Thomas Widlok

Professor for the Anthropology of Africa, University of Cologne

Thomas Widlok took his MSc and PhD degrees in Anthropology at the London School of Economics and Political Science and worked at a number of universities and research institutions in Europe (including the UK).

He is currently Professor for the Anthropology of Africa at the University of Cologne in Germany and member of the Northrhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences and Arts. He is a specialist for comparative hunter-gatherer research and has carried out many years of ethnographic field research in Africa, mainly in Namibia and in neighbouring countries.

Increasingly he is also working on social processes in societies of the Global North. His most recent book is “Anthropology and the Economy of Sharing."

Experience

2013–present

Professor of Cultural Anthropology of Africa, University of Cologne

Education

2004

University of Cologne, Habilitation in Ethnology,
1994

London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), University of London, Ph.D in Anthropology
1989

London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), University of London, M.Sc. (with distinction) in Anthropology,

Professional Memberships

Elected Member of the Nordrhein-Westfälische Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Künste
Spokesperson of the Competence Area IV “Cultures and Societies in Transition”, Universität zu Köln