Project position
Seinor researcher
Reading group
Material culture and cultural anthropology
Research fields
Central Asia, Anthropology of mobile groups on the Indian Subcontinent, Human-Nature Relationships, River Deltas of Central Asia and South Asia, Anthropology, Ethnography, Social Anthropology, Gypsy Anthropology, Performing Arts, Remote Rural Areas, Remote Area Studies, Central Asian Studies, Soviet History, Central Asian History (Area Studies), Central Asia (History), Gypsies, Mongolian Studies, Altaic Studies, Eurasian Nomads, Asian Studies, Borders and Borderlands, South Asian Studies, Central Asia and China
Bio
doc. Guenther Olaf studied Middle Asian Studies, History and Society of South Asia, Islamic Studies and European History, Humboldt University Berlin 2002, MA “The performing arts and tamosho (spectacle) in Turkistan in 1995 – 2002. In the years 2002 – 2006 obtained his Ph.D. in Central Asian Studies “The dorboz in the Ferghana Valley, exploring everyday life and the history of a juggling culture.” Within the years 2004 – 2008 he was a researcher at “Representations of Social Orders in Transition” Humboldt University, 2008-2013 Lecturerm Institute of Social Anthropology, University of Leipzig. In 2015 Habilitation at the University of Leipzig, Venia legendi Ethnology. He is Docent at the Department of Asian Studies, Palacky University Olomouc, Czech Republic since 2018 .
Publications
Günther O., Chen Y. 2018, Back to Normalization or Conflict with China in Greater Central Asia? PROBLEMS OF POST-COMMUNISM.
Günther O. 2018, Kairos economies in the post-Soviet transition period of Central Asia. Asian Ethnicity.
Günther O., Chen Y. 2016: China’s Influence in Uzbekistan: Model Neighbor or Indifferent Partner? China Brief, Jamestown Foundatíon.
Günther O. 2016. Im Zwischenraum – Zigeuner in Zentralasien. Universitaetsverlag Leipzig
Günther O., Loy T., Dzhumashev A. 2013, Aral Histories. Geschichte und Erinnerung im Delta des Amudarja. Reichert Verlag.
Günther O. Purity in Danger: Strategies of Purifiying Oneself in a Hostile Environment. The Case of Soviet Central Asia. How Purity Is Made. 2012.
