken in Netzwerken (Phil.-hist. Kl., Sitzungsberichte 913; Veröffentlichungen zur Sozialanthropologie 27/1-3). Band 1. Wien: Verlag der OEAW, pp. 15–32 (peer reviewed) doi.org/10.1553/978OEAW86700

2021    „Verschollene Kulturzusammenhänge“: Der Altorientalist und Altamerikanist Friedrich Röck und seine Stellung in der NS-Zeit, in: Andre Gingrich; Peter Rohrbacher (Hg.), Völkerkunde zur NS-Zeit aus Wien (1938–1945): Institutionen, Biographien und Praktiken in Netzwerken (Phil.-hist. Kl., Sitzungsberichte 913; Veröffentlichungen zur Sozialanthropologie 27/1-3). Band 2. Wien: Verlag der OEAW, pp. 585–666 (peer reviewed) doi.org/10.1553/978OEAW86700

2021    „Wissenschaftsförderung ohne Antrag“: Dominik Josef Wölfel und die Kanarier-Forschung, 1938–1945, in: Andre Gingrich; Peter Rohrbacher (Hg.), Völkerkunde zur NS-Zeit aus Wien (1938–1945): Institutionen, Biographien und Praktiken in Netzwerken (Phil.-hist. Kl., Sitzungsberichte 913; Veröffentlichungen zur Sozialanthropologie 27/1-3). Band 2. Wien: Verlag der OEAW, pp. 851–926 (peer reviewed) doi.org/10.1553/978OEAW86700

2021    Zwischen NS-Regime und Ordenszensur: Martin Gusinde SVD und sein Verhältnis zum Nationalsozialismus, 1938–1945, in: Andre Gingrich; Peter Rohrbacher (Hg.), Völkerkunde zur NS-Zeit aus Wien (1938–1945): Institutionen, Biographien und Praktiken in Netzwerken (Phil.-hist. Kl., Sitzungsberichte 913; Veröffentlichungen zur Sozialanthropologie 27/1-3). Band 3. Wien: Verlag der OEAW 2021, pp. 1113–1158 (peer reviewed) doi.org/10.1553/978OEAW86700

2021    Pater Wilhelm Koppers im Exil, 1938–1945, in: Andre Gingrich; Peter Rohrbacher (Hg.), Völkerkunde zur NS-Zeit aus Wien (1938–1945): Institutionen, Biographien und Praktiken in Netzwerken (Phil.-hist. Kl., Sitzungsberichte 913; Veröffentlichungen zur Sozialanthropologie 27/1-3). Band 3. Wien: Verlag der OEAW, pp. 1489–1528 (peer reviewed) doi.org/10.1553/978OEAW86700

2021    Pater Wilhelm Schmidt im Schweizer Exil: Interaktionen mit Wehrmachtsdeserteuren und Nachrichtendiensten, 1943–1945, in: Andre Gingrich; Peter Rohrbacher (Hg.), Völkerkunde zur NS-Zeit aus Wien (1938–1945): Institutionen, Biographien und Praktiken in Netzwerken (Phil.-hist. Kl., Sitzungsberichte 913; Veröffentlichungen zur Sozialanthropologie 27/1-3). Band 3. Wien: Verlag der OEAW, pp. 1611–1642 (peer reviewed) doi.org/10.1553/978OEAW86700

2021    Das Porträt des Kissilerobo: Von der ethnografischen Feldaufnahme zur hamitischen „Rassen“-Ikone, in: Katarina Matiasek (Hg.), Überleben im Bild. „Rettungsanthropologie“ in der fotografischen Sammlung Emma und Felix von Luschan (Beiträge zur Geschichte der Fotografie in Österreich 21), mit Beiträgen von Katarina Matiasek, Christoph Rippe, Peter Rohrbacher, Hilke Thode-Arora und Dimitrios Varvaritis. Salzburg: Fotohof edition, pp. 127–143

2021    Missionare auf besonderer Forschungsmission, in: Niederösterreichische Nachrichten Edition Geschichte: Die Entdecker Forscher, Abenteurer und Reisende aus Niederösterreich. St. Pölten, pp. 68–73

2020    Österreichische Missionsexperten und das Ringen um den vatikanischen Standpunkt im „Rassendiskurs“ der Zwischenkriegszeit, in: Römische Historische Mitteilungen 62: 221–248 (peer reviewed) doi.org/10.1553/rhm62s221

2020    Pater Wilhelm Schmidt und Sigmund Freud: Gesellschaftliche Kontexte einer religionsethnologischen Kontroverse in der Zwischenkriegszeit, in: cultura & psyché – Journal of Cultural Psychology 1: 53–68 (peer reviewed) doi.org/10.1007/s43638-020-00009-1

2020    Il dibattito sulla razza nella Curia Romana, in: Andrea Riccardi, Gabriele Rigano (ed.), La svolta del 1938. Fascismo, cattolicesimo e antisemitismo. Milano: Guerini e Associati, pp. 92–112

2020    „Wüstenwanderer“ gegen „Wolkenpolitiker“ – Die Pressefehde zwischen Eduard Glaser und Theodor Herzl [erweiterte Version], in Thomas Gertzen; Julius H. Schoeps (Hg.), Grenzgänger: Jüdische Wissenschaftler, Träumer, Abenteurer und Agenten zwischen Orient und Okzident. Berlin–Leipzig: Hentrich & Hentrich, pp. 157–180

2019    „Encrypted Astronomy” – Astral Mythologies, and Ancient Mexican Studies in Austria, 1910–1945 (Special Number – German and German-speaking Anthropologists in Brazil) (Universidade de São Paulo), in: Revista de Antropologia 62/1: 140–161 (peer reviewed) doi.org/10.11606/2179-0892.ra.2019.157035

2018    Vertriebener Pionier der Wiener Ethnologie: Robert Heine-Geldern, in: DerStandard (24. Oktober 2018) derstandard.at/2000089914455/Vertriebener-Pionier-der-Wiener-Ethnologie-Robert-Heine-Geldern-v

2018    Deutsche Missionsinitiativen am Campo Santo Teutonico: Die Missionsbenediktiner in Deutsch-Ostafrika und die Nordischen Missionen, in: Stefan Heid und Karl-Joseph Hummel (Hg.), Päpstlichkeit & Patriotismus. Der Campo Santo Teutonico: Ort der Deutschen in Rom zwischen Risorgimento und Erstem Weltkrieg (1870-1918) (Römische Quartalschrift für Christliche Altertumskunde und Kirchengeschichte, Supplementband 65). Freiburg-Basel-Wien: Herder, pp. 613–643 (peer reviewed)

2017    „Hellhäutige Hamiten“: Hermann Junker und die neuorientierte Hamitistik in Wien (1920 bis 1945), in: Clemens Gütl (Hg.), Hermann Junker: Eine Spurensuche im Schatten der österreichischen Ägyptologie und Afrikanistik. Göttingen: Cuvellier, pp. 103–130

2017    „Hamitische Wanderungen“ – Die Prähistorie Afrikas zwischen Fiktion und Realität, in: Felix Wiedemann; Hans-Joachim Gehrke; Kerstin PP. Hofmann (Hg.), „Vom Wandern der Völker“. Zur Verknüpfung von Raum und Identität in Migrationserzählungen (Berlin Studies of the Ancient world 41). Berlin: edition Topoi, pp. 249–282 (peer reviewed) doi: 10.17171/3-41-9

2016    The Race Debate in the Curia in the Context of “Mit brennender Sorge”, in: Fabrice Bouthillon; Marie Levant (ed.), Un pape contre le nazisme? L’encyclique “Mit brennender Sorge“ du pape Pie XI. (14 mars 1937). Actes du colloque international de Brest, 4-6 juin 2015. Brest: Editions Dialogues, pp. 93–108

2016    Pater Wilhelm Schmidt im Schweizer Exil: Interaktionen mit Wehrmachtsdeserteuren und Nachrichtendiensten, 1943–1945, in: Paideuma. Mitteilungen zur Kulturkunde 62: 203–221 (peer reviewed)

2015    „Habent sua fata libelli“: Das „Rassenproblem“ im Spiegel der nachgelassenen Privatbibliothek Bischof Alois Hudals, in: Römische Historische Mitteilungen 57: 325–364 (peer reviewed) doi.org/10.1553/rhm57s325

2015    Werner Vycichl (1909–1999). Ein Pionier der Komparatistik, in: Predag Budovec (Hg.), Christlicher Orient im Porträt – Wissenschaftsgeschichte des Christlichen Orients: Kongreßakten der 1. Tagung der RVO (4. Dezember 2010, Tübingen) (Religionen im Vorderen Orient 3,2). Hamburg: Kovač, pp. 899–948

2014    Die Enzyklika „Mit brennender Sorge“, Zollschan, Pacelli und die Steyler Missionare, in: Römische Quartalschrift für Christliche Altertumskunde und Kirchengeschichte 109, 3-4: 198–225 (peer reviewed)

2014    (with Thomas Brechenmacher): Römische Kurie und „Rassendebatte“ in der Zwischenkriegszeit: Stand und Perspektiven der Forschung, in: Römische Quartalschrift für Christliche Altertumskunde und Kirchengeschichte 109, 1/2: 1–6

2014    Logwit-lo-Ladú (1848–1866): Seine Bedeutung als afrikanische Gewährsperson in der Frühphase der österreichischen Afrikanistik, in: Michel Espagne; Pascale Rabault; David Simo (Hg.), Afrikanische Deutschland-Studien und deutsche Afrikanistik – ein Spiegelbild. Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann, pp. 49–72 (peer reviewed)

2012    Völkerkunde und Afrikanistik für den Papst. Missionsexperten und der Vatikan 1922–1939, in: Römische Historische Mitteilungen 54:583–610 (peer reviewed) https://doi.org/10.1553/rhm54s583

 

 

Book Project

Völkerkunde (Ethnology) from Vienna during the Nazi Period (1938–1945): Institutions, biographies, practices in networks
by Andre Gingrich and Peter Rohrbacher (editors)
Austrian Academy of Sciences Press (Vienna 2021)

This publication of 1739 pages in three volumes with 42 contributions is focused on anthropology from Vienna during the Nazi years, inside the „Third Reich“ and in exile. Institutional and biographic networks as well as aspects of intellectual history are at the core of these investigations. They systematically present the history of an academic discipline within the general socio-political Central European and wider international contexts of those times. Beyond “Völkerkunde”/socio-cultural anthropology at the centre of investigation here, its wider range also includes important neighboring fields such as physical anthropology, archeological prehistory, folklore studies and African as well as Japanese studies. The present publication’s crucial research questions pursue the varieties of anthropological projects in and from Vienna, and their intersections with corresponding political interests. In these ways the extent of involvement in criminal Nazi activities is highlighted, while participation in the anti-Nazi resistance also is outlined. Special attention is given to the fine nuances between adaptation and resistance. – These contributions by 28 authors required documents’ assessments from more than one hundred archives in ten different countries. These were supplemented by published or initiated interviews with eye witnesses and family members wherever still possible. These three volumes are enriched by a helpful index in several parts and by more than 250 visual source materials, many of them publicly accessible here for the first time.

With contributions by Gabriele Anderl, Margit Berner, Reinhard Blumauer, Ildikó Cazan, Anita Dick, Christian F. Feest, Katja Geisenhainer, Andre Gingrich, Julia Gohm-Lezuo, Lisa M. Gottschall, Gabriele Habinger, Reinhard Johler, Johannes Koll, Britta Lange, Verena Loidl-Baldwin, Mirja Marquardt, Katrin Matczak, Reinhold Mittersakschmöller, Florian Mühlfried, Verena Neller, Barbara Plankensteiner, Peter Rohrbacher, Bernhard Scheid, Peter Schweitzer, Veronika Stachel, Holger Stoecker, Veronika Tillian, Otto H. Urban
Preface by Mitchell G. Ash

Talks and Lectures (2009-2022)

 

2025     The Road to Internationalisation: The Conflictual Relationship between Prehistoric Archaeology and Socio-cultural Anthropology in Austria in the 1950s, Conference: “Research History of Archaeology in Austria: An Assessment of the Current Situation”, 26-28 February 2025
University of Innsbruck, Institute of Archaeology, 28 February 2025

2024     Philipp Paulitschke – an Austrian pioneer of the ethnography of North-East Africa Conference: “Exploring the Ethnographic Archive: Early Ethnographers in the Long Nineteenth Century”, organized by HOAN, HAR, and BEROSE
5-6 December 2024, online

2024     P. Wilhelm Koppers in Central India: Theoretical reflections on his collecting activities in 1938/39. In: Transdisciplinary, international conference: A Laboratory for Intercultural and Interreligious Dialogue? Missionary Collections at the Interface of Religion, Science and Global Society University of Bonn and Steyler Missionare (Societas Verbi Divini), St. Augustin, 10-12 September 2024
St. Augustin (Bonn), 12 September 2024
globalheritagelab.org/project/a-laboratory-for-intercultural-and-interreligious-dialogue/

2024     The reception of Blumentritt by the Filipino anthropologist Marcelino N. Maceda (1925-2006). Roundtable: Blumentritt Beyond Rizal: Revisiting the Scholarship and Politics of a European Filipinist. 13th conference of the European Association for Southeast Asian Studies (EuroSEAS) at the University of Amsterdam, 23 to 25 July 2024.
University of Amsterdam, 25 July 2024
euroseas2024.org

2023 Case study Richard Thurnwald: Some reflections on his position in the Nazi period, EASA’s First International Conference of the Histories of Anthropologies, 6-7 December 2023, Panel 1: Doing Histories of Anthropologies. Theories, Methodologies, Practices.
University of Pisa, 6 December 2023 (online)
hoaic.cfs.unipi.it/panels/panel-1/

2023 The Vienna School of Ethnology and the study of the so-called Altvölker of the Philippines (Rizal Blumentritt Symposium 2023. An event of the Austrian-Philippine Society in cooperation with the Anthropological Society in Vienna)
Austrian Computer Society, Vienna, December 6, 2023
www.philippinen.at/rizal-blumentritt-symposium-2023/

2023 Between the Nazi regime and the order's censorship: Martin Gusinde and his relationship to National Socialism, lecture on the occasion of the 148th anniversary of the founding of the Steyler Missionaries
St. Gabriel Mission House, September 8, 2022

2023 (with Victoria Immervoll) Diffusionism meets Prehistory: Vere Gordon Childe and his archaeological and anthropological network in Vienna. Organized by the Anthropological Society in Vienna
University of Vienna, Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, March 15, 2023

2023 Vienna ethnology in the Nazi era: Father Wilhelm Koppers, lecture on the occasion of the memorial day of the order's founder St. Father Arnold Janssen
St. Gabriel Mission House, January 15, 2023

2023 “White Africa” and the Institute of Egyptology and African Studies in Vienna, guest lecture for the course “African Studies Research since the 19th Century at the Interfaces of Language, Culture and Society” (Chair: Arno Sonderegger)
University of Vienna, Institute for African Studies, January 11, 2023
ufind.univie.ac.at/de/course.html

2022 Main currents of ethnology in Austria in the interwar period, 4th International Symposium: Main currents and central themes of German-speaking sociology in the interwar period. Organizer: Commission for History and Philosophy of Sciences Working Group History of Sociology Organization: Karl Acham, Stephan Moebius
Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, December 3, 2022

2022 The Vienna School of Ethnology and Fu-Jen University in Beijing 1933-1949, Guest lecture at Peking University, Beijing (PKU)
Beijing, November 23, 2022 (online)

2022 History of German-speaking Anthropology: An Overview, Guest lecture at Peking University Beijing (PKU)
Beijing, November 16, 2022 (online)

2022 Moderation of Panel 1: Historical Disciplines and Politics, Conference: Daily Life - Memory - Reappraisal at the University of Vienna: Historical Sciences, Institutes, Structures and Actors in Austrofascism, National Socialism and the Post-War Era
University of Vienna, November 10-11, 2022

2022 Introduction of ISA Online Guest Lecture: Sophie Schasiepen Colonial Extraction and the Foundation of the Institute of Anthropology and Ethnography at the University of Vienna
Austrian Academy of Sciences, Institute for Social Anthropology, October 20, 2022

2022 Diffusionism meets Prehistory: Vere Gordon Childe and his archaeological and anthropological network in Vienna, Seminar at the Royal Anthropological Institute (with Maxime Brami, Victoria Immervoll, Kathi Meheux, and David Shankland)
Royal Anthropological Institute, London, October 10, 2022 (online)
www.therai.org.uk/events-calendar/eventdetail/803/-/rai-research-seminar-diffusionism-meets-prehistory

2022 Father Wilhelm Schmidt: Selected interactions with the Church and politics during the Nazi era. Lecture on the occasion of the 147th anniversary of the founding of the Steyl Missionaries
St. Gabriel Mission House, September 8, 2022

2022 University and resistance? Opposition using the example of ethnology, Symposium: “Dictatorship and Resistance”, 29.06.-01.07.2022, organized by: House of the European Union │ Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Fundamental and Human Rights │ Vienna Regional Criminal Court │ Juridicum of the University of Vienna
University of Vienna, July 1, 2022

2022 “The Aryan Orient”: The Research Institute for East and Orient in Vienna 1916-1923, Workshop: Oriental Societies & societal self-assertion. Associations, Funds and Societies for the Archaeological Exploration of the “Ancient Near East”, organised by Thomas L. Gertzen (Berlin) & Olaf Matthes (Hamburg)
Free University of Berlin, February 23-25, 2022 (online)

2022 (with Andre Gingrich) Book launch „Völkerkunde zur NS-Zeit aus Wien“ (Vienna 2021) at the Royal Anthropological Institute
London, February 22, 2022 (online)

2021 “White Africa”: A counter-proposal to the Indo-European North and East thesis, Workshop: “Semitic sciences”? Egyptology and Ancient Near Eastern Studies in the "Third Reich", organized by Heike Behlmer, Annette Zgoll, Andreas Effland, Orell Witthuhn und Thomas L. Gertzen, 26-28 November 2021
University of Göttingen, November 27, 2021 (online)

2021 (with Andre Gingrich): Book presentation Ethnology in the Nazi Era from Vienna, organized by the ÖAW publishing house. Contributors: Thomas Jentzsch, Oliver Jens Schmitt, Johannes Feichtinger
Austrian Acadamy of Sciences, Vienna, November 3, 2021 (online)

2021 The portrait of Kissilerobo. On the reception of a colonial photograph from German East AfricaBonartes Photo Institute Vienna, October 7, 2021 

2021 Das Porträt des Kissilerobo: Vom öffentlichen Umgang mit "Rassen”-Ikonen, Workshop 6 (Working group Museum und working group History of Anthropology) on “Colonialism and racism, salvage anthropology, cultural heritage protection and decolonization”, GAA conference “Worlds. Zones. Atmospheres. Seismographies of the Anthropocene”
University of Bremen, September 30, 2021 (online)

2021 “Semi-civilized or uprooted”: Thurnwald's colonial-ethnological approaches during the Second World War, Colloque international organized by Laurent Dedryvère (Université de Paris), Roselyne Malpel (Université Sorbonne nouvelle), Céline Trautmann-Waller (Université Sorbonne nouvelle/IUF) in association with Bérose International Encyclopedia of the Histories of Anthropology: “Changing Fields” Hilde and Richard Thurnwald’s Ethnology, Paris, 8-9 July 2021
Université Sorbonne nouvelle Paris, July 8, 2021 (online)

2021 South East Asia and anthropologists from Vienna: The Nazi years (SEAINDO group) (with Andre Gingrich)
Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, May 27, 2021 (ISA Online Guest Lecture)

2020 Ethnology during Austria’s interwar period: Academic interactions with church and politics, Research Forum Institute for Social Anthropology (ISA/OeAW)
Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, September 10, 2020 (ISA Online Research Forum)

2020 Folklore studies for the Waffen-SS: Caucasus and “Turkestan” research from Vienna at the end of the Second World War. Conference hosted by EASA2020: “New anthropological horizons in and beyond Europe”, Panel P049: “Uncomfortable Ancestors. Anthropology (not) Dealing with Totalitarian Regimes”
University of Lisbon, July 21-24, 2020 (online)

2019 Field research among the “Bambuti Pygmies”: The Debate on “Mixed Race” and “Blood Purity” between Paul J. Schebesta and Martin Gusinde (GAA conference at the University of Konstanz from September 29 to October 2, 2019)
University of Konstanz, September 30, 2019

2019 History of anthropology of Caucasus and “Turkestan” research in Vienna during the Nazi period (Institute for Social Anthropologie / Austrian Academy of Sciences)
Austrian Academy of Sciences, May 22, 2019 (Tullnerbach retreat)

2019 The influence of the Hamite hypothesis on the archaeology of Ancient Egypt. Research history platform “Archaeology and Republic. Reflections on Archaeology in Austria in the First and Second Republics”, January 31 - February 1, 2019.
Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, February 1, 2019 (OREA)

2018 Il dibattito sulla razza nella Curia Romana. Nuove ricerche sull’enciclica mancata contro il razzismo (The racial debate in the Roman Curia: New insights about the planned encyclical against racism). International congress “Chiesa, fascismo ed ebrei: la svolta del 1938” (Società Dante Alighieri, 19–20 November 2018)
Rome, November 20, 2018

2018 The role of the Hamitic thesis on prehistoric Egypt. International workshop: Prehistory and history – Reflections on German prehistoric research in Egypt in the 20th century. German Archaeological Institute, 16–18 November 2018
German Archaeological Institute, Cairo, November 16, 2018

2018 Sigmund Freud's psychoanalysis from the perspective of Father Wilhelm Schmidt: New insights into a long-standing ethnological debate on religion. GAA conference “Religion and Culture: Historical Perspectives” (November 1-2, 2018)
University of Halle/Saale, November 2, 2018

2018 Robert von Heine Geldern, Egon von Eickstedt and the “Aryan question” 1935-38. Symposium: “Lived interdisciplinarity: Robert von Heine-Geldern. Life and work”
Natural History Museum Vienna, October 25, 2018

2018 “Personnel changes”: Die Vienna “Völkerkunde” and the “Anschluss“ 1938. Special date as part of the commemorative year 1938/2018 (Wednesday Seminar).
University of Vienna, Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, March 14, 2018

2018 Seligman, the RAI and the Race Debate 1930-1945, RAI Seminar
Royal Anthropological Institute, London, April 25, 2018

2017 “German Missionary Initiatives in Rome”; The Campo Santo Teutonico Place of the Germans in Rome 1870-1918. Conference on the 100th anniversary of Anton de Waal's death “Papacy & Patriotism” November 22-25, 2017
Città del Vaticano, Campo Santo Teutonico, November 23, 2017

2017 The Beginnings of Old Mexican Studies in Austria, 1910-1945 (GAA conference 2017 at the Free University of Berlin)
Free University of Berlin, October 5, 2017

2017 Vienna Ethnology in the Nazi Era: Father Wilhelm Koppers, 1938-1945 (Wednesday Lectures)
University of Vienna, Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, May 3, 2017

2016 “Funding without application”: Dominik Josef Wölfel and Canary Island Research 1938-1945 (GAA interim conference, organized by the working group History of Anthropology).
University of Vienna, Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, December 9, 2016

2016 Diffusionism in the context of National Socialism (guest lecture) 240010 VO Introduction to the history of Anthropology, Lecturer: Gertrude Eilmsteiner-Saxinger
University of Vienna, Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, June 16, 2016

2016 Father Wilhelm Schmidt SVD in exile: Wehrmacht deserters and intelligence services, 1943-1945 (Research colloquium organized by Bettina Beer)
University of Lucerne, May 18, 2016 (Ethnological Seminar)

2016 Father Wilhelm Schmidt SVD in Swiss exile: Interactions with Wehrmacht deserters and intelligence services during the Second World War (1943-1945). Organizer: Anthropological Society in Vienna
Natural History Museum Vienna, March 16, 2016

2015 “Anthropos”: The Personal Network of Fr. Wilhelm Schmidt SVD in Swiss Exile; GAA conference in Marburg, September 30 to October 2, 2015, Program for Workshop 52: Teaching, Research and Survival in Exile. The emigration of German and Austrian ethnologists forced by National Socialism from 1933 onwards
University of Marburg, October 2, 2015

2015 Scientific Racism – Historical Overview: Origin and Discourses (guest lecture)
240008 VO Introduction to colonialism, racism and ethnicity
Lecturer: Ulrike Davis-Sulikowski
University of Vienna, Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, June 8, 2015

2015 The “race debate” at the curia in the context of “Mit brennender Sorge”, Conférence Internationale “Catholicisme, racismes et totalitarismes: L'Encyclique ‘Mit brennender Sorge’” (4-6 juin 2015);
Université de Bretagne Occidentale Brest, June 4, 2015

2015 “’Hakenkreuz’ Research”: New Insights from the Estate of Friedrich Röck, 10th Days of Social and Cultural Anthropology 2015 (April 23-25, 2015), Workshop 16: Vienna Ethnology in the Nazi Era
University of Vienna, Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, April 23, 2015

2015 Diffusionism (guest lecture) 240015 VO Introduction to the history of Anthropology, Lecturer: Gertrude Eilmsteiner-Saxinger
University of Vienna, Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, April 20, 2015

2014 Ignaz Zollschan's “Rassen-Enquete” (Vienna 1934): An International Network to Combat Nazi Racial Doctrine, 9th Days of Social and Cultural Anthropology 2014 (May 15-16, 2014), Workshop 8: “Vienna Anthropologies”
University of Vienna, Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, May 15, 2014

2014 The encyclical “Mit brennender Sorge”, Pacelli and the Steyl Missionaries,
International conference “The Vatican & the ‘Race Debate’ in the Interwar Period” (February 21-23, 2014)
Città del Vaticano, Campo Santo Teutonico, February 22, 2014

2013 The Change in the Concepts of Human Diversity in Africa in the 20th Century
Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin, February 21, 2013

2012 Austrian Missionary Experts as Curial Advisors for the “Race Discussion”, Final conference of the Research Project: “Pius XI and Austria” (November 22-23, 2012)
University of Vienna, Department of Historical Theology, November 22, 2012

2012 “Hamitic Migrations” – The Prehistory of Africa between Fiction and Reality; workshop:
“On the Migration of Peoples. Representations and narratives of migrations in ancient studies” Cluster of Excellence TOPOI/ Cross Sectional Group V (October 11-12, 2012)
Free University of Berlin, October 12, 2012

2012 “Light-skinned Hamites”: Hermann Junker and the reoriented Hamitic Studies in Vienna 1919-1945 (Egypt and Austria Lecture)
Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna, April 26, 2012

2011 The contribution of African guarantors in the early phase of Austrian African Studies. Histoire interculturelle de l'Africanisme Allemand (17-18 March 2011); organized by l'UMR 8547 Pays germaniques-transferts culturels (ANR-DFG Transnat, Pascale Rabault-Feuerhahn, CNRS, Paris; Michel Espagne, Paris)
German Historical Institute Paris (DHIP), March 18, 2011

2010 Dominik Josef Wölfel (1888-1963): A Vienna linguist and ethnologist between resistance and adaptation in the Nazi era. 6th Days of Social and Cultural Anthropology 2009 (April 22-23, 2010): “Fieldwork in the Archives – historical-anthropological research in Vienna”
University of Vienna, Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, April 22, 2010

2009 (with Clemens Gütl) Research on the Development of Austrian African Studies: An Interim Assessment Workshop “University in the 20th Century – History of Science in Context” (4-5 December 2009); organized by the Forum “Contemporary History of the University of Vienna” (Friedrich Stadler, Herbert Posch, Katharina Kniefacz), Workshop II: “Disciplinary and Interdisciplinary Approaches”
University of Vienna, Aula at the Campus, December 4, 2009

2009 (with Clemens Gütl and Birgit Pack) Creating Knowledge in the Context of Colonialism and the Totalitarian State: Methodological Reflections on Biographies in Austrian African Studies – Albert Drexel, Robert Stigler, Hermann Junker, 5th Days of Social and Cultural Anthropology 2009 (April 23-24, 2009): “Biographical Research: An Interdisciplinary Workshop on Methods and Practice”
University of Vienna, Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, April 23, 2009