Dr. Melanie Hackenfort
January 2023–present: academic research assistant on the project “Ecosocial transformation in detail - Laudato si’ and Fratelli tutti in research and practice” (37.5%)
December 2022–present: undertaking training as a systemic consultant, IFW Munich
lecturer at the University of Passau (winter semester 2019; summer semester 2021; winter semester 2021/22)
May 2019–April 2020: research assistant with the Central Commissioner for Equal Opportunities at the University of Koblenz-Landau (15 h)
October 2018–present: postdoc at the Institute for Cultural Studies (Seminar Ethnology) (50%).
July 2010–October 2018: PhD in Cultural Studies (focus on Ethnology), University of Koblenz-Landau, Koblenz Campus
January 2015–April 2016: on parental leave
October 2014–October 2021: Deputy Spokesperson for the Visual Anthropology Working Group of the German Anthropological Association
May 2012–July 2013: on parental leave
April 2009–present: research assistant at the Institute for Cultural Studies at the University of Koblenz-Landau, Koblenz Campus
2000–2001: internship at Kolping Youth Community Services in Cologne
1997–2000: training as a state-certified commercial assistant for foreign languages in Coesfeld
Relocation project in the Philippines
Field site: Lapu-Lapu City (Mactan Island, Philippines)
Fieldwork: May 2011–January 2012
Thesis title: “Changing Lives through Relocation: Ethnography of a Socialized Housing Project in the Philippines”
PhD completed: 18.10.2018
Abstract:
Changing lives through relocation – this is the vision of the socialized housing project in the Philippines which is the subject of this dissertation. It is a polyphonic ethnography that investigates the transition from an informal, marginalized, self-organized lifestyle in squatter areas and dumpsite settlements to an institutionalized and policy-based life in the socialized housing project. The transition process is analysed from a material cultural perspective, taking into account selected aesthetic theories. With this approach, the dissertation aims to contribute to the study of the aesthetic dimension of everyday life from an ethnographic perspective. Aesthetics are applied on three levels: (1) On the theoretical level, the concepts of social aesthetics and atmospheres enrich the analysis of the interrelation between the residents and their new houses in the socialized housing project. (2) On the methodological level, the relevance of aesthetic experiences for the ethnographic knowledge process is discussed. And (3) on the descriptive level, where thematically relevant, some of the researcher’s sensory and aesthetic experiences inform the ethnographic account in the form of memoir. By incorporating aesthetic theories in these ways, the dissertation gives a more holistic account of the dynamics active in the transition process. It shows that the change of lifestyle is experienced sensorily through daily physical engagement with the new material environment – i.e., its specific materiality and infrastructure, its affordances and constraints give rise to new experiences and needs. In this process, the residents become aware of the differences between their past and present ways of life and thus experience the new challenges through physically being in the new material environment. On the one hand, this evokes a nostalgic attitude towards their previous life, but on the other hand, it also gives form to ideas of a possible future.
Doctoral thesis, published via OpenAccess. kola.opus.hbz-nrw.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/1743
- Winter semester 2004/05–winter semester 2008/09: master’s degree in Ethnology and Sociology, University of Freiburg
- Winter semester 2003/04–summer semester 2004: master’s degree in Romance Studies, Ethnology and Sociology, University of Münster
- 2001 to 2003: general qualification for university entrance at the Overberg-Kolleg in Münster
- 2019–present: (founding) member and 2nd chair of Filmfest Koblenz e.V.
- 2018–present: member of the Initiative Wochen zur Demokratie, Passau (including organising and moderating the film series “Wozu Demokratie”)
- 2015–present: (founding) member of the Kulturwissenschaftliche Gesellschaft (KWG); active in the section “Material Cultures”
- 2014–present: member of the German Anthropological Association
- Co-organiser of the PhD Workshop for Ethnographic Research
Hackenfort, Melanie (2019): Excerpts from the field. In: Sabangang. PWU's Academic Journal, Vol. 1, 2019.
Hackenfort, Melanie (2018): Changing Lives through Relocation - Ethnography of a Socialized Housing Project in the Philippines. University of Koblenz-Landau. Dissertation thesis, published via OpenAccess.
Hackenfort, Melanie and Steinicke, Marion (2018): Workshop "Picking up and recycling", 14-15 July 2017, Koblenz. In the context of the section "Material Cultures", Kulturwissenschaftliche Gesellschaft. In: Kulturwissenschaftliche Zeitung, vol. 3, issue 1, (Oct. 2018), pp. 71-73.
Hackenfort, Melanie (2014): Prospects for a Future. Impressions from ethnographic fieldwork in a Philippine resettlement project. In: Fish and Bird. News from Christian Solidarity with the Philippines. Annual issue - No. 84, pp. 23-26. (http://www.fisch-und-vogel.de/printarchiv/nr-84/#page/23)
Hackenfort, Melanie (2008): Minangkabau - In the land of women. In: Ralf Baumeister (ed.) 2008: Abgehoben - 6000 Jahre Pfahlbauten in Europa und Südostasien. Accompanying volume to the special exhibition. Federsee Museum, Bad Buchau. Bad Schussenried: Vebu Druck, pp.30-37.
Hackenfort, Melanie (2008): Sa'dan Toraja - People of the North. In: Ralf Baumeister (ed.) 2008: Abgehoben - 6000 Jahre Pfahlbauten in Europa und Südostasien. Accompanying volume to the special exhibition. Federsee Museum, Bad Buchau. Bad Schussenried: Vebu Druck, pp.50-61.
Research assistant in the project "Ecosocial transformation in practice - Laudato si' and Fratelli tutti in research and practice".
- Cultural dimensions of climate change: sustainable action, ecosocial transformation
- Social practice theory, material culture research, social aesthetics
- Ethnographic field research / participant observation, systems analysis
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