Urban Legends of Power
The competing explanations that circulated for the death of Tanzania's former president, John Magufuli — tracing urban legends offline and online.
PhD Candidate · Social & Cultural Anthropology
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Advocacy Manager, Wikimedia CH
Clara Luisa
Wiest
Contemporary legends, infrastructure, and political life — ethnography across East and Central Africa.
Short bio
I am a PhD candidate at the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology at Goethe University Frankfurt, and Advocacy Manager at Wikimedia CH. My recent academic work focuses on the intersections of urban and contemporary legends, infrastructures, and politics in Tanzania.
I have ethnographic fieldwork experience in France, Germany, Tanzania, the DR Congo, and Kenya. My working languages are English, French, and German; I am also proficient, though not fluent, in Swahili and Portuguese.
You can read more about my work below, or get in touch here.
01
About
The longer version — fieldwork, questions, and the threads connecting the academic and the practical.
I am a PhD candidate at Goethe University Frankfurt and Advocacy Manager at Wikimedia CH. At the heart of my PhD are the different explanations that emerged for the death of Tanzania's former president, John Magufuli. I learnt about these explanations during several fieldwork periods between 2022 and 2025 in Dar es Salaam, as well as through research online.
In the context of my Master's thesis, I conducted ethnographic fieldwork in Kinshasa, the capital of the DR Congo, from September 2019 to December 2020. I lived with a host family and worked in the boutique of my host mother. In the process I learnt how her boutique constitutes a vital constant for the surrounding neighbourhood in the face of limiting infrastructures.
During my Bachelor studies at the Eberhard Karls University Tübingen, I spent one semester (September 2017 – March 2018) at the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, studying and gaining my first relevant fieldwork experiences. I went on to write my BA thesis on beauty ideals of young women in Dar es Salaam, theorising questions of identity and the politics of body and mind.
Besides my academic work, I have been Advocacy Manager at Wikimedia CH since 2023, where I work on questions of free and open knowledge in the digital sphere, and the influence of artificial intelligence.
02
Academic Training
2021 — 2026PhD Candidate, Social & Cultural AnthropologyGoethe University Frankfurt — including fieldwork in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
2018 — 2021Double Master of Arts, Social & Cultural AnthropologyGoethe University Frankfurt & École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris — including a research semester in Kinshasa, DR Congo
2016 — 2018Bachelor of Arts, Social & Cultural Anthropology and English / American StudiesEberhard Karls University Tübingen — including one semester at the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
03
Research
Three projects, each grounded in long-term ethnographic fieldwork.
PhD · Tanzania
M.A. · DR Congo
Infrastructure & Agency
A neighbourhood boutique in Kinshasa as a vital constant — how everyday commerce holds a community together amid limiting infrastructures.
B.A. · Tanzania
Body & Identity
Beauty ideals among young women in Dar es Salaam, theorising identity and the politics of body and mind.
04
From the Field
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Kinshasa, DR Congo
Fieldwork
05
Publications
- 01 “Afrika-Wissen in der deutschsprachigen Schweiz.” In: Hans Peter Hahn & Sylvestre Kouakou (eds.), Afrika-Wissen: Transdisziplinäre Analysen zu Medien im deutschsprachigen Raum. Transcript. 2026
06
Panels, Workshops & Talks
Selected presentations and contributions.
Apr 2025Preparing for ethnographic fieldworkInput to the MA research-preparation seminar, Goethe University Frankfurt
Oct 2024Digital urban legends about African heads of state and their impact on political opinionsPanel “Reconfiguring the Political via the Digital: African Perspectives” — VAD Conference, Bayreuth
Jul 2024Moderator — “African Scholars and Knowledge about Africa in German-Speaking Countries”Workshop by Sylvestre Kouakou, Goethe University Frankfurt
Oct 2023Narratives about the Life and Death of John Magufuli: A Discourse AnalysisAfrika Kolloquium, Goethe University Frankfurt
Jun 2021Critical Reflections on Crisis and Uncertainty: Agency and Infrastructures in the Lifeworld of a Boutique in Kinshasa, DRCPanel “Lifeworlds in Crisis” — VAD Conference, Frankfurt am Main / Online
07
Professional Experience
Advocacy, programme management, and outreach in the non-profit sector.
2023 — nowAdvocacy Manager — Outreach & AdvocacyWikimedia CH, Zürich — free and open knowledge, AI, fundraising, board administration
2022 — 2023Program ManagerDentists for Africa e.V., Weimar — programme management, communication, German–Kenyan board mediation
2021 — 2022ConsultantPhone Recycle Solution, Paris — client relations in French, German & English
2018 — 2019Tutor, Social & Cultural AnthropologyGoethe University Frankfurt — teaching foundations to undergraduate students
Get in
touch.
claraluwiest@gmail.com
Affiliations
Department of Social & Cultural Anthropology
Goethe University Frankfurt
Wikimedia CH — Zürich
Basel, Switzerland
Elsewhere