Dr. Julian Jasper Sommerschuh

Since 04/2023 Research Fellow at the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, Hamburg University

01/2022-03/2023 Principle Investigator at the Global South Studies Center, Cologne University

08/2019-03/2023 Research Fellow at the Department of Philosophy and Affiliated Lecturer at Institute for Social and Cultural Anthropology, Cologne University

10/2015-07/2019 PhD in Social Anthropology, Cambridge University

06/2018 Visiting Fellow, Frobenius Institute for Research in Cultural Anthropology, Frankfurt University

07/2016-09/2017 Fieldwork in Ethiopia

10/2014-9/2015 Fieldwork in Ethiopia

10/2013-09/2014 MPhil in Social Anthropology, Cambridge University

10/2009-09/2012 BA in European Ethnology and Social Sciences, Humboldt-University of Berlin

• Anthropology of Religion

• Environmental Anthropology

• Christianity

• Ethics

• Values

• Phenomenology

• East Africa (Ethiopia, Kenya)

Sommerschuh, J. 2023. Becoming Amhara: ethnic identity change as a quest for respect in Aari, Ethiopia, Journal of Eastern African Studies, 16:3, 455-471. Link

Sommerschuh, J. & J. Robbins. 2023. Values. In James Laidlaw (Ed.), The Cambridge Handbook for the Anthropology of Ethics (Cambridge Handbooks in Anthropology, pp. 485-507). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Link

Sommerschuh, J. 2022. Answering the Protestant Challenge: Orthodox Christianity as Counterreformation in Southern Ethiopia. Northeast African Studies 22(2): 69-89. Link

Sommerschuh, J. 2022. The Grace in Hierarchy: Seniors, God, and the Sources of Life in Southern Ethiopia. Cambridge Journal of Anthropology 40(1). Link

Sommerschuh, J. 2022. Speaking Humbly: Speech, Values and Change in Protestant Southern Ethiopia. In Dynamis of Speaking and Doing Religion, Baktygül Tulebaeva and Deepak Kumar Ojha, eds. Tübingen University Press. Link

Sommerschuh, J. 2022. Invited commentary on: Pohran, Nadya. Belief-inclusive research: Does strategically 'bracketing out' a researcher's (religious) beliefs and doubts limit access to ethnographic data? Current Anthropology 63(6). Link

Sommerschuh, J. 2021. Respectable Conviviality: Solving Value Conflicts through Orthodox Christianity in Southern Ethioipa. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 27(4). Link

Sommerschuh, J. 2021. Questioning Growth: Christianity, Development, and the Perils of Wealth in Southern Ethiopia. Journal of Religion in Africa. Link

Sommerschuh, J. 2020. From Feasting to Accumulation: Modes of Value Realisation and Radical Cultural Change in Southern Ethiopia. Ethnos. Link

Sommerschuh, J. 2020. Legal pluralism and Protestant Christianity: From fine to forgiveness in an Aari community. In Legal pluralism in Ethiopia: Actors, challenges and solutions. Susanne Epple and Getachew Assefa, eds. Pp. 213–34. Culture and social practice: transcript-Verlag. Link

Sommerschuh, J. 2019. Whatever Happened to Respect? Values and Change in a Southwest Ethiopian (Aari) Community. Doctoral Thesis, University of Cambridge, Cambridge. Link

Robbins, J. & J. Sommerschuh. 2016. Values. In The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Anthropology F. Stein, S.Lazar, M. Candea, H. Diemberger, J. Robbins, A. Sanchez & R. Stasch, eds. Link