Projects

More than 200 years after the establishment of philosophical anthropology as a discipline of knowledge, its epistemological status is still vague and ambiguous. This project aspires a methodology and conceptual apparatus for a critical project of philosophical anthropology in terms of a U+2018historical ontologyU+2019, underlying manU+2019s historical coming into being.
This project investigates the epistemological status of ...

ANTHUSIA is a multi-disciplinary EJD in the Anthropology of Human Security in Africa proposed by a consortium of four universities in Aarhus, Edinburgh, Leuven and Oslo. Combining competences from Anthropology, Human Security and African Studies It aims to foster talent relevant to current challenges and potentials of developing safe societies in Africa. By exploring different areas from a human security perspective, the research will provide ...

Cesare Lombroso (1835-1909), the founding father of modern criminology, is best known for his theory of the “criminal man”. In a nutshell, Lombroso thought that criminality was biologically inherited and that criminals could be identified by physical stigmata that confirmed them as being atavistic or savage. The legacy of Lombroso is still controversial, as several historians have claimed that his biological conception of the “born criminal” ...

This project investigates the socialization processes that (re-)configure (violent) security practices occurring in Central Africa. It aims to understand how these are shaped between community members and armed groups on one side but also to study how they impact on eastern Congo, a region characterized by insecurity and inter-community tensions, coupled with the involvement of foreign armed groups.

The trend in public opinion to conceptualize anorexia nervosa as an illness of the white, female upper-class ignores its occurrence in atypical communities. In South Africa, accounts of anorexia among the black population have been reported since the 1990s. However, current knowledge on these cases holds some considerable gaps. First, there is unclarity on the prevalence of anorexia among black South Africans, as different research methods ...

This research studies anorexia nervosa among women of the black population in Johannesburg.
The project aims for a culture-specific approach in understanding and treatment by abandoning
the prescriptive, Western-based DSM-criteria. Instead, it examines dysfunctional eating in
Johannesburg in its unique local context with regards to symptoms as well as their meanings

Prof. El-Or aims to exchange and cooperate with colleagues at UGent on the anthropology of religion methods in anthropology and the study of Orthodox Jewish communities. An intensive cooperation will be intiated including the exchange and sharing of research agendas, data and results: the launch of a multinational and interdisciplinary research group the organisation of a congress panel joint publication.