Katharina Inhetveen

Katharina Inhetveen is a Professor of Sociology at the Department of Social Sciences, Faculty I of the University of Siegen, Germany, where she holds the Chair of General Sociology I. She is actively engaged in research and teaching, with a strong institutional presence and leadership in ethnographic and political sociology.

Her research interests span a broad and interconnected range of topics, including the sociology of violence, refugee and migration studies, body sociology, political sociology, gender and institutional innovation, and ethnographic methodology. Her work is particularly noted for its focus on refugee camps in the Global South, the dynamics of power and torture, and the embodied dimensions of social control.

The recent publications reveal a consistent thematic trajectory centered on transnational migration, violence, power structures, and the lived experiences of refugees. Her research combines theoretical depth—especially through engagement with thinkers like Heinrich Popitz—with rigorous ethnographic fieldwork in Southern Africa, particularly Zambia and Angola. She explores how legal labels such as 'refugee' shape identity and agency, and how humanitarian systems reproduce power imbalances.

• Researching Transborder Mobility and Institutions of Intermediary Rule in Southern Africa (2024)
• Torture and Populist Masculinity (2024)
• Flight Trajectories and Changing Camp Perceptions (2020)
• Torture and Body Knowledge (2020)
• Violence, power, and the ordering of the social (2017)

She has advised several doctoral researchers who have gone on to academic careers, including Dr. Annett Bochmann, Dr. Max Breger, and Prof. Dr. Mario Krämer. Her research is supported by institutional frameworks such as the DFG (German Research Foundation) research group, indicating sustained funding and collaborative academic engagement. She leads a research team that includes current research assistants and student assistants, and she has previously supervised numerous former research assistants.

Katharina Inhetveen leads a research group focused on political sociology and ethnographic studies of migration and violence. Her chair hosts both long-term projects and DFG-funded initiatives, involving a team of researchers working on intermediary rule, refugee return, and body knowledge in contexts of violence. The research environment is collaborative and interdisciplinary, drawing on sociology, anthropology, and political science.