Manfred Seifert

Manfred Seifert is Professor of European Ethnology / Cultural Studies at Philipps-Universität Marburg (Faculty of Social Sciences and Philosophy, Fb03) since October 2013. He simultaneously serves as speaker of the DGEKW-Commission “Work Cultures” and is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Germanisches Nationalmuseum (since 2018) and of Germany’s former expert committee on Intangible Cultural Heritage (2013-2022). From 2006-2013 he was head of the European-Ethnology department at the Institute for Saxon History and European Ethnology e.V. in Dresden.

Education & Academic Career

• 1984-1989 Studies of European Ethnology, Psychology and History at Universities of Passau, Tübingen and Vienna (Master 1989)
• 1994 Dr. phil. (European Ethnology), University of Passau – Dissertation on National Socialist cultural policy in the Reichsarbeitsdienst
• 2002 Habilitation (European Ethnology), University of Passau – Thesis on domestic heating as cultural technology
• 2009 Appointment as Associate Professor, University of Passau
• 2013-present Full Professor, Philipps-Universität Marburg

Research Interests

Manfred Seifert’s work is driven by an ethnographic and historical interest in the cultural constitution of everyday life. Central thematic axes include:

• Work Cultures & Economy: digitalisation, neoliberal management, flexibility, precarity, emotions and empathy in labour life.
• Space & Landscape: perception, emotion, atmosphere, construction of landscape and urban space.
• Home & Identity: belonging, mobility, globalisation, plural identities, emotional geographies.
• Popular Music & Culture: folk music cultivation, musical identity, festivals and competitions.
• NS Cultural Policy: Reichsarbeitsdienst, Thingspiel movement, propaganda and everyday culture.
• Theory & Method: biography research, ethnography of space, cultural theory, digital archives.

Publications

Seifert’s publication corpus (more than 120 articles plus numerous monographs and edited volumes) reveals a consistent trajectory from historical studies of National Socialist cultural work to contemporary analyses of flexible labour, digital work cultures, and the emotional dimensions of economy and home. Recent outputs (2020-2025) foreground interdisciplinary perspectives on post-Fordist work, intangible heritage policy, and the cultural semantics of home in late modernity.

Memberships & Advisory Roles

• Member, Scientific Advisory Board, Germanisches Nationalmuseum (since 2018)
• Former member, Independent Expert Committee on Intangible Cultural Heritage (2013-2022)
• Speaker, DGEKW-Commission “Work Cultures”
• Editorial activity for Zeitschrift für Empirische Kulturwissenschaft

Research Infrastructure & Teams

At Marburg, Seifert teaches and conducts research within the Institute for Critical Studies in Culture and History, fostering interdisciplinary dialogue between European ethnology, sociology, history and cultural geography. He has also co-initiated digital heritage and biography projects, including the Lebensgeschichtliches Archiv für Sachsen and online editions of Adolf Spamer’s works.