Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology

The Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology is one of the world’s leading centres for research in socio-cultural anthropology. Common to all research projects at the Max Planck Institute is the comparative analysis of social change; it is primarily in this domain that its researchers contribute to anthropological theory, though many programmes also have applied significance and political topicality. Fieldwork is an essential part of almost all projects.

The Institute has three academic departments:
Anthropology of Economic Experimentation: Frontiers of Transformation (Director: Biao Xiang)
Anthropology of Politics and Governance (Director: Ursula Rao)
Law & Anthropology (Director: Marie-Claire Foblets)