Birgitt Röttger-Rössler

Birgitt Röttger-Rössler is a Senior Professor at the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, Freie Universität Berlin, with a focus on emotion and affect, psychological anthropology, and Southeast Asian studies (Indonesia, Vietnam). She has directed the Collaborative Research Centre 'Affective Societies' (2015–2022) and held leadership roles as Dean and Vice Dean at the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences. Her work bridges interdisciplinary perspectives on emotions as bio-cultural processes.

• Education: PhD in Social and Cultural Anthropology (1988, University of Cologne); Habilitation (2001, University of Göttingen); DFG Habilitation Stipend (1999–2000).

Her research centers on emotion socialization, gender, memory, and migration's affective dimensions, particularly in Indonesia and Vietnam. Projects include the CRC 1171's 'Affective Societies' and DFG-funded studies on emotion socialization. She co-edited key volumes like Affect in Relation (2018) and Emotions as Bio-cultural Processes (2009), shaping debates on affective publics and cross-cultural emotion theory.

Recent publications analyze affective dynamics in Vietnamese Berlin communities (2024), multisensory learning in Indonesia (2024), and the rise of affectivism (2021). Her 15 most recent works span interdisciplinary collaborations, methodological innovations, and critiques of cultural diversity paradigms. Awards include a DFG Habilitation Stipend (1999–2000).

• Advising: Supervised PhD students on topics like depression ethnography (Vanessa von Stülpnagel), marginality in Indonesia (Thomas Stodulka), and Vietnamese family roles (Giang Thierbach).
• Grants: Funded by DFG, Max Planck Institute, and Lichtenberg district office for projects on affective societies, emotion socialization, and Vietnamese migration.
• Labs/Teams: Led CRC 1171 'Affective Societies' (2015–2022) and the 'Formation of Feeling in Vietnamese Berlin' subproject (2015–2023).