Tamar Haupt-Khutsishvili

Positions

Since 2021
Editing and hosting of the podcast "Across the Caucasus"

Since 2019
Teaching and research fellow (Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin)

2017–2019
Research assistant in the project LexCauc – A lexical database for the languages of the Caucasus

Since 2014
PhD student in the Caucasian Studies Program, FSU Jena

2014–2017
Research assistant in the project CASCADE - Exploring the Security-Democracy Nexus in the Caucasus

2014–2015
One year of fieldwork in the Armenian border village Pshatavan

2011–2013
M.A. in Cultural and Social Anthropology at Tbilisi State University, Georgia
Topic of the MA thesis: Transformation of Urban Space, as exemplified by contemporary Tbilisi

2006–2010
BA in Arabic studies at Tbilisi State University, Georgia

Topic of the dissertation: Land use strategies in an Armenian border village Pshatavan

This research seeks to study the strategies of villagers for using and keeping agricultural land plots after the privatization of the lands formerly owned by Sovkhoz and Kolkhoz. The research asks how the land is used and explores the coping strategies adopted by households for converting land plots into valuable, status giving assets. Discussion around strategies are led by the concepts of informality and forms of capital. In the light of Economic Anthropology, the research explores household strategies as the reflection of top-down and bottom-up changes. The village of Pshatavan borders Turkey. This means that half of the arable land plots are located on no man’s land.  Therefore, the effect of the border on shaping a villager’s identity and influencing land use practices is also a major part of the research.

Teaching

• Summer Term 2019 (co-taught with J. Sparsbrod): Seminar "Informal practices in the Caucasus", Friedrich-Schiller-University
• Winter Term 2018/2019 (co-taught with J. Sparsbrod): Seminar “Soviet and Post-Soviet Movies", Friedrich-Schiller-University
• Winter Term 2018/2019 (co-taught with J. Sparsbrod): Seminar “Identity groups In the Caucasus”, Friedrich-Schiller-University

Publications & presentations at conferences

• 06.–11.06.2019 Fourth Annual Tartu conference on Russian and East European Studies, Tartu, Estonia, presentation “Identity-transformation of Yezidi Kurds in post-Soviet Armenia”
• 05.–24.05.2017 USC Institute of Armenian Studies, Yerevan, Armenia, presentation “Everyday economy of tricksters”
• 11.–19.11.2016 Migration, Mobile Goods and Trade Networks in the Caucasus, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena “Fishing in troubled waters: Petty-traders in the marketplace”
• 04.–16.04.2016 Association for the Study of Nationalities (ASN), New York City, USA; presentation “Micro credits and solidarity groups”
• 07.–23.07.2016 Anthropological Legacies and Human Futures (EASA 2016), Milano, Italy; presentation “Trade Networks in an Armenian border village”
• 10.–21.10.2016 The Democracy-Security Nexus in and around the Caucasus (CASCADE), Brussels, Belgium; presentation “Fishing in Troubled Waters”

Organization of conferences and other events

• Kaukasus Kino Klub: regular screening of movies related to the Caucasus, see our facebook pageExternal link for more information
• 2019: Second International LexCauc Workshop, FSU Jena, June 2019
• 2018: First International LexCauc Workshop, FSU Jena, April 2018
• 11.–19.11.2016 International Conference “Migration, Mobile Goods and Trade Networks in the Caucasus”, Friedrich-Schiller-University, Jena
• 08.2015–09.2015 Pshatavan, Armenia, Summer School “Research methods in Anthropology”

Fieldwork

• 09.2017–20.09.2017 field work on the topic “The European Union: a bottom up view Emic interpretations of decline along the Lower Danube (Bulgaria)” , Dolni Tsibar, Bulgaria
• 09.2014–18.09.2015 field work on the topic “Land using in an Armenian border village Pshatavan”, Pshatavan, Armenia
• 08.2013–31.08.2013 field work on the topic “Conflictual relations of Germans in the Caucasus” Göygol, Azerbaijan
• 12.2012–08.01.2013 field work on the topic “Places and non-places”, Anaklia, Georgia
• 08.2012–25.08.2012 field work on former market place at the border area, Sadakhlo, Georgia
• 29.12.2011–08.01.2012 field work on seasonal migrations, Sarfi, Georgia