Team > Prof. Dr. Eva Spies
Prof. Dr. Eva Spies
Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences
Study of Religion
Academic
Since May 2014, Eva Spies is a professor for the Study of Religion with focus on Africa at the University of Bayreuth. She studied social and cultural anthropology, the study of religion, and political science in Tübingen and Mainz. In her anthropological PhD at the University of Mainz, she worked on intercultural contacts in the context of development cooperation in Niger (Spies 2009).
In her current research, she engages with the interface of religion and development cooperation. She is interested in forms of religious engineering, with which she designates attempts to shape and improve religious, social, and political worlds. The engineers are actors who refer to religious ressources (practices, teachings, symbols, or institutions) within their projects of transformation.
A further focus of her research is on questions of religious plurality: Conceptually, she works with notions of relationality and multiplicity; empirically, she works on forms of Christianity on the African continent and in particular on South-South missions in Madagascar.
Eva Spies currently is the speaker for the working group “Africa” within the German Association for the Study of Religion.
At the University of Bayreuth, she is
- Representative of the Institute of African Studies (IAS)
- PI of the Bayreuth International Graduate School of African Studies (BIGSAS)
- PI in the Cluster of Excellence EXC 2052: Africa Multiple: Reconfiguring African Studies, Member of its Academic Committee and coordinator of its Research Section Moralities
Eva Spies is on a research sabbatical during the winter semester 2021/2022.
Office hours are available by arrangement.
Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences
Study of Religion
Fields of Research
- Religious plurality
- Christianity in Africa
- Religion and development cooperation
- (Religious) projects of transformation
- Intercultural communication and hermeneutics
- Religious epistemologies and anthropologies
Regional foci
- Madagascar/Indian Ocean
- Niger/West Africa
Current project
Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences
Study of Religion
Publications
2020
Spies, Eva; Schrode, Paula
Religious engineering : exploring projects of transformation from a relational perspective
Bayreuth, 2020
doi:10.1080/0048721X.2020.1792053 ...
2019
Spies, Eva
Being in Relation : A Critical Appraisal of Religious Diversity and Mission Encounter in Madaga ...
in Journal of Africana Religions volume 7 (2019) issue 1. - page 62-83
doi:10.5325/jafrireli.7.1.0062 ...
2018
Fischer-Kattner, Anke; Kopf, Martina; Spies, Eva; Holtz, Menja
Introduction
in Comparativ : Zeitschrift für Globalgeschichte und vergleichende Gesellschaftsforschung volume 28 (2018) issue 2. - page 7-21
2018
Room for Manoeuvre : (Cultural) Encounters and Concepts of Place
publ: Fischer-Katter, Anke; Holtz, Menja; Kopf, Martina; Spies, Eva
Comparativ : Zeitschrift für Globalgeschichte und vergleichende Gesellschaftsforschung
2018
Spies, Eva
"Winning the Place for Jesus" : A Relational Perspective on Pentecostal Mission Encounters in M ...
in Comparativ : Zeitschrift für Globalgeschichte und vergleichende Gesellschaftsforschung volume 28 (2018) issue 2. - page 86-101
2017
Spies, Eva
Schrift und Charisma : Zur Rolle von Lehrbüchern in der pfingstlich-charismatischen Mission in ...
in Zeitschrift für Religionswissenschaft volume 25 (2017) issue 2. - page 263-286
doi:10.1515/zfr-2016-0023 ...
2016
Spies, Eva; Holtz, Menja; Möller, Esther; Torma, Franziska
Begegnungen auf der Spur : Eine neue Perspektive auf Kulturkontakt und Materialität
in Saeculum volume 66 (2016) issue 2. - page 177
doi:10.7788/saeculum-2016-0202 ...
Spies, Eva
Dilemmas of Participation : Developers and the Problem of Doing the Right Thing
Dilemmas of Humanitarian Aid in the Twentieth Century
Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2016. - page 417-435
Spies, Eva; Seesemann, Rüdiger
Pluralicity and Relationality : New Directions in African Studies
in Africa Today volume 63 (2016) issue 2. - page 132-139
doi:10.2979/africatoday.63.2.19 ...
2013
Spies, Eva
Coping with Religious Diversity : Incommensurability and other Perspectives
A Companion to the Anthropology of Religion
Chichester : Wiley-Blackwell, 2013. - page 118-136 . - (Blackwell Companions to Anthropology; 25)
2012
50 Jahre Unabhängigkeit in Afrika : Kontinuitäten Brüche, Perspektiven
publ: Spies, Eva; Bierschenk, Thomas
Köln : Köppe, 2012. - 572 page . - (Mainzer Beiträge zur Afrikaforschung; 29)
Spies, Eva; Bierschenk, Thomas
Afrika seit 1960 : Kontinuitäten, Brüche, Perspektiven
Spies, Eva ; Bierschenk, Thomas (Hrsg:): 50 Jahre Unabhängigkeit in Afrika : Kontinuitäten Brüche, Perspektiven
Köln : Köppe, 2012. - page 7-51 . - (Mainzer Beiträge zur Afrikaforschung; 29)
Spies, Eva; Dorsch, Hauke
Wa(h)re „Kultur“ : Kulturelles Erbe, Revitalisierung und die Renaissance der Idee von Kultur. T ...
in EthnoScripts volume 14 (2012) issue 1
Spies, Eva; Dorsch, Hauke
Wa(h)re „Kultur“? Kulturelles Erbe, Revitalisierung und die Renaissance der Idee von Kultur. Ta ...
in Mitteilungen der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Völkerkunde volume 43 (2012) . - page 19-21
2011
Auf dem Boden der Tatsachen : Festschrift für Thomas Bierschenk
publ: Spies, Eva; Schareika, Nikolaus; Le Meur, Pierre-Yves
Köln : Köppe, 2011 . - (Mainzer Beiträge zur Afrikaforschung; 28)
Spies, Eva; Schareika, Nikolaus; Le Meur, Pierre-Yves
Einleitung: Ethnologie auf dem Boden der Tatsachen
Schareika, Nikolaus ; Spies, Eva ; Le Meur, Pierre-Yves (Hrsg.): Auf dem Boden der Tatsachen : Festschrift für Thomas Bierschenk
Köln : Köppe, 2011. - page 9-26 . - (Mainzer Beiträge zur Afrikaforschung; 28)
Spies, Eva
God at work auf Madagaskar : Zum Verhältnis von Religion und Politik
Schareika, Nikolaus ; Spies, Eva ; Le Meur, Pierre-Yves (Hrsg.): Auf dem Boden der Tatsachen : Festschrift für Thomas Bierschenk
Köln : Köppe, 2011. - page 447-463 . - (Mainzer Beiträge zur Afrikaforschung; 28)
2010
Spies, Eva; Bierschenk, Thomas
Continuities, Dislocations and Transformations : 50 Years of Independence in Africa
in Africa Spectrum volume 45 (2010) issue 3. - page 3-10
http://journals.sub.uni-hamburg.de/giga/afsp/artic ...
Spies, Eva; Bierschenk, Thomas
Introduction: Continuities, Dislocations and Transformations : 50 Years of Independence in Afri ...
in Africa Spectrum volume 45 (2010) issue 3. - page 3-10
http://journals.sub.uni-hamburg.de/giga/afsp/artic ...
Spies, Eva
Partizipative Entwicklung : eine global anwendbare Vorstellung von Zusammenarbeit?
in Journal für Entwicklungspolitik (2010) issue 4. - page 50-72
2009
Spies, Eva
Das Dogma der Partizipation : interkulturelle Kontakte im Kontext der Entwicklungszusammenarbei ...
Köln : Köppe, 2009. - 337 page . - (Mainzer Beiträge zur Afrikaforschung; 20)
Spies, Eva
reviewed by: Einführung in die Religionsethnologie - Ideen und Konzepte by Bettina E. Schmidt
in Zeitschrift für Ethnologie volume 134 (2009) issue 2. - page 292-294
http://www.jstor.org/stable/25843200?seq=1#page_sc ...
reviewed: Bettina E. Schmidt: Einführung in die Religionsethnologie : Ideen und Konzepte. 1. Aufl. Berlin, 2008
2003
Spies, Eva
Interkulturelle Kontakte im Rahmen der Entwicklungskooperation in Zinder (Niger) : Ein Zugang u ...
in Afrika Spectrum volume 38 (2003) issue 3. - page 347-373
http://www.jstor.org/stable/40174994
Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences
Study of Religion
Prof. Dr. Eva Spies
Professor for the Study of Religion with Focus on Africa
Phone: +49 (0)921 / 55-4150 | Fax: +49 (0)921 / 55-844156
E-mail: Eva.Spies@uni-bayreuth.de
Office hours: by arrangement
Room: 1.11 (GW II)
Study of Religion with Focus on Africa
Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences
University of Bayreuth
95440 Bayreuth
Germany