Connect with our team
Viviana García Pinzón
is a Senior Researcher at the Arnold-Bergstraesser-Institute (ABI) in Freiburg and an Associate at the Institute of Latin American Studies at the German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA). Viviana completed a PhD. in Political Science with a focus on peace and conflict studies at the Philipps University of Marburg and as member of the GIGA Doctoral Programme. In the framework of the Postcolonial Hierarchies network, Viviana’s research analyses the intertwinement between postcolonial hierarchies, contentious politics, and urban governance in violence-affected cities. In addition, she coordinates and co-edits the Virtual Encyclopedia.
Miriam Bartelmann
is a Ph.D. researcher at the Arnold-Bergstraesser Institute (ABI) in Freiburg, focusing on environmental and territorial conflicts that stem from or reproduce postcolonial trajectories. Her research interests include decolonial perspectives, Urban Political Ecology, and epistemic hierarchies. She received an M.A. in Social Sciences from the University of Freiburg (UFR) and FLACSO Buenos Aires, and she studied at JNU (New Delhi) as well as in the M.A. Sociology program at UFR. Previously, she completed her B.A. in Sociology and Islamic Studies at Freiburg. She collaborates in the coordination, conceptualization, and development of the Virtual Encyclopedia.
Fabricio Rodríguez
is a Senior Researcher at the Arnold Bergstraesser Institute (ABI) and a Lecturer at the Department of Political Science, University of Freiburg. He holds a PhD in Political Science with a focus on International Relations from the University of Freiburg and previously held a postdoctoral position in the BMBF (now BMFTR) research group “Bioeconomy and Inequalities” at the Institute of Sociology, University of Jena. His current research in the BMFTR network “Postcolonial Hierarchies in Peace and Conflict” examines the relationship between coloniality, state violence, urban protests, and popular memory. He is part of the Knowledge(s) in Dialogue component of the network and co-hosts the podcast “Confronting Hierarchies“, which forms part of the Virtual Encyclopaedia.
Martine Toppenberg Dahl
Martine is a student assistant helping to develop the Virtual Encyclopaedia in the Postcolonial Hierarchies network at the Arnold-Bergstraesser-Institute (ABI) Freiburg. She is currently pursuing her M.A. in Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Freiburg. She obtained her B.A. in International Relations at Malmö University in Sweden.
Alke Jenss
is a Senior Researcher and Head of the Cluster ‚Contested Governance‘ at the Arnold Bergstraesser Institute (ABI) in Freiburg. Her current research focuses on the production of security and insecurity through transnational infrastructure masterplans and multi-scalar governance from a relational state theory perspective. In the Postcolonial Hierarchies network, she looks at how the scales and spatialities of urban protest are related to regional urban renewal plans and the global economy. She serves as the PI for the network’s Freiburg team.
Franzisca Zanker
is a Senior Researcher at the Arnold Bergstraesser Institute (ABI) in Freiburg where she heads the research cluster „Patterns of (Forced) Migration“. Her current research interests focus on political processes surrounding refugee and migration governance with her most recent project looking at refugee protection in South Africa and Uganda.
Louise is a freelance language editor based in Derbyshire, in the UK. She specialises in copy-editing translated texts, and in working with academic authors writing in English as an additional language. She has a PhD in Social Psychology from the University of Nottingham, and is a Managing Editor of System, an internationally renowned academic journal on the applications of educational technology and applied linguistics to foreign language education. She has copy-edited many of the entries in the Virtual Encyclopaedia.
Harry Parfitt
Harry pursued his M.A. in Social Sciences within the Global Studies Program in Freiburg. He conducted ethnographic research with migrant workers in the platform economy for his M.A. Thesis and assisted to develop the Virtual Encyclopaedia in the Postcolonial Hierarchies project until September 2024.
Franzisca Zanker
is a Senior Researcher at the Arnold Bergstraesser Institute (ABI) in Freiburg where she heads the research cluster „Patterns of (Forced) Migration“. Her current research interests focus on political processes surrounding refugee and migration governance with her most recent project looking at refugee protection in South Africa and Uganda.
