Peter Fuchs (ethnologist)

Peter Fuchs (born December 2, 1928 in Vienna ) is an Austrian ethnologist and Africanist .

Life

Peter Fuchs studied ethnology, anthropology, African languages ​​and philosophy at the University of Vienna . After receiving his doctorate in 1954, Fuchs worked as a freelance ethnologist and writer for ten years.

Fuchs completed his habilitation in 1968 and was professor of ethnology at the University of Göttingen from 1978 to 1994 . Even after retiring, he continues his research and publications.

He is a member of the German Society for Ethnology , the Société des Africanistes in Paris and the Anthropological Society in Vienna.

Fuchs has published articles in magazines such as Geo and Bild der Wissenschaft as well as in compilations.

Research areas

The cultures of the central and southeastern Sahara as well as the cultures of the middle Sahel (Chad) are the regional focal points of the long-term field research that Peter Fuchs carried out between 1952 and 1996. The central topic of these research projects are the cultural strategies that have been developed in the various regions and cultures to ensure human existence under the challenges of extreme environmental conditions. They reveal to empirical cultural research the directions, possibilities and limits of the cultural and biological evolution of humans.

Research projects in the Sahara

Peter Fuchs began his research in the Sahara with the Saharan shepherds, who developed special forms of economy that were optimally adapted to the meager resources of the desert. Centuries of experience and the traditional knowledge of many generations enable the Saharan nomads to economically use the vast areas of the Sahara, which are not suitable for a sedentary way of life.

The first research stay in 1952 with the nomadic Tuareg in the central Sahara was followed by research in the Tibesti Mountains and in Borku (eastern Sahara), which are inhabited by the Tubu (Teda). In 1956 the research was continued in Ennedi (Southeast Sahara). The cultures of the residents of Ennedi, the Bideyat (Bäle), Unja and others, were largely unknown to ethnologists at that time.

Other research projects have interrupted Sahara research for a long time. It was not until 1970 that they were resumed with the project Cultures of the Settled Saharan Oasis Inhabitants and the regional focus on oases in the Erg of Bilma in the Saharan northeast of the Republic of Niger. In 1971/72 Fachi , the oasis of the Sahara Kanuri , became the focus of research. Longer stays followed in 1974, 1976/77 and 1984.

Research projects in the Chad Sahel 1959–1965 and 1995/1996

Drought periods are characteristic of the variability of the Sahel climate. Overcoming this constant threat poses a particular challenge to the cultural strategies of the farming and pastoral cultures of the Sahel. The regional focus of Sahel research was the central Chad mountain region of the Guéra . Fifteen culturally and linguistically very different ethnic groups of Sahel farmers live in this area, who are grouped under the Arabic name Hadjerai (literally 'inhabitants of the rocks'). Each ethnic group lives in one of the Inselberg massifs that are characteristic of the Gera region. In between are extensive grass and tree savannahs , into which Arab cattle herders (Baggara) are increasingly immigrating. The result is considerable tensions that pose a serious threat to traditionally peaceful economic exchanges between Hadjerai and Arabs. The long-term research project was interrupted in 1965 by the outbreak of the 30-year civil war in Chad. It was not until 1995/96 that Fuchs was able to return to the Gera region and provisionally conclude the research.

Interdisciplinary research project Encyclopaedia Cinematographica

In the course of his field research in Africa, Peter Fuchs recorded 76 scientific ethnographic film documentaries that were published between 1955 and 1979 in the Encyclopaedia Cinematographica .

Fonts

Sahara

• In the land of the veiled men. Amandus, Vienna 1953.
• White spot in the black continent. My expedition to Ennedi. Eichhorn, Stuttgart 1958.
• The peoples of the Southeast Sahara. Tibesti, Borku, Ennedi. Braumüller, Vienna 1961.
• The bread of the desert. Socio-economy of the Sahara Kanuri by Fachi. Steiner, Wiesbaden, Stuttgart 1983, ISBN 3-515-03764-0 .
• Fachi. Sahara city of the Kanuri. Steiner, Wiesbaden, Stuttgart 1989, ISBN 3-515-05003-5 .
• People of the desert. Westermann, Braunschweig 1991, ISBN 3-07-509266-5 .

Sahel

• African decameron. Stories from Central Africa. German publishing house, Stuttgart 1961.
• The face of the African woman. Picture monograph. German publishing house, Stuttgart 1966.
• Cult and authority. The religion of the Hadjerai. Reimer, Berlin 1970.
• Encyclopaedia Cinematographica: Chad and Sahara. Ethnographic film documents. Institute for Scientific Film, Göttingen 1976.
• Tschad Bonn, Schröder 1966. Sudan. Landscapes, people, cultures between Niger and Nile. Schroll, Vienna and Munich 1977, ISBN 3-7031-0447-3 .
• La Religion des Hadjeray. L'Harmattan, Paris 1997, ISBN 2-7384-5248-5 .
• The business gene. How humans disconnect from evolution. Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-608-94059-6 .
• Les Contes Oubliés des Hadjeray du Tchad. L'Harmattan, Paris 2005, ISBN 2-7475-9757-1 .

Web links

• Literature by and about Peter Fuchs in the catalog of the German National Library
• Institute for Ethnology at the University of Göttingen
• Peter Fuchs on germananthropology.com (English)