PD Dr. Jeannett Martin is a distinguished social anthropologist specializing in West African societies, currently affiliated with the Chair of Social Anthropology at the University of Bayreuth's Faculty of Humanities. With extensive fieldwork experience in Benin, Ghana, and Germany, her research focuses on kinship structures, childhood experiences, and social belonging in African contexts. She has held various academic positions including acting professorships at the University of Bayreuth and University of Leipzig. Jeannett Martin completed her doctorate in 2004 at the University of Bayreuth with a dissertation on "Between 'Been-To' and 'Burger' – On the Return of Ghanaian Educational Migrants from the Federal Republic of Germany." She later completed her Habilitation, though the specific topic isn't detailed in the text. Her academic journey includes postdoctoral positions at multiple German universities and involvement with the Bayreuth Graduate School of African Studies (BIGSAS). Jeannett Martin's research spans several interconnected areas within social anthropology. Her primary focus is on kinship and family structures in West Africa, particularly examining fostering practices, social parenthood, and the dynamics of belonging. She has conducted extensive fieldwork in Northern Benin among Fulɓe pastoralist communities, investigating how kinship enterprises maintain social bonds across generations. Her work also explores childhood experiences, youth futures, and the intersection of religious culture with everyday social practices in African contexts. More recently, she has examined the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on pastoralist communities in Benin. Martin's publication record reveals a consistent focus on kinship and social relationships in African contexts over two decades. Her work demonstrates a progression from studies of educational migration and return (early career) to increasingly sophisticated analyses of kinship systems, particularly child fostering practices. Recent publications show engagement with theoretical frameworks like Marilyn Strathern's relational anthropology while maintaining strong empirical grounding in West African field sites. Her research increasingly addresses contemporary challenges including pandemic impacts on pastoralist communities and evolving family structures in contexts of social change. Jeannett Martin has supervised doctoral students and contributed to graduate education through her involvement with the Bayreuth Graduate School of African Studies (BIGSAS). Her research has been supported by multiple grants, including DFG (German Research Foundation) projects on fostering in ethnically heterogeneous contexts in Benin and on COVID-19's impact on pastoralist communities. She also received funding through the Bavarian Programme for the Promotion of Equal Opportunities for Women in Research and Teaching to complete her habilitation. Martin has been part of several research groups, most notably the interdisciplinary research group "Kinship and Politics" at Bielefeld University's Center for Interdisciplinary Research (ZIF). She has collaborated extensively with Prof. Erdmute Alber and other colleagues on projects related to African kinship systems. Her work often involves international collaboration with researchers in Benin and other West African countries.
