Research focus
Kinship and the ‘state’
History and memory
Ritual and personhood
Intergenerational kin relations, especially in the context of major social change
Dynamics of trust and intimacy, especially in relation to surveillance
Secrecy and knowledge
Anthropology of food
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S. Interdisziplinär I: Screening Socialist Sexualities: East German Social Life on DEFA Celluloid Film
Instructor: Dr. Grit Wesser -
S. Interdisziplinär II: Screening Socialist Sexualities: East German Social Life on DEFA Celluloid Film
Instructor: Dr. Grit Wesser -
S. Theatralität - Performativität - Medialität: Screening Socialist Sexualities: East German Social Life on DEFA Celluloid Film
Instructor: Dr. Grit Wesser
WiSe 2024/25
Biography
Grit Wesser is joining the Institute of Film, Theatre, Media and Cultural Studies at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz on a DAAD guest lectureship for the summer semester 2024.
She is a social anthropologist, working on the relationship between kinship and ‘the state.’ Grit explored this connection through ethnographic and historical fieldwork on the life cycle ritual Jugendweihe (doctoral research in eastern Germany) and on people’s knowledge attainment about the practices of the state security apparatus in the former GDR/East Germany (collaborative research project ‘Knowing the Secret Police’).
Grit earned her MA (Hons) in Social Anthropology and Politics (2011) and her PhD in Social Anthropology (2016) from the University of Edinburgh. She held postdoctoral positions at the University of Edinburgh and Newcastle University. Grit gained over 15 years of work experience in administration and finance both in the private and public sector in Germany, Ireland, and Scotland prior to her academic career.