Erika Sulzmann

Erika Sulzmann (born January 7, 1911 in Mainz , † June 17, 1989 ) was a German ethnologist . Erika Sulzmann led the first major field research trip of the post-war period, the Mainz Congo Expedition, from 1951 to 1954. This first ethnographic research trip was followed by eight further trips to the south-western Mongo in Zaïre between 1956 and 1980 . Erika Sulzmann established the Sulzmann Foundation together with Irma and Rosemarie Sulzmann in 1984, which promotes ethnological, social, linguistic and literary research in and about Africa.

Life

Erika Sulzmann came to ethnology via a small detour . After graduating from high school, she worked as a librarian and photographer at the Institute for Cultural Morphology in Frankfurt (now the Frobenius Institute ). Due to her growing interest in anthropology and above all in African cultures, Sulzmann began to study ethnology with Hermann Baumann in Vienna in 1940 . In 1947 she did her doctorate on the subject of The Mongo Studies on a regional monograph at RPW Koppers. In the summer of 1948 Erika Sulzmann came to work as an assistant at the newly established Institute for Ethnology at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz . In 1960 she was first custodian of the ethnographic study collection, then academic senior counselor and finally academic director. She was an active member of the institute until her death in June 1989.

Works (selection)

Sources on the history and social structure of the Mbóle and Imoma (ethnic group Móngo, Zaire). Berlin, Reimer, 1986.
La soumission des Ekonda par les Bombomba. In: Annales aequatoria (1985), Vol. 6, pp. 1-17.
Oral tradition and chronology: the Baboma-Bolia case (Northwest Zaire). In: Mélanges de culture et de linguistique africaines; publiés à la mémoire de Leo Stappers / éd. par CM Faïk-Nzuji et E. Sulzmann, 1983, pp. 525-586.
Mélanges de culture et de linguistique africaines: publiés à la mémoire de Leo Stappers. Berlin, Reimer, cop. 1983 (with Clémentine Madiya Faïk-Nzuji).
A hunting report in the Batwa dialect of Ebungu (Ekonda). In: Annales Aequatoria; recueil d'études offert au RPG Hulstaert à l'occasion de son 80e anniversaire; tome I, vol. 2 / A. Claessens, et H. Vinck / 1980.

literature

In memoriam Erika Sulzmann / Anne-Maria Brandstetter. In: Research in Zaire. Lit, Münster, Hamburg, 1992, pp. VII-X
Dr Erika Sulzmann (1911–1989) / Anne-Maria Brandstetter. In Hedwig Brüchert (Ed.): Rhineland-Palatinate women: women in politics, society, economy and culture in the early years of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Hase and Koehler, Mainz, 2001, pp. 414-417
The collector of things: Erika Sulzmann, researcher in Africa / Suzanne Schröter. In: Karl-Heinz Kohl (Ed.): The exotic thing. Stories of a collection . Institute for Ethnology and African Studies, Mainz, 1996, pp. 23–34
Another bike in the Congo: Erika Sulzmann, researcher in Africa / Suzanne Schröter. Video 1999, 60 min.

Web links

Individual evidence

^ University foundations Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (accessed December 18, 2013)
↑ In memoriam Erika Sulzmann / Anne-Maria Brandstetter. In: Research in Zaire. Lit, Münster, Hamburg, 1992, p. VII

personal data
SURNAME	Sulzmann, Erika
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German ethnologist
DATE OF BIRTH	January 7, 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH	Mainz
DATE OF DEATH	June 17, 1989

[1] University foundations Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (accessed December 18, 2013)

[Die_Mongo_1947-2] In memoriam Erika Sulzmann / Anne-Maria Brandstetter. In: Research in Zaire. Lit, Münster, Hamburg, 1992, p. VII