Migration, networks, skills: these keywords not only denote three popular and important fields of current investigation in Social Sciences and Cultural Studies, they also mark the wide range of interests of cultural and social anthropologist Waltraud Kokot, who is to be honoured in this Festschrift. Internationally distinguished scholars from five European countries and various academic disciplines present their most recent research findings on topics such as diaspora and migration studies, urban anthropology and the anthropology of crafts, all of which are connected by the common themes of mobility and transformation.

Astrid Wonneberger (PD Dr.) is a private lecturer for cultural and social anthropology at the University of Hamburg as well as a researcher and lecturer for family science at the University of Applied Sciences (HAW) Hamburg. Her major academic interests include diaspora, ethnicity and urban anthropology. She has completed field research in Western Ireland, New York, Boston and Dublin (Ireland). Mijal Gandelsman-Trier (M.A.) is a lecturer at the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Hamburg. Hauke Dorsch (Dr.) is the director of the African Music Archives of the Department of Anthropology and African Studies at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz.