Ulla Johansen

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Ulla Johansen (born June 17, 1927 in Tallinn / Estonia ) is a German-speaking ethnologist .

Life

Ulla Johansen's mother was of German-Estonian descent and the father, the historian Paul Johansen , of Danish descent. Due to the Soviet occupation of the Baltic region as a result of the Hitler-Stalin Pact , the family had to leave Estonia in 1939 and moved to the German Reich. After the Second World War , Ulla Johansen began studying history in Hamburg in 1947 . Her father found a job as a professor in Hamburg and recommended her to study ethnology as a minor ; later she chose ethnology as her major. As a second minor, she initially took folklore . Johansen studied folklore with Walter Hävernick , history with Hermann Aubin and ethnology with Franz Termer and Turkology with Annemarie von Gabain .

Johansen did his doctorate on a recommendation from Kunz Dittmer, the head of the Africa department of the Museum für Völkerkunde Hamburg , on the subject of "Ornamentation of the Yakuts".

After completing her doctorate, Johansen initially worked as a translator for the German Red Cross until she accepted a position as a “scientific assistant” (today: assistant ) at the Hamburg Museum of Ethnology from 1954 to 1955 . There she had the opportunity, by processing the Soyote collection, to make initial preparations for her year-long field research in Turkey in 1956, during which she lived with a nomad family. Further research stays in Turkey followed in 1964, 1983 and 1989, as well as a visiting professorship in 1970 in Istanbul .

In 1958 she received a scholarship at the Hamburger Museum. From 1962 to 1965 she headed the South and East Asia department at the Hamburg Museum of Ethnology. An assistant position from 1966 to 1968 at the South Asia Institute in Heidelberg made it possible for her to complete her habilitation thesis “The shaman costume among the Tuvan people. Proposals on the methodology of research on shamanism ”and in 1968 he completed his habilitation at the Philosophical Faculty of the University of Heidelberg , and shortly afterwards became a lecturer at the South Asia Institute in Heidelberg until 1972.

In 1973 Johansen was appointed professor of ethnology in Cologne , where she was also director of the university's institute for ethnology until 1990 . Between 1976 and 1980 she was chairman of the expert committee on ethnology of the DFG and between 1981 and 2001 a member of the selection committee of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation . In addition, from 1980 to 1995 she was project leader in anthropology in the special research area of ​​the DFG "Tübingen Atlas of the Middle East" and chairwoman of the German Society for Ethnology (1985-89).

After her retirement in 1990 she worked a. a. as visiting professor at the Universities of Leipzig and Tartu and at the University of Applied Sciences “Humanitarian Institute” in Tallinn and carried out field research with students in Estonia. From 1998 to 2007 she was President of the Societas Uralo-Altaica .

Johansen received various awards, e.g. B. the Werner Heisenberg Medal for “special merits in promoting international scientific cooperation” (1990), the medal of the “International Society for Shamanistic Research” for work on shamanism (2001) and the medal and certificate of honor of the Parliament of the Republic Sakha ( Yakutia ) for “Contribution to the Social Development of the Republic” (History) (2008). In April 2018 Johansen was presented with the gold medal of the Russian Geographical Society by Russian President Vladimir Putin .

Scientific focus

Her thematic interests lie predominantly in ethno-history, material culture, social organizations, cognitive structures and religion (especially shamanism). Her regional focus is on the Middle East and Central Asia, as well as Siberia and Northeast Europe. During her career in the museum, she participated in several exhibitions or organized her own exhibitions in the Hamburg Museum of Ethnology (e.g. "In the tent camp of a shepherd tribe of Asia Minor" or about the "textile art of the Maya Indians in Guatemala").

Works

  • with DR White: Network Analysis and Ethnographic Problems. Process Models of a Turkish Nomad Clan . 2nd Edition. Lexington Books, Lanham / Boulder / New York / Toronto / Oxford 2004/2006, XXXVII
  • Türkiye'de yörüklerin yayla hayatı - elli yil önce (The life of nomads on summer pastures in Turkey - fifty years ago). Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yayınları, Ankara 2005
  • with S. Knödel: Tibetan Religions and Shamanism . Symbolism of Religions , Vol. 23, Stuttgart 2000
  • Eurasian shamanism . Neanderthal Museum: On the history of human development. Mettmann 2000
  • With T. Franke and C. Sabel: Profession and Ethics. Criteria of social stratification among small townspeople in Estonia . Cologne Ethnological Working Papers, Vol. 7, Bonn 1994
  • Uued teooriad ja meetodid etnoloogias (New Theories and Methods in Ethnology). Loengukonspect. Eesti ajaloo kateeder. Tartu 1991 textbook for student use.
  • The ornamentation of the Yakuts , Hamburg 1954, OCLC 720338943 , DNB 480494983 (Dissertation University of Hamburg, Philosophical Faculty, May 28, 1954, 183 pages).

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Johansen, Ulla
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-Estonian ethnologist
DATE OF BIRTH June 17, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH Tallinn , Estonia