Christoph Lange
Research project
“Genealogies and Tribal Histories of Arabian horses – A Comparative Network Analysis of the Transcultural Milieu of Arab and Western breeders, traders and enthusiasts of the Arabian Horse. | Or: Breeding Arabian Horses. Circulation, Certification and Standardization” (--> project profile)
Short biography
Christoph Lange studied from 2004–2011 Social Anthropology and Middle East Studies at the University of Leipzig. With his first travels to Syria, Lebanon and Jordan he set his research focus on the Levant region within the Arab Middle East. From 2008–2012 he worked for the German state-funded Collaborative Research Center CRC 586 „Difference and Integration“ at the universities of Leipzig and Halle/Lutherstadt Wittenberg where he conducted his first ethnographic research about Bedouin representations in Syrian television dramas and Arab media discourses about authenticity. Since 2014 he works as a doctoral researcher at the Research Lab “Transformations of Life” at the a.r.t.e.s. Graduate School for the Humanities Cologne. His actual PhD-research project is about the breeding, standardization and circulation of Arabian purebred horses with an ethnographic focus on Egypt and Arab actors within the global breeding industry.
Research interest and focus
Social Anthropology of the Middle East: multispecies-ethnography/human-animal-studies mobility and nomadic studies, translocal entanglement, critical orientalism, media anthropology, kinship and reproduction theory.
Publications
Lange, Christoph (2018): „Interspecies Performance – The Composition of the Arabian Show Horse as Living Sculpture”, in Breyer, Thiemo/Widlok, Thomas (eds.): The Situationality of Human-Animal Relations – Perspectives from Anthropology and Philosophy, Bielefeld: Transcript. (forthcoming)
Lange, Christoph et. al. (2018): Das Flurgespräch als ethnographisches Feld. Blog What’s in a Name – Wofür steht die Umbenennung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Völkerkunde?, 31.07.2018.
Lange, Christoph (2018): conference report: Infrastructures of Publics and Publics of Infrastructures, 08.12.2016 – 10.12.2016 Siegen, in: H-Soz-Kult, 07.06.2018.
Lange, Christoph / Schmidt, Mario (2017): Monetary Games, Big Data and Mereological Magic Gambling, Speculation and Numerology in an Age of Uncertainty, Bericht zum Workshop, in: a.r.t.e.s. Jahrbuch 2016/17 und L.I.S.A. - Das Wissenschaftsportal der Gerda Henkel Stiftung, 12.08.2017.
Lange, Christoph (2016): „Die Erforschung translokaler Netzwerke, die Zucht arabischer Pferde und globale Standardisierungs- und Zertifizierungsdiskurse“. In: a.r.t.e.s. Jahrbuch 2015/16 and L.I.S.A. Wissenschaftsportal Gerda Henkel Stiftung, 01.10.2016.
Lange, Christoph (2016): „Purity, Nobility, Beauty and Performance: Past and Present Construction of Meaning for the Arabian Horse“, in: Davis, Dona/Maurstad, Anita (ed.): The Meaning of Horses: Biosocial Encounters. London: Routledge, p.39–53.
Lange, Christoph (2012): Beduinität und Authentizität im syrischen Fernsehdrama. Mitteilungen des SFB „Differenz und Integration“ 14, Zentrum für Interdisziplinäre Regionalstudien – Vorderer Orient, Afrika, Asien der Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg.
Lange, Christoph (2011): Student assistance and research: Nippa, Annegret (ed.): Kleines abc des Nomadismus. Hamburg: Museum für Völkerkunde Hamburg.
Lange, Christoph (2009): „Der Klang der Schmiede“, in: Streck, Bernhard (ed.): Shutka Shukar – Zu Gast bei Roma, Ashkali und Ägyptern, Leipzig: Universitätsverlag Leipzig, p. 56–65.
Workshops & conferences
07/2018 Seville, Spain: “Visiting the Turfs of the Modern Arabian Horse – Hegemonies and Politics of Arabian Horseracing in the Arab Middle East”, World Congress for Middle Eastern Studies 2018, Panel: Intersection of Equine Culture and History in Europe, Middle East and North Africa, University of Seville.
07/2017 Cologne: “The Art of Breeding Arabian Horses – Between Localized Practices and Global Breeding Standards”, GSSC Annual Conference The Global South on The Move – Transforming Capitalism, Knowledge and Ecologies, Global South Studies Centers, University of Cologne.
12/2016 Beirut, Libanon: „From the Arab Bedouin Horse to the Modern Straight EgyptianTM – Discourses of Ancestry, Genealogical Purity and Bloodlines in the Global Breeding Industry of the Arabian Horse.“ Workshop: Nasab: Lineage and Genealogy in the Arab East, Orientinstitut Beirut, Libanon.
11/2016 Cologne: „The Contemporary Breeding of Arabian Horses. Or: A Transnational Gambling with Life?“ Workshop Monetary Games, Big Data and Mereological Magic Gambling, Speculation and Numerology in an Age of Uncertainty, a.r.t.e.s. Research Lab Transformations of Life, University of Cologne (organized with Dr. Mario Schmidt; conference report).
07/2016 Leipzig: ›Tribalism‹ versus ›Nation building‹ -An Account on the Applicability of Anthropological Theory in the Eastern Nile Delta Province of Sharqiya during the Parliamentary Elections in 2015.“ Symposium: Intervention als Politik und Magie - Motive und Konsequenzen, Institut für Ethnologie, University of Leipzig.
11/2014 Siegen: „Züchtung, Zirkulation & Zertifizierung arabischer Pferde. Zur Lokalität translokaler Netzwerke.“ Workshop „Medien|Praktiken der Bewegung“ des DFG-Graduiertenkollegs „Locating Media“, University of Siegen.
08/2014 Tallinn, Estland: „Straight Egyptians, Desert-bred and Asil Arabians: Purity, Nobility, Beauty and Performance.“ Konferenz „EASA 2014: Intimacy, Collaboration and Revolution“, University of Tallinn.
12/2012 Cairo, Egypt: „A Cup of Blood – The Representation of Bedouins in Syrian Television drama.“, Konferenz „The Arab East and the Bedouin Component“, Orient-Institut Beirut & SFB 586, American University Cairo.
Latest research stay
Egypt, 04/2015–05/2016: stationary ethnographic fieldwork (scholarship by the German Academic Exchange Program for PhD researcher)
Photo: Patric Fouad