Anna Krämer
Ethnologie / Social and Cultural Anthropology
In my doctoral research, I explore how globalized forms of yoga are negotiated, represented, and recontextualized in situated practices in India. My project, titled: "In the Shadow of Global Yoga: A Religious Anthropological Study of Translocal Centers of Postcolonial Spirituality in India", examines the conditionality between yoga's global circulation and its fragmentation in local settings, with particular attention to the ambivalent tensions of inclusion and exclusion that emerge from these dynamics. A key focus lies on the scaling processes through which yoga practices and authority travel – from intimate teacher-disciple relationships to institutionalized forms embedded in yoga schools, certification programs, universities, and state structures. These layered scales reveal how political, spiritual, and economic claims are articulated and negotiated across local, national, and transnational contexts. Therefore, I conducted ethnographic field research across several multilocal research trips in India, some accompanied by my son and partner.
I hold a bachelor's degree in social and Cultural Anthropology and Geography from the University of Cologne and the School of Planning and Architecture in Vijayawada, India. My undergraduate thesis focused on the Anthropocene as a conceptual shift toward a new scientific consciousness. During my Master's studies, I engaged deeply with environmental anthropology and multispecies ontologies. I completed my studies with my thesis on ritual theory, communities of practice, and liminality. As part of this research, I conducted extensive fieldwork in Rishikesh, India, among followers of a contemporary Guru, focusing on their perceptions and practices of spirituality.
In the winter term of 2022/23, I taught the seminar Pilgrimage, Healing, Yoga – On the Contemporary Relevance of Victor Turner’s Theory of Ritual through the Lens of New Religious Movements at the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Cologne. I have also given guest lectures on related topics and written about conducting ethnographic fieldwork as a family.
Before receiving funding for my PhD, I worked as Project Coordinator for the DAAD-funded Teacher.International Programme “University Network for Internationalisation in Teacher Education Cologne” (UNITE) at the Centre for Teacher Education, University of Cologne.
Since 2023, my research has been funded by a doctoral scholarship from the Hans Böckler Foundation.
Contact
an-kraemer@web.de