Anna-Maria Brandstetter, born in Würzburg, Germany, in 1957. Ph.D. from Johannes-Gutenberg-Universität Mainz. Senior Lecturer in Anthropology at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz.
Fellow (1 September 2009 – 30 June 2010)
MEMORY, POLITICS AND CULTURE IN POST-GENOCIDE RWANDA
During my stay at NIAS, I worked on my book manuscript on memory, politics and culture in post-genocide Rwanda. I had the opportunity to revise current debates in memory studies, history and public culture in general and on Rwanda in particular; to analyse my field material; and to compare the processes of memory making in Rwanda to other case studies, for example in South Africa. I had valuable opportunities to discuss some basic concepts and assumptions with other fellows from the field of memory studies and ‘beyond’. After having thoroughly revised the table of contents I was able to revise drafts of most of the book chapters. I also worked on one article closely related to my research project, and was invited to give the 6th Ortelius Lecture entitled “Contested Pasts”. The excellent research conditions and the extremely stimulating working environment at NIAS have been an outstanding experience.