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Esther Leemann is a social anthropologist with over 20 years of research experience in Central America and Southeast Asia. Her research interests encompass the social, economic, cultural, and political dimensions of indigenous territoriality, displacement, rural livelihoods, and development policies related to post-disaster reconstruction and housing. She has focused on the displacement of the indigenous Bunong people by large-scale plantations in Cambodia, engaging in ethnographic research to document the social, cultural, and political disruptions caused by land loss. Leemann investigates the stresses that dislocation places on social networks and the processes of cultural and political identity among affected communities. Her projects have included creating ethnographic documentaries and conducting workshops aimed at enhancing awareness of indigenous livelihoods among Swiss school children. With a rich background in political ecology, economic anthropology, and disaster studies, she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses, mentoring students in their own research projects and contributing to the Swiss Graduate Program in Anthropology. Her academic work has been supported by various funding sources, including the Swiss National Science Foundation.
University of Zurich • Zurich, CH
Conducts research and teaches courses in social anthropology with a focus on political ecology and economic anthropology.
Department of Law