Claudia Liebelt

Prof. Dr. Claudia Liebelt is a University Professor of Social and Cultural Anthropology and Managing Director of WE 04 at Freie Universität Berlin. She leads the Research Unit 'Gender, Body, Sexualities' and serves as PI for the Berlin Graduate School of Muslim Cultures and Societies. Her academic career includes a Heisenberg Fellowship (2020–2021), a Habilitation in 2019, and prior roles at the University of Bayreuth and Keele University. She specializes in body anthropology, gender studies, and critical beauty politics, with regional expertise in the Middle East, North Africa, Turkey, and the Philippines.

Her research explores transnational formations of self, olfactory affects, and beauty economies. Current projects include DFG-funded 'Aesthetic Citizenship' and SFB 1171's 'Olfactory Entanglements.' She has supervised numerous PhD students and authored/co-authored influential works like Istanbul Appearances (2023) and Beauty and the Norm (2018). Awards include summa cum laude for her 2008 dissertation and the Heisenberg Fellowship.

Liebelt teaches courses on religion, transnational sexualities, and anthropological methodologies. She is a founding member of the 'Gender & Sexualities' group within DGSKA and a journal reviewer. Her work bridges ethnographic theory with contemporary issues like pandemic hygiene, cosmetic surgery politics, and intersectional activism.