Michael Bollig

Michael Bollig (* 1961 in Dattenfeld ) is a German ethnologist .

Life

Between 1981 and 1983 Bollig studied ethnology , history and agriculture at the University of Bonn . He then studied ethnology, history and African studies at the University of Cologne until 1986 . Bollig's final topic was “Social networks in an urban slum. Karatina, Central Kenya ” . After graduating, he worked on the research project "Causes of Militant Conflicts in Third World Countries". In the meantime, between 1987 and 1989, he carried out a two-year field research into intra- and inter-ethnic conflict management among the pastoral Pokot in north-western Kenya. His dissertation from 1991 at the University of Tübingen is “The warriors of the yellow rifles. Intra- and inter-ethnic conflict resolution among the pastoral Pokot of Northwest Kenya ”.

From 1992 and 1999, Bollig was a research associate at the Institute for Ethnology (Cologne). In 1999 he completed his habilitation in ethnology at the Philosophical Faculty of the University of Cologne with the title Risk Management in a Hazardous Environment. A Comparative Study of Two Pastoral Societies. (Pokot NW Kenya and Himba NW Namibia) . Since 2000 he has been Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Cologne, where he works alongside Martin Rössler as Vice Director of the Social Anthropology Institute, and spokesman for the interdisciplinary research program ACACIA (Arid Climate Adaptation and Cultural Innovation in Africa). Three years later, in 2003, he took part in the founding workshop of the SAVI Initiative (Southern African Vulnerability Initiative) in Maputo. He then carried out a nine-month field research into environmental history in Namibia between 2003 and 2005. Since 2009 he has been director of the Cologne African Studies Center (CASC) and since 2010 spokesman for “FOR 1501 Resilience, Collapse and Reorganization in the Savannahs of Eastern and Southern Africa”.

Research priorities

Bollig's main topics are human-environment relationships, political ecology, transition of local knowledge, conflict research; his regional focus is East Africa and southern Africa.

Publications (selection)

• The warriors of the yellow rifles: intra- and inter-ethnic conflict settlement among the Pokot of Northwest Kenya . Lit-Verlag, Münster / Hamburg, 1992, ISBN 978-3-89473-364-3 (at the same time dissertation at the University of Tübingen, 1991, under the title "Intra- and interethnic conflict resolution among the Pokot of Northwest Kenya")
• Risk Management in a Hazardous Environment. A Comparative Study of Two Pastoral Societies (Pokot NW Kenya and Himba NW Namibia) (= Studies in Human Ecology and Adaptation, Volume 2). Springer, New York 2006, ISBN 978-0-387-27582-6 (also habilitation thesis at the Phil. Fac. University of Cologne)
• with Olaf Bubenzer, Ralf Vogelsang, Hans-Peter Wotzka (eds.): Aridity, Change and Conflict in Africa (= Proceedings of an International ACACIA Conference held at Königswinter, Germany, October 1–3, 2003 ; Colloquium Africanum 2 ). Heinrich Barth Institute, Cologne 2007, ISBN 978-3-927688-33-9 .
• with Aparna Rao, Monika Böck (Ed.): The Practice of War. Production, Reproduction and Communication of Armed Violence . Berghahn, New York 2007, ISBN 978-1-84545-280-3 .
• with Olaf Bubenzer (Ed.): African Landscapes. Interdisciplinary Approaches (= Studies in Human Ecology and Adaptation , Volume 4). Springer, New York 2008, ISBN 978-0-387-78681-0 (electronic resource: Springer, 2009, ISBN 978-0-387-78682-7 ),
• with Michael Schnegg , Hans-Peter Wotzka: Pastoralism in Africa. Past, Present, and Future . Berghahn, New York 2013, ISBN 978-0-85745-908-4 .

Web links

• Biography of Michael Bollig (University of Cologne)
• Prof. Dr. Michael Bollig - Academy of Sciences and Literature