Maria Ketzmerick-Calandrino

Dr. Maria Ketzmerick-Calandrino is a Research Fellow at Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient (ZMO) in Berlin, where she leads research on Afro-Asian Cold War entanglements within the 'State and Society' program. Her current project CRAFTE examines divided Berlin as a nexus for African-Asian solidarities and racialization dynamics (1961-1990). Previously, she served as Assistant Professor at University of Bayreuth (2020-2024) and coordinated Peace and Conflict Studies programs at Philipps University Marburg.

Her research intersects three domains: Global Cold War histories (Afro-Asian networks in divided Berlin), Decolonial Security Studies (racialization vs. state solidarity discourses), and Conflict Analysis (Cameroon's decolonization and anglophone crisis). Methodologically, she employs archival work, oral histories, and critical theory frameworks inspired by Fanon and postcolonial scholars.

Publications focus on colonial continuities in Cameroon, securitization of decolonization, and epistemological decolonization of conflict research. Her work consistently examines how global power structures manifest in local security practices and archival silences.

Teaching Experience (2016-2024):

• Courses on State-Society relations in Africa
• Postcolonial Security Theories
• Qualitative research methods
• Global Development-Security Nexus
• Decolonial approaches to International Relations