The Team
Lesley Nicole Braun
Principal Investigator
Prior to becoming the principal investigator on this research project, Lesley Braun was a senior lecturer at the Institute for Social Anthropology, University of Basel, Switzerland. She has also taught at Humboldt University in Berlin and has held fellowships at the Forum Transregionale Studien (Berlin) as well as at the University of Chicago in the Department of Comparative Human Development.
Thematically, her research investigates the gendered dimensions of transnational mobility, and how gender and sexuality impact, as well as shape women’s activities in the public sphere.
Anna Vollmer Mateus
Assistant
Anna Vollmer Mateus completed her Bachelor’s degree at the Institute for Social Anthropology and at the Institute for Political Science at the University of Basel, Switzerland. In 2021, she began a Master’s degree in the same fields. She has developed a particular interest in the topics of peacebuilding, of transitional justice, of Sino-African relations and in the interaction between urban space and violence in Brazil. Omnipresent in her research is the analysis of the impact of neoliberalism at different levels and on different actors, groups and entities.
Xiao Meng
Affiliate
Xiao Meng is pursuing an MA in African Studies at the University of Basel, Switzerland. She obtained her BA in English language and literature from 2009 to 2013 at Jincheng College of Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (NUAA). As a result of her long-term work experience in the life science industry, she has developed a strong interest in the area of public health and social life in Africa. She has completed a broad range of courses such as the Systematic Review on Health Economics in Africa, Health Equity Issue of Non-Communicable Diseases in Africa with the Case Study of Cancer Treatment in Tanzania, and Biopolitics of Anticancer Drug Accessibility in Africa: A Case Study of the United Republic of Tanzania. In 2021, she began to explore topics realting to women's health in Africa, particularly cervical cancer in Eastern Africa.
Yajie Gao
Assistant
Yajie Gao is an MA student in the Critical Urbanisms program at the University of Basel. She has a background in Urban Planning from Beijing Normal University, Zhuhai (BNUZ), China, and is learning about urban theories from an urban design perspective. Currently, she is an exchange student at the University of Cape Town (UCT), South Africa, studying Southern Urbanism. There, she is researching informal settlements in Cape Town, with a focus on how colonial history and postcolonial government politics have shaped this country's urban space.