Consciousness, difference/indifference, agency/structure, education for sustainable development (ESD) / transformative learning

Türkiye, Mexico, Switzerland

Daniela Dietz researched and taught at the Department of Social Anthropology and Cultural Studies (Social and Cultural Anthropology) at the University of Zurich from 2010 to 2024. In her dissertation project ("InDifference. Living Together Apart in a Turkish Urban Neighbourhood", PhD 2019), she explored the question of difference by looking at discursive distinctions and their (in)significance in interactions based on fifteen months of fieldwork in one of Istanbul’s neighbourhoods (Tarlabaşı). As a postdoctoral researcher, she worked on migration on the way to Europe as part of the Horizon 2020 research project HumMingBird. A previous research, based on six months of fieldwork ("La niña blanca del barrio bravo oder wenn der Tod heilig wird", lic. phil. 2008) focused on the spread of the cult of Santa Muerte (Holy Death) in an environment characterised by violence and poverty (Tepito, Mexico City). She has taught in various areas of cognitive, economic and urban anthropology, history of science and social theory.

She is currently a Senior Research Associate in the Transformative Education and Science Impact Area at the Centre for Development and Environment (CDE), University of Bern.