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 (summa cum laude) and as part 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 the conceptualisation and development of 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, world-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.

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.

Fabricio Rodríguez
is a Senior Researcher at the Arnold Bergstraesser Institute (ABI) in Freiburg. He holds a PhD in Political Science with a focus on International Relations from the University of Freiburg. His research in the Postcolonial Hierarchies network will explore the ways urban protests are entwined with the contestation of coloniality/modernity dynamics and how this relationship shapes violent processes of hierarchisation in Latin America. Fabricio also coordinates the Knowledge in Dialogue(s) component of the network.

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.

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.

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.