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Dr. Sophie Roche

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Academic Background l Scholarly Activities l Publications

Academic Background

Education

Since March 2010	Post-doctoral position at Zentrum Moderner Orient, Berlin. Project: Youth and identity in text and context. Interdisciplinary approaches to Islamic fundamentalism among young Tajik men.
October 2009-March 2010	Research associate at Martin-Luther-University, Halle-Wittenberg, Institute for Social Anthropology. (Teaching)
September-October 2007	Preparation courses of the European Doctoral School of Demography (EDSD) at Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
2005 - 2010	PhD candidate at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle/Saale, Germany. Dissertation thesis ‘Domesticating youth. The youth bulge in post-civil war Tajikistan’. (Handed in November 2009).
WS 2000/2001 – SS 2001	Erasmus/Sokrates year in Paris at INALCO (Institut National des Langues et Civilisation Orientales), courses taken in: Arabe littéral, islam et islamologie and mongole, langue et histoire; and EHESS (École des Hautes Études en Science Sociales).
WS 1998/1999 – SS 2005	Magister courses in social anthropology at the Freie Universität Berlin and Central Asian Studies at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin: Thesis title: Bürgerkrieg und Wandel rechtlicher Flexibilität. Ethnographische Fallstudie von Generationskonflikten in Vadi Rasht/Duschanbe (Tadschikistan).
1996	University entrance exams (Abitur) in Baden-Württemberg, Germany

Grants and awards

WS 2008/2009	Grant of the Graduate School ‘Society and Culture in Motion’, Martin-Luther-University, Halle-Wittenberg, Germany.
2005 – 2008	Employed as PhD researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle/Saale, Germany.
June-September 2003	‚Go-East’ programme of the DAAD. Research in vadi Rasht/Tajikistan on ‚Erinnerungen an den Bürgerkrieg’ (memories of the civil war). (Funded by DAAD)
July-September 2001	ASA programme in Northwest Cameroon: Research on traditional medical systems among the grassland people and FulBe (Mbororo). (Funded by ASA)
May 2000	Field trip to Uzbekistan. Research on ‘National minority problems in Uzbekistan’. Zentralasienseminar, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany. (Funded by DAAD).

Scholarly Activities

Editorial membership

Member of the editorial board of the Oral History Project Tajikistan, hosted by OSCE Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

Member of editorial board of Central Eurasian Reader, CNRS, EHESS, Paris.

Teaching experiences and trainings

February and August 2009	Teaching training: Hochschuldidaktik I and II, at Martin-Luther-University, Halle-Wittenberg, Germany.
WS 2009/2010	Tutor of the seminar ‚Globalisierung und lokale Kulturen im Islam’ at Seminar für Ethnologie, Martin-Luther-University, Halle-Wittenberg, Germany.
April 2008	Tutor of ‘Teilnehmende Beobachtung’ (participant observation) within the seminar ‚Qualitative Methods’. Tutor: Dr. Laura Bernardi, Institute for Sociology, University of Rostock, Germany.
WS 2001/2002 –WS 2003/2004	Tutor of the „Tutorium für ausländische Studierende der Politik- und Sozialwissenschaften“ at the Freie Universität Berlin, Germany. (Funded by DAAD).

Work experiences

April-June 2002	Internship with the German organization “Deutsche Welthungerhilfe (DWH)” in Dushanbe/Tajikistan with field work in Gharm and Djirgatol.
1999 – 2000	Working for the Anti-Diskriminierungsbüro Berlin (ADB). Organization of the exhibition: ‚Grenzenlos-Rechtlos‘ 10 Jahren Diskriminierung nicht-Deutscher Bürger in Deutschland (‚without limits-without rights’ 10 years of discrimination of non-German citizens in Germany).

Research experiences

- Tajikistan (2002, 2003, 2006-2007, 2010)
- Cameroon (2001)
- Uzbekistan (2000)
- Mongolia (1998)

Publications

Monographies

Roche, S. (2009). Domesticating youth. The youth bulge of post-civil war Tajikistan. Dissertation, Martin-Luther-University of Halle-Wittenberg. (Completed with summa cum laude (with distinction))

S. Roche (forthcoming). Domesticating Youth. The Dynamics of Youth Bulge in Tajikistan. Under review for Berghahn Books, (series of MPI ‘Integration and Conflict’ ed. by G. Schlee).

Scientific Journals

John Heathershaw and Sophie Roche. Islam and political violence in Tajikistan: an ethnographic perspective on the causes and consequences of the 2010 armed conflict in the Kamarob gorge. Ethnopolitics Papers 2011, 8.

Sophie Roche and Sophie Hohmann. Wedding rituals and the struggle over national identities. Central Asian Survey, 2011, 30/1, pp. 113-128.

Sophie Hohmann, Sophie Roche, Michel Garenne: 'The changing sex ratios at birth during the civil war in Tajikistan: 1992-1997' (MS 3244) The Journal of Biosocial Science, 2010 42/6, pp. 773-786.

Sophie Roche and Aksana Ismailbekova: Demography and Patronage. The dynamics of youth bulge in Kyrgyzstan. ORIENT IV, 2010, pp. 33-43.

Sophie Roche. Friendship relations in Tajikistan. An ethnographic account. Ab Imperio 2010, 3, pp. 273-298.

Sophie Roche. From youth bulge to conflict. The case of Tajikistan. Central Asian Survey, 2010, 28/4, pp. 405-420.

Online Publications

Aksana Ismailbekova and Sophie Roche: Проблеск надежды в окровавленном Кыргызстане. Новости Центральной Азии 10.08.2010, www.ferghana.ru

Sophie Roche and John Heathershaw: Conflict in Tajikistan – not really about radical Islam. OpenDemocracy, 19th October 2010, www.opendemocracy.net

Sophie Roche and John Heathershaw: Tajikistan’s marginalised youth. OpenDemocracy, 20th October 2010, www.opendemocracy.net

Sophie Roche and John Heathershaw: A recipe for radicalisation: the campaign against Islam in Tajikistan. OpenDemocracy, 17th January 2011, www.opendemocracy.net

Book Reviews

Labour Migration from Tajikistan, by Saodat Olimova and Igor Bosc (2003), Dushanbe: International Organization for Migration in Cooperation with the Sharq Scientific Research Center. Review by Sophie Roche (2011), Central Eurasian Reader II, CNRS, EHESS, Berlin: Klaus Schwarz.

Une civilisation du cheval: Les usages de l’équidé de la steppe à la taïga, by Carole Ferret (2009), Paris: Belin & IFEAC, Review by Sophie Roche (2011), Central Eurasian Reader II, CNRS, EHESS, Berlin: Klaus Schwarz.

Muslim Youth: Tensions and Transitions in Tajikistan, by Colette Harris (2006), Boulder, Colo: Westerview Press. Review by Sophie Roche (2011), Central Eurasian Reader II, CNRS, EHESS, Berlin: Klaus Schwarz.

Fremdbestimmtes Leben. Eine biographische Studie über Frauen in Tschetschenien, by Marit Cremer (2007), Bielefeld: Transcript. Review by Sophie Roche (2011), Central Eurasian Reader II, CNRS, EHESS, Berlin: Klaus Schwarz.

Interview

Interview mit: Johannes Pernsteiner. Kirgisien: Ethnischer Konflikt nur vorgeschoben. Fokus der Medien auf Volksgruppen kann Land weiter spalten. pressetext.deutschland. Redakteur: pernsteiner@pressetext.com

Interview mit Oksana Evdokimova (Deutsche Welle): Эксперт: Властям Таджикистана не стоит демонизировать ислам published on 25th February 2011, online at: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,14872815,00.html

Taken up by Tjknews.com on the 26th February 2011 and by pravda.kg on 1st March 2011, online at: http://pravda.kg/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=676:-q-q-&catid=71:movies&Itemid=166

Selection of professional papers and presentations

Roche, S.
Youth concepts in Islam? Symposium : Religious Dynamics in Central Asia : Islam in Focus. Organized by M. Stephan, Institute for Asian and African studies at Humboldt University, Berlin. 15-17 December 2010.

Roche, S and Hohmann S.
Comportements démographiques pendant et après la guerre civile au Tadjikistan. Le mariage d’un point de vue socio-démographique. Lecture series: ‘L'Asie centrale dans tous ses états’ organized by S. Dudoignon, I. Ohayon, A. Ducloux, J. Thorez, financed by EHESS, Paris. 12 November 2009.

Roche, S.
‘Siblings are as “different as the five fingers of a hand”. The dynamic of diversification strategies among siblings.’ Workshop Brother- and Sisterhood from an Anthropological Perspective. 5-7 November 2009, Thurnau, organized by Erdmute Alber and Sjaak van der Geest, financed by BIGSAS, University of Bayreuth.

Roche, S.
‘Social relations in combatant groups during and after the Tajik civil war’ at ESCAS Conference 2009 Studying Central Asia: in Quest for New Paths and Concepts?. 3-5 September 2009, Budapest.

Roche, S.
‘When youth chooses places – the construction of youth in urban context’. Central Eurasian Studies Society, Regional Conference, 4-7 August 2008, Kyrgyzstan/Issyk-Kul.

Roche, S.
‘From narratives to collective memories’. Oral History Project Independent Tajikistan. Workshop, 22-23 May 2008, OSCE Academy in Bishkek.

Roche, S. and Dağeli, J. E.
‘For the fear of afterlife - Islamic videos in Tajikistan’ at Deutschen Gesellschaft für Völkerkunde, conference: Streitfragen – zum Verhältnis von empirischer Forschung und ethnologischer Theoriebildung am Anfang des 21. Jahrhunderts 1-4 Oktober 2007, Martin-Luther-Universität, Halle.

Following the conference: Invitation for a lecture at the Institut für Ethnologie und Afrikanistik of Munich, ‘Islamische Videos in Tadschikistan’. 17 December 2007.