Marion Wettstein is a social and cultural anthropologist and scientist of religion with a regional research focus on Nepal, Northeast India, the extended Eastern Himalaya and their transcultural relations. Her thematic interests include the anthropology of religion, ritual studies, mythology, oral traditions and their scripturalisation, the anthropology of dance, theatre, and performance, visual anthropology, museum anthropology, critical heritage studies, material culture and craft, fashion theory, the relation of science and art, identity processes, embodiment, transfer of knowledge, gender and sexuality studies, trans-local and transcultural relations, and diaspora dynamics. She was born in 1974, is married to Alban von Stockhausen, and has two children.
Education
2011 Doctoral thesis at the university of Zurich, supervisor Prof. Dr. Michael Oppitz, second supervisor Prof. Dr. Toni Huber, Humboldt University Berlin (“Naga Textiles: Design, Technique, Meaning and Agency of a Local Craft Tradition in Northeast India”)
2001 MA-thesis, supervisor Prof. Dr. Michael Oppitz (“Lebende Tote: Zombies und Vampire im Kulturvergleich” / “The living dead: Zombies and vampires in cross-cultural perspective”)
1993-2001 Studies in Social and cultural anthropology, musical anthropology and media science at the University of Zürich
Academic Career
since 2023: Postdoctoral researcher at HCTS – Heidelberg Centre for Transcultural Studies (Project: ‘Queer Heritage-making in times of political turmoil: A transcultural approach’ in the framework of the ‘Flagship Initiative Transforming Cultural Heritage’ at Heidelberg University)
2023: Lecturer at the universities of Bern and Heidelberg (science of religion and transcultural studies)
2017-2022: Postdoc assistant at the Institute for the Science of Religion and Central Asian Studies, University of Bern
2015-2016: Lecturer at the universities of Bern and Zürich (social anthropology and science of religion)
2011-2015: Postdoc project “Ritual, Space, Mimesis: Performative Traditions and Ethnic Identity among the Rai of eastern Nepal” funded by the Austrian Science Foundation (FWF), headed by Univ.-Prof. Dr. Martin Gaenszle. Sub-project leader of “Ritual and Mimesis: Identity based on Dance”, Department of South Asian, Tibetan and Buddhist Studies, University of Vienna
2006-2010: Scientific staff in the research project “Oral Traditions, Material Culture and Identity among the Naga of Northeast India”, funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), headed by Prof. Dr. Michael Oppitz, Ethnographic Museum, University of Zürich
2007- 2008: Scientific staff of the Ethnographic Museum, University of Zürich
2002-2006: Scientific assistant of Prof. Dr. Michael Oppitz, University of Zürich
2002-2008: Student advisory service for anthropology at the University of Zürich
Field Research
2023: Field stay among the queer communities of Kathmandu (queer heritage-making)
2022: Field stay among the Dumi Rai of Eastern Nepal (Chamdam status ritual)
since 2003-2014: Regular field stays in Northeast India/Nagaland (material culture, oral traditions / identity processes / Naga textiles)
2010-2012: Long term field research among the Rai of Eastern Nepal (ritual lay dance and identity processes)
since 2003: Regular field stays in Nepal (dance, ritual, mythology / Kirat studies)
2002: Field stay in Burkina Faso (sign systems / textile patterns)
1998: Field stay in Great Britain (intercultural theatre)
1994: Field stay in Haiti (traditional healing / voodoo)
–> Teaching
–> Exhibitions
–> Publications