Michael Roes
Fellow
Born in 1960, Michael Roes is a novelist, poet, anthropologist and filmmaker with a focus on exchanges with foreign cultures. He studied Philosophy, Anthropology and Psychology at the Freie Universität Berlin, and holds a diploma in Psychology (1985) and a PhD in Philosophy (1991). He completed his PhD thesis, a study on the sacrifice of sons (Jizchak. Versuch über das Sohnesopfer, 1991), in Berlin, and has conducted anthropological field research in Israel and the Palestinian territories (1987,1991), Yemen (1993–1994) and the United States (on Native Americans in New York State 1996–1997). He was a Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Budapest (1994–1995) and held a guest professorship at the Central European University, Budapest (2004; 2005/2006). He has drawn inspiration from a diverse range of cultures in his work, including Native American culture, featured in the novel Der Coup der Berdache; contemporary China in Die Fünf Farben Schwarz; and the Islamic world in Leeres Viertel, Weg nach Timimoun, Nah Inverness, and Geschichte der Freundschaft.
THIS AUTHOR WROTE
Born in 1960, Michael Roes is a novelist, poet, anthropologist and filmmaker with a focus on exchanges with foreign cultures. He studied Philosophy, Anthropology and Psychology at the Freie Universität Berlin, and holds a diploma in Psychology (1985) and a PhD in Philosophy (1991). He completed his PhD thesis, a study on the sacrifice of sons (Jizchak. Versuch über das Sohnesopfer, 1991), in Berlin, and has conducted anthropological field research in Israel and the Palestinian territories (1987,1991), Yemen (1993–1994) and the United States (on Native Americans in New York State 1996–1997). He was a Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Budapest (1994–1995) and held a guest professorship at the Central European University, Budapest (2004; 2005/2006). He has drawn inspiration from a diverse range of cultures in his work, including Native American culture, featured in the novel Der Coup der Berdache; contemporary China in Die Fünf Farben Schwarz; and the Islamic world in Leeres Viertel, Weg nach Timimoun, Nah Inverness, and Geschichte der Freundschaft.
April 3, 2014
“Why do we busy ourselves in foreign countries?” is one of the central questions asked in all the debates on neo-colonialism. By “we,” panellists usually think of the ‘West,’ or the ‘Occident.’ And as “foreign” they preferably designate all non-European and North American countries. – And, of course, the anti-neo-colonialist’s answer to these questions is a strident “For no reason whatsoever!” Such debates tend to provoke polarising contributions …