Dr. Jürgen Schaflechner
Affiliated Researcher
Academic Posititions
Education
Publications
2024 Non-Muslim Becoming. Marginalization, Mediatization and Mobilization of Pakistan Religious Minorities. (Manuscript currently in peer review at Princeton University Press).
2018 Hinglaj Devi: Identity, Change, and Solidification at a Hindu Temple in Pakistan. New York: Oxford University Press.
2020 Pakistan. Alternative Imaginings of the Nation-State, eds. Jürgen Schaflechner & Christina Oesterheld and Ayesha Asif. Karachi: Oxford University Press.
2019 Ritual Journeys, eds. Christoph Bergmann & Jürgen Schaflechner. London: Routledge.
2023 “Affectivism and visibility in the mediatization of disappeared women in Pakistan” Affective Societies, eds. Margret Lünenborg and Birgit Röttger-Rössler. London: Routledge.
2022 “The Karachi Jews and the history of Pakistani antisemitism” Contemporary South Asia. 1-16. (peer reviewed).
2022 “Introduction” (with Max Kramer) Dastavezi the Audio-Visual South Asia. (4): 4-7.
2021 “Krav Maga: history, representation, and globalization of a self-defense system from Israel” Martial Arts Studies (11): 110-121. (peer reviewed).
2021 “Film, photo, and text: relation-making, intensive genres, and realism” (with Max Kramer) Dastavezi the Audio-Visual South Asia. (3): 4-12.
2021 “A specter is hunting Pakistan! Nationalism in Pakistan’s horror pulp fiction” Asian Ethnology. 80 (1-2): 31-56. (peer reviewed, updated from 2016).
2021 “Blasphemy accusations as extreme speech acts in Pakistan” Digital Hate: The Global Conjuncture of Extreme Speech. eds. Udupa, Sahana, Iginio Gagliardone and Peter Hervik. Indiana University Press. (peer reviewed).
2020 “Hinglaj Devi ‘solidifying’ Hindu identity at a Hindu temple in Pakistan” American Anthropologist. 122 (1): 528-539. (peer reviewed).
2020 “Betwixt and between: Hindu identity in Pakistan and ‘wary and aware’ public performances” Journal of South Asian Studies. (43): 152-168. (peer reviewed).
2020 “Thrust into Heaven: ambiguity and degradation in multi-mediated ethnographic research” Dastavezi the Audio-Visual South Asia. (2): 24-35.
2020 “Relation-making, time, and critique: a Slow Theory approach to film and social sciences” (with Max Kramer) Dastavezi the Audio-Visual South Asia. (2): 1-12.
2020 “Introduction” in Pakistan. Parallel Narratives of the Nation-State, eds. Jürgen Schaflechner & Christina Oesterheld, and Ayesha Asif. Karachi: Oxford University Press.
2020 “Forced conversion and (Hindu) women’s agency in Sindh” Pakistan. Parallel Narratives of the Nation-State, eds. Jürgen Schaflechner & Christina Oesterheld, and Ayesha Asif. Karachi: Oxford University Press. (updated from 2017).
2019 “Blasphemy and the appropriation of vigilante justice in ‘hagiohistoric’ writing in Pakistan” Outrage. The Rise of Offence in Contemporary South Asia, eds. Kathinka Frøystad, Paul Rollier, & Arild Engelsen Ruud. London: UCL Press. (peer reviewed).
2019 “Moving slowly between documentary and dastavezi” (with Max Kramer) Dastavezi the Audio-Visual South Asia. (1): 1-11.
2019 “Introduction: ritual journeys in South Asia” (with Christoph Bergmann) Ritual Journeys, eds. Christoph Bergmann & Jürgen Schaflechner. London et al.: Routledge. (peer reviewed).
2017 “Forced conversion and (Hindu) women’s agency in Sindh” South Asia Chronicle. (7): 275-317. (peer reviewed).
2016 “‘The Hindu’ in recent Urdu horror stories from Pakistan” Zeitschrift für Indologie und Südasienstudien. (32): 323-335. (peer reviewed).
2015 “The mother and the other” Muslim Wanderers in South Asia, eds. Michel Boivin & Remy Delage. London et al.: Routledge. (peer reviewed).
2015 “Denial and repetition: the solidification of tradition” The Ambivalence of Denial. What’s Behind Denying Ritual?, eds. Ute Hüsken & Udo Simon. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. (peer reviewed).
2015 “Economy of sacrifice: the Vagris of Karachi” The Karachi Conference, ed. Sabiah Askari. Karachi: Cambridge Scholars Publishers.
2021 “How do Hindus live in Muslim countries like Pakistan, if any do?” in Hinduism in Five Minutes, ed. Steven Ramey. Sheffield, UK: Equinox Publisher.
2021 “Is Hinduism a more peaceful religion?” in Hinduism in Five Minutes, ed. Steven Ramey. Sheffield, UK: Equinox Publisher.
2019 “Hinduism in Pakistan” in Oxford Bibliographies in Hinduism. Ed. Tracy Coleman. New York: Oxford University Press.
2015 “Royal Asiatic Society” in Lexikon zur Überseegeschichte, ed. Hermann Hiery. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag. (peer reviewed).
2015 “Hinduism” (with Hans Hommes) in Lexikon zur Überseegeschichte, ed. Hermann Hiery. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag. (peer reviewed).
2022 Dastavezi, The Audio-Visual South Asia. Issue (4). Editor in Chief (with Max Kramer).
2021 Dastavezi, The Audio-Visual South Asia. Issue (3). Editor in Chief (with Max Kramer).
2020 Dastavezi, The Audio-Visual South Asia. Issue (2). Editor in Chief (with Max Kramer).
2019 Dastavezi, The Audio-Visual South Asia. Issue (1). Editor in Chief (with Max Kramer).
2020 “Max Kramer: Mobilität und Zeugenschaft: Unabhängige Dokumentarfilmpraktiken und der Kaschmirkonflikt“ in Communications: European Journal of Communication Research (45) 1.
2018 “Matthew Cook: Annexation and the unhappy valley. The historical anthropology of Sindh’s colonialization” in Intinerario: International Journal on the History of European Expansion and Global Interaction. (42) 3.
2018 “‘Forced conversions’ of Hindu women to Islam in Pakistan: another perspective” in The Conversation (https://theconversation.com/forced-conversions-of-hindu-women-to-islam-in-pakistan-another-perspective-102726).
2017 “Why does Pakistan’s horror pulp fiction stereotype ‘the Hindu’” in The Conversation
(https://theconversation.com/why-does-horror-pulp-fiction-in-pakistan-demonise-hindu-characters-73885).
2016 “What is lacking in the law on forced conversion” The Herald, December issue. Karachi.
2014 “The shrine of Hinglaj Devi” The Herald, October issue. Karachi.
Documentary Films
Published full-length films found at https://www.juergen-schaflechner.com/home/film
Films on Cultural Theory (CUT: Cinematic Understanding of Theory)
2024 THE SPECTOR OF POPULISM (Currently under production)
Cinematic Understanding of Theory and Frontaal Film
(featuring amongst others Jody Dean, Faisal Devji, William Mozzarella, Chantal Mouffe) Bullfrog Film Distribution, PA.
2019 THE TOXIC REIGNS OF RESENTMENT (52 min) Bullfrog Film Distribution, PA.
Cinematic Understanding of Theory and Frontaal Film
(featuring amongst others Wendy Browns, Rahel Jaeggi, Peter Sloterdijk)
Bullfrog Film Distribution, PA.
Screened at: Princeton University, Yale University, New School (New York City), Erasmus University (Rotterdam), Hebrew University (Israel), University of Amsterdam
Ethnographic Films (Being in the World Productions)
Forth. MY TWO LIVES (Film on “ex-Muslims” in Pakistan and Europe. Currently under production)
2023 THE KARACHI ARCHIVE (Korsakow filmproject with 24 short films on life in Karachi)
Part of the exhibition “Spannende Stadt—Stadt unter Spannung” at the Goethe Institute Karachi 2024
לשנ ה הבא ה…
2022 - IN THE NEXT YEAR! (9 min)
Screened at: EHSS Paris, SAI Heidelberg
2016 THRUST INTO HEAVEN (66 min)
Selected at: Sindhi Film Festival (Paris, 2016), SoSe Film Festival (Jerewan, 2017)
2015 THERE THEY CALL US HINDUS. HERE WE ARE PAKISTANIS (52 min)
Selected at: FIFEQ (Quebec, 2014), Bir Duino Human Rights Film Festival (Bishkek, 2014), Ethnocineca (Vienna, 2015)
2013 MOTHER CALLING. KALI IN KARACHI (45 min)
Selected at: FiFEQ (Quebec, 2014), One With a Movie Camera (Marburg, 2013), Music
Mela, (Islamabad, 2015), I am Karachi (Karachi, 2015)
2012 FAKEERA. AN UNEXCEPTIONAL STORY (8 min)
Selected at: Short on Work (Modena, 2012), Ethnocineca (Vienna, 2013)
2011 …ON BECOMING GODS (43 min)
Screened at: University Heidelberg, University of Vienna
2010 AGNEYA TIRTHA HINGLAJ (28 min)
Screened at: University Heidelberg
Fellowships, Honors and Grants
2023 Goethe Institute, funding for multi-media exhibition in Karachi, 2024
Spannende Stadt—Stadt unter Spannung (Tense and Tantalizing City)
2022 Center for International Cooperation, Freie Universität, workshop at Oxford University on “political imaginations”
2020 Volkswagen Foundation grant for producing a documentary film on populist politics (tentative title: The Populism Paradox)
2019 Principal Investigator Volkswagen Foundation Freigeist Fellowship: Populism of the Precarious. Marginalization, Mobilization, and Mediatization of Religious Minorities in South Asia (2020-2025)
Co-Principal Investigator at Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration (SPARC) together with Prof. Zaidi, Dr. Mahananda, and Prof. Harder (2019-2021)
2019 Martin Buber Fellowship funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) (2019-2020)
2018 Princeton Fung Global Fund for producing the documentary film Toxic Reigns
2017 Princeton Fung Fellowship for researching the “Politics of Resentment” at the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies (2017-2018)
2016 Institute for the Promotion of Film (Filmförderung) Baden-Württemberg grant for the post-production of the film Thrust into Heaven
2015 Grant for the post-production of the film Thrust into Heaven given by the South Asia Institute
Erasmus Exchange Grant for a Visiting Scholarship to the University of Vienna
2014German Embassy travel grant to the Bir Duino Human Rights Film Festival Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, to screen the film There we are Hindus. Here we are Pakistanis
2013 Research Cluster travel grant for the Essex Summer School of Discourse Theory
2012 DFG (German Research Foundation) Postdoc Research Fellowship in the Research Cluster “Asia and Europe in a Global Context” (2012-2015)
SFB 619 Book Publication Grant for language editing
2011 Harvard Visiting Scholar (Affiliated with the Study of Religion) funded by the SFB 619 (spring term 2011)
2009 DFG (German Research Foundation) PhD Fellowship for the Collaborative Research Center 619 (SFB) “Ritualdynamics” with Research and Travel Grant (2009-2012)
Teaching
2020
Use and Abuse of Concepts in Cultural Anthropology
Dramatic Anthropology: Theory and Case-Study in Cultural Anthropology
2019
Populism of the Precarious. Marginalization, Mediatization, and Mobilization of Religious Minorites in South Asia
Media 4.0 From Mantra to Tweet
2018-19
Affect, Political Emotions, and the Politics of Resentment
Betwixt and Between: Hinduism in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan
2017
Hitchhiker’s Guide to Cultural Theory. From A(lthusser) to Ž(ižek)
2016-17
Anthropology of Pakistan: Cultural Landscapes
Methoden der Text- und Kulturwissenschaften (Methods of Literary and Cultural Studies)
2016
Voices from the Margins: What is “the Political” in Political Documentary Film?
Public Spheres and Political Rhetoric in South Asia
2015-16
Anthropology of Pakistan: A Nation Insufficiently Imagined?
“Der Hindu” in rezenten Urdu Horrorgeschichten aus Pakistan (“The Hindu” in recent Urdu Horror Tales from Pakistan)
2015
Traces of the Other. Theories of Difference in Cultural Studies
Public Spheres in South Asia. Languages of Resistance and Political Mobilization
Selected Talks and Panels
2023
FREIE UNIVERSITÄT BERLIN
“Alleged Jewish Life in Pakistan: Secret Ethnography - Ethnography of a Secret”
SOUTH ASIA INSTITUTE, HEIDELBERG
“Affectivism. Activism in the Times of Communicative Capitalism”
CENTRE D'ETUDES DE L'ASIE DU SUD, PARIS
“Becoming Jewish in the Islamic Republic. The Bene Ephraim of Pakistan”
SOUTH ASIA INSTITUTE, HEIDELBERG
“Ethical Strategies of Religious Minorites in South Asia”
2022
NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE (ONLINE)
“Minority visibility in Pakistan”
EUROPEAN ASSOCIATION OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGIST (EASA), BELFAST
“Affectivism. Activism in the Times of Communicative Capitalism”
ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY, TEMPE (ONLINE)
“Becoming Visible: Recognition, Framing, and Surveillance of Pakistan’s ‘non-Muslims’”
INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION, KARACHI
“Dramatic Anthropology. Recursive Methodologies in Ethnographic Research”
2021
CENTRE D’ÉTUDES DE L’INDE ET DE L’ASIE DU SUD, PARIS (ONLINE)
“The Solidification of Tradition”
2020
CORNELL UNIVERSITY, ITHACA (ONLINE)
“Betwixt and Between. Hindu Identity in the Islamic Republic”
HEBREW UNIVERSITY, JERUSALEM
“Thrust into Heaven” (film screening with talk and panel discussion)
Film: “Toxic Reigns of Resentment” screening and talk
2019 INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL AND REGIONAL STUDIES, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY, NJ
“Resenting Resentment: Problems and Potentials of a Contentious Concept”
HUMANITIES PROGRAM, YALE UNIVERSITY, CN
Film: “Toxic Reigns of Resentment” screening and talk (with Sjoerd van Tuinen)
NEW SCHOOL FOR SOCIAL RESEARCH, NYC
Film: “Toxic Reigns of Resentment” screening and talk (with Sjoerd van Tuinen)
2018 LUDWIG MAXIMILLIAN UNIVERSITÄT, MÜNCHEN
“Blasphemy 2.0. Transgressive Speech Online”
INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL AND REGIONAL STUDIES, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY, NJ
“Staging the Hindu Self. Affirmative and ‘Self-Conscious’ Politics in Pakistan
SOUTH ASIA SEMINAR, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, NYC
“Hindu Public Engagement and ‘Self-Conscious’ Politics in Pakistan”
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY, EAST LANSING
“Thrust into Heaven” (film screening with talk and panel discussion)
INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL AND REGIONAL STUDIES, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY, NJ
Film: “Thrust into Heaven”
Conferences and Workshops (Co-)Organized
2022 Communicative Capitalism and the Commodification of Victimhood
International Participants: Jodi Dean
A NEW AUTHORITARIANISM IN SOUTH ASIA?
International Participants: Faisal Devji, Ammar Ali Jan
THE LIMITS OF ONLINE VISIBILITY MEDIATIZING MINORITES IN SOUTH ASIA
International Participants: Nida Kirmani, William Mazarella, Paul Rollier, Ravi Sundaram
2015 WORKSHOP: POLITICAL THEORY AND TRANSCULTURALITY
International Participant: David Howarth