Emanuel Schäublin

Dr. Emanuel Schäublin is a Swiss anthropologist and senior researcher at ETH Zurich, specializing in the intersections of religion, ethics, and political conflict in the Middle East and Europe. He is also a key member of the Mediation Support Team and its Culture and Religion in Mediation (CARIM) program, where he analyzes how worldviews shape conflict parties' actions to enhance mediation efforts. His work spans contextual research, knowledge management, and mediation training.

Schäublin holds an MA in Arabic from the University of Geneva and a DPhil in Anthropology from the University of Oxford. His fieldwork in Nablus (Palestine) under military rule informed his research on Islamic giving (zakat), surveillance, and social interaction. His monograph Divine Money: Islam, Zakat, and Giving in Palestine (2023) received the 2024 Clifford Geertz Prize Honourable Mention.

His publications explore Islamic charitable institutions, ethical economies, and conflict dynamics, with a focus on Palestine, Egypt, and Turkey. He has contributed to debates on ethnographic challenges in authoritarian contexts, co-authoring works like No Country for Anthropologists?, which examines fieldwork dilemmas in the Middle East.

• Scientific Awards
  • 2020 Early Career Award (Swiss Association for Social Science and Humanities)
  • 2024 Clifford Geertz Prize Honourable Mention for Divine Money