Institute of Historical and Cultural Anthropology

Dr. Alastair Mackie

Academic advisor and program administration
Career orientation

Contact
Ludwig-Uhland-Institut für Empirische Kulturwissenschaft | Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen | Burgsteige 11, 72070 Tübingen
+49(0)7071/29-75310
alastair.mackiespam prevention@uni-tuebingen.de

Academic advisor and program administrationung
+49(0)7071/29-75310
ekw.studienberatungspam prevention@lui.uni-tuebingen.de

office hours
durin the semester: Thu 14.30 - 16 Uhr / available by phone or e-mail: Mo – Thu

Main Areas in Research and Teaching
  • Europeanisation in Everyday Life
  • Sonic Ethnography
  • Mobility and Immobility
  • Perceived Crises and Future Imaginaries

 

Academic Profile

I am a research associate and lecturer at the Ludwig-Uhland-Institute for Empirical Cultural Studies, where I have worked since July 2026 and am responsible for study organisation. Previously, I was a research associate at the Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Cultural History at the University of Jena, and I have taught at universities across Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Latvia, and Scotland. In 2022, I completed my PhD at the Institute for Languages and Intercultural Studies at Heriot-Watt University in Scotland, with a dissertation on the meanings of Europe in the Scottish independence movement following Brexit. My current teaching and research interests include Europeanisation in everyday life and sonic ethnography.

Vita

Since 2026: Research Associate, Ludwig-Uhland-Institute for Empirical Cultural Studies
2026: Visiting Lecturer, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
2024–2025: Research Associate, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena
2023–2025: Visiting lectureships at the University of Graz, the University of Basel, and the Latvian Academy of Culture (Riga)
2018–2022: PhD Candidate, Institute for Languages and Intercultural Studies, Heriot-Watt University (Edinburgh). Doctorate awarded for the dissertation “Meanings of Europe in the Scottish independence movement after the 2016 EU Referendum: Brexit, (dis)integration and values”
2014: Postgraduate Diploma in Small State Studies, University of Iceland (Reykjavík)
2010–2014: Undergradaute Studies in Scottish Ethnology, School of Scottish Studies, University of Edinburgh

Publications

Forthcoming. Analyse durch Synthese: Ludisches Sampling als Erkenntnismodus der Kulturanthropologie. In: Überraschung, Zufall, Kontingenz. Zum Unbestimmten in Gesellschaft und Wissenschaft. Kieler Studien zur Kulturanalyse. With Anne Dippel and Sarah Thanner.
Forthcoming. Temporal Immobility in Cross-Border Railways: Perspectives from Two European Border Regions. In: Diana Mata-Codesal et al. (eds.): Immobility: Anthropological Perspectives. Oxford: Berghahn. With Aleida Bertran.
2024. Creative Ethnology as an Invitation to Play: Analysis of a Fieldwork-Based Composition. In: Zeitschrift für Empirische Kulturwissenschaft. Journal for Cultural Analysis and European Ethnology, 120(2), pp. 302–306.
2024. Heimatkunde: Explorations of Place and Belonging (ed.). Münster: LIT Verlag. With Mairéad Nic Craith and Katerina Strani.
2024. On Cultivating Sound: Sampling, Morphogenesis, and a Creative Sonic Ethnography. In: Mairéad Nic Craith et al. (eds.): Heimatkunde: Explorations of Place and Belonging. Münster: LIT Verlag, pp. 264–275.
2024. Place, Belonging, and “Firestick Wisdom.” In: Mairéad Nic Craith et al. (eds.): Heimatkunde: Explorations of Place and Belonging. Münster: LIT Verlag, pp. 1–19. With Mairéad Nic Craith and Katerina Strani.
2023. On the Soft Power of Values: The “Scotland Is Now” Campaign. In: Naren Chitty et al. (eds.): The Routledge Handbook of Soft Power. 2nd ed. Oxon: Routledge, pp. 275–284. With Katerina Strani.
2022. Meanings of Europe in the Scottish Independence Movement after the 2016 EU Referendum: Brexit, (dis)integration and values. Heriot-Watt University.

Teaching

SoSe 2026
Seminar – Sonic Ethnography: Listening, Recording, Creating (University of Göttingen)
SoSe 2025
Seminar – Local Europe: Everyday Meanings and Futures (University of Jena)
Preparatory Internship Seminar (University of Jena)
Seminar – Local Europe: Everyday Meanings and Future (University of Basel)
WiSe 2024/25
Seminar – Sex, Drugs and Rock'n'Roll: Popular Cultures of Intoxication (University of Jena)
Project Seminar – Cultural Techniques of Simulation (University of Jena)
WiSe 2023/24
Seminar – Local Europe: Everyday Meanings and Futures (University of Graz)
Seminar – Cross-Cultural Studies in Heritage, Environment and Sustainability (Latvian Academy of Culture)

Presentations

03/06/2025 “Re-Cycle, Re-Tune, Repeat: Sample-Based Synthesis as Practice and Analytic of Circularity”. Panel: Unwriting Cycles, Circles, Circulations: Critical and Creative Considerations. SIEF2025: Unwriting, Aberdeen, 3–6 June 2025. With Anne Dippel.
23/07/2024 “Experiences of (Im)mobility on the European Rail Network: Emerging Cultural and Political Imaginaries”. Panel: Shaping Futures: Doing and Undoing Mobility through an Anthropological Lens on Immobility. EASA2024: Doing and Undoing with Anthropology, Barcelona, 23–26 July 2024. With Aleida Bertran.
17/07/2024 “Mangling Samples, Doing Science? Creative Sample Manipulation in Ethnographic Fieldwork”. Panel: Making Samples, Doing Science: Transforming Data and Matter across Landscapes and Labscapes. EASST-4S 2024: Making and Doing Transformations, Amsterdam, 16–19 July 2024. With Anne Dippel.
09/06/2023 “Finding Euroland: Experiences of European Disintegration and Their Influence on Perceptions of Europe.” Panel: Europe in Times of Uncertainty, Risk and Disintegration: Everyday Experiences and Imagined Futures. SIEF2023: Living Uncertainty, Brno, 7–10 June 2023.
15/04/2019 “New Meanings of European Identity in Scotland.” Poster, Track Changes: Reflecting on a Transforming World. SIEF2019: Track Changes: Reflecting on a Transforming World, Santiago de Compostela, 14–17 April 2019.

Convened Conference Panels

05/06/2025 Unwriting through Play and Games – Ludic Approaches to Creative Ethnographies. Traditional panel. SIEF2025: Unwriting, Aberdeen, 3–6 June 2025. With Konstanze N’Guessan.
03/06/2025, 09/06/2023, 14/06/2022 “Dramanauts Live: Exploring Dramas in Hobby Communities” – live recording of an ethno-/anthropological podcast. Roundtable. SIEF2025: Unwriting, Aberdeen, 3–6 June 2025. With Leri Price and Matthias Maurer Rueda.
Europe in Times of Uncertainty, Risk and Disintegration: Everyday Experiences and Imagined Futures. Traditional panel. SIEF2023: Living Uncertainty, Brno, 7–10 June 2023. With Matthias Maurer Rueda.
Rethinking Remoteness: On the Branding and Soft Power of the Outskirts of the Nordic Regions. Roundtable. RE22 Nordic Ethnology and Folklore Conference, Reykjavík, 13–16 June 2022.

Current Academic Memberships

  • Member of the International Society for Ethnology and Folklore (SIEF)
    • Member of the SIEF Working Group on Place Wisdom
  • Founding Member of the Sonic Anthropology Research and Synthesis Studio (SONARS), Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena
  • Member of the European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA)
  • Member of the European Association for the Study of Science and Technology (EASST)

Former Memberships

  • 2018–2023: International Doctoral Programme “Transformations in European Societies”