Núrel Bahí Reitz

Núrel Bahí Reitz serves as a Doctoral Researcher and Scientific Associate at the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF), concurrently pursuing her PhD at the African Studies Centre Leiden. Her institutional roles include PRIF Representative of the Leibniz-PhD-Network and PRIF Student Assistants Officer since 2022.

Her educational background includes:

• MA in Peace and Conflict Studies (Philipps University of Marburg, 2018–2022)
• BA in International Economics and Development (University of Bayreuth, 2014–2017)
• BA in Cultural Anthropology (Goethe University Frankfurt, 2013–2014)

Reitz specializes in postcolonial genocide memory, examining how historical mass violence is interpreted in contemporary contexts. Her research focuses on German colonial atrocities in Namibia (1904–08 Herero and Nama genocide) and Tanzania (Majimaji War 1905–07), analyzing narrative construction, political recognition processes, and reconciliation politics across transnational frameworks. She investigates the interplay between civil society activism, state responses, and international legal frameworks in shaping postcolonial memory cultures.

Her publication trajectory reveals a concentrated focus on colonial genocide discourse evolution since 2021, with increasing emphasis on transnational recognition mechanisms and the commodification of memory through tourism. Key themes include the tension between legal narrowness of genocide definitions and political recognition processes, the role of truth commissions in settler-colonial contexts, and glocal entanglements in reconciliation politics.

Professional engagements include:

• Leibniz-PhD-Network Representative (since 2022)
• PRIF Student Assistants Officer (since 2023)
• Contributor to TraCe Research Project on colonial genocide memory

Reitz operates within PRIF's Research Department for Transnational Politics, collaborating with the TraCe project team on decolonial memory studies. Her work intersects with PRIF's Glocal Junctions research group and Leibniz collaborations on historical violence.