Katharina Schramm

Katharina Schramm is Professor of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Bayreuth since 2017, where she leads the Chair for Social and Cultural Anthropology within the Faculty of Cultural Studies. Previously, she held a temporary W2 professorship at the Institute for Social and Cultural Anthropology at Freie Universität Berlin (2015-2017) and served as a research assistant at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (2008-2015). She leads the working group 'Anthropology of Global Inequalities' and has extensive experience in doctoral supervision and academic governance.

Her research spans critical race studies, postcolonial theory, African studies, heritage and memory politics, science and technology studies in postcolonial contexts, and public anthropology. Schramm's work consistently examines how race, heritage, and identity intersect with political and scientific practices, particularly in African contexts and the Black Atlantic world. She has made significant contributions to understanding the genomic turn in postcolonial societies and the politics of memory and heritage.

Her recent publications demonstrate a focus on race and racialization in contemporary Europe, public anthropology practices, knowledge production in African contexts, and the politics of water and urban commons. The pattern shows increasing engagement with decolonial knowledge frameworks, critical race theory, and collaborative anthropological methods that bridge academic and public spheres.

Schramm has served on examination boards, contributed to curriculum development including the bilingual Master's program in Ethnology/Social and Cultural Anthropology, and participated in interdisciplinary research clusters including Society and Culture in Motion and Translatio. She has been actively involved in academic self-governance throughout her career.

Based at the University of Bayreuth in building GW II, room 00.19, Schramm continues to lead research on global inequalities while mentoring students in social and cultural anthropology.