Summer School and Field Research 2025: Experience Reports
Fieldwork excursion “Gender, Im/mobility and Volatility in Himalayan Worlds”
From June 16 to July 13, four ISEK students joined the fieldwork excursion “Gender, Im/mobility and Volatility in Himalayan Worlds”, which took place in Kathmandu, Nepal.
After an intensive one-day research orientation workshop, the students got to know and moved in with their host families. In the first few days, we participated in a guided tour with energy planner and social entrepreneur Anil Chitrakar in the Boudhanath neighbourhood, visited the art exhibition “At the Tipping Point: Art and Ecology from the Rooftop of the World” at Tarragon next, and the students started their individual research projects.
Further highlights included a guided tour of the neighbouring city of Patan with members of the all femme-/queer-run art space Kaalo.01 and a full day hike facilitated by the women-led collective Duluwa Outdoors. At Junkiri Feminist Library we discussed storytelling as a medium of social change and at photo.circle we learned more about the visionary Nepal Picture Library, the power of the archive, and women's public lives in Nepal through the "Feminist Memory Project". Kumud Rana, lecturer at Lancaster University, provided us with new insights on queerness and indigeneity and at Martin Chautari, a public research hub, we participated in a lively discussion after Arjun Kharel of Tribhuvan University shared research findings on women’s im/mobility in the context of transnational labour migration.
As part of the excursion students experimented with new forms of presenting and sharing research findings by creating ‘flash ethnographies’ (McGranahan and Craig 2023) – anthropological essays in short form. These are based on their independent ethnographic explorations of reproductive health activism, Mithila art, the intersection of Tibetan Buddhism and gender, and young women’s experiences with mountaineering and outdoor sports. We envision to share these flashes later on with a wider audience – stay tuned!
This excursion was organised by Anne Kukuczka with the financial support of @uzhalumni. A big thank you also goes to Saniya Giri and Pavitra Paudyal for their fantastic assistance in making the excursion possible.
ISEK Summer School on the Urban Commons in Switzerland
From 30 June to 16 July 2025, the Southeast Asia in Motion Summer School brought together students from Southeast Asia and the University of Zurich to explore the many faces of Zurich’s urban commons. From green and aquatic spaces to housing cooperatives, public fountains, and cultural hubs, participants engaged in ethnographic fieldwork across the city and crafted creative multi-media research outputs.
A highlight of the program was a visit to the Korporation Uri—the largest commons project in Switzerland—where students gained firsthand insights into how highland pastures are governed through collective decision-making.
The Summer School was co-organised by Prof. Annuska Derks, Annisa Sabrina Hartoto, and Nadja Kempter, with generous support from the UZH Alumni Fund.
