Profile

Mathias Hack

Mathias Hack

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Geschichte des 19. bis 21. Jahrhunderts
Geisteswissenschaftliches Zentrum
Beethovenstraße 15, Room H3 2.01
04107 Leipzig

Phone: +49 03413711

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Abstract

My research interests are the history of European colonialism, global tourism after 1945 and postcolonial Eastern Africa.

Currently I'm working on a PhD-project with the title: "(Time-)Travelling to East Africa. Everyday touristic life in Kenya and Tanzania (1970-2010)" (for more details see research focus). For the realization of the project I received a scholarship by the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes.


Professional career

  • 10/2015 - 10/2018
    Student/Academic Assistant as well as tutor at the chair of Early Modern history and at the chair of Medieval history (Universität Leipzig)
  • 10/2019 - 09/2021
    Research assistant at the chair of History of the 19th to 21st century (Universität Leipzig)
  • since 01/2022
    PhD-scholarship from the German Academic Scholarship Foundation (Studienstiftung des deutsche Volkes)
  • since 10/2021
    Member of the Graduate School Global and Area Studies (Universität Leipzig)

Education

  • 10/1992
    born in Künzelsau/Baden-Württemberg
  • 10/2013 - 10/2016
    Studies in history (B.A.) and non-European cultures at Universität Leipzig
  • 10/2016 - 10/2019
    Studies in medieval and modern history (M.A.) at Universität Leipzig and Universidad Complutense de Madrid

PhD-project (2020-): "(Time-)Travelling to East Africa. Everyday tourist life in Kenya and Tanzania (1970-2010)"


Applying a global history approach my PhD-research project is concerned with the “everyday tourist life” or "tourist routines" of postcolonial East Africa (Kenya and Tanzania) between 1970 and 2010. Tourism itself is conceptualized as a form of “time travel with a return ticket” (Spode) to grasp the many different variations and concepts of time tourist agencies/companies, tourists themselves and the local population experience, produce, criticize or contest. This allows discourses about the colonial heritage and its continuities as well as different versions of modernity to surface; all within the broader context of tourism. In contrast to the usual economic or development approaches and their state-/policy-centered perspective, I will try to comprehend the actors mentioned above and their practices in tourism as a daily routine. Different source material like advertisement catalogs, travel manuals, coffee table books, media coverage as well as interviews and ethnographic fieldwork will be used to conduct three case studies based on major tourist attractions: The Kilimanjaro, a national park or conservation area with its safari context and at the coast.

  • (Time-)Travelling to East Africa. Tourism in Kenya and Tanzania (1970-2000)
    van Laak, Dirk
    Duration: 01/2022 – 12/2024
    Funded by: Stiftungen Inland
    Involved organisational units of Leipzig University: Fakultät für Geschichte, Kunst- und Regionalwissenschaften
    show details

more projects

more publications

  • Doing History - A practical view into historical methodology (SoSe 20)

    For more information I invite you to take a look at our DoingHistory-blog on hypotheses: https://doinghistory.hypotheses.org/

  • Tourism in Eastern and Western Germany (WiSe 20/21)

  • "Serengeti shall not die..." Nature conservation in East Africa (SoSe 21)

  • Doing History - colloquium and method group on Global History (SoSe 21)