Welcome!
Hi, my name is Sarah Nimführ and I’m a cultural anthropologist of forced migration, transnational memory cultures, and Island Studies with a regional focus on the Mediterranean and the Caribbean. Further, I’m interested in engaged anthropology and collaborative knowledge production.
I'm currently based at the University of Arts Linz in the Department of Cultural Studies working as a principal investigator on a postdoc project on transgenerational memory work of Jewish exile, which has been funded by the FWF-Firnberg Program since June 2021. In June 2020 I earned my PhD in European Ethnology from University of Vienna on non-deportability in the EU border regime.
My first book Umkämpftes Recht zu bleiben. Zugehörigkeit, Mobilität und Kontrolle was published in Dampfboot-Verlag in 2020 and was awarded with the Theodor-Körner-Prize. I have co-edited the collected volume Writing Toegther. Kollaboratives Schreiben mit Personen aus dem Feld (2023, transcript) and Forschen und Arbeiten im Kontext von Flucht (2019, Springer) as well as the special issues Representing islands, producing islandness (2021, Island Studies Journal) and 'Solidarität' (2021, kuckuck. Notizen zur Alltagskultur). Among others, my work has appeared in the Island Studies Journal, the Anthropological Journal of European Cultures and in Comparative Migration Studies. Since 2022 I am a Associate Editor of the Island Studies Journal and Vice President of the International Small Island Studies Association .
Since 2016, I have taught various types of courses at graduate and undergraduate level comprising ethics and methods in the field of flight, engaged anthropology as well as forced migration studies with a focus on Mediterranean islands at the universities of Vienna, Graz, Innsbruck, Bremen, Munich and Würzburg. In addition, I was invited to teach as a guest lecturer at the Goethe-University of Frankfurt (Cultural Anthropology), LMU Munich (Intercultural Communication) and University of Arts Linz (Cultural Studies).
A detailed CV can be found here.
CURRENT PROJECTS
SHARING MEMORIES
Transgenerational memory work of Jewish Exile in Sosúa
This research provides transgenerational insights into memory practices and experiences of Jewish exile in Sosúa in the Dominican Republic. Between 1939 and 1945, numerous Jews found refuge from the Nazi regime in the small town in the north of the island of Hispaniola. While almost all countries closed their borders to persecuted Jews from Germany and Austria, a settlement project was established in the dictatorially governed island state. Until today, descendants of the settlers remember and share their family stories in many ways. Based on transgenerational memory work, the project aims to reconstruct how descendants remember the family experience of exile and if and how the (remembered) past shapes and influences their present lives.
This postdoc project is in progress and funded by the FWF-Firnberg Program from 2021 to 2025.
CONTESTED RIGHT TO STAY
Belonging, Mobility and Control in the EUropean Deportation Regime
This ethnographic project explores the living situation of non-deportable refugees at the EU external border Malta. The majority of rejected asylum seekers in Malta cannot be deported. Many are in a legal grey area, as they are usually denied a formal residence status. In this situation they have limited access to employment, basic services and medical care for several years. The study provides insight into the negotiations of belonging, mobility and control between non-deportable refugees, their supporters and state actors. The interactions, everyday practices and restrictive migration measures lead to a contested transnational space in which adaptation, resistance and agency are revealed.
This project was completed as a Phd thesis at the University of Vienna at the Department of European Ethnology and was funded by ÖAW-DOC Fellowship. In 2019, it was awarded the Theodor-Körner-Prize in the field of humanities and culture.
REPRESENTING ISLANDS
Rethinking Identities, Mobilities, and Relations in Island Research
This project examines how islands are represented and islandness is produced by researchers. Current research designs as well as research perspectives and positionalities are reflected and analyzed. Epistemically and methodologically, scholars face the challenge of countering the dominance of external perspectives on islands with an insular internal view while at the same time not essentializing the island nor reproducing Western perspectives. To avoid producing another layer of a colonial view, this project aims to critically reflect on how islands are represented in our research, which theoretical concepts are referred to, what knowledge is produced by applying them, and how the researcher’s own position within the field can be reconsidered.
This project was part of a guest editorship of a special section of Island Studies Journal published in 2021.
PUBLICATIONS
Book
Umkämpftes Recht zu bleiben. Zugehörigkeit, Mobilität und Kontrolle im EUropäischen Abschieberegime. Münster: Verlag Westfälisches Dampfboot, 2020. Review of the book here and here.
Editorship
Beyond the Mediteranean: Islands and their transversal entanglements : Más allá del Mediterráneo: las islas y sus entrelazamientos transversales Together with Anne Brüske and Jonas Hock (2026, in progress; peer-reviewed).
¿La voz de quién? Desafíos de(s)/coloniales entre la teoría y la práctica. Together with Luis Ramón Campo Yumar. Special Issue at ISLAS, (in progress).
Stadt- und Raumforschung im Nexus von Theorie und Empirie. Ein Arbeitsbuch. Together with Cornelia Dlabaja and Nicolas Goez (2024, in progress).
Memories. Themenheft des kuckuck. Notizen zur Alltagskultur, 2(23), Guest editor together with Barbara Frischling and Christina Sternisa, (December 2023, in progress)
Articles in peer-reviewed journals
Lost in Limbo? Navigating (im)mobilities and practices of appropriation of non-deportable refugees in the Mediterranean area. Together with Buba Sesay. In: Comparative Migration Studies Journal 7(26), 2019. Winner of the Rinus Penninx Best Paper Award at the IMISCOE 2018.
Book chapter in peer-reviewed edited volumes
"Nadie baila con dolor" – La música popular caribeña entre colonialismo y descolonización en el espacio transmediteráneo, together with Raisel Tejeda Martínez, in: Brüske, Anne, Hock, Jonas & Nimführ, Sarah (Eds.): Beyond the Mediterranean: Islands and their transversal entanglements : Más allá del Mediterráneo: las islas y sus entrelazamientos transversales (2026, in progress).
Rethinking the Caribbean through archipelagic memory, in: Heidemann, Frank & Schorch, Philipp (Eds.): Experiencing Islandness -Oceans and Beyond. University of Hawai’i Press, (2024, in progress).
Book chapter in edited volumes
Archipelisches Erinnern. Insulare Postmemories, in: Cornelia Dlabaja, Sarah Nimführ & Nicolas Goez (Eds.): Stadt- und Raumforschung im Nexus von Theorie und Empirie. Ein Arbeitsbuch. (2024, in progress).
Insulares Raumregime. Ein Gespräch zur geteilten Insel Kiskeya/Hispaniola, together with Anne Brüske, in: Cornelia Dlabaja, Sarah Nimführ and Nicolas Goez (Eds.): Stadt- und Raumforschung im Nexus von Theorie und Empirie. Ein Arbeitsbuch. (2024, in progress).
Migrationsforschung revisited: Zur Relevanz kritischer Forschungsansätze, together with Andrea Rumpel in: Zeitbilder bpb (Autumn 2023, forthcoming).
Publications in daily newspaper, magazines and media portals
"Malta ist wie ein Gefängnis". Guest Commentary for science.ORF.at, 12 March 2017.
„In Deutschland sieht man Weiß aus“ – Zum Umgang mit kultureller Vielfalt in Kindertageseinrichtungen. In: Faktor 14. Magazin für Forschung und Wissenschaft. Nr. 3, 2010: 24-27.
PUBLIC TALKS, WORKSHOPS AND CONFERENCE PARTICIPATION
– Selection –2023
"The beach as a site of knowledges. Choreographies of memories and intermingling." Workshop: Critical Beach Studies. Center for Global Cooperation Research, Universität Duisburg-Essen, Germany, June 2023.
"Jewish immigration to the Spanish Caribbean Archipelago. Insights into the funerary memoryscape in Cuba." Norwegian Association of Latin American Studies Conference, University of South-Eastern Norway, Drammen, June 2023.
2022
"Repensar el patrimonio a través de una memoria archipelagica. " Facultad de Humanidades, Universidad Central de Las Villas, Cuba, September 2022.
"A reflective journey through feminist ethnographic methodologies on the islands." ISISA Annual Conference: Islands – Nature and Culture. University of Zadar, Croatia, June 2022.
"Inseln als Aushandlungsräume von Sprache, Identität und Migration. Einblicke auf und aus Malta." Summer School 'Inselromania und Mediterranität', Department of Romance Studies, University of Regensburg, Germany, April 2022.
"Archipelagic Memory of Jewish exile and decolonization in the Dominican Republic." Postmemory International Conference, University of Gdańsk, Poland & Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway, March 2022.
"Decolonizing Ethnography: Reflexionen kollaborativer Wissensproduktion an der EU-Außengrenze." Oberseminar at the Institute of Ethnology. Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Germany, January 2022.
2021
"(Im)Mobilität und mediterrane Migration." CITAS-Lecture: The area and its blind spots: The Mediterranean in multidisciplinary and transhistorical perspective. University of Regensburg and University of Konstanz, Germany, December 2021.
"Preserving urban Jewish heritage in Sosúa." Memory Studies Association Annual Conference, University of Warsaw, Poland, July 2021.
"Remembering ‘an island within an island’. Transgenerational memory work of Jewish exile in the Dominican Republic." ISISA Annual Conference, Memorial University of St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada, June 2021.
2020
"Erfahrungen und Reflexionen zu kollaborativen Forschungspraktiken im Kontext von Flucht_Migration." Public talk with round table discussion, Chair for European Ethnology, University of Würzburg, Germany, November 2020.
"Forced migration to, in and from the island. Contested mobilities and negotiations of belonging in Malta." ISA Regional Guest Lecture. Institute for Social Anthropology at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Austria, October 2020.
"Politics of (Dis)Integration.” Book launch (eds. Hinger & Schweitzer 2020) and panel discussion as part of the IMISCOE Spring Conference, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal, February 2020.
2019
"Reif für die Insel?! Forschen auf und über Inseln." Kick-Off event of the lecture series "Anthropologie der Insel", Institute Colloquium of the Department of European Ethnology, University of Vienna, Austria, October 2019.
"Wissenschaft nur der Wissenschaft? Ein Plädoyer für engagierte, kollaborative Wissensproduktionen" German Congress of Geography 'Umbrüche und Aufbrüche. Geographie(n) der Zukunft', Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel, Germany, September 2019.
2019
"The island as an imaginary space." IUAES 2019: Inter-Congress, 'World Solidarities', Uniwersytet Adama Mickiewicza, Poznan, Poland, August 2019.
2018
"Understanding Island Societies: Ethnological Reflections on Islandscape as an Analytical Tool in the Context of Island Migration." In collaboration with Laura Otto; Island Cities and Urban Archipelagos 2018: 'Islands, Resources, Tourism, and Society. Sustainable Development under Globalization and New Urbanization', Zhejiang University’s Ocean College, Zhoushan Island (Shanghai), China, September 2018.
"Umkämpfte Mobilitäten. Die soziale Produktion von Nichtabschiebbarkeit im transinsularen Raum." Colloquium of the Institute for Emipirical Cultural Studies: 'Auf der Flucht, nach der Flucht. Kultur- und sozialwissenschaftliche Positionen, ethnographische Zugänge', University of Tübingen, Germany, July 2018.
"Lost in Limbo? Moving Contours and Practices of Settlements of Non-Deportable Refugees in the Mediterranean Area." In collaboration with Buba Sesay; IMISCOE Annual Conference 2018: 'Europe, migrations and the Mediterranean: human mobilities and intercultural challenges', Universitat Pompeu Fabra Barcelona, Spain, July 2018.
2017
"What if my research partners just don't cross national borders again? Multi-sited research in a single geographic locality." In collaboration with Laura Otto; International Conference - World on the Move. Migration, Societies and Change, University of Manchester, UK, Migration Lab, November 2017.
"'Malta is like a prison' - Islandness im Blickpunkt von Nichtabschiebbarkeit." International Research Center for Cultural Studies (IFK), Vienna, March 2017.
"Living Liminality. Ethnographische Einblicke in die Lebenssituation nicht abschiebbarer Geflüchteter in Malta.“ Kick-Off Doctoral programme "Dynamics of Inequality and Difference in the Age of Globalization", University of Innsbruck, Austria, January 2017.
2016
"Living Liminality. Ethnological insights on the life situation of non-deportable refugees in Malta." International Conference on Migration, Irregularisation and Activism, Malmoe University, Sweden, June 2016.
"kritisch: Positionierungen von ForscherInnen im Feld." Institute Colloquium of the Department of European Ethnology, University of Vienna, Austria, June 2016.
"Liminalität als Lebensform. Ein intersektionaler Blick auf nicht abschiebbare Migrantinnen in Malta." Interdisciplinary Doctoral Conference Zurich, Vienna, Berlin: Cultural Studies – Historical Anthropology, University of Zurich, Switzerland, January 2016.
2015
"Alltag im Dazwischen. Von nicht abschiebbaren Geflüchteten auf Malta." Interdisciplinary Conference: Everyday life of (in)security. Ethnographic-cultural science perspectives on the security society, Unversity of Graz, Austria, November 2015.
"'Being in limbo'. Grenzgänger*innen in Malta." Autumn School: Grenzgänger in Theorie und Praxis. Europe University Viadrina, Frankfurt/Oder, Germany, October 2015.
"Alltag im Dazwischen. Porträts von Geflüchteten auf Malta." Talking Anthropology and Wine. Austrian Museum of Folk Life and Folk Art, Vienna, Austria, October 2015.
ORGANIZATION OF CONFERENCES, WORKSHOPS AND PANELS
– Selection –2024
"Island Studies: critique beyond the relational turn [1]. Islands of Negation" , Panel Convenor together with Jonathan Pugh; International Geographical Congress, Dublin City University, Dublin, Ireland, August 2024. "Island Studies: critique beyond the relational turn [2]. Islands and Time: Caribbean Temporalities of Refusal" , Panel Convenor together with Jonathan Pugh; International Geographical Congress, Dublin City University, Dublin, Ireland, August 2024.2022
"Whose voice? Power, knowledge and positionality in Caribbean Studies", Conference Convenor together with Luis Ramón Campo Yumar; Universidad Central de las Villas, Cuba and University of Arts Linz, Austria, October 2022.
"Writing Together. Collaborative Writing with persons from fieldwork", Workshop Convenor together with Martina Blank. Goethe-University Frankfurt, Germany & University of Arts Linz, Austria, July 2022.
2021
"Urban Space and Landscapes. Stadt- und Raumforschung im Nexus von Theorie und Empirie", Workshop Convenor together with Cornelia Dlabaja; Department of European Ethnology, University of Vienna, Austria, November 2021.
"Verletzbarkeit und Institutionen. Anrufen – Aushandeln – Antworten", Conference Convenor together with Michaela Bstieler, Judith Klemenc, Stephanie Schmidt and Judith Welz; Institute of History and European Ethnology, University of Innsbruck, Austria, September 2021.
2020
"Forschen und Arbeiten zwischen Handlungsdruck und Orientierungsunsicherheit im Kontext von Flucht_Migration", Panel convenor together with Margrit E. Kaufmann, Laura Otto and Dominik Schütte; Annual Conference of the German Network of Forced Migration Researchers: 'Contexts of Displacement, Refugee Protection and Forced Migrants' Lives', Universität zu Köln, Germany, September 2020.
2019
"Anthropology of Islands. Reflecting islandness from a historical and cultural studies perspective" , Workshop Convenor together with Greca N. Meloni; Department of European Ethnology, University of Vienna, Austria, November 2019.
"Anthropologie der Insel" , Organization of the Lecture Series of the Institute Colloquium together with Brigitta Schmidt-Lauber and Greca N. Meloni; Department of European Ethnology, University of Vienna, Austria, Winter semester 2019/2020.
"Island Ethnography: Reflecting islandness in the Anthropocene" , Panel Convenor together with Francesco Bachis and Greca N. Meloni; IUAES 2019: Inter-Congress, 'World Solidarities', Uniwersytet Adama Mickiewicza, Poznan, Poland, August 2019.
"PhD-Network Meeting" , together with Manuel Liebig and Greca N. Meloni, as part of the Network Meeting of the Institutes of Ethnology and Cultural Studies of Austria at the University of Vienna, Austria, March 2019.
"Escape from Syria. Rania's odyssey. Film screening and talk with Rania Mustafa Ali", Moderation of the Colloquium as part of the Institute Colloquium of the Department of European Ethnology "Begriffe als Probleme: Wortgebrauch in Wissenschaft und Gesellschaft", University of Vienna and in cooperation with the Austrian Museum of Folk Life and Folk Art, January 2019.
TEACHING
2022/23
University of Innsbruck, Austria
Department of History and European Ethnology
2021/22
University of Vienna, Austria
Department of European Ethnology
2021
University of Würzburg, Germany
Chair for European Ethnology
Islands and global mobility
LMU Munich, Germany
Institute for European Ethnology and Cultural Analysis
2020/21
University of Würzburg, Germany
Chair for European Ethnology
Engaging, Criticizing, Changing: Methods and Interventions of Critical Migration Studies
Karl-Franzens-University of Graz, Austria
Department of Cultural Anthropology and European Ethnology
2020
University of Würzburg, Germany
Chair for European Ethnology
2019/20
University of Vienna, Austria
Department of European Ethnology
2019
LMU Munich, Germany
Institute for European Ethnology and Cultural Analysis
Scientific Working and Writing
University of Vienna, Austria
Department of European Ethnology
2018/19
University of Bremen, Germany
Department of Ethnology and Cultural Studies
Scientific Working and Writing
University of Vienna, Austria
Department of European Ethnology
2018
University of Vienna, Austria
Department of European Ethnology
Islands as spaces of identity, belonging and migration: Ethnographic excursion to Europe's "tumultuous fringes"
University of Vienna, Austria
Department of European Ethnology
2016/17
University of Vienna, Austria
Department of European Ethnology
2016
University of Vienna, Austria
Department of European Ethnology
IN THE MEDIA
2023
Radio report "Wasser – Pop – Musik" in Radio Kolleg of Ö1, 29 June 2023.
2022
Radio report "Die Insel als Ort und Metapher" in Radio Kolleg of Ö1, 1 August 2022.
2021
Radio report "Gemeinsame Forschung aus dem Flüchtlingslager" in dimensionen.diskussionen of Ö1, 17 June 2021.
Networking event and awarding of current Firnberg and Richter grantees of the Austrian Science Fund (FWF), 25 March 2021.
Podcast "Kollaboratives Forschen" in MeltingPod – Migration im Dialog, InZentIM, 15 February 2021.
Radio report "Ein Leben in der Grauzone" in Dimensionen – Das Monatsmagazin of Ö1, 4 February 2021.
2019
Award of the Theodor Körner Prize for Humanities and Culture. Theodor Körner Fonds, 10 May 2019.
2018
The Winner of the Rinus Penninx Best Paper Award 2018 are: Sarah Nimführ and Buba Sesay. IMISCOE Network News, 4 July 2018.
Semesterfrage 2016: Wie verändert Migration Europa? EthnologInnen antworten. uni:view Magazin/University of Vienna , 16 June 2016.
ÖAW vergibt 82 Stipendien an NachwuchsforscherInnen. DOC-Scholarship Award of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW), 4 March 2016.
SITE NOTICE
Sarah NimführDomgasse 1
4020 Linz
mail [at] sarahnimfuehr.com
Website: Chester – die Agentur mit Hund
Photos: Portraits: Chester – die Agentur mit Hund.
Front page, current research projects, and reception in the Vienna Imperial Palace: Sarah Nimführ.
Scholarship award and Poster Presentation: Reinhard Oehner.
Theodor Körner Award: Christian Fischer.