Fellows 2026

Ketevan Gurchiani

Professor of Anthropology, Ilia State University in Tbilisi

Resident at the Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften:

June/July 2019; June/July 2026

Research topic at the Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften:

»Permeability of Places: The Case of Tbilisi Courtyards«

Project outline:

My project examines traditional Tbilisi houses with courtyards, characterized by open balconies, shared courtyards, and open doors, where permeability is not merely an architectural feature but a way of life with its own affordances and constraints. Focusing on the coexistence of different groups, it demonstrates how urban permeability facilitates the linguistic and religious code-switching. It views courtyards and buildings as »bundles« that unite material properties, symbols, and affects - configurations that simultaneously enable and restrict certain forms of interaction across religious and ethnic differences. The existing structures are palimpsestic and reveal various temporal layers that are still present. Some of the questions this research explores are: Under what conditions do spaces or identities become more permeable? Does permeability function equally in all directions? Are there hierarchies regarding who is allowed to cross boundaries and when? How has permeability changed over time, and why? Does the infrastructure of coexistence have its hidden layers? (Ketevan Gurchiani)

Research partner:

In 2019, Ketevan Gurchiani was invited by Isabell Diehm (Professor of educational science at Goethe University) and the LOEWE research focus »Religious Positioning: Modalities and Constellations in Jewish, Christian and Islamic Contexts«. In 2026, she cooperates with Susanne Fehlings, deputy director of the Frobenius Institute for Research in Cultural Anthropology; her stay is funded by the LOEWE research center »Dynamics of Religion: Ambivalent Neighborhoods Between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam in Historical and Contemporary Constellations«.

Scholarly profile of Ketevan Gurchiani

Ketevan Gurchiani is a professor of anthropology and the head of the Research Center for Anthropology at Ilia State University in Tbilisi, Georgia. Her primary research areas include urban anthropology, environment, migration and the exploration of everyday religion. Since 2020, Gurchiani has led the project titled »Tbilisi as an Urban Assemblage«. Her previous research encompassed the study of religiosity among young Georgians from 2015 to 2018. Currently, she serves as a collaboration partner in the project »Remembrance of Soviet Repressions in post-Soviet spaces« (Polish Academy of Sciences) as well as in the project »Gardens Otherwise and Elsewhere« (National Research Council Canada), and in the EU funded HER-UKR research initiative that investigates the role of cultural heritage in EU foreign policy, with a particular focus on Ukraine.

Website:
More information about Ketevan Gurchiani can be found here.

Selected publications:

»The many lives of the dead: What cemeteries in Tbilisi do«, in: History and Anthropology (2025), pp. 1-21.
»Global aesthetics as an (im) perfect shelter: atmospheres of belonging and Russian migration in Tbilisi, Georgia«, in: Eurasian Geography and Economics (2025), pp. 1-21.
»Moral frameworks of commercial surrogacy in Georgia«, in: Journal of Cultural Economy (2025), pp. 1-20.
»Rivers between nature, infrastructure, and religion«, in: Central Asian Survey (2022), pp. 1-20.
»Die verborgene Macht der Bäume. Urbaner Widerstand in Tiflis«, in: Ferdinand Sutterlüty and Almut Poppinga (eds.), Verdeckter Widerstand in demokratischen Gesellschaften, Frankfurt a. Main/New York 2022, pp. 157-188.

Ketevan Gurchiani

Scholarly profile of Ketevan Gurchiani

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