Invited Academic Talks
“A Quest for Purity. An Entangled History of Vegetarianism”. Book presentation, Modern European History Research Seminar, University of Oxford, United Kingdom, 15.02.2024.
“A Taste for Purity. An Entangled History of Vegetarianism”. Book presentation, research seminar, Centre for Modern Indian Studies, Georg August Universität Göttingen, Germany, 17.01.2024.
“A Taste for Purity. An Entangled History of Vegetarianism”. Book presentation, Modern History Research Seminar, University of Fribourg, Switzerland, 19.12.2023.
“In Search of Purity. German-Speaking Vegetarians and the Lure of India”. Presentation at the workshop Religious Entanglements between Germans and Indians, University of Erfurt, Germany, 24.02.2023.
“Warum auf Fleisch verzichten? Missverständnisse im Austausch eines deutschen Antifaschisten mit einem militanten Hindu-Nationalisten (1937/38)“ (Why Reject Meat? Misunderstandings between a German Anti-Fascist and a Militant Hindu Nationalist (1937/38). Presentation at the workshop “Eine Woche Zeit”, Gut Siggen, Germany, 13.10.2022.
“The Birth of the Ascetic Leader.” Paper at the Conference Nodes of Translation: Rethinking Modern Intellectual History between South Asia and Germany, Center for Modern Indian Studies Göttingen, 07.–09.07.2022.
“From Tripoli to Tunis: The ‘Jazz Age’ in the Arab World.” Presentation in the joint global history seminar of the University of Zurich and Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule, Zurich, 19.05.2022.
“Lebensreform als globales Projekt? Debatten über Vegetarismus zwischen Europa, den USA und Südasien (ca. 1850–1957). (Life Reform as a Global Endeavour? Debates on Vegetarianism between Europe, the United States, and South Asia (c. 1850–1957).” Atelier du transnational, German Historical Institute Paris, 30.11.2021.
“The Many Sides of New Man: German Vegetarians’ Global Vision”. Position paper on the online seminar on “The German Body and Self in Global Circuits of Knowledge and Practice, 1700–1945” at the 45th Annual Conference of the German Studies Association, 30.09.—04.10.2021.
“Von Nähe und Distanz. Eine Verflechtungsgeschichte des Vegetarismus (ca. 1847–1957). (Of Proximity and Distance. An Entangled History of Vegetarianism (c. 1847–1957).” Keynote at the Online Workshop on Youth Movement Research, Burg Ludwigstein, Witzenhausen, 01.05.2021.
“(Un)verbundene Wissensproduktion auf drei Kontinenten: Vegetarismus zwischen Europa, Nordamerika und Südasien (1850–1957).” Keynote at the Workshop Jugendbewegungsforschung at Burg Ludwigstein, 24.—26.4.2020.
“Entangled Genealogies of Vegetarianism, c. 1850—1957.” Jindal Global University, Sonipat, India, 19.02.2020.
“Kellogg and Cow Protection. British and American Life Reform and Hindu Nationalism in the 1890s.” Junior Scholars Research Seminar in Anglo-American Studies, University of Porto, Portugal, 18.06.2019.
“An Entangled History of Vegetarianism, c. 1850—1957.” Research Seminar in Modern History, University of Kassel, Germany, 29.04.2019.
“A Frugal Crescent. Perceptions of Foodways in the Ottoman Empire and Egypt in Nineteenth-Century Vegetarian Discourse.” Danish-German Research Seminar in Islamic Studies, University of Kiel, Germany, 25.01.2019.
“An Entangled History of Vegetarianism.” Joint Research Seminar (History Department & Centre for Modern Indian Studies), University of Göttingen, Germany, January 2018.
“Saving Souls? ‘Orphan Parenting’ in Missionary Contexts in the Ottoman Empire (1860— 1918).” Conference Designing Modern Families, Kassel, Germany, 17.—18.11.2017.
“Eine Verflechtungsgeschichte des Vegetarismus“ (An Entangled History of Vegetarianism), Zentrum Moderner Orient, Berlin, Germany, 27.04.2017.
“Global History: Impossible Project or Indispensable Perspective? Keynote talk at Workshop To Be Global in Vienna, University of Vienna, Austria, 25.04.2017.
“An Entangled History of Vegetarianism.” Centre for Studies in Social Sciences Calcutta, Kolkata, India, Research Seminar, 09.03.2017.
“Acknowledging Links, Asserting Boundaries. Visions of the Global and the Particular in Vegetarian Discourse between Europe, Asia, and the United States.” Research Seminar in Global History, University of Heidelberg, Germany, 12.01.2017.
“An Entangled History of Vegetarianism”. Research Seminar, German Historical Institute London, July 2016.
“Missionen im Konflikt. Kaiserswerther Diakonissen im spätosmanischen Beirut” (Missions in Conflict: Kaiserswerth Deaconesses in Late Ottoman Beirut). Research Seminar on the Cultural History of the Mediterranean, University of Bochum, Germany, 22.06.2015.
“An Entangled History of Vegetarianism. Prospects and Problems.” Research Seminar on the History of the Modern World, ETH Zurich, Switzerland, 23.04.2015.
“Knotting the Web: Arab Teachers in a German Protestant Mission in Late Ottoman Beirut.” Conference The Changing Face of Missionary Education, University of Munster, Germany, 10./11.07.2014.
“Food for Thought. Globalhistorische Implikationen des modernen Vegetarismus.” Research Seminar in Global and International History, University of Erfurt, 19.11.2013.
“Eine vergessene Gründungsfigur: Melita Carabet (1832—1902) und die Anfänge eines protestantischen Mädchenwaisenhauses im spätosmanischen Beirut.“ Conference “Bildung und Schule in Frauenhand“, Wolfenbuttel, Germany, 24.10.2013.
Conference/Workshop Presentations
The Entangled History of German Vegetarianism, Seminar “The German Body and Self in Global Circuits of Knowledge and Practice, 1700–1945”, 45th German Studies Association Conference, Indianapolis, 30.09.–03.10.2021.
“Global History in a Changing Society”. Conference The Place of Humanities in Research, Education and Society: An Arab-German Dialogue. Freie Universität Berlin, 8.–10.11.2019.
“Internationalism or Nationalism? The World Vegetarian Congress of 1957 in India”. Panel on Nutrition, Identity and Improving the Indian Body Politic, 1925—1957, European Social Sciences and History Conference, Belfast, Northern Ireland, 07.04.2018.
“From Spiritual Evolution to the Meat of Colonialism. Debates between Europeans and Indians over Vegetarianism in late–nineteenth century India”. Workshop on The Body in Colonial India, University of Kassel, Germany, 09./10.06.2017.
“Pursuing one’s own in the contact zone. Local and foreign proponents of vegetarianism in India by the turn of the twentieth century.” Panel Transcending Boundaries, 51. Historikertag (Bi-annual Meeting of the German Historical Association), University of Hamburg, Germany, 20.—23.09.2016.
“Fantasies of the Frugal. Perceptions of Foodways in Western Asia in German and British Vegetarian Discourse.” Conference Insatiable Appetite. Food as Cultural Signifier, American University of Beirut, Lebanon, 12.—14.05.2016.
“Civilizing Appetites. Nineteenth–Century Vegetarian Discourse and the Civilizing Mission.” Panel on Civilizing Missions, European Social Sciences and History Conference, Valencia, Spain, 30.03.—02.04.2016.
“Malta and the Practice of Disguised Travel by 1800.” Conference Fluid Nature, Fluid Cultures. Malta and the Mediterranean, Malta, 09.—13.09.2015.
“From Villager to Vali. Local Patrons of Two Foreign Schools for Girls in Late Ottoman Beirut. “Panel Beyond Hybridity, 50. Deutscher Historikertag (Bi-annual meeting of the German Historical Association), University of Göttingen, Germany, 26.09.2014.
“Mothers of a Future Generation. An Argument for Female Education and its Appropriation.” Conference Education from Ottoman to Mandate Beirut: Catalyst for Multiple Modernities, Orient–Institut Beirut, Lebanon, 19.—22.04.2012.
“Doppelt indirekte Mission. Raum, Geschlecht und ihr Einfluss auf die Wissensproduktion in der Mission am Beispiel der Kaiserswerther Diakonissen in Beirut” (Doubly Indirect Mission. Space, Gender, and Impact on Missionary Knowledge Production: The Example of Kaiserswerth Deaconesses in Beirut). Conference Missionarinnen und Missionare als Akteure der Transformation und des Transfers: Außereuropäische Kontaktzonen und ihre europäischen Resonanzräume (1860—1940), University of Göttingen, Germany, 29.09.—01.10.2011.
“Von der Selbstanklage zur Selbstabgrenzung: Wandlungen im Selbstverständnis Kaiserswerther Diakonissen infolge ihrer Tätigkeit in Beirut (1860—1914)“ (From Self-Accusation to Self-Distinction: Transformations in Self-Fashioning among Kaiserswerth Deaconesses in the Course of their Work in Beirut (1860—1914). Research seminar on diaconal history, University of Bielefeld, Germany, April 2011.
“Pluralität als Potential und Problem: Die Höhere Töchterschule Kaiserswerths in Beirut als transkultureller Interaktionsraum.” (Heterogeneity as Potential and Problem: The Kaiserswerth Secondary School for Girls in Beirut as a Transcultural Contact Zone), Deutscher Orientalistentag (Bi-annual Meeting of the German Oriental Society), September 2010.
“Almost the same but not quite”: Arab Protestant Deaconesses. Middle Eastern Studies Association (MESA) Conference, Boston, USA, 21.—24.11.2010.
“Eine Insel umbraust von den Wogen des Ocean’s? Pensionat und Waisenhaus der Kaiserswerther Diakonissen in der „Stadt der Schulen“ (1860—1918).“ (‘An Island Washed by the Crashing Waves of the Ocean?’ The Kaiserswerth Deaconesses Boarding School and Orphanage in the ‘City of Schools’ (1860—1918). Research Seminar, Orient Institut Beirut, Lebanon, September 2010.
“Jostling in the Lord’s Vineyard: The Impact of Missionary Pluralism on the Pedagogical Mission of the Kaiserswerth deaconesses in Beirut.” Conference Christians in the Middle East, University of Stirling, UK, 06.02.2009.
“Zwischen Emanzipation, Mission und Nation: Erziehungsarbeit Kaiserswerther Diakonissen im Osmanischen Reich, 1851—1918.” (Between Emancipation, Mission and Nation: The Kaiserswerth Deaconesses’ Educational Work in the Ottoman Empire, 1851—1918), Conference Transkulturalität und Gender in bildungshistorischer Perspektive (Transculturality and Gender in the History of Education), University of Cologne, Germany, 08.—09.02.2008.
“A Crusade of Love. Kaiserswerth Deaconesses in the Ottoman Empire, 1851—1918.” 31st German Studies Association Conference, San Diego, USA, 06.10.2007.
Panel/Conference Organization
With Konstantin M. Klein (Bamberg, Germany), Lena-Maria Möller (Hamburg, Germany), and Muhammad al-Wuhaib (Kuwait City, Kuwait): Conference “Deconstruction/Reconstruction. Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Cultural Heritage in Conflict”. American University of Beirut, Lebanon, 30.09.—02.10.2019.
With Teresa Segura Garcia (Cambridge, UK): Conference “The Body in Colonial India.” University of Kassel, Germany, 09./10.06.2017.
“Transcending boundaries. The religious, the secular, and negotiations of cultural hierarchies in turn–of–the century counter–cultural contexts between Europe, Asia, and Africa.” Panel, 51. Deutscher Historikertag (Bi-annual meeting of the German Historical Association), University of Hamburg, Germany, 20—23.09.2016. Chair: Gauri Viswanathan (Columbia University, New York, USA); Comment: Hans Martin Krämer (Heidelberg, Germany).
With Kirill Dmitriev (St Andrews, UK) and Bilal Orfali (AUB, Lebanon): Conference “Insatiable Appetite. Food as Cultural Signifier”, American University of Beirut, Lebanon, 14.05.2016.
With Jens Scheiner (Göttingen, Germany) and Kirill Dmitriev (St Andrews, UK): Conference Fluid Nature, Fluid Cultures. Malta and the, Malta, 9.—13.9.2015. Keynote speaker: Michael Cooperson (UCLA).
With Christian Saßmannshausen (FU Berlin): Beyond Hybridity? Members of Minorities as Brokers in Global Cultural Encounters in the Late Ottoman Empire. Panel, 50. Deutscher Historikertag (Bi-annual Meeting of the German Historical Association), University of Göttingen, Germany, 26.09.2014. Comment: Gudrun Krämer (FU Berlin).
With Jens Elze (Göttingen): Summer School “Multiple Modernities”, University of Göttingen, Germany, 01.—05.09.2014. Keynote speakers: Gurminder Bhambra (Warwick, UK), Gauri Viswanathan (Columbia University, New York, USA), Parama Roy (UC Davis, USA).
With Iris Schröder (Erfurt/Gotha, Germany), Christian Methfessel (Erfurt/Gotha, Germany), Hubertus Büschel (Giessen, Germany) and Jonas Brendebach (Florence, Italy): Workshop Internationale Organisationen und Räume des Wissens (International Organization and Epistemic Spaces), Gotha Research Centre / University of Erfurt, Germany, 24.—25.07.2014.
With Christine Lindner (Balamand, Lebanon) and Esther Möller (Mainz, Germany): Conference Education from Ottoman to Mandate Beirut: Catalyst for Multiple Modernities, Orient-Institut Beirut, Lebanon, 19.—22.04.2012. Keynote speakers: Benjamin Fortna (SOAS, London, UK), Ussama Makdisi (Houston/Texas, USA).
With Daniel Ristau (Göttingen, Germany) and Giulia Frontoni (Göttingen, Germany): Panel “Euphorie und Enttäuschung: Die Napoleonischen Kriege als multiple Generationsbildner” (Euphoria and Disillusionment: The Napoleonic Wars and the Shaping of a Generation) auf der Tagung des DFG-Graduiertenkollegs Generationengeschichte Zukünftige Vergangenheit: Generation im Spannungsfeld von Imagination und Rekonstruktion (Future Pasts: Generations between Imagination and Re-Construction), University of Göttingen, Germany, 06.—07.05.2011.
With Martin Tamcke (Göttingen, Germany), Arthur Manukyan (Göttingen, Germany) and Maybritt Gustrau: Conference “Protestanten im Orient. Aspekte transkultureller und interkonfessioneller Kontakte und Wahrnehmungen im 18. und 19. Jahrhundert” (Protestants in the Middle East: Transcultural and Inter-Denominational Contacts and Encounters), University of Göttingen, Germany, 11.—12.07.2008.
Conference and Panel Comments
Comment at the panel “Fleisch (nicht) essen” ((Not) Eating Meat). 51. Deutscher Historikertag (Bi-annual meeting of the German Historical Association), University of Munster, Germany, 28.09.2018.
Comment at the conference “Muslim Networks in Europe, South Asia, and the Arab Middle East in the first half of the 20th Century.” Berlin Graduate School of Muslim Cultures and Societies, Berlin, Germany, 03.—04.02.2017.
Comment at the conference “Beyond the Master’s Tools: Postcolonial and Decolonial Approaches to Research Methodology and Methods in the Social Sciences”, University of Kassel, Germany, 14.—15.01.2016.
Comment at the conference “Ecological Networks and Transfers in Colonial Contexts, c. 1850—1920”, University of Kassel, Germany, 26.—27.06.2015.
Outreach Talks / Public Events
“Cultural Heritage in Conflict: Perspectives from Literature and Art.” Public panel discussion with writer Hoda Barakat and artists Ali Cherri, Abed al-Kadiri, and Alfred Tarazi, Orient Institut Beirut, Lebanon, 01.10.2020.
“An Entangled History of Vegetarianism (ca. 1850—1960).” Talk for the Indian Delegation at the 51. Deutscher Historikertag (Bi-annual meeting of the German Historical Association), University of Hamburg, Germany, 22.09.2016.
Public discussion with writer Alain Mabanckou on his novel “Black Bazaar” in the context of the Göttingen SPIRIT Summer School on “Multiple Modernities” co-organized with Jens Elze, Literarisches Zentrum Göttingen, Germany, 04.09.2014.