Sebastian Dümling

PD Dr. Sebastian Dümling serves as an Akademischer Rat at the Chair of European Ethnology / Empirical Cultural Studies within the Faculty of Philosophy at Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg. Appointed Privatdozent at the University of Basel in December 2021 and subsequently at JMU Würzburg in September 2024, his academic trajectory spans multiple prestigious institutions including Göttingen, Vienna, Basel, and Würzburg.

Dr. Dümling completed his doctoral studies at Göttingen in 2016 with a discourse-analytical dissertation on historical society imaginations. His academic training encompasses Cultural Anthropology/European Ethnology and Middle and Modern History. During his doctoral work, he was a scholarship holder at the DFG Graduate College 'Expert Cultures of the 12th to 18th Century' and conducted research at Queen Mary College, London.

His research program centers on narrative and discourse analysis within cultural contexts, with particular emphasis on political culture, populism, and historical representations. Dr. Dümling's scholarly approach bridges historical and contemporary analysis, examining how narratives shape political movements and cultural understandings. His methodological framework combines discourse analysis with cultural anthropology, generating innovative insights into the relationship between narrative forms and social phenomena. Recent work explores pandemic experiences, right-wing populism, and the historical foundations of contemporary political discourses.

Dr. Dümling actively contributes to the academic community through editorial work as co-editor of Fabula. Zeitschrift für Erzählforschung and Das Bulletin. Online-Magazin für Alltag und Populäres. He serves on the board of the Narrative Cultures Working Group of the International Society of Ethnology and Folklore (SIEF) and is a member of the German Society for Folklore (DGV), specifically in the Narrative Research commission, and the Swiss Society for Folklore (SGV).

His transition from Senior Assistant at the University of Basel (2018-2023) to research assistant at JMU Würzburg (2023-2024) and subsequent promotion to Akademischer Rat in October 2024 demonstrates his growing influence in European Ethnology. Dr. Dümling also engages with public scholarship through media appearances, including serving as an expert in the Swiss folklore podcast 'Sagenjäger - Der Schweizer Sagenpocast' in 2024, where he provided commentary on regional folklore traditions in the Zürcher Oberland region.