معرفی
Professor Michael Schnegg is a Full Professor (W3) at the Institute of Social & Cultural Anthropology at the University of Hamburg, where he has been teaching and conducting research since 2010. His work bridges anthropology and philosophy, with a focus on understanding rural life in an increasingly urbanized and warming world. Schnegg leads the research group on Phenomenological Anthropology and collaborates extensively on climate change research, particularly in Namibia and other parts of Southern Africa.
Michael Schnegg's academic journey began at the University of Cologne, where he studied Anthropology, Economics, Sociology and History from 1992-1997. He earned his Magister Artium in 1997 with a thesis titled "Soziale Struktur und Alltagsleben in virtuellen Gemeinschaften" (Social structure and daily life in virtual communities). He completed his doctoral studies in 2003 with a dissertation "Das Fiesta Netzwerk: Soziale Organisation einer mexikanischen Gemeinde, 1679-2001" (The Fiesta Network: Social organization of a Mexican community, 1679-2001). Before joining the University of Hamburg as a full professor, Schnegg served as an assistant professor at both the University of Hamburg (2007) and the University of Cologne (2009).
Professor Schnegg's research centers on phenomenological anthropology, exploring how people experience climate change, emotions, and temporalities in their everyday lives. His groundbreaking work combines anthropological fieldwork with philosophical inquiry, particularly through collaborations with philosophers to develop the field of phenomenological anthropology. This has resulted in the establishment of the 'Hamburg Symposium on Philosophy and Anthropology' with Thiemo Breyer from Cologne, where they have discussed critical phenomenology (2023), experience (2024), and atmospheres (2025). Schnegg's ethnographic work primarily focuses on rural communities in Namibia, examining how people perceive and respond to climate change through multiple knowledge systems.
His recent publications reveal a strong focus on the phenomenological dimensions of climate change, particularly how rural communities in Namibia experience and interpret environmental changes. Schnegg's work innovatively combines traditional anthropological methods with philosophical frameworks to explore concepts like atmospheres, boredom, and temporal experience in relation to climate change. His research demonstrates how emotional experiences like "rural boredom" are not merely individual feelings but collective atmospheres that reflect blocked promises and socio-economic conditions. His interdisciplinary approach bridges anthropology, philosophy, and climate science to develop new theoretical frameworks for understanding human-environment relationships in the Anthropocene.
- Paul-Lazarsfeld-Visiting-Professor at the Department of Methods in the Social Sciences, University of Vienna (2015)
Professor Schnegg has secured significant research funding for multiple projects including the DFG-funded "Different ways of knowing the weather in Namibia" (2019-2023) and "Social Constructions of Climate Futures" (2019-2026), which he leads with Michael Brüggemann and Simone Rödder. His NORFACE/BMBF project "Artisanal Gold Mining, Mobility and Ideas of Sustainable Futures in Ghana" (2018-2022) and the long-term DFG project "Local institutions in globalized societies" (2010-2019) demonstrate his commitment to understanding how local communities navigate global challenges. Schnegg has also collaborated on the NSF project "The effect of social networks on inequality" and has organized numerous workshops and conferences, including the "Hamburg Symposium on Philosophy and Anthropology" series.
While the available information doesn't detail specific labs or research teams led by Professor Schnegg, his extensive collaborative work suggests he maintains strong research networks both within the University of Hamburg and internationally, particularly with colleagues in Namibia, Germany, and other parts of Africa and Europe. His work with the 'Hamburg Symposium on Philosophy and Anthropology' indicates an active interdisciplinary research community focused on developing phenomenological approaches to anthropological questions.
