Hi everybody,

I’m a PhD-student from the University of Leipzig, Germany and I’m currently writing a dissertation on theatre in Tbilisi, Georgia. Though I wasn’t trained as an anthropologist – I received my M.A. in literature and theatre studies – anthropology does play an important role for my research. Approximately four years ago, when I began to occupy myself with arts and culture in the Caucasus, I started as an enthusiastic reader of anthropological literature. Since then, the entanglements between the disciplines of theatre studies and anthropology, especially in regards to questions concerning representations, performativity etc. began to fascinate me. I profited a lot from the intensive exchange with anthropologists in the frame of an interdisciplinary postgraduate programme – in particular in terms of methodology. In my research project, also folklore became a central subject-matter, because its so present in the “theatre-scape” of Tbilisi, be it the opera or the highly visible folk-dance-ensembles.
I’m also working as an editor for the German language version in the online-magazine caucaz.com.

Best,

Birgit