I am a cultural historian working on modern and contemporary Southeast Asia with a specialization on the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia. I am based in Germany, where I hold a position as Junior Professor at the University of Hamburg (Asien-Afrika-Institut), and in France where I am an associate researcher at the Centre for Southeast Asian Studies (EHESS/CNRS). During the year 2018-2019, I was a stipendary post-doctoral fellow at the Harvard Asia Center where I am now an associate until 2023.

I conducted fieldwork in The Philippines (Lanao, Cotabato, Zamboanga, Pantugan, Jolo, Tawi-Tawi), Indonesia (Aceh, Kerinci, Jakarta), and Malaysia (Sabah); and archival research in The Netherlands (former KITLV library), Spain (AGI, Sevilla), the UK (The British Library, the National Archives, the Royal Asiatic Society), Germany (Staatsbibliothek Berlin), the Philippines (National Archives, University Santo Tomas, Ateneo de Manila, the Archives of the Recolletos), Malaysia (Kedah, Johor, KL), and Indonesia (Perpustakaan Nasional).

Fields of research:

• Cultural and social history of Islam in Southeast Asia
• Local historiography and regimes of historicity
• Memory and culture
• Legacy of colonialism and postcolonialism
• History of women
• Manuscript cultures