Dr. Ute Dieckmann
Senior Researcher
Global South Studies Center
Classen-Kappelmann-Str. 24, 3. floor
50931 Köln
E-Mail: ute.dieckmann[at]uni-koeln.de
Current research project
DFG-AHRC funded project “Historicising Natures, Cultures and Laws in the Etosha-Kunene Conservation Territories of Namibia: From Deutsch Südwestafrika’s “Game Reserve No. 2” to “Kunene People’s Park”? (Kunene Etosha Histories)
Education and professional career
April 2020
Principal Investigator in the DFG-AHRC funded project “Historicising Natures, Cultures and Laws in the Etosha-Kunene Conservation Territories of Namibia: From Deutsch Südwestafrika’s “Game Reserve No. 2” to “Kunene People’s Park”? (Kunene Etosha Histories)
2017 - 2020
Researcher at the Collaborative Research Centre 806 Our Way To Europe, University of Cologne
Research Title: Mapping and orientation among hunter-gatherers in Africa
Research Topics: perceptions of the environment, relational ontologies, cultural mapping, cartography, cognition and orientation
2016 - 2017
Coordinator of the Competence Area VI Cultures and Societies in Transition, University of Cologne
2008 - 2015
Research Coordinator and Expert on San Populations of the Land, Environment and Development Project (LEAD) of the Legal Assistance Centre (LAC) Windhoek
• Expert involvement in the preparation of the legal land claim of the Hai||om
• Planning and conducting research studies, e.g. on the situation of charcoal workers in Namibia; climate change and indigenous peoples; the livelihoods of San in Namibia
• Facilitating strategic planning in the LEAD project
• Policy development, capacity building, advocacy, networking with other stakeholders
2005 - 2007
Researcher at the Collaborative Research Centre 389 Arid Climate, Adaptation and Cultural Innovation in Africa (ACACIA), University of Cologne
Research Title: Vulnerability and Risk Management in the Farming Sector in the Kunene region, Namibia during the 20th Century
Research Topics: land reform, settlement history, farming strategies, vulnerability in agriculture
2005
University of Cologne, Germany: PhD, Social and Cultural Anthropology
1998 - 2004
Researcher at the Collaborative Research Centre 389 Arid Climate, Adaptation and Cultural Innovation in Africa (ACACIA), University of Cologne
Research Title: Crisis Management and Risk Minimization among Pastoralists, Peasants, and (former) Foragers in Southern Africa
Research Topic: History and Identity of the Hai||om in North-Central Namibia
1998
University of Cologne, Germany, MA, Social and Cultural Anthropology
Research focus
- Indigeneity
- Human-environment relations
- Colonialism
- Relational ontologies
- Participatory mapping
- Land rights
- Southern Africa
Selected publications
Books
Dieckmann, U. (ed.) (forthcoming, latest April 2021): Mapping the Unmappable? Cartographic Explorations with Indigenous Peoples in Africa. Bielefeld: Transcript.
Dieckmann, U. 2007: Hai||om in the Etosha Region: A History of Colonial Settlement, Ethnicity and Nature Conservation. PhD. (University of Cologne, Institut für Völkerkunde). Basel: Basler Afrika Bibliographien.
Book chapters
Dieckmann, U. (forthcoming, latest April 2021): Introduction. In: Dieckmann, U. (ed.): Mapping the Unmappable? Cartographic Explorations with Indigenous Peoples in Africa. Bielefeld: Transcript.
Dieckmann, U. (forthcoming, latest April 2021): Hai||om in Etosha: ‘Cultural maps’ and being-in-relations. In: Dieckmann, U. (ed.): Mapping the Unmappable? Cartographic Explorations with Indigenous Peoples in Africa. Bielefeld: Transcript.
Dieckmann, U. 2013: Land, Boreholes and Fences: The Development of Commercial Livestock Farming in the Outjo District, Namibia. In Bollig, M., Schnegg. M. and H.P. Wotzka (eds.) Pastoralism in Africa: Past, Present, and Future. Oxford: Berghahn: 255-286.
Dieckmann, U. 2011: The Hai||om and Etosha: a case study of resettlement in Namibia. In: Helliker, K. and T. Murisa, (eds.) in: Land struggles and civil society in Southern Africa. New Jersey. Africa World Press: 155-189.
Bolten, A. and Dieckmann, U. 2011: The use of GIS for analyzing and visualizing historical socio-economic & ecological farm data in the Outjo District/Namibia. In: Moehlig, W., Bubenzer, O. and G. Menz, G. (eds.): Towards Interdisciplinary - Experiences of the Long-term ACACIA Project. Koeln: Ruediger Koeppe: 153-180.
Dieckmann, U. 2009: The spectator’s and the dweller’s perspectives: Experience and representation of the Etosha National Park, Namibia. In: Bollig, M. and Bubenzer O. (eds.): African landscapes: interdisciplinary approaches. New York: Springer: 353-381.
Peter, J., Dieckmann, U. and Vogelsang R. 2009: Losing the spoor: Hai||om animal exploitation in the Etosha region. In: Grupe, G., McGlynn, G. and Peters, J. (eds.): Tracking down the past, ethnohistory meets archaeozoology. DOCUMENTA ARCHAEOBIOLOGIAE. München. Band 7: 103-185.
Journal Reviews 2010-2019 for Nomadic Peoples, Anthropological Forum, International Journal of Human Rights, Anthropology Southern Africa, Journal of Namibian Studies.
Selected publications outside academia
Dieckmann, U. 2020: From colonial land dispossession to the Etosha and
Mangetti West land claim – Hai||om struggles in independent Namibia. In: Odendaal, W. and Werner, W. (eds.): Neither here nor there - Indigeneity, marginalisation and land rights in post-independence Namibia. Windhoek: Legal Assistance Centre: 95-120.
Dieckmann, U. 2018: The Status of Food Security and Nutrition of San Communities in Southern Africa. Copenhagen: International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs.
Dieckmann, U., Thiem, M., Dirkx, E and Hays, J. (eds.), 2014: ‘Scraping the Pot’ –San in Namibia Two Decades after Independence. Windhoek: Legal Assistance Centre.
Dieckmann, U., Odendaal, W. Tarr, J. and Schreij, A. (eds.) 2013: Indigenous Peoples and Climate Change in Africa: Report on case studies of Namibia's Topnaar and Hai//om communities. Windhoek: Legal Assistance Centre.
Dieckmann, U. 2012: Born in Etosha – Learning and Living in the Wild. Windhoek: Legal Assistance Centre.
Dieckmann, U. and Muduva, T. 2010: Namibia’s Black Gold? Charcoal Production, Practices and Implications. Windhoek: Legal Assistance Centre.
Dieckmann, U. 2009: Born in Etosha. Homage to the Cultural Heritage of the Hai||om. Windhoek: Legal Assistance Centre.