Lama Ranjous
Lama Ranjous
Institute of Political Science
Chair of Human Rights Politics
P.O. Box Nr. 5
91054 Erlangen
- Phone number: +49 9131 85-26757
- Email: lama.ranjous@fau.de
Lama Ranjous is a doctoral candidate and research associate affiliated with the Institute of Political Science at FAU Erlangen-Nurnberg. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Damascus University and a Master’s degree in International Policy and Development from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies. Her research investigates the practices through which various actors make certain objects known; what might be termed ‘epistemic practices’. Her focus is on how these practices unfold and develop in conflict zones, particularly among actors in the human rights field who engage in the production and dissemination of narratives and evidence. These actors’ efforts are not solely aimed at reporting conflict, but also serve broader purposes, including accountability, advocacy, and transitional justice
Education
02.2023- Present: PhD candidate, FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg, Political Science.
Supervision: Prof. Katrin Kinzelbach and Prof. Georg Glasze.
11.2023 – 12.2023: Visiting Scholar at the Conflict Ecology Lab, Oregon State University.
Supervision: Ass. Prof. Jamon Van den Hoek.
08.2016-08.2018: Master in International Policy and Development, Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey.
Other Courses
05.2017: Certificate in International Development and Social Change- DPMI, Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey.
Lama’s research aims to explore the practices through which various actors make certain objects known; what might be termed ‘epistemic practices’. The focus is on how these practices unfold and develop in conflict zones, particularly among actors in the human rights field who engage in the production and dissemination of narratives and evidence. These actors’ efforts are not solely aimed at reporting conflict, but also serve broader purposes, including accountability, advocacy, and transitional justice. The investigation into the practices of documenting human rights violations in conflict contexts will also assess the opportunities and limitations of the digital infrastructure that facilitates or impedes documentation efforts, particularly through the use of remote sensing technologies and user-generated content. Moreover, the study seeks to understand the dynamics between local, diaspora and international human rights groups, investigating trust, dependency, and knowledge production.
09-2024 Democracy & Digital Citizenship Conference Series, Digital Democracy Centre, University of Southern Denmark, Title: “Democracy of digital data in human rights investigations” (With Raphaela Edler)
02.2024 Digital Verification Workshop, Cambridge University, Title: “The critical role of a ground-level perspective in digital investigations”
10.2023 The Syria Urban Research Project, Title: “Analyzing Knowledge Production on the Digital Documentation of Human Rights Violation”
09.2023 German Congress of Geography, Frankfurt, Title: “The role of the local human rights actors in the digital transformation of fact-finding”
Lama is a member of the International Max Planck Research School “Global Multiplicity – A Social Anthropology for the Now” (IMPRS-GM) and the Graduate Center for Doctoral Researchers at the Bavarian Research Institute for Digital Transformation (bidt).