The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded anthropologist Dr. Jürgen Schaflechner of Freie Universität Berlin a Consolidator Grant to support his project “Conspiracy Theorizing from South Asia.” Over the next five years, Schaflechner and his team will examine the formation, mediatization, and appropriation of conspiracy theories in Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan. By focusing on South Asia, the project aims to counterbalance the prevailing emphasis on the Global North within the study of global conspiracy theories.

Dr. Schaflechner is a research group leader at the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology at Freie Universität Berlin. His work is situated within political anthropology and addresses forms of populism in precarious communities, cultures and politics of resentment, and dynamics of communicative capitalism in postcolonial contexts. His research also engages with cultural and postcolonial theory, the socio-anthropology of martial arts, and the role of documentary film in ethnographic inquiry.

He has filmed, edited, and produced several documentary films that combine scholarly analysis with experimental visual formats. Through his theoretical film series CUT (Cinematic Understanding of Theory), he explores contemporary theoretical concepts in conversations with figures such as Peter Sloterdijk, Chantal Mouffe, and Wendy Brown.

He has held visiting appointments at several universities, including Harvard University, Princeton University, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Link to the press release from Freie Universität Berlin: https://www.fu-berlin.de/presse/informationen/fup/2025/fup_25_205-erc-consolidator-grant-juergen-schaflechner/index.html