Dr. Dominik Schieder
Kurzbiografie
I am a social anthropologist specialising in Fiji and Fiji’s diaspora. I joined the Institute for Social and Cultural Anthropology at Martin Luther University (MLU), Halle-Wittenberg, in July 2026 as a research associate (Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter). At MLU, I am the principal investigator of the project ‘Professional sport in the Global South: Rugby, mobility and Fijian sociality’, which is funded by the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG). Previously, I worked as a research associate in the Department of Social Sciences at the University of Siegen, where I was engaged in co-conceptualising and co-implementing the DFG Research Unit 5183 ‘Transborder Mobility and Institutional Dynamics’ (transMID); I became the scientific coordinator of this research unit. In Siegen, I also taught BA and MA courses with a focus on migration, mobility, politics, sport, kinship and ethnography. I was a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) postdoctoral fellow at Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo, and a Fritz Thyssen Foundation postdoctoral fellow at the Frobenius Institute, Goethe University, Frankfurt. I also held visiting fellowships at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and the University of the South Pacific in Suva, Fiji. I obtained a Magister Artium and a PhD in social and cultural anthropology from the University of Bayreuth. I was a co-speaker of the Oceania Working Group (RG Ozeanien) of the German Association of Social and Cultural Anthropology (GASCA). Currently, I serve on the board of the European Society for Oceanists (ESFO) and on the editorial board of a related book series (Pacific Perspectives, Berghahn Books). I am also involved in the CNRS International Research Network ‘Habitability of Pacific Environments’ (HOPE). Beyond my scholarly interest in Fiji and Oceania, I have, for many years, been engaged in the Pazifik Netzwerk e.V., which has allowed me to discuss my work and other Oceania-related themes beyond a strictly academic audience.
Aktuelles Forschungsprojekt:
Profisport im Globalen Süden: Rugby, Mobilität und fidschianische Sozialität (see https://gepris.dfg.de/project/568835150 )
Forschungsinteressen
Sozialität, soziale Institutionen, Mobilität und Migration, Sport, Politik, Ozeanien (insb. Fidschi), Vereinigtes Königreich (fidschianische Diaspora) und Japan (fidschianische Diaspora)
Publikationen (Auswahl)
Zeitschriftenartikel und Buchbeiträge (peer-reviewed)
n.d. [forthcoming] Ethnicity and its institutional undercurrents in Fiji’s diaspora in the United Kingdom, in Migration, Mobility and Institutions: Exploring Interrelations and Dynamics in and Across World Regions, edited by Dominik Schieder and Karin Schittenhelm. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.
n.d. [forthcoming] [with Karin Schittenhelm] Exploring the Nexus Between Migration, Mobility and Institutions: An Introduction., in Migration, Mobility and Institutions: Exploring Interrelations and Dynamics in and Across World Regions, edited by Dominik Schieder and Karin Schittenhelm. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.
n.d. [forthcoming] [with Saleh Adem, Emmanuel Ndahayo, Laura Pargen, Michaela Pelican and Melina Tretmans] Intersectional perspectives on the nexus of mobility and institutions: Insights from across disciplines and world regions, in Migration, Mobility and Institutions: Exploring Interrelations and Dynamics in and Across World Regions, edited by Dominik Schieder and Karin Schittenhelm. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.
2024 [with Sina Emde and Geir Henning Presterudstuen] (Vaka)vanua as weakness, (vaka)vanua as strength: Reflections on Fijian sociality in urban and migrant environments. Anthropological Forum 24(2), 166-185. https://doi.org/10.1080/00664677.2023.2247177
2024 Rugby and Diasporic Fiji Islander Sociality, in Towards a Pacific Island Sociology of Sport: Current and Emerging Research, edited by Yoko Kanemasu, 185-203. Leeds: Emerald Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1476-285420240000022010
2022 [with Rebecca Hofmann] Explorations into Micronesian mobility: Transforming family and home across borders – an introduction. Pacific Geographies 58: 4-10 [reviewed by journal editors]. https://pacific-geographies.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/PG58_0410.pdf
2021 Fiji Islander transborder mobility in the Pacific: The case of Fiji and Japan. Pacific Geographies 56: 13-22. https://pacific-geographies.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/PG56_DOI10.23791_561322_DS.pdf
2017 The 1961 British Military Recruitment Campaign in Fiji: Historical Circumstances, Discourses of Fijian Culture and Personal Narratives. Oceania 87(2): 139-155. https://doi.org/10.1002/ocea.5158
2017 [with Geir Henning Presterudstuen] Bati as Bodily Labour: Rethinking Masculinity and Violence in Fiji, in Emergent Masculinities in the Pacific, edited by Aletta Biersack and Martha Macintyre. Abingdon: Routledge [reprint, previously published in The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology 17(3/4) (2016)].
2016 [with Geir Henning Presterudstuen] Bati as Bodily Labour: Rethinking Masculinity and Violence in Fiji. The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology 17(3/4): 213-230. https://doi.org/10.1080/14442213.2016.1180706
2015 Community Life and Discourses among Fiji Islanders in Kantō, Japan. Anthropological Forum 25(2): 167-186. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00664677.2014.995153
2015 [with Verena Keck] Contradictions and Complexities: Current Perspectives on Pacific Islander Mobilities. Anthropological Forum 25(2): 115-130. https://doi.org/10.1080/00664677.2014.999644
2014 Fiji Islander Rugby Players in Japan: Corporate Rationales and Migration Routes. Asia Pacific Journal of Sport and Social Science 3(3): 250-267. https://doi.org/10.1080/21640599.2014.982339
2014 [with Geir Henning Presterudstuen] Sport Migration and Socio-Cultural Transformation: The Case of Fijian Rugby Union Players in Japan. International Journal of the History of Sport 31(11): 1359-1373. https://doi.org/10.1080/09523367.2014.921907
2014 A Coup-Less Future for Fiji? Between Rhetoric and Political Reality, in Future Selves in the Pacific: Projects, Politics and Interests, edited by William Rollason, 172-195. New York & Oxford: Berghahn Books.
2012 “Fiji has a coup culture!” Discussing Fiji’s ongoing political instability. Paideuma 58: 45-67.
2012 Rugby in Fiji: Unifying and Dividing a Multi-Cultural Society. Pacific News 37: 23-28.
Sammelbände (peer-reviewed)
n.d. [forthcoming] Migration, Mobility and Institutions: Exploring Interrelations and Dynamics in and Across World Regions, edited by Dominik Schieder and Karin Schittenhelm. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Sonderhefte, Gastherausgeberschaften (peer-reviewed)
2022 [with Rebecca Hofmann] Explorations into Micronesian Mobility: Transforming Family and Home across Borders, Special Issue, Pacific Geographies 58. https://pacific-geographies.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/PG58_all.pdf
2015 [with Verena Keck] Current Perspectives on Pacific Islander Mobilities, Special Issue, Anthropological Forum 25(2).
Monografie
2012 Das Phänomen der coup culture – Politische Konflikte auf den Fidschi-Inseln. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvc16h4j
Zeitschriftenartikel, Buchbeiträge und Verschiedenes
n.d. [forthcoming] Diaspora formation and sport, in Encyclopedia of the Sociology of Sport, edited by Adam B. Evans, Verena Lenneis, Gareth McNarry and Anne Tjønndal. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.
2025 [with Karin Schittenhelm et al. as Research Unit transMID (Transborder Mobility and Institutional Dynamics)] Transborder Mobility and Institutional Dynamics: Research Agenda. transMID Working Paper. https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-107034-8
2024 Fijian Migrant Athletes in the World of Professional Rugby, in Handbook of Sport and Migration, edited by Joseph Maguire, Katie Liston and Mark Falcous, 73-85. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781789909418.00013
2024 Die Rekrutierungskampagne des britischen Militärs in Fidschi 1961, in Südsee & Mehr. Einsichten – Aussichten – Denkanstöße. Festschrift für H.J. Hiery, edited by Marco Hedler, 325-341. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz [translated, revised and abridged version of Schieder, 2017, Oceania 87(2)].
2012 Why Fijian Nationalism alone is not the Answer: A Political Anthropology Perspective. People and Culture in Oceania 28: 89-98.
2011 Jenseits der pluralen Gesellschaft: Anmerkungen zur Heterogenität der „indischen“ Bevölkerung Fidschis und deren politische Implikationen. Mitteilungen der Anthropologischen Gesellschaft in Wien 141: 277-290.
2009 Fidschi heute. Ursachen und Hintergründe der coup culture in einem multi-kulturellen Staat. Jahrbuch für Europäische Überseegeschichte 9: 245-247.
2007 Quo Vadis Fidschi? Ein multikultureller Staat zwischen ethnischen Spannungen und traditionellen Rivalitäten. Anthropos 102(2): 515-530.
Rezensionen
2024 Review of K.J. Brison: Fijians in Transnational Pentecostal Networks, Social Sciences and Missions 37(3-4): 391-394.
2024 Review of Jeannette M. Mageo and Bruce M. Knauft (eds.), Authenticity & Authorship in Pacific Island Encounters: New Lives of Old Imaginaries, Journal of New Zealand & Pacific Studies 12(1): 96-98.
2022 Review of Jacqueline Leckie, Colonizing Madness: Asylum and Community in Fiji, Pacific Affairs 95(1): 190-192.
2021 Review of Anders Emil Rasmussen, In the Absence of the Gift: New Forms of Value and Personhood in a Papua New Guinea Community, Island Studies Journal 16(2): 291-393.
2021 Review of Laurent Dousset and Mélissa Nayral (eds.), Pacific Realities: Changing Perspectives on Resilience and Resistance, Island Studies Journal 16(1): 388-389.
2018 Review of Niko Besner, Susan Brownell und Thomas F. Carter, The Anthropology of Sport: Bodies, Borders, Biopolitics, Paideuma 64: 306-308.
2016 Review of Livia Loosen, Deutsche Frauen in den Südsee-Kolonien des Kaiserreichs. Alltag und Beziehungen zur indigenen Bevölkerung, 1884-1919, Anthropos 111(1): 277-278.
2015 Review of Margret Frenz, Community, Memory, and Migration in a Globalizing World: The Goan Experience, c. 1890 – 1980, Contemporary South Asia 34(4): 490-491.
2014 Review of Juliane Müller, Migration, Geschlecht und Fußball zwischen Bolivien und Spanien, Paideuma 60: 298-300.
2013 Review of Ilana Gerson, No Family is an Island: Cultural Expertise Among Samoans in the Diaspora, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 19(4): 903-904.
2013 Review of Deryck Scarr, Tuimacilai. A Life of Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara. Jahrbuch für Europäische Überseegeschichte 11: 354-356.
Lexikonbeiträge
2015 Animismus (p. 36), bêche-de-mer (p. 91), Bernatzik, Hugo Adolf (p. 98), Beschneidung (p. 98), Cakobau, Seru (p. 148), Ethnie (p. 250), Fidschi und Rotuma (p. 264), Hamilton-Gordon, Sir Arthur (p. 324), Heyerdahl, Thor (p. 338), indirect rule (p. 362), Malinowski, Bronislaw Kaspar (p. 509), Polyandrie (p. 651), Polygynie (p. 651), Sandelholz (p. 711) und Tätowierung (p. 787), in Lexikon zur Überseegeschichte, edited by Hermann J. Hiery (im Auftrag der Gesellschaft für Überseegeschichte). Stuttgart: Steiner Verlag.
Gutachtertätigkeiten
Gutachtertätigkeiten für American Academy Berlin; American Anthropologist; Anthropological Forum; Anthropology Matters Journal; Asian Journal of Social Psychology; International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics; Journal of New Zealand & Pacific Studies; National Identities; Pacific Geographies; Paideuma; The Australian Journal of Anthropology; The International Journal for the History of Sport; Sport in Society; Springer (World Regional Geography Book Series).