Hertie Foundation Visiting Professorship
Prof. Dr. Dani Kranz
Dr. Dani Kranz is an applied anthropologist, director of Two Foxes Consulting, and research coordinator at the Tikvah Institute in Berlin. Her research focuses on contemporary Jewish life, migration, ethnicity, cultures of memory, as well as antisemitism and philosemitism.
Kranz studied anthropology, social psychology, and history and earned her Ph.D. in social anthropology from the University of St. Andrews. She has held positions at Ben-Gurion University in Israel, El Colegio de México, the University of Wuppertal, Rhein-Waal University of Applied Sciences, and Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, among others. Since 2025, she has served as the first chairperson of “Präsenzen – Netzwerk jüdischer Gegenwartsforschung e. V.” Her work combines ethnographic research with social impact: Among other things, she advises the Federal Government Commissioner for Jewish Life and the Fight Against Antisemitism, as well as foundations, museums, and NGOs.
Courses in the Winter Semester
Jews, Jewish Life-Worlds, and Jewish Heritage in Contemporary Germany – Approaches from the Social Sciences
What does Jewish life look like in Germany today? This seminar explores Jewish life worlds and Jewish heritage from a social science perspective. The focus is on the diversity of contemporary Jewish life and the question of how Jewish heritage is understood and negotiated in today’s society.
What Is Antisemitism? Research, Research Approaches, and Methods After 1945
What do we mean by antisemitism—and how can it be studied scientifically? This seminar examines antisemitism research after 1945 and its various theoretical and methodological approaches. It explores how antisemitism is defined, analyzed, and becomes the subject of scientific inquiry.
Empirical Methods in Research on Antisemitism and Contemporary Jewish Life
How can contemporary Jewish life and antisemitism be studied empirically? This seminar is dedicated to the methods researchers use to examine experiences, perceptions, and social contexts. The focus is on the relationship between research questions, methodological approaches, and scientific knowledge.
Israel, Palestine, and Germany as Reflected in German-Language Texts: Social Science Perspectives on Knowledge Production and Interpretation
How is knowledge about Israel, Palestine, and Germany produced and conveyed in German-language texts? This seminar examines, from a social science perspective, how interpretations emerge and which viewpoints shape them. The central question is how texts help shape societal perceptions and debates.
A Visiting Professorship in Contemporary Jewish Life and Anti-Semitism Research
The visiting professorship at the Heidelberg University of Jewish Studies is made possible by the non-profit Hertie Foundation as part of its Fund for Combating Antisemitism and Education. The position is filled for one semester per academic year and combines two interrelated areas of focus: research on contemporary Jewish life and the scholarly examination of antisemitism from the perspective of those affected.
The research on Jewish life today is at the heart of the visiting professorship. Jewish existence is shaped by a pluralistic, vibrant, and dynamic culture—by religious, cultural, political, and social practices, by debates, everyday life, and self-conceptions. This present reality cannot be reduced to experiences of discrimination, defense mechanisms, or resilience. The visiting professorship therefore makes contemporary Jewish culture an independent subject of academic research and teaching.
In doing so, it expands the historical and textual focus for which the College of Jewish Studies is known to include a consistently contemporary perspective. Jewish life is thus not viewed solely as a subject of the past, but is made visible in all its diversity and relevance to the present.
This focus is complemented by the scholarly analysis of antisemitism from the perspective of those affected. This perspective is often neglected in research: How do Jewish people perceive antisemitism? How do they contextualize it historically, socially, and theoretically? And what forms of coping, self-assertion, and solidarity emerge from this?
The visiting professorship brings these questions into teaching, research, and public debate. It aims to attract internationally renowned researchers to Heidelberg, provide new impetus for the university, and strengthen the exchange between academia, Jewish communities, and the broader public.
