PD Dr. Viola Thimm

Biographical note and research interest

PD Dr Viola Thimm holds a DFG-Heisenberg position and is an Associate Professor (Privatdozentin) of Cultural and Social Anthropology at the Institute of Sociology’s Chair of Cultural and Social Anthropology. She is an anthropologist specialized in the anthropology of gender, the anthropology of mobility and the anthropology of Islam, and her research focuses on transregional reconfigurations of power, selfhood and subjectivity.

PD Dr Thimm’s research fields include cultural practices of im/mobility (especially transnational migration, pilgrimage, and tourism); gender relations, sexuality, queer issues, and intersectionality; Islam and its socio-cultural entanglements; kinship and family networks; and local economies and consumer culture. She has carried out extensive ethnographic fieldwork in Southeast Asia (Malaysia and Singapore), the Arabian Peninsula (United Arab Emirates and Oman) and North Africa (Morocco) since 2007.

VT

Lehrstuhl für Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie (Heisenberg-Professur)

Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeitende

Kontakt

Previously, she was an Associate Professor of Sociocultural Anthropology at Heidelberg University (2021–2026). PD Dr Viola Thimm joined FAU in 2022 as a fixed-term Professor (W2) of Cultural and Social Anthropology, as well as Managing and Program Director, of the MA Elite Graduate Programme “Standards of Decision-Making across Cultures” (SDAC) (2022–2023) and continued in the role as a Senior Lecturer until early 2026. In 2021, she was awarded her Habilitation and Venia Legendi in Sociocultural Anthropology (the German qualification for a full professorship), with her professorial thesis entitled “Shopping with Allah: Muslim Pilgrimage, Gender, and Consumption in Malaysia and Dubai”.

PD Dr Thimm is currently working on the project “Gender, Queer, Islam: Transregional Reconfigurations of Muslim Pilgrimage”, funded by the prestigious and most competitive DFG-Heisenberg-Program, which compares and links the conditions and experiences of queer Muslims in Malaysia and Germany with regard to their pilgrimage experiences. She was the Principal Investigator of the research project “From Malaysia to Dubai: Muslim Pilgrimage and Gender in the Context of Consuming Practices” (2017–2021), funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG “Eigene Stelle”), the Olympia Morata Program in Support of Young Female Professors, and the “Nachwuchsinitiative Universität Hamburg” – Initiative for Young Scholars. She studied Cultural Anthropology, Gender Studies, and Romance Studies (Spanish), receiving her doctoral degree in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Göttingen in 2013. Her dissertation focused on gender and educational migration in Singapore and Malaysia, and was funded by the DFG Research Training Group 1599/1 “Dynamics of Space and Gender” and the Hans Böckler Foundation.

She was a guest researcher and visiting professor at various institutions, including Universiti Malaya (UM) (2023–2026); Diponegoro University Indonesia (2025); Zayed University (Dubai, United Arab Emirates) (2017–2018); Indian Institute of Technology, Jodhpur (India) (2018); Monash University (Malaysia Campus) (2017); Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) (2009); and the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) (now ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute) (Singapore) (2008).

PD Dr Thimm has published seven books: three single-authored monographs and four (co-)edited volumes on Islam, gender and im/mobility, including: Embracing Faith and Desire: Queer and Feminist Engagements with Islam and Christianity as Lived Religions (co-edited with Ferdiansyah Thajib, Routledge 2026); Shopping with Allah: Muslim Pilgrimage, Gender, and Consumption in a Globalised World (UCL Press, 2023); Narrating Intersectional Perspectives Across Social Scales: Voicing Valerie (Routledge, 2022); (Re-)Claiming Bodies: Gendered Configurations in Islam (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021) and Geschlecht und Bildungsmigration: Lebensentwürfe und Weiblichkeitsbilder malaysischer Bildungsmigrantinnen in Singapur (Transcript 2014; [Gender and Educational Migration: Life Projects and Images of Femininity of Female Educational Migrants from Malaysia in Singapore]).

Supervison

PD Dr Thimm welcomes applications from prospective candidates who wish to do a PhD in Cultural  and Social Anthropology and would like to work on projects related to her research themes including, but not limited to: mobilities, migration, transnationalism, gender, sexuality, queer and trans studies, corporeality and embodiment, intersectionality, intergenerational ties, religious transformations, Muslim life-worlds, the anthropology of space and place, postcolonial and decolonial critique, feminist ethnography. PD Dr Thimm accepts candidates wishing to carry out long-term ethnographic fieldwork in a range of geographical locations.

  • Laila Borrie, „Butchphobia and the anti-masculine turn in queer and lesbian spaces: Queerness, migration, and masculinity intersect in a global context“, University of Heidelberg, Institute of Sociocultural Anthropology, (First supervisor).
  • Sumiya Mahmud, „Transnational Homemaking among Bangladeshi Migrants across Continents”, Universität Heidelberg, Institute of Sociocultural Anthropology, (First supervisor).
  • Ana Mattioli, “TransClass trajectories among trans people in Barcelona”, Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, SDAC, (First supervisor).
  • Junyan Zhou, “Care Dynamics between Chinese Transmigrants and Their Families”, University of Heidelberg, Institute of Anthropology, (First supervisor). Fully funded by the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes.
  • Yanyi Zheng “Digital nomads and Place-making in the Mobile Context”, University of Heidelberg, Institute of Sociocultural Anthropology, (First supervisor). Fully funded by the DAAD.
  • Anwar Masduki, “Ziarah Wali: An Inquiry of Contemporary Pilgrimage and Religious Tourism in Indonesia”, University of Groningen, Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies. Second supervisor (First supervisor: Marjo Buitelaar).

Curriculum Vitae

03/2026: Venia Legendi in Cultural and Social Anthropology (Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie), University of Erlangen-Nürnberg

07/2021: Habilitation and Venia Legendi (German qualification for full professorship) in Sociocultural Anthropology (Ethnologie), University of Heidelberg.

08/2013: Ph.D. (Dr. disc. pol.) in Cultural Anthropology (Ethnologie), University of Göttingen, Germany.

01/2007:  M.A. (Magistra Artium), University of Göttingen, Germany. Major: Cultural Anthropology. Minors: Gender Studies and Romance Studies.

Since 04/2026: DFG-Heisenberg position “Gender, Queer, Islam: Transregional Reconfigurations of Muslim Pilgrimage” (funded by the German Research Foundation DFG until 2031), FAU, Institute of Sociology, Chair of Cultural and Social Anthropology

Since 03/2026: Associate Professor (Privatdozentin) of Cultural and Social Anthropology, FAU, Institute of Sociology, Chair of Cultural and Social Anthropology

02/2023–03/2026: Senior Lecturer, Elite Graduate Program “Standards of Decision-Making across Cultures (SDAC)”, FAU

07/2021–03/2026: Associate Professor (Privatdozentin), University of Heidelberg, Institute of Anthropology

12/2025-01/2026 Visiting Teaching Professor, Universiti Malaya (Malaysia), Gender Studies Programme

04/2025 Visiting Professor, Diponegoro University (Indonesia), Social Anthropology Department

01/2023–01/2024 Senior Research Fellow & Research Associate, Universiti Malaya (Malaysia), Department of Anthropology and Sociology and Gender Studies Programme

04/2022–02/2023 Fixed-term Professor of Social & Cultural Anthropology (W2), FAU, Elite Graduate Program “Standards of Decision-Making across Cultures (SDAC)”

10/2022–02/2023 Managing Director (Geschäftsführende Direktorin) and Program Director, FAU, Elite Graduate Program “Standards of Decision-Making across Cultures (SDAC)”

10/2018–02/2022 Principal Investigator „Muslim Pilgrimage, Gender and Consumption”, University of Heidelberg, Institute of Anthropology

01/2017–12/2019 Project Leader (“Eigene Stelle” by the German Research Foundation DFG),  University of Hamburg, Asia-Africa-Institute, Department of Languages & Cultures of Southeast Asia

12/2018 Guest lecturer, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Jodhpur, Department of Humanities & Social Sciences, India

12/2017–04/2018 Research Fellow (Visiting), Zayed University, Humanities and Social Sciences, United Arab Emirates

05/2017–10/2017 Research Fellow (Visiting), Monash University, School of Arts and Social Sciences, Malaysia

03/2015–12/2016 Associate Postdoctoral Research Fellow

10/2013–02/2015 Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Hamburg, Asia-Africa-Institute, Department of Languages & Cultures of Southeast Asia

03/2015–07/2016 Research Assistant, HIS Institute for Higher Education Development, Hanover, Germany

10/2011–09/2013 Doctoral Student/Research Associate, University of Kassel and University of Göttingen, DFG Research Training Group 1599/1 “Dynamics of Space and Gender” (“Graduiertenkolleg” by the German Research Foundation)

10/2009–09/2012 Lecturer, University of Göttingen, Institute for Social & Cultural Anthropology & Gender Studies Program

02/2009–08/2009 Visiting Scholar, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Institut Kajian Malaysia dan Antarabangsa – Institute of Malaysian and International Studies (IKMAS)

09/2008–01/2009 Visiting Scholar, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS), Singapore

01–06/2007 Freelance employee, Overseas Museum (Übersee-Museum) Bremen, division “Cultural Anthropology“

2026–2031: DFG-Heisenberg-Program

2023–2026:  ERASMUS framework programme grant for cooperations between FAU and Southeast Asian universities (National University of Singapore, Universiti Malaya and others), granted by the European Union

2020–2022: Olympia Morata Fellowship in support of young female professors, University of Heidelberg

2017–2019: Research Fellowship (“Eigene Stelle”), German Research Foundation (DFG), held at University of Hamburg

2013–2015: Postdoctoral Fellowship, Nachwuchsinitiative der Universität Hamburg

07/2008–08/2011: Doctoral Fellowship, Hans-Böckler-Foundation, held at University of Göttingen

Publications and Research

Monographies

  • 2023: Thimm, Viola; Shopping with Allah. Muslim pilgrimage, gender, and consumption in a Globalised World. London: UCL Press
  • 2022: Thimm, Viola: Narrating Intersectional Perspectives Across Social Scales: Voicing Valerie. London: Routledge. (Published in paperback in 2024)
  • 2014: Thimm, Viola: Geschlecht und Bildungsmigration: Lebensentwürfe und Weiblichkeitsbilder malaysischer Bildungs­migrantinnen in Singapur [Gender & Educational Migration: Life Projects and Images of Femininity of Female Educational Migrants from Malaysia in Singapore]. Bielefeld: transcript.

Book reviews in:

  • American Ethnologist, 51(4): 631–632, (2024)
  • Journal of Anthropological Research, 80(3): 354–355 (2024)
  • Studies of Transition States and Societies, 16: 88–89, (2024)

Edited Volumes

  • 2026: Thimm, Viola and Thajib, Ferdiansyah (eds.): Embracing Faith and Desire. Queer and Feminist Engagements with Islam and Christianity as Lived Religions. Abingdon/New York: Routledge.
  • 2021: Thimm, Viola (editor): (Re-)Claiming Bodies: Gendered Configurations in Islam. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • 2021: Buitelaar, Marjo*; Manja Stephan-Emmrich*; Viola Thimm* (editors; *The order of editor names for the volume as a whole is purely alphabetical, reflecting equal contribution and responsibility): Muslim Women’s Pilgrimage to Mecca and Beyond. Reconfiguring Gender, Religion, and Mobility. Abington/New York: Routledge.
  • 2018: Thimm, Viola (editor): Understanding Muslim Mobilities and Gender. Basel: MDPI.
  • 2018: Chaudhuri, Mayurakshi und Viola Thimm (guest editors): Special Section “Postcolonial Intersections: Asia on the Move” Transfers: Interdisciplinary Journal of Mobility Studies, Vol 8 (3).
  • 2018: Thimm, Viola (guest editor): Special Issue “Understanding Muslim Mobilities and Gender” Social SciencesVol. 6–7. http://www.mdpi.com/journal/socsci/special_issues/muslim_mobilities_ gender.
  • 2016: Thimm, Viola (associate editor): The International Journal of Diverse Identities, Vol. 16.

Original articles, peer-reviewed

  • Under review: Thimm, Viola: Keramat, miracles and magic: Veneration at Muslim saints’ graves in Malaysia in the context of syncretic traditions.
  • Accepted: Thimm, Viola: Queer Muslim subjectivity: LGBTQIA+ identity in Malaysia between transnational self-awareness, pilgrimage politics and Islamic repression. Current Anthropology
  • 2025: Thimm, Viola: Sexual im/mobilities: On queer Muslim pilgrimage. HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory, 15(1): 74–86. https://doi.org/10.1086/734602
  • 2025: Thimm, Viola: Reconfiguring Gender, Kinship, Spirituality: Space- and Placemaking in Muslim Malaysia. The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 31(1): 82–99. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9655.14164
  • 2025: Thimm, Viola: Bringing Intersectionality to the Core of Social and Cultural Anthropology: Scaling Holistic Intersectionality. Ethnos: Journal of Anthropology, 90(1): 110-127. https://doi.org/10.1080/00141844.2023.2226833
  • 2025: Thimm, Viola: “Super-power” in the grave: Meaning-making of Muslim saints’ graves in Southeast Asia and on the Arabian Peninsula. TRaNS: Trans -Regional and -National Studies of Southeast Asia, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1017/trn.2025.10005
  • 2021: Thimm, Viola: Gendered Pilgrimage: Hajj and umrah from women’s perspectives. Journal of Contemporary Religion, Vol 36 (2): 223–241.
  • 2021: Thimm, Viola: Muslim Fashion: Challenging Transregional Connectivities between Malaysia and the Arabian Peninsula. TRaNS: Trans -Regional and -National Studies of Southeast Asia, Vol 9 (2): 117–128.
  • 2019: Thimm, Viola und Mayurakshi Chaudhuri: Migration as Mobility? An Intersectional Approach. Applied Mobilities. https://doi.org/10.1080/23800127.2019.1573780
  • 2018: Chaudhuri, Mayurakshi und Viola Thimm: Postcolonial Intersections – Asia on the Move: Introduction. Special Section “Postcolonial Intersections: Asia on the Move” Transfers: Interdisciplinary Journal of Mobility Studies, Vol 8 (3):28–35.
  • 2018: Thimm, Viola: Embodying and consuming Muslim pilgrimage: Gendered shopping and clothing practices by Malaysian women on “umrah and ziarah Dubai.“Asian Anthropology, Vol 17 (3): 185–203.
  • 2018: Thimm, Viola: Muslim Mobilities and Gender: An Introduction. Social Sciences, 7(1), 5.
  • 2017: Thimm, Viola: Commercialising Islam in Malaysia: Ziarah at the intersection of Muslim pilgrimage and the market-driven tourism industry. UKM Ethnic Studies Paper Series No. 56, December. Bangi: Institute of Ethnic Studies.
  • 2017: Thimm, Viola; Mayurakshi Chaudhuri; and Sarah J. Mahler: Enhancing intersectional analyses with polyvocality: Making and illustrating the model. Social Sciences. 6(2), 37.
  • 2016: Thimm, Viola: “I really love that guy!” Romantische Liebe als Weg zur Moderne im regionalen Kontext Singapurs und Malaysias. [“I really love that guy!” Romantic love as a path to modernity in the regional context of Singapore and Malaysia]. Asien – The German Journal on Contemporary Asia 139 2/2016: 25-43.
  • 2016: Thimm, Viola: “I can give you money but there is no use. The best thing I [can] give you is education.” Negotiating educational migration and gender in a Chinese Malaysian family. TRaNS: Trans-Regional and National Studies of Southeast Asia, 4(1): 65-84.
  • 2015: Thimm, Viola: Die arabische abaya in Malaysia: Verhandlungen von muslimischen Kleidungspraktiken, weiblicher Körperlichkeit und Modernität The arabic abaya in Malaysia: negotiations of Muslim practices of clothing, female corporeality and modernity]. Paideuma, 61:95-116.
  • 2014: Thimm, Viola: Soziale Mobilität für Frauen durch bildungsmotivierte Land-Stadt-Migration: Eine Biographie aus Malaysia [Social mobility for women through education-motivated rural-urban migration: A biography from Malaysia]. Ethnoscripts, 16(2):27-41.
  • 2013: Thimm, Viola: Education, Migration, Gender: Policies of Education in Malaysia and Singapore. GSE Journal of Education 2013:1-11.
  • 2012: Thimm, Viola: “My dad wants to see me graduate with a good degree (…)” Bildungsmigration und Geschlecht im regionalen Kontext Malaysias und Singapurs. Journal Netzwerk Frauen- und Geschlechterforschung NRW, 31: 62-67.

Book Chapters, peer-reviewed

  • In press: Thimm, Viola: Empowering pilgrimage. Queer(feminist) and intersectional perspectives on Islamic rituals. In: Eller, Jack David (ed.): Anything but Orthodox: Anthropological Observations of Islam in the 21st Century. Routledge.
  • 2027: Thimm, Viola: Pilgrims. In: Salazar, Noel (ed.): Anthropological Handbook of Mobility, pp. 262-274. New York/Oxford: Berghahn.
  • 2026: Thimm, Viola: Queering pilgrimage in Germany: spiritual mobility as alternative routes to Mecca. In: Thimm, Viola and Ferdiansyah Thajib (eds): Embracing Faith and Desire. Queer and Feminist Engagements with Islam and Christianity as Lived Religions, pp. 100-115. Abingdon/New York: Routledge.
  • 2026: Thajib, Ferdiansyah and Viola Thimm: Embracing faith and desire. Queer and feminist engagements with Islam and Christianity as lived religions: an introduction. In: Thimm, Viola and Ferdiansyah Thajib (eds): Embracing Faith and Desire. Queer and Feminist Engagements with Islam and Christianity as Lived Religions, pp. 1-14. Abingdon/New York: Routledge.
  • 2021: Thimm, Viola: Introduction: (Re-)Claiming Bodies through Fashion and Style. Gendered Configurations in Muslim Contexts. In: Thimm, Viola (ed.): (Re-)Claiming Bodies: Gendered Configurations in Islam, pp. 1-18. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • 2021: Thimm, Viola: Men’s Non-Fashion: Embodying Traditionality in the Gulf. In: Thimm, Viola (ed.): (Re-)Claiming Bodies: Gendered Configurations in Islam, pp. 109-126. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • 2021: Buitelaar, Marjo*; Manja Stephan-Emmrich*; Viola Thimm* (*The order of author names in the introduction and that of editor names for the volume as a whole is purely alphabetical, reflecting equal contribution and responsibility): Introduction: Muslim Women’s Pilgrimage to Mecca and Beyond. Reconfiguring Gender, Religion, and Mobility, pp. 19-35. Abingdon/New York: Routledge.
  • 2021: Thimm, Viola: Under male supervision? Islamic belief and nationality as basis for Muslim women’s pilgrimage. In: Buitelaar, Marjo; Manja Stephan-Emmrich; Viola Thimm (eds.): Muslim Women’s Pilgrimage to Mecca and Beyond. Reconfiguring Gender, Religion, and Mobility, pp. 19-35. Abingdon/New York: Routledge.
  • 2019: Chaudhuri, Mayurakshi; Viola Thimm und Sarah J. Mahler: Scaling Educational Policy and Practices Intersectionally: Historical and Contemporary Education Policies, Practices and Effects in South and Southeast Asia. In: Hankivsky, Olena and Julia Jordan-Zachery (eds.): The Palgrave Handbook of Intersectionality in Public Policy, S. 367-385. Houndsmills: Palgrave MacMillan.
  • 2018: Thimm, Viola: Muslim Mobilities and Gender: An Introduction. In: Viola Thimm (ed.): Understanding Muslim Mobilities and Gender, S. 1-10. Basel: MDPI.
  • 2014: Chaudhuri, Mayurakshi; Viola Thimm and Sarah J. Mahler: Gendered Geographies of Power: Their Value for Analyzing Gender across Transnational Spaces. In: Gruhlich, Julia and Birgit Riegraf (eds.): Transnationale Räume und Geschlecht, S. 94-209. Münster: Westfälisches Dampfboot.
  • 2014: Thimm, Viola: The Female Body in Transnational Space between Malaysia and Singapore. In: Buccieri, Kristy (ed.): Body Tensions: Beyond Corporeality in Time and Space, S. 55-72. Oxford: ID-Press.
  • 2014: Thimm, Viola: Gender and the Body in Transnational Space: Female Educational Migrants from Malaysia in Singapore. In: McLean, Loyola et al. (eds.): Exploring Bodies in Time and Space, S. 37-45. Oxford: ID-Press.
  • 2014: Thimm, Viola: “Gendered Geographies of Power”. Ein Modell zur Analyse von Bildungsmigration und Geschlecht am Beispiel von Malaysia und Singapur. In: Förschler, Silke et al. (eds.): Verorten – Verhandeln – Verkörpern, S. 61-84. Bielefeld: transcript.
  • 2013: Thimm, Viola: Education, Migration, Gender: Policies of Education in Malaysia and Singapore. In: Mokmin Basri et al. (eds.): Emerging Trends for Sustainability in Global Education: Opportunities and Challenges, Kajang (Malaysia): WorldConferences.net, S. 1-11.

Other publications

  • 2024: Thimm, Viola: “Super-power” in the grave: Something superstitious or rational? CAS-E Blog Post (Center for Advanced Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences – Alternative Rationalities and Esoteric Practices from a Global Perspective) (https://cas-e.de/2024/11/04/super-power-in-the-grave-something-superstitious-or-rational/) (November 4, 2024)
  • 2018: Jongmanns, Georg and Viola Thimm: Förderprogramme in der Lehre und die Frage der personellen Nachhaltigkeit: Kriterien für eine tragfähige Aufgaben- und Personalstruktur (Funding programmes in teaching and the question of “personnel sustainability”). (https://his-he.de/projekte/detail/projekt/mwk-niedersachsen-personelle-nachhaltigkeit-in-der-lehre/)
  • 2014: Thimm, Viola: Die Bersih-Bewegung in Malaysia [The Bersih movement in Malaysia]. Südostasien 1/2014:27-29.
  • 2012: Thimm, Viola: “Singapore sucks!” – Skateboarding als Grenzraum zwischen Subkultur und staatlicher Kontrolle [“Singapore sucks!” – Skateboarding as a contested space between subculture and state control]. Südostasien 4/2012: 26-28.

Gender, Queer, Islam: Transregional Reconfigurations of Muslim Pilgrimage