Tabea Scharrer

Tabea Scharrer is a Researcher at the University of Bayreuth's Chair of Social Anthropology and an associated scholar at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology. She focuses on forced migration, socio-economic inequality, and Islam in Kenya, Tanzania, Germany, and Austria, employing participant observation, biographical research, and multi-local methods.

• Key Projects: Socioeconomic Positioning and Class Formation in Transnational Flight (2025-2027, DFG-funded)
• Methodology: Combines archival research, network analysis, and narrative interviews

Her research interests span:

• Forced Migration and transnational class formation
• Religious Diversity in East Africa through Islamic missionary work
• Migrant Agency in dangerous migration routes
• Policy Impact on refugee containment

Recent publications highlight ransom smuggling dynamics, refugee class negotiations, and migrant temporalities across Comparative Migration Studies, International Migration, and Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. She co-edited the first German-language Handbook of Forced Migration Research (2023) and contributes to debates on migrant racialization.

Scientific Contributions:

• Developed transnational class theory for refugee studies
• Documented Lösegeldschleusung (ransom smuggling) networks
• Provided anthropological critiques of refugee homogenization

She serves on the Editorial Board of Comparative Migration Studies and leads a DFG-funded project on Somali refugee class dynamics.