Dr. Jonatan Kurzwelly

Projektleiter // Senior Researcher

Dr. Jonatan Kurzwelly is currently leading two research pro­jects – one on radi­calization and deradi­calization of extre­mists and another on the use and concep­tualization of mortal hu­man remains. His research and writing explore different aspects of radi­calization and deradi­calization, personal and social identities, essentia­lism, nationalism, and colla­borative research methods.

Jonatan Kurzwelly
kurzwelly(at)prif.org
 Press photo

CV

| since 2024
Senior Researcher at PRIF’s Research Depar­tment Glocal Junc­tions

| 2022–2024
Associate Fellow at PRIF

| 2020–2023
Post-doctoral fellow at the Cultural Anthro­pology/European Ethno­logy Institute, Uni­versity of Göttingen, Germany

| since 2020
Research associate, Depart­ment of Anthro­pology, Uni­versity of the Free State, South Africa

| 2017–2020
Post-doctoral research fellow at the Depart­ment of Anthro­pology, University of the Free State, South Africa

| 2019–2020
Visiting researcher at AHCISP (Anthro­pology and History of the Con­struction of Social and Political Identities), Auto­nomous University of Barcelona, Spain

| 2017
PhD in Social Anthro­pology, University of St Andrews, UK

| 2013
MA in Anthro­pological Research, Uni­versity of Manchester, UK

| 2012
BA in Cultural Anthro­pology, Adam Mickiewicz Uni­versity, Poland

Projects

Publications

  • Bones and Injustices: Provenance research, restitutions, and identity politics. Dialectical Anthropology.
    | 2022
    Kurzwelly, Jonatan (2022): Bones and Injustices: Provenance research, restitutions, and identity politics. Dialectical Anthropology., Dialectical Anthropology. DOI: 10.1007/s10624-022-09670-9
  • Wert und Verwendung menschlicher Überreste Vergangene und gegenwärtige Perspektiven im interdisziplinären Dialog
    | 2022
    Kurzwelly, Jonatan; Wilckens, Malin S (2022): Wert und Verwendung menschlicher Überreste Vergangene und gegenwärtige Perspektiven im interdisziplinären Dialog, Historische Anthropologie, 30: 3, 329–349. DOI: 10.7788/hian.2022.30.3.329
  • Calcified identities: Persisting essentialism in academic collections of human remains
    | 2022
    Kurzwelly, Jonatan; Wilckens, Malin S (2022): Calcified identities: Persisting essentialism in academic collections of human remains, Anthropological Theory, 1-23. DOI: 10.1177/14634996221133872
  • The allure of essentialism and extremist ideologies
    | 2020
    Kurzwelly, Jonatan; Fernana, Hamid; Ngum, Muhammad Elvis (2020): The allure of essentialism and extremist ideologies, Anthropology Southern Africa, 43: 2, 107–118. DOI: 10.1080/23323256.2020.1759435
  • Encountering, explaining and refuting essentialism
    | 2020
    Kurzwelly, Jonatan; Rapport, Nigel; Spiegel, Andrew D. (2020): Encountering, explaining and refuting essentialism, Anthropology Southern Africa, 43: 2, 65–81. DOI: 10.1080/23323256.2020.1780141
  • Photographic Complementarity, and the Story of Abel Pavon
    | 2019
    Kurzwelly, Jonatan (2019): Photographic Complementarity, and the Story of Abel Pavon, Visual Anthropology, 32: 5, 460–475. DOI: 10.1080/08949468.2019.1671752
  • Being German, Paraguayan and Germanino: Exploring the Relation Between Social and Personal Identity
    | 2019
    Kurzwelly, Jonatan (2019): Being German, Paraguayan and Germanino: Exploring the Relation Between Social and Personal Identity, Identity, 19: 2, 144–156. DOI: 10.1080/15283488.2019.1604348
  • Photographs as Sources in African History
    | 2018
    Gordon, Robert; Kurzwelly, Jonatan (2018): Photographs as Sources in African History, Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History. DOI: 10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.013.250

  • Violent categorisation, relative privilege and migrant experiences in a post-apartheid city
    | 2021
    Kurzwelly, Jonatan; Escobedo, Luis (2021): Violent categorisation, relative privilege and migrant experiences in a post-apartheid city, in: Jonatan Kurzwelly, Luis Escobedo (eds), Migrants, Thinkers, Storytellers: Negotiating Meaning and Making Life in Bloemfontein, Cape Town: HSRC Press.
    Publication
    ISBN: 978-0-7969-2598-5
  • Transcending social categories: Reflections on research concerning migrant lives, lived experiences and life stories
    | 2021
    Escobedo, Luis; Kurzwelly, Jonatan; Agbedahin, Komlan (2021): Transcending social categories: Reflections on research concerning migrant lives, lived experiences and life stories, in: Jonatan Kurzwelly, Luis Escobedo (eds), Migrants, Thinkers, Storytellers: Negotiating Meaning and Making Life in Bloemfontein, Cape Town: HSRC Press.
    Publication
    ISBN: 978-0-7969-2598-5
  • Extremism, essentialism and identity: The life story of Muhammad Elvis Ngum
    | 2021
    Kurzwelly, Jonatan; Fernana, Hamid; Ngum, Muhammad Elvis (2021): Extremism, essentialism and identity: The life story of Muhammad Elvis Ngum, in: Jonatan Kurzwelly, Luis Escobedo (eds), Migrants, Thinkers, Storytellers: Negotiating Meaning and Making Life in Bloemfontein, Cape Town: HSRC Press.
    Publication
    ISBN: 978-0-7969-2598-5

  • Identity Politics and Social Justice
    | 2023
    Kurzwelly, Jonatan; Pérez, Moira; Spiegel, Andrew D. (2023): Identity Politics and Social Justice, 47: 1, Berlin: Springer Nature.
    Publication
  • Migrants, Thinkers, Storytellers: Negotiating Meaning and Making Life in Bloemfontein
    | 2021
    Kurzwelly, Jonatan; Escobedo, Luis (2021): Migrants, Thinkers, Storytellers: Negotiating Meaning and Making Life in Bloemfontein, in: Jonatan Kurzwelly, Luis Escobedo (eds), Cape Town: HSRC Press.
    Publication
  • Ethnographic Encounters with Essentialism
    | 2020
    Kurzwelly, Jonatan; Rapport, Nigel; Spiegel, Andrew D. (2020): Ethnographic Encounters with Essentialism, in: Jonatan Kurzwelly, Nigel Rapport, Andrew D. Spiegel (eds), 43: 2: Taylor & Francis Online, 65–81. DOI: 10.1080/23323256.2020.1780141
    Publication

  • People and Identities in Nueva Germania
    | 2024
    Kurzwelly, Jonatan (2024): People and Identities in Nueva Germania, Göttinger Studien zur Kulturanthropologie/Europäischen Ethnologie-Göttingen Studies in Cultural Anthropology/European Ethnology, 18, Göttingen: Göttingen University Press. DOI: 10.17875/gup2024-2625
  • Being German and Being Paraguayan in Nueva Germania
    | 2023
    Kurzwelly, Jonatan (2023): Being German and Being Paraguayan in Nueva Germania. Arguing for “Contextual Epistemic Permissibility” and “Methodological Complementarity”, St Andrews: University of St Andrews.
    Publication

  • Custody and custodianship: A reflection on collection terminology through the lens of human remains
    | 2021
    Bendix, Regina; Kurzwelly, Jonatan (2021): Custody and custodianship: A reflection on collection terminology through the lens of human remains, Anthropology Today. DOI: 10.1111/1467-8322.12679

Further Activities

| since 2021
Chair of the Commission on the Study of Divisive­ness, Discri­mination and Margi­nalisation (SDDM), of the Inter­national Union of Anthro­pological and Ethno­logical Sciences (IUAES)

| 2021–2023
Consultant and associate researcher, in the “Ressourcen­suche als Auslöser von Kolonisations­prozessen?” project at Uni­versity of Tübingen

| 2019–2022
Member of the Executive Council of the Anthro­pology Southern Africa (ASnA) asso­ciation