Mag. Dr. Monika Palmberger

Senior Research Fellow

Contact Details

Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology
Universitätsstraße 7, 1010 Vienna
NIG, 4th floor
Room: B0406

Office Hours

Individual student appointments via email:

monika.palmberger@univie.ac.at

Teaching

Current Courses: u:find

Past Courses: u:find

Research Focus Areas

  • (Forced) Migration, (im)mobility, and citizenship
  • Digital cultures and digital ethnography
  • Gender and generation
  • Social inequality and social change
  • Care, ageing and transnational care
  • Memory and politics of history
  • Post-socialist and conflict studies
  • Qualitative and participatory methods

Short Biography

Monika Palmberger holds a PhD from the University of Oxford (2011), for which she conducted long-term fieldwork on memory and generation in post-war Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Presently she is Senior Research Fellow at the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Vienna, Visiting Professor at the Central European University (CEU) and Associate Research Fellow at the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Leuven.She is currently PI of two major research projects funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF): “Enacting (digital) citizenship from below: A study on care and the uses of digital infrastructure by refugees in Bosnia and Herzegovina” and “Ageing and subjectivity in a time of 'multiple crises': Narrating crises in later life", a comparative study between Vienna and Singapore.

Previously, Monika Palmberger was a Fellow at the International Research Center for Cultural Studies (IFK) and Marie Jahoda Fellow at the University of Vienna. Between 2018 and 2022 she was Elise Richter Fellow and PI of the project "REFUGEeICT – Multi-local Care and the Use of Information and Communication Technologies Among Refugees" funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF). Between 2015 and 2018 she was Hertha Firnberg Fellow and PI of the project "Placing Memories: Ageing Labour Migrants in Vienna" also funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF). And between 2008 and 2015 she was Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity in Göttingen researching experiences of transnational aging and care among first generation migrants in Vienna. During the academic year 2016/2017 she held a visiting professorship at the Interculturalism, Migration and Minorities Research Centre at the University of Leuven.

Monika Palmberger is co-founder of the Digital Ethnography Initiative and member of the editorial board of the Journal Media and Communication. From 2015-2019 she was the co-spokesperson of the "Working Group Migration” of the German Association of Social and Cultural Anthropologists, from 2017-2020 she was the co-spokesperson of the “Age and Generations Network” of the European Associations of Social Anthropologists and since 2017 she is the co-spokesperson of the "Working Group Migration and Memory” of the Memory Studies Association.

Selected Publications

Peer Reviewed Books
Peer Reviewed Special Issues
Peer Reviewed Articles
Selection of Other Publications

Current Projects

Selected Conference Panels and Presentations

Tübingen 2024: Keynote at the conference “Polarized Memories: Complicating Oppositions in Narratives about the Past”, Tübingen, Germany, 2024.

Barcelona 2024: “Doing and Undoing the Anthropology of Place in an Increasingly Digitalized World” [Media Anthropology Network Panel]. Invited panel organized with Katrien Pype at the Conference of the European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA), Barcelona, Spain, 2024.

Vienna 2024: “Everyday Activism and Citizenship from Below: Responses to EU Border and Migration Regimes". Invited panel organized with Elissa Helms at the Vienna Anthropology Days (VANDA), 2024.

Lisbon 2024: “Memory-guided city walks with older migrant workers: Reflections on inclusive and participatory research”. Invited paper at the IMISCOE Annual Conference, Lisbon, Portugal, 2024.

Toronto 2023: “Narrative practices across online and offline environments and the mobility of memories” Invited paper at the American Anthropological Association (AAA), Toronto, Canada, 2024.

Melbourne 2023: “Ageing in times of the pandemic: Experiencing the COVID-19 pandemic in care institutions.” Invited paper at ISA World Congress of Sociology, Melbourne, Australia, 2023.

Graz 2023: “Anthropological perspectives on ageing in times of the pandemic: Narrating the pandemic in care institutions”. Invited paper at the conference Age and Care Graz 2023: Aging in a Caring Society? Theories in Conversation, organized by the Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Aging and Care, Graz, Austria, 2023.

Vienna 2022: "I would be nothing without my smartphone": Refugees' (digital) citizenship from below. Invited Talk at the International Research Center for Cultural Studies, Vienna, Austria.

Vienna 2022: Method workshop “Digital Ethnography” (together with Suzana Jovicic). University of Vienna, Austria.

Virtual 2021: “The in(ter)dependencies of mobile online and offline spaces: Reflections on methods, practices, ethics” (together with Katja Kaufmann). Invited Panel at the conference for Association of Internet Researchers, AoIR (conference held online).

Utrecht 2021: “Building Belonging and Enacting (Digital) Citizenship Through Everyday Care Practices”. Invited paper at the conference “Migrants Belongings: Digital Practices and the Every Day”, Utrecht, Netherlands, 2021 (conference held online).

Vienna 2021: “New responsibilities and new family roles: Digital media in the lives of young refugees.” Invited paper at the International Conference #YouthMediaLife 2021, Vienna, Austria, 2021 (conference held online).

Göttingen 2020: “Negotiating the Here and Now through New Communication Media.” Invited talk at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity. Göttingen, Germany (conference held online).

Cologne 2020: “Media of Care”: Exploring New Communication Media in Refugees’ Care Relations. Paper presented at the Conference of the Network of Forced Migration Researcher, Cologne, Germany (conference held online).

Lisbon 2020: “Collaborative ethnography in the digital age: Towards a new methodological framework.” Paper presented together with Philipp Budka at the Conference of European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA), Lisbon, Portugal (conference held online).

Vienna 2020: “’New Media of Care: ’Methodological reflections on digital diaries. Paper presented at the Vienna Anthropology Days (VANDA). Vienna, Austria (conference held online).

Vienna 2020: “Mobilities and Care. Transformations of belonging and inequalities”. Summer School: 5th Vienna Ethnography Lab (with Tatjana Thelen and Christoph Reinprecht). Vienna, Austria, July 2-4, 2020.

Vienna 2020: “Digital Ethnography: Revisiting Theoretical Concepts and Methodological Approaches.”  Panel organized with Philipp Budka at the Vienna Anthropology Days (VANDA). Vienna, Austria 2020.

Prague 2019: Keynote “Care as an Analytical Lens on Geopolitics and Transnationalism” at the international conference “Geopolitics and Transnational Migration.” Prague, Czech Republic.

Konstanz 2019: “Dynamics of Differentiation: Negotiating the migrant refugee distinction.” Invited panel organized with Eva Kössner at the German Association of Social and Cultural Anthropology (DGSKA) Conference. Konstanz, Germany.

Madrid 2019: “New Convergences of Memory and Migration.” Invited panel organized with Sanda Üllen and Anna Catalani at the Conference “The Future of Memory Studies”, Madrid, Spain.  

Aarhus 2019: “Transnational place-making practices and urban spatial identities: Exploring migrants’ hidden histories through memory-guided city walks.” Invited lecture at the Symposium “The forgotten memories of migrant Europe”. Aarhus, Denmark, 2019.

Madrid 2019: “Generations of Nostalgia: The Post-Yugoslavs”. Paper presented at the Conference “The Future of Memory Studies”, Madrid, Spain.  

Vienna 2019: “Care and Social Transformation”. International Workshop organized at the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology (together with Tatjana Thelen). Vienna, Austria.

Santiago de Compostela 2019: “Contesting Silenced Memories in Migratory and Post-War Contexts.” Paper presented at the  International Society for Ethnology and Folklore (SIEF) Congress. Santiago de Compostela, Spain.

San Jose, CA 2018: “Ambivalence in the Context of Migration: Reassessing Past Choices, Negotiating Feelings of Belonging and Assessing Future Options”. Paper presented  at the American Anthropological Association (AAA), San Jose, CA, USA.

Reykjavik 2018: “Transnational Spaces of Care: Exploring New Forms of Care in Times of Increasing Mobility”. Invited lecture at the Conference “Transnational Families and Care”. Reykjavik, Iceland. 

Vienna 2018: “Theorizing the Migrant/Refugee Distinction”. International Workshop organized at the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology (with Eva Kössner). Vienna, Austria. 

Vienna 2018: “The Migrant/Refugee Distinction Contextualized and Localized”. Paper presented at the workshop “Theorizing the Migrant/Refugee Distinction”. Vienna, Austria.

Göttingen 2018: “Ageing, Mobility and Relations of Care: First Generation Migrants in Austria”. Invited lecture at the Workshop “Ageing Across Borders: Care, Generations and Citizenship” at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Ethnic and Religious Diversity. Göttingen, Germany.

Florianópolis 2018: “Making Cities, Cities in the Making: Moments of Arrival, Appropriation and Resistance.” Invited panel at the 18th IUAES World Congress. Florianópolis, Brazil.

Florianópolis 2018: ”Placemaking and urban spatial identities: Taking temporality and change into account.” Paper presented at the 18th IUAES World Congress. Florianópolis, Brazil.

Oxford 2017: “Nostalgia: Past and Future at Stake.” Invited talk at Oxford University, UK.

Berlin 2017: “Memories of Belonging: Mobility, Memory and Place-Making”. Invited panel organized with Eva Kössner at the Conference of the Association of German Anthropologists (DGV), Berlin, Germany.

Sarajevo 2017: “The Past as a Potential Resource for the Future? Nostalgia for Yugoslavia and its Meaning for Practices of ‘Border Crossing.’ Paper presented at the conference “Politics of Building Peace in the Region: Burdens from the Past and Visions for the Future.”

Berlin 2017: “Placing Memories: Memory, Migration and ‘Spatial Identities.’ Paper presented at the Association of German Anthropologists (DGV), Berlin, Germany.

London 2017: “Ethnography and Place-making: Investigations into Memory-guided City Walks and the Co-production of Ethnographic Places.” Invited talk at Brunel University, UK.

New York 2016: “Social Embeddedness in Old Age: Transnational Ageing and Care Among Turkish Labor Migrants in Vienna.” Invited talk at Syracuse University, NY, USA. 

Göttingen 2016:  “(Dis)placing Memories in the Context of War and Migration.” Invited talk at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, Germany.

Amsterdam 2016: “Remembering Across Borders: Exploring Memory Places of Vienna’s ‘Guest Workers’”. Paper presented at the Conference The Future of Memory Studies, Amsterdam, Netherlands. 

Milan 2016: “New Challenges of Ageing: Exploring Configurations of Ageing and Care in the Context of Migration”. Paper presented at the European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA), Milan, Italy.

Innsbruck 2016: “Transnational Memories and Social Ties Among Ageing First Generation Migrants.” Paper invited at the 16th International Conference: Migration and Generation, University of Innsbruck, Austria.

Vienna 2016: “Shaping Perceptions, Meaning and Use of Holocaust Memorial Spaces: Two Case Studies from Vienna”. Paper presented with Eva Schwab at the Forum of International Sociology, Vienna, Austria.

Amsterdam 2016: “Interdisciplinary Approaches and Methodological Challenges in Researching Memory Places”. Invited panel organized with Peter Pirker at the Workshop “Thinking Through the Future of Memory”. Amsterdam, Netherlands. 

New York 2016: “Caring on the Move: Ethnographic Explorations of Aging and Migration Across Societies”. Symposium organized with Azra Hromadzic at the University of Syracuse, NY, USA.

Marburg 2015: “Labour Migrants After Work: A Generation in Crisis?” Paper presented at the Conference of the Association of German Anthropologists (DGV), Marburg, Germany.

Berlin 2015: “Transnational Europe: New Constellations of Solidarity and the ‘Refugee Crisis’“. Joint workshop within the CENTRAL partnership between Humboldt-University Berlin, University of Vienna, the University of Warsaw, Charles University in Prague and the University of Budapest.

Washington, D.C., 2015: “Late Life Choices: Feelings of Ambivalence among Aging Labour Immigrants.” Paper presented at the American Anthropological Association, Washington, D.C., USA.

Vienna 2015: “Time and the City: Ethnographic Explorations of the Past, Present and Future in Contemporary Cities”. Invited panel organized with Felix Ringel and Andreas Streinzer at the Days of Social and Cultural Anthropology, Vienna, Austria.

Yokohama 2014:  “Feelings of Ambivalence: Ageing Labour Migrants in Vienna.“ Paper presented at the World Congress of Sociology, Yokohama, Japan. 

Washington, D.C., 2014: “Aging and Migration: Anthropological Investigations of Care and Responsibility”. Invited panel organized with Azra Hromadzic at the American Anthropological Association (AAA), Washington, D.C., USA. 

Tallinn 2014: “Contested Histories on the Move: Rethinking Memory through Mobility and Agency”. Invited panel organized with Jelena Tosic at the Conference of the European. Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA), Tallinn, Estonia.

Malmö 2013: “Ageing Migrants’ Social (Solidarity) Networks in an Ethnically Diverse Viennese Working-Class Neighbourhood.” Paper presented at the IMISCOE Annual Conference, Malmö, Sweden.

Essen 2010:  “Ruptured Pasts and Captured Futures: Life Narratives in Post-War Mostar.” Invited paper, presented at the conference Perspectives on Memory Studies: Remembrance and Future. Center for Interdisciplinary Memory Research, Germany.

Maynooth 2010:  “Ruptured Biographies: (Re-)conceptualising the Past and the Future in Post-war Mostar.” Paper presented at the European Association of Social Anthropologists, Maynooth, Ireland.

Frankfurt/Main 2009: “Conceptualising and Researching Diversity”. Invited panel organized with Boris Nieswand, Gabriele Alex and Goran Janev at the Conference of the Association of German Anthropologists (DGV), Frankfurt/Main, Germany.

Göttingen 2009: “Negotiating Diversity in the Balkans: Past, Present and Future Perspectives”. International conference organized with Goran Janev at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, Göttingen, Germany.

Chicago 2008: “’Distancing’” as a Way to Confront the Past: Creating Room for Hope.” Invited paper, presented at the conference Critical Spaces of Hope: Locating Postsocialism and the Future in Post-Yugoslav Anthropology, University of Chicago, USA.

Mostar 2008: “Between Historiography and Myth: Observations at the Bosniak and Croat Dominated University in Mostar." Invited paper, presented at the workshop Cultures of Memory and Emancipatory Politics: Re-Visioning Past and Communality in the Post-Yugoslav Spaces, Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Zagreb 2008: “How the Past is Taken to Legitimize One´s Expectations Towards the Future: A Discussion on the Role Memories of Yugoslavia Play in Negotiating Mostar´s Future”. Paper presented at the workshop “Narratives and Constructions of Nationality/Identity/History in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia in the 20th and 21st Century, Zagreb, Croatia.

Ljubljana 2008: “The Role of Trust in Reconstructing the Past: the case of young people in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina.” Paper presented at the Conference of the European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA), Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Tallinn 2007: "Questioning Collective Memory of Nations: The Importance of Taking Age into Consideration". Paper presented at the summer school How Collectivities Remember: Structures and Spaces of Social and Cultural Memory, Tallinn, Estonia.

Belgrade 2007: “Not That Simple: Memory Discourses among Young People in Mostar”. Paper presented at the 10th Conference of the Association for the Study of Nationalism, Belgrade, Serbia.

Manchester 2007: “Nostalgia for Yugoslavia: Investigating a Multi-Facetted Phenomenon and Its Potential as a Vision for a Better Future.” Invited paper, presented at the workshop Towards an Anthropology of Hope? Comparative Post-Yugoslav Ethnographies, Manchester, UK.

Belgrade 2006: “Rethinking Social Distance and Intimacy in Divided Towns of Former Yugoslavia“. Invited panel organized with Azra Hromadzic at the Association for the Study of Nationalities (ASN) Conference, Belgrade, Serbia.

Sarajevo 2005: “Making and Breaking Boundaries: Memory Discourses and Memory Politics in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a Special Focus on Mostar.” Invited paper, presented at the International Conference Dayton - Ten Years After: Conflict Resolution and Co-operation Perspectives, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Vienna 2004: “What Now? Towards Better Inter-Ethnic Relations in Bosnia and Herzegovina: The Case of Brčko District”. Paper presented at the Conference of the European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA), Vienna, Austria.

Vienna 2004: “‘Arizona’”, the Black Market: A Formula for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina?" Paper presented at the Socrates-Erasmus Intensive Programme, Vienna, Austria.

For more information see: https://www.monikapalmberger.eu

Credit Portrait: Jan Dreer