Jan Christian Oberg

I have been connected to the Cultural Studies program at the University of Bremen since 1992, when I enrolled there myself. After my first experiences with student fieldwork, I began to develop a passion for ethnology. My master’s degree, with a focus on European ethnology, was followed by my first teaching experiences, my doctoral dissertation on a historical-anthropological topic, the births of my two daughters, and a number of other events that led me—a native of the Rhineland—to settle in Bremen and at the University of Bremen 20 years ago.

I conducted research in Tramonti, southern Italy, on childhood, family, and migration, and in Bremen on so-called „Küstengesellschaften“ and “maritime” culture in the 19th century. In this context, I focused, among other things, on seafaring and trade, the Hanseatic League, sailors, and their cultural practices.

From 2000 to 2003, I was a doctoral candidate in the Bremen Research Training Group „Zwischen lokaler und globaler Welt“ and since 2003 I have been a lecturer at the Institute for Cultural Studies. Since November 2011, I have shared a lecturer position with Frank Müller. In my teaching, I cover the B.A. in Cultural Studies program and also took over academic advising for the program in the winter of 2011/12.