Be part of a research-project!

Study Projects (MA / BA)

The idea of research-oriented teaching plays a central role in our degree programs. This gives you the chance to discover anthropology from an actively inquiring stance and to shape parts of your Bachelor's oder Master’s studies around a study project of your own. Through your individual project, you become part of a research team and a research project at the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology. You get the chance to carry out fieldwork or another form of anthropological research, get to know research partners and their students in Germany and abroad, and gain insights into various areas of scholarly practice in the discipline.

Our BA and MA programs contain modules designed precisely for this kind of study work. This being said, you can also develop your project into a BA or MA thesis. In addition, in some cases it is possible to work as a student assistant on ongoing projects or to receive financial support. There is also the possibility of obtaining financial grants through third-party funding (e.g., DAAD PROMOS).

Nikolaus Schareika currently offers (as of October 2026) the following research projects and thematic focuses, into which both empirical study projects (fieldwork) and projects based solely on literature study can be integrated. These study projects can be designed as either direct or indirect contributions to the respective topic.

Sustainable Rurbanity – Resources, Society, and Regulatory Systems

This interdisciplinary research group addresses the rapid and massive urbanization of the planet and its considerable social, economic, and ecological triggers and consequences, both within and beyond cities. The term "rurban" refers to the simultaneity and mutual interpenetration of urban and rural elements in the emergence of new ways of life.

Rurban Livestock Systems - Building rurban livelihoods through livestock

This project within the Sustainable Rurbanity research group investigates how people – whether as pastoralists or not – build a social and economic existence with the help of livestock such as cattle, goats, and sheep under conditions of advancing urbanization, developing new possibilities for action through a creative combination of rural and urban elements.

Pastoralism and Mining in Mongolia

With its endless grasslands, Mongolia is deeply shaped by pastoralism. Beneath these grasslands lie resources that can be marketed nationally and internationally, such as gold, copper, and coal. The project examines the far-reaching social and cultural transformation processes – within pastoral communities and in their relationship to society as a whole – that are set in motion by the establishment of mines and the extraction of underground resources.

Pastoralism, Capitalism, Commodification

Work on this thematic focus deals with transformation processes taking place in pastoral societies worldwide. Of particular importance is the increasing integration of animal husbandry into capitalist structures of labor and marketing; this integration permeates all areas of life and triggers profound change within pastoral communities and in their relationship to the wider society.

Your study project can be part of your studies in different ways.

In the BA program, it is one of the large modules (B.Eth. 361) of your advanced BA studies (4th/5th semester), the "Student Practice Project" ("Studentisches Praxisprojekt"). After this module, you can develop your study project further into your BA thesis.

In the MA program, you anchor your study project in the modules "Preparation of Research Practice" ("Vorbereitung der Forschungspraxis", M.Eth.312) and "Anthropological Research Practice" ("Ethnologische Forschungspraxis", M.Eth.313). If you wish – and this is often done – you can use the results of this work in your Master's thesis and continue your study project in this way.

With the Showroom, you have the opportunity to present the progress and results of your study project on the website of the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, thereby reaching all interested parties, fellow students, and project partners.

Supervision of study projects and theses takes place from the initial planning stage through to the presentation of results, in personal consultations and in the colloquium, through which you also complete the various examination requirements.

For further information, feel free to come to my consultation hour.

You can find out more about ongoing projects on the Research Projects page.