People

Elettra Griesi

Associate Member

e.griesi@fu-berlin.de


Website

CV

  • Academic Career

  • Since 12|2020

    PhD, Title: 'The production of socio-spatial Inequalities and Marginalization: A Case Study on the Lebou Group from Thiaroye sur Mer (Dakar, Senegal)', Free University Berlin, Department of Human Geography

  • 2017 - 2020

    Member of the doctoral program 'Dynamics of Inequality and Difference in the Age of Globalization' University of Innsbruck, Institute of Historical Sciences and European Ethnology

  • 2009 - 2013

    Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Leipzig and FU Berlin Title of the Master's thesis 'Living in the vertical - mutual influence of space and social practices. The example of the prefabricated buildings in Pinar del Río (Cuba)', awarded on 10.03.2014 by the Rudolf-Virchow Prize 2014

  • 2000 - 2008

    Faculty of Architecture, RWTH Aachen, Title of the diploma thesis 'Bdoul vertical - life, resettlement, adaptation of a Jordanian Bedouin tribe'.

  • 2004 - 2005

    Exchange semester at the Università degli studi Roma Tre, Rome

  • Work Experience

  • Since 2020

    Editor of the journal Trialog e.V.
    Project: Journal issue n° 135, Titel: Cultural Space
    Activity: Conception of the issue, technical editing of the texts, writing of the editorial and of a scientific article.

  • 2017

    Lecturer, technical vocational school Delafosse, Dakar (Senegal)
    Seminar: Do it Yourself: Empowerment and Self-Determination of Rural Communities (Senegal)
    Activity: preparation and follow-up work on the seminar, preparation of teaching material, conduction of the seminar, expert support of the students and participation in the examination process

  • Since 2016

    Project Director, NGO Diappal Gaayi – Building Community Roots, Dakar
    Project: Ecological Multifunctional Complex for Food Transformation, Handicraft, Education and Cultural Activities, Kaolack (Senegal)
    Activity: Architectural conception, drafting activities of the building, compilation of planning and product documentation, planning of details, preparation of planning material for technical planners (acoustic, electricity, drywall, sanitation)

  • 2015 - 2016

    Lecturer, Faculty of Architecture, University of Kassel
    Seminar: Reading Architecture – A Research Seminar
    Activity: preparation and follow-up work on the seminar, preparation of teaching material, conduction of the seminar, expert support of the students and participation in the examination process and documentation of seminar units and examination performances

  • 2015 - 2017

    Research Associate, Faculty of Architecture, University of Kassel
    Project: Dreams and Spaces of a Revolution - Architecture in Cuba 1959 - 2017 - Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG - German National Research
    Institute)
    Activity: Historical analysis and contextualization of Cuba's architecture and urban planning, literature research, coordination and organization of content fieldwork, including photographic recording and object documentation. Editor of documentation

  • 2012 - 2014

    Project Coordinator, NGO borderline-europe, Berlin
    Project: Europeanisation of national asylum and immigration law in Cyprus, Italy, Spain: detentions, detention centers for foreigners versus repatriation policies
    Activity: Coordination of international associations and organizations involved in the project and coordination of sensitization seminars and panel discussions in Germany, Italy, Austria

  • 2006 - 2011

    Freelancer at the following architectural offices: HG Merz (Berlin), Yüce Architects (Turkey), Archid (Berlin)
    Projects: National Library Unter den Linden (Berlin), competition Tabakalera, Donostia-San Sebastian (Spain), community housing project Süd-West-Sonne (Berlin)
    Activity: Planning of details for interior design, preparation of planning material for specialist planners (acousticians, drywall), company research, company inquiries, sample orders, model making, preparation of outline plans of interior decoration, execution plans

  • 2005 and 2006

    Student assistant, FU Berlin, Prof. Friederike Fless and Prof. Wolfram Hoepfner
    Project: The city wall of Messene / GR, survey, excavation, building survey and
    building research
    Activity: Surveying with GPS and total station, graphic documentation

  • 2004 - 2006

    Student assistant, German Archaeological Institute, Prof. Ludwig Schwandner (DAI), Prof. Franziska Lang (HU Berlin), Prof. Peter Funke (University of Münster)
    Projects: Building Survey Campaign in Sterna - Trikorphon, Peninsula Plaghia (GR), Archaeological Survey on the Plaghia Peninsula (GR), Excavation Project and Building Record in Gadara, Umm Qais (JO)
    Activity: Drawing of the city wall, surveying, collection and evaluation of finds, processing and evaluation of results, concept development for museum and tourist development

  • Field research and stays abroad

    Senegal, Cuba, Italy, Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Turkey

Research Focus

    • the production of socio-spatial inequalities and marginalization

    • space transformation processes

    • migration

    • the co-production of space (the construction and production of space)

Dissertation

The production of socio-spatial Inequalities and Marginalization: A Case Study on the Lebou Group from Thiaroye sur Mer (Dakar, Senegal)

Abstract
In my PhD, I explore how collective space production can be deployed as a strategy to contrast poverty and ‘illegal’ migration. Based on shared patterns of space usage, social movements of the Lebou community from Dakar (Senegal) re-appropriate space collectively for self-realisation, transforming residential areas and public facilities into places for economic activities. In my research, I examine not only the strategies employed to reach the aforementioned goals but also how spatial collective action can contribute to reproduce socio-spatial and economic exclusion while generating changes in the social order.

Publications

    • Griesi, E. (2021): ‘Between socio-spatial exclusion and new solidarity networks: the Lebou-group from Thiaroye sur Mer (Senegal)’ – In: TRIALOG. Köln: TASCHEN Verlag.

    • Griesi, E. (2019): ‚Space Transformation as a Consequence of the Socialist Resettlement Program
      in Cuba and Georgia‘ – In: Wolken Kuckucks Heim TU Berlin ist die Zeitschrift – Heft 37 – Elektronische Zeitschrift (http://cloud-cuckoo.net/index.php?id=21).

    • Griesi, E. (2017): ‚Massenwohnungsbau auf Kuba: Transformation von sozialen Praktiken und
      Nachbarschaftsinteraktion durch gebauten Raum‘ – In: TRIALOG. Köln: TASCHEN Verlag.

    • Griesi, E. (2014): ‚Leben in der Vertikale: Gegenseitige Beeinflussung von Raum und sozialen
      Praktiken am Beispiel der Plattenbauten von Pinar del Río (Kuba)‘ – In: Mitteilungen der Berliner
      Gesellschaft für Anthropologie, Ethnologie und Urgeschichte, Band 35. Kiel: Verlag Marie Leidorf
      GmbH, S. 25 – 41.

    • Griesi, E. (2014): Leben in der Vertikale: Gegenseitige Beeinflussung von Raum und sozialen
      Praktiken am Beispiel der Plattenbauten von Pinar del Río (Kuba). Berlin: Weißensee Verlag.

    • Griesi, E. (2011): Bdoul Vertikal: Die Höhle versus das Mehrgeschoss-Haus. Architektur, Identität,
      räumliche Neuorganisation eines Beduinenstammes. Münster: LIT Verlag.

    • Griesi, E. (2010): Die Stadt von Velletri: Entwicklungsgeschichte und Forschungen zu
      städtebaulichen Ausdehnungsphasen, Haustypologien und Konstruktionsmethoden. Hamburg: Diplomica Verlag.

  • Talks

    • “The Deep South – Diversity and Agriculture on the
      Italian market: from the deportation centers to the farms”, 2016
      Event: Sensitization tour through Germany and Switzerland: Die dark side of the red tomato. Refugees, sans paper, migrants and the Labor disputes: About the situation and prospects of illegalized Harvest workers in Southern Europe
      Facilities: Rosa Luxemburg Berlin and Hamburg, ver.di, University of Kassel, University of Osnabrück, University of Cologne, Solifonds Switzerland

    • “Living vertically – Resettlement project in Cuba”, 2013
      Event: Seminar: Cultura Urbana y Estudios de Detalle Urbano
      Institution: Colegio San Jeronimo, University of Havana, Departamento Sociologia Urbana, Prof. Gina Rey, Prof. Mathey Kosta

    • “Living vertically – Resettlement Project in the
      prefabricated Buildings of Cuba”, 2013
      Event: Lecture Series ‘Living in Interspaces – Ambivalent Affiliations’
      Institution: Verein Werkstatt der Ethnologie

    • “Bdoul vertical – Resettlement and Civil Society – Self- Organization of a Rural Semi-nomadic Community”, 2009
      Event: 6th Ethnological Symposium ‘Between Worlds’
      Institution: University of Bayreuth, Chair of Ethnology, Prof. Dr. med. Kurt Beck

    • “Bdoul vertical: The cave versus the multi-storey
      house. Architecture, identity, spatial reorganization of a Bedouin tribe”, 2009
      Event: Seminar and Design: “Addis Ababa-Hands on Urbanism
      Institution: TU Berlin Architecture, Chair for Urban Design, Prof. Jörg Stollmann