Dr. Heidi Armbruster

Biography

Heidi Armbruster is an Associate Professor of German Social Anthropology at the University of Southampton. She is a trained social anthropologist specializing in migration and diversity issues. Her past and present research interests address broadly intersecting themes, including post-migration identities and the perspectives of migrants within the German-speaking context. Her work has notably included inquiries into German identity in the post-unification and post-colonial eras, along with comparative research on refugee reception and the diversity of rural regions in Germany and the UK. Armbruster's teaching covers German social and political studies, multicultural aspects of Germany, transnational mobilities, and ethnographic methods. She is an active member of the research group Debating Ethnography, focusing on the Turkey-Germany migration nexus and participatory ethnographic methods. Armbruster completed her PhD in Social Anthropology at SOAS, University of London, where her research included long-term ethnographic fieldwork among Syriac Christians in a diasporic context spanning Germany, Austria, and Turkey. Out of this foundation, she has developed a keen interest in exploring issues around belonging and diversity, particularly in rural settings. Currently, she leads a project funded by the Arts Council England aimed at fostering community through the exploration of belonging among diverse young people in rural Hampshire.

Research Interests

Experience