Johannes Dittmann
Post-Doctoral Researcher/Lecturer
Johannes Dittmann
1.015
Geozentrum - Meckenheimer Allee 176
53115 Bonn
Consultation hours
Thursdays 10:00-12:00 am; registration via email
Focus areas
Development Geography, Political Geography, Cultural Geography
Environmental politics, adaptation to climate change, coloniality & decolonial theory
Political ecology, policy mobility studies
Ethnography, discourse analysis, quantitative social research
Southern Africa, Eastern Africa
Current Research
Adaptation to Climate Change and Development Policy
PhD thesis
Paper Park? Politik grenzübergreifenden Naturschutzes in Nordost Namibia
Paper Park? Politics of transboundary conservastion in northeastern Namibia
Associated with: Collaborative Research Center 'Future Rural Africa - Future-Making and Social-Ecological Transformation' (www.crc228.de); Sub-Project 'Green Futures'
Curriculum Vitae
since January 2024: Postdoc Development Geography (working group Prof. Lisa Schipper)
October 2023: PhD in Geography
January 2018 - December 2023: PhD student/Lecturer Development Geography (working group Prof. Detlef Müller-Mahn)
April - December 2017: Research Assistant in the working group Development Geography, University of Bonn
March 2017: Graduation Master of Science Geography
January 2017 - March 2017: Assistant in the working group Development Geography
October 2014 - March 2017: Master of Science Studies Geography (Development and Globalization) University of Bonn
September 2014: Graduation Bachelor of Science in Geography University of Bonn
August 2014 - December 2016: Student Assistant in the working group Development Geography
2014: Tutor for methodology at the Institute of Geography
October 2011- September 2014: Bachelor of Science Studies Geography University of Bonn
2011: Abitur at Kardinal-Frings-Gymnasium Bonn
Presentations
2024
15.05.24: The relativity of project failure: Visions, controversies and side-effects of climate change adaptation in northeastern Namibia. Human Geographies of Adaptation to Climate Change 2024, Bergen.
2023
20.09.23: Transboundary conservation and new dynamics of territoriality. Politics of the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area, Deutscher Kongress für Geographie 2023, Frankfurt.
20.09.23: Naturschutz ohne Grenzen? Naturschutz-Megaprojekte und kommunale Alternativen im Südlichen Afrika, Deutscher Kongress für Geographie 2023, Frankfurt.
31.05.23: Conservation, sovereignty and state borders in Africa. Cross-border conservation initiatives and new forms for political authority, European Conference of African Studies (ECAS), Cologne.
2022
29.11.2022: The contested translation of a transboundary conservation mega project. Politics of the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area. Bonn International Center for Conflict Studies (BICC), Annual Conference, Bonn.
16.6.-18.6.2022: Back to a precolonial future: Retrotopian visions of African conservation and realigning political authority, Tagung Geographischer Arbeitskreis Entwicklungstheorien 2022, University of Vienna.
08.06.-10.06.2022: Transboundary conservation governance, political authority and the New Wildlife Economy in Southern Africa, World-Ecology Research Network Conference 2022, University of Bonn.
2021
05.11.2021: Wildlife Corridors, Resettlement and the Territorialization of Transfrontier Conservation in northeastern Namibia, Research Colloquium, Baseler Afrika Bibliographien. Basel.
12.05.2021: Zukunft ohne Grenzen: Politik grenzübergreifenden Naturschutzes in Nordost-Namibia. Vorstellung des Sonderforschungsbereichs Future Rural Africa (mit Prof. Detlef Müller-Mahn, Prof. Mariele Evers, Dr. Britta Höllermann, Chigozie Nweke-Eze, Julian Rochlitz, Astrid Matejcek und Rene Vesper). Lecture series "Mittwochs im Geographischen Institut Bonn". Bonn.
2020
26.09.2020: Transfrontier conservation governance and new dynamics of sovereignty in Namibia. 7th Namibia Research Day, Basler Afrika Bibliographien. Basel.
22.-25.09.2020: Conservation in the 'not yet' - Future-making in the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area. POLLEN Political Ecology Network Biennial Conference 2020: Contested Natures: Power, Possibility, Prefiguration, Brighton, UK.
30.01.-01.02.2020: Schatten der Geschichte? Kolonialität und Politik der Landreform in Namibia. Tagung Neue Kulturgeographie 17 - Technoscapes, Bonn.
2019
28.06.2019: Politische Kontrolle im Namen der Natur. Gießener Geographische Gesellschaft, Geographisches Institut Gießen.
02.-05.09.2019: The Peace Parks Paradigm as a Travelling Model. Workshop of the Collaborative Research Center 228 "Future Rural Africa" and the University of Namibia (UNAM), Katima Mulilo (Namibia).
31.01.-02.02.19: Green Futures: The Politics of the Green Economy in Rural Africa. Tagung Neue Kulturgeographie 16 - More-Than-Human-Geographies, Eichstätt (mit Rene Vesper).
2018
25.-27.1.2018: "Sometimes the lake misbehaves" - Zur Politischen Ökologie der Fischrei im Naivasha-See, Kenia, Tagung Neue Kulturgeographie 15 - Materie, Materialien, Methoden, Freiburg im Breisgau.
2017
06.12.17: (Un-)mögliche Zukünfte Kenias; Dies Academicus Universität Bonn, Bonn.
02.-03.05.17: Impacts of Devolution on the East African Small-Scale Fishery of Lake Naivasha, Kenya; 7th Annual Postgraduate Conference of the Sheffield Institute for International Development, Sheffield.
2016
25. - 26.11.16: Die Fischerei im Naivasha-See aus politisch-ökologischer Perspektive; Jahrestreffen Geographischer Arbeitskreis Subsaharisches Afrika, Frankfurt.
Publications
Dittmann, J. (2025): Paper Park? Politik grenzübergreifenden Naturschutzes in Nordost-Namibia. Forum Politische Geographie. LIT-Verlag, Münster. (zur Publikation angenommen).
Dittmann, J. & Schipper, L. (2025): Ende der Armut? Ziel 1 für nachhaltige Entwicklung. In: Geographische Rundschau 77, (3), S. 10-13.
Dittmann, J. (2025): The political conflict over the Zambezi State Forest in northeastern Namibia (2017-2020). CRC 228 Future Rural Africa, News Blog Entry. Link to publication (last access 08.05.2025).
2024
Dittmann, J. & Ogolla, A. (2024): Devolution of governance and the politics of fishery at Lake Naivasha, Kenya. In: Kuiper, G., Kioko, E. & Bollig, M. (eds.): Agricultural intensification and
resource conflicts: Social dynamics in the Lake Naivasha Basin, (BRILL), Leiden p. 279-301.
2023
Dittmann, J. (2023): Naturschutz ohne Grenzen – Zur Politik eines Naturschutz-Megaprojektes im Südlichen Afrika. In: Geographische Rundschau 75, (10), p. 22-25.
Dittmann, J. & Müller-Mahn, D. (2023): Transfrontier conservation governance, commodification of nature and new dynamics of sovereignty in Namibia. In: Bollig, M., Lendelvo, S. et al. (eds): Commodifying the Wild. . (James Currey Publishing), London. p. 107-133.
2021
Müller-Mahn, D. & Dittmann, J. (2021): Entwicklungspraxis - eine geographische Perspektive. In: In: Braun, B., Helbrecht, I., Schneider-Sliwa, R. & Wehrhahn, R. (Hrsg.): Humangeographie. (Westermann), Braunschweig. p. 561-569.
Müller-Mahn, D., Dittmann, J., Stephan, C. & Verne, J. (2021): Geographische Entwicklungsforschung jenseits des Hemisphärendenkens. In: Braun, B., Helbrecht, I., Schneider-Sliwa, R. & Wehrhahn, R. (Hrsg.): Humangeographie. (Westermann), Braunschweig. p. 506-512.
2019
Müller-Mahn, D. & Dittmann, J. (2019): Die Schatten der Geschichte: Koloniale Landnahme und ihre Folgen in Namibia. In: Geographische Rundschau 71, (5), p. 30-33.
Dittmann. J. (2019): Finnland. In: Staatenlexikon Europa. Geographie, Geschichte, Kultur, Politik und Wirtschaft. (Peter Lang Verlag), Berlin, p. 143-157.
2018
Dittmann, J. (2018): Sometimes the lake misbehaves - Zur Politischen Ökologie der Fischerei im Naivasha-See, Kenia. In: Beiträge zu interdisziplinären Studien in Ländern des Südens, Band 19.
2017
Dittmann, J., Bauriedel, T., Bock, T., Götz, J., Hellwig, V., Schmitt, D., Spitzley, B. und Vesper, R. (2017): Politik internationaler Klimaverhandlungen - De-Politisierung des Klimawandels während der Conference of the Parties 21 in Paris. In: Development Geography Occasional Paper 11. Bonn. PDF (last access: 27.11.18).
2016
Dittmann, J. (ed) (2016): Naivasha as a development hub. In: Development Geography Occasional Paper 6. Bonn. PDF (last access: 27.11.18).
Dittmann, J. (2013): „Kommende Ramersdorf in Beuel". In: KuLaDig, Kultur.Landschaft.Digital. Link to publication (last access: 27.11.18)
Scholarships and Awards
Teaching Award of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at the University of Bonn 2025
PROMOS-Scholarship for master thesis SS 2016
Teaching
SuSe 25
- Advanced seminar: Development Geography, Tue 2-4pm (B.Sc.)
- Seminar: Human Geography - basics, Tue 4-6pm (B.Sc.)
WiSe 24/25
- Advanced seminar: Development and decolonial theory, 10 am-2pm (M.Sc.)
- Methods seminar: Practical course on social research methods, Feburary (B.Sc.)
SuSe 24
- Methods seminar: Practical course on social research methods, 27.05.-31.05.24 (B.Sc.)
- Seminar: Human Geography - basics, Tue 2-6pm (B.Sc.)
WiSe 23/24
- Methods seminar: Quantitative methods in social research/human geography, Thu 8-10am (B.Sc.)
SuSe 23
- Methods seminar: Practical course on social research methods, 03.08.23 - 05.08.23 & 07.08.23 - 08.08.23 (B.Sc.)
- Methods seminar: Introduction to ethnographic methods, Thu 4-6 p.m. (B.Sc.)
WiSe 22/23
- Excursion: Social displacement and colonialism in Bonn, 10.02.23 (B.Sc.)
- Excursion: Human landscape Siebengebirge, 14.02.23 (B.Sc.)
- Excursion: The Rhine from a human geographical perspective, 13.02.23 (B.Sc.)
SuSe 22
- Seminar: Human geography - basics, compact, Wed. 2-6 p.m. (B.Sc.)
- Methods seminar: Introduction to methods of ethnography, Tues 4-6 p.m. (B.Sc.)
WiSe 21/22
- Excursion: Revitalization of urban usable areas in Bonn, 17.12.21 (B.Sc.)
- Excursion: Debates about the reappraisal of German colonialism in Bonn, 14.01.22 (B.Sc.)
SuSe 21
- Project Seminar: Postcolonial geographies in Germany, Tues 8-12 (digital) (B.Sc.)
WiSe 20/21
- Seminar: Human Geography - basics, Mon 8-10am (digital) (B.Sc.)
- Excursion: Debates on revitalization and historical reappraisal in Bonn, 04.12.20 & 18.12.20 (B.Sc.)
SuSe 20
- Seminar: Human Geography - basics, Mon 8-10am (digital) (B.Sc.)
WiSe 19/20
- Advanced Seminar: Introduction to Geographical Development Research (B.Sc.)
- Methods Seminar: Introduction to Discourse Research in Human Geography (B.Sc.)
WiSe 18/19
- Seminar: Human Geography - basics, Wed 4-6pm (B.Sc.)
- Methods Seminar: Introduction to Methods of Qualitative Social Research, Tue 2 - 4 m (B.Sc.)
SuSe 18
- Seminar: Human Geography - basics, Wed 4-6 pm (B.Sc.)
WiSe 17/18
- Methods Seminar: Paradigms, Approaches and Instruments of Qualitative Social Research (with Prof. Sabine Tröger), Thu 12-14 (B.Sc.)
Memberships
- Bonn Geographical Society
- Association for Geography at German-speaking Universities and Research Institutions
- Informationsstelle Südliches Afrika e. V. (issa)