Research and Teaching Interests:

• Medical Anthropology
• Gender Studies
• Intersectional Perspectives on Medicine
• Assisted Reproductive Technology
• Genetic Testing
• Anthropology of the Body and the Senses
• Anthropologie of Violence
• Ethnographic Methods
• Digital Anthropology
   

Regional Focus

• German-speaking countries
• Indonesia
• Ukraine
• USA
• Israel
• Transnational networks

September 2023 - September 2024
Substitution Professor at the Institute of Social- and Cultural Anthropology, Freie Universität, Berlin

January 2021 (at the Freie Universität from April 2021) - June 2023
Leadership of the VW project "Children in Between: Transnational Surrogacy in the Time of Covid-19" and its Aftermath" at the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, Freie Universität Berlin (in cooperation with Prof. Anindita Majumdar, Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad and Prof. Heather Jacobson, University of Texas at Arlington)

August 2018 - November 2020
Senior Scientific Assistent at Ethnologisches Seminar, Universität Luzern

September - December 2017
Substitution of Prof. Bettina Beer at Ethnologisches Seminar, Universität Luzern

January 2017 - July 2018
Research Associate at the DFG project "PreGGI: Meanings and Practices of Prenatal Genetics in Germany and Israel" at the Institute of Medical History and Science Studies, Universität zu Lübeck

May 2015 - December 2016
Parental leave

July 2013 - June 2015
Postdoctoral Fellow (REGAIN), Project "Surrogacy in Transnational Perspective" at the Center for Area Studies (associated with the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology), Freie Universität Berlin

February 2013 - June 2013
Substitution of Senior Scientific Assistent at Ethnologisches Seminar, Universität Luzern

March 2007 - August 2012
PhD at Australian National University in Canberra, Australia. Title of the Dissertation: "The Cultural Face of Conflict: Dayak-Madurese Violence in 1996/97 in West Kalimantan, Indonesia". Completed in May 2013.

October 2004 - March 2007
Research Associate at the DFG project "Die Performanz visuell unterstützter mündlicher Präsentationen", Technische Universität Berlin

October 1999 - October 2004
M.A. in Sociology, Technische Universität Berlin

April 1996 - October 2004
M.A. in Ethnology, Freie Universität Berlin

Completed Project

"Children in Between: Disruptions of Transnational Surrogacy in the Time of Covid-19 and its Aftermath" (Volkswagen-Stiftung)

Doctoral Thesis

Title of the dissertation: "The Cultural Face of Conflict: Dayak-Madurese Violence in 1996/97 in West Kalimantan, Indonesia". Completed in May 2013, Australian National University in Canberra, Australia

Books and Editorships

König, Anika, Andrea Whittaker, Trudie Gerrits, and Virginie Rozée. 2022. Special Issue: "Shifting Surrogacies: Comparative Ethnographies." International Journal of Comparative Sociology 63 (5-6).

2020 (mit B. Beer, Hg.) Methoden ethnologischer Feldforschung. Berlin: Reimer.

2015 (mit Nolwenn Bühler, Hg.) Special Issue: "Making Kinship in Switzerland and Beyond: Imaginations and Substances." Sociologus 65.

Journal Articles

Whittaker, Andrea, and Anika König. 2025. "Transnational Reproductive Brokers in Crisis." Cultural Studies 39 (2): 204-224. https://doi.org/10.1080/09502386.2024.2441793. https://doi.org/10.1080/09502386.2024.2441793.

König, Anika, and Stefan Reinsch. 2024. "“I Am Happy to Be Alive, But I Prefer to Have Children Without My Chronic Disease”: Chronically Ill Persons’ Views on Reproduction and Genetic Testing for Their Own Condition." New Genetics and Society 43 (1): e2332299. https://doi.org/10.1080/14636778.2024.2332299. https://doi.org/10.1080/14636778.2024.2332299.

Jacobson, Heather, Anika König, and Anindita Majumdar. 2024. "Im/mobility in the Transnational Surrogacy Market: Disruptions and Vulnerabilities In and Beyond Pandemic Times." Applied Mobilities 9 (4): 301-317. https://doi.org/10.1080/23800127.2023.2274238. https://doi.org/10.1080/23800127.2023.2274238.

König, Anika. 2023. "Reproductive Entanglements in Times of War: Transnational Gestational Surrogacy in Ukraine and Beyond" Medical Anthropology 42 (3): 479-492. https://doi.org/10.1080/01459740.2023.2201682

König, Anika, and Heather Jacobson. 2023. "Reprowebs: A Conceptual Approach to Elasticity and Change in the Global Assisted Reproduction Industry." BioSocieties 18 (1): 174-196. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41292-021-00260-6. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41292-021-00260-6.

König, Anika, Andrea Whittaker, Trudie Gerrits, and Virginie Rozée. 2022. "Shifting Surrogacies: Comparative Ethnographies." International Journal of Comparative Sociology 63 (5-6): 235–246. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1177/00207152221110088

König, Anika, and Anindita Majumdar. 2022. "Paperwork: Following the Trail of (Identity) Papers in Transnational Commercial Surrogacy." International Journal of Comparative Sociology 63 (5-6): 247–264. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1177%2F00207152221102843.

2020 "Reproductive Health in Times of Covid-19." In: Social Anthropology 28 (2): 299-300.

Reinsch, Stefan, Anika König, and Christoph Rehmann-Sutter. 2020. "Decision-making about non-invasive prenatal testing: women’s moral reasoning in the absence of a risk of miscarriage in Germany." New Genetics and Society: 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1080/14636778.2020.1805305. https://doi.org/10.1080/14636778.2020.1805305.

2016 "Identity Constructions and Dayak Ethnic Strife in West Kalimantan, Indonesia." In: The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology 17 (2): 121-137.

2015 (mit N. Bühler) "Making Kinship in Switzerland and Beyond: Imaginations and Substances." In: Sociologus 65 (1): 1-10.

2011 "Book Review: The Smell Culture Reader by Jim Drobnick (ed.)." In: The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology 12 (3): 306-308.

Book Chapters

2024. König, Anika. Im Erscheinen. "Global Belly: Anthropology und Theater." In Public Anthropology: Wissenspraktiken und gesellschaftliche Interventionen der ethnologischen Fächer edited by Hansjörg Dilger, Gisela Welz, Beate Binder and Thomas Kirsch. Frankfurt am Main: Campus.

2024. König, Anika. "Leihmutterschaft(en) und normative Vorstellungen von Zeit und gutem Leben." In Handbuch Medizin und Lebenszeit, edited by Sonja Deppe, Isabella Marcinski-Michel, Mark Schweda and Claudia Wiesemann. Berlin and Heidelberg: J.B. Metzler.

2024. König, Anika. "Reproduktive Stratifikation. Intersektionale Perspektiven auf Leihmutterschaft." In Reproduktion und das gute Leben: Intersektionale Perspektiven, edited by Isabella Marcinski-Michel and Claudia Wiesemann, 179-194. Bielefeld: Transkript.

2022. Rehmann-Sutter, Christoph, et al.  "What Does Prenatal Testing Mean for Women Who Have Tested?" In Genetic Responsibility in Germany and Israel, edited by Christina Schües, 227-251. Bielefeld: Transkript.

2022 (mit Rehmann-Sutter, Christoph/Rehmann-Sutter, Christoph/Nov-Klaiman, Tamar/Hashiloni-Dolev, Yael/Reinsch, Stefan) "What Does Prenatal Testing Mean for Women Who Have Tested?". In: Christina Schües (Eds.), Genetic Responsibility in Germany and Israel (227-252). Bielefeld: transcript Verlag. https://doi.org/10.14361/9783839459881-013 

2020 (mit B. Beer) "Methoden der ethnologischen Feldforschung." In: Bettina Beer und Anika König (Hg.) Methoden ethnologischer Feldforschung, 9-34. Berlin: Reimer.

2020 "Digitale Ethnographie." In: Bettina Beer und Anika König (Hg.) Methoden ethnologischer Feldforschung, 223-240. Berlin: Reimer.

2020 "Die Erfahrungen deutscher und schweizerischer Wunscheltern mit Leihmutterschaft in den USA." In: Katharina Beier, Claudia Brügge, Petra Thorn und Claudia Wiesemann (Hg.) Assistierte Reproduktion mit Hilfe Dritter: Medizin - Ethik - Psychologie - Recht, 243-255. Berlin: Springer.

2018 "Parents on the Move: German Intended Parents' Experiences with Transnational Surrogacy." In: Sayani Mitra, Silke Schicktanz und Tulsi Patel (Hg.) Cross-Cultural Comparisons on Surrogacy and Egg Donation: Interdisciplinary Perspectives from India, Germany and Israel, 277-299. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.

2013 "Smelling the Difference: The Senses and Ethnic Conflict in West Kalimantan, Indonesia." In: Christine Dureau, Julie Park und Susanna Trnka (Hg.) Senses and Citizenships: Embodying Political Life, 120-135. New York: Routledge.

2010 (mit Jörg Strübing) "Continuous Structuring in Open Source Software Development." In: Klaus Lucas und Peter Roosen (Hg.) Emergence, Analysis and Evolution of Structures: Concepts and Strategies Across Disciplines, 226-243. Heidelberg, Dordrecht, London, New York: Springer.

2007 (mit M. Mackert und F. S. Pötzsch) "Die Effektivität des Augenscheinlichen. Zur visuellen Kommunikation von Wissen in computergestützten Präsentationen." In: Kulturwissenschaftliches Jahrbuch Moderne. Iconic Turn? 2: 205-208.

2007 "Zur Güte von Präsentationen – normative vs. Ethnokategorien für angemessene Powerpoint-Präsentationen." In: Bernt Schnettler und Hubert Knoblauch (Hg.) Powerpoint-Präsentationen. Neue Formen der gesellschaftlichen Kommunikation von Wissen, 207-223. Konstanz: UVK Verlagsgesellschaft mbH.

Online-Publications

2020 (mit A. Majumdar und H. Jacobson) ""Pandemic Disruptions" in Surrogacy Arrangements in Germany, U.S.A., and India During Covid-19." Medical Anthropology Quarterly Rapid Response Blog Series.

2017 "Embryos on the Move: Transnational Networks of Surrogacy”. Allegra Lab: Anthropology, Law, Art, World (parallel erschienen auf Blog Medizinanthropologie).

Other

2016 "Transnationale Leihmutterschaft." In: Schweizerischer Katholischer Frauenbund (Hg.) Leihmutterschaft: gewünscht, geliehen, gekauft geschenkt. Luzern: Schweizerischer Katholischer Frauenbund.

2014 (mit M. Abdalla, D. Mattes, C. Meier zu Biesen, U. Probst, B. Rutert, J. Schühle und N. Selim) 5th Annual MAYS Meeting. In: Medicine Anthropology Theory.

2006 (mit F. Degenhardt, S. Petschke, F. S. Pötzsch und R. Tuma) Tagungsbericht: PowerPoint-Performanz als neue Form der Kommunikation von Wissen. Berlin: Technische Universität Berlin.