Cultural and Social Anthropology at the LAI examines social and cultural dynamics in local, national and global communities in and with specific reference to Latin America. The construction of identity and difference, global movements and the local appropriation of ideas, practices and institutions are at the forefront of this research. The multiple-method approach in this field is based on ethnohistory, (ethno- and socio)linguistics and fieldwork. It aims to overcome Eurocentric perspectives and to define cultural and social phenomena within the context of both their transregional and temporal dimensions.

The main areas of study are anthropology of migration, anthropology of religion, transatlantic interrelations, ethno- and sociolinguistics, urban anthropology and visual anthropology. The many Ph.D. students, postdoctoral students and visiting scholars all contribute to research in these areas. Research and teaching benefit from the long tradition and high concentration of anthropological institutions in Berlin like the Ethnological Museum.

With regard to teaching, this discipline participates in the master’s program “Interdisciplinary Latin American Studies” at the LAI, the bachelor’s program “Social and Cultural Anthropology” in conjunction with the Institute of Ethnology, and the MA degree programs “Social and Cultural Anthropology” and “Visual and Media Anthropology” at the Department of Political and Social Science.

The area of Cultural and Social Anthropology forms part of diverse interdisciplinary research groups at the Institute for Latin American Studies such as:

• International Research Training Group “Between Spaces. Movements, Actors and Representations of Globalization”, funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG)

• desiguALdades.net- Competence Network “Interdependent Inequalities in Latin America”, supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)

Cultural and Social Anthropology at the LAI collaborates with:

• bachelor programme Social and Cultural Anthropology at the Institute of Ethnology at the Freie Universität Berlin where research and teaching is regionally focused on Africa and Asia
• the Institute for Art History at the Freie Universität Berlin with its regional specialization on Africa
• the Center for Area Studies (CAS) at the Freie Universität Berlin
• Ethnological Museum Berlin (Ethnologisches Museum Berlin)
• Ibero-Amerikanisches Institut

LAI’s Cultural and Social Anthropology is a member of the German Society of Anthropology (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Völkerkunde, DGV) and participates as one oft he spokespersons of the regional group “Afroamerica”. It also cooperates with the Society of Ethnography (Gesellschaft für Ethnographie).