Interview with BIGSAS Alumna Maike Voigt: West Africa, East Africa, Upper Franconia, Lower Saxony – Maike Voigt always finds her way

After eight years in Bayreuth, alumna Maike Voigt is going back to Lower Saxony. In this interview, she tells us what she intends to do there. 

After Maike completed her Abitur in 2009, she moved to Göttingen, where she studied anthropology and linguistics. In 2012, she ventured to Bavaria and began her master’s degree in African Culture and Society at the University of Bayreuth. The chosen majors of anthropology and development policy combined topics from her previous studies with new academic challenges. An exciting aspect of the programme was also a guided teaching research, which has been an integral part of the programme for many years. Maike and her fellow students went to Togo and Benin, a “very exciting experience” that still shapes her today. 

One thing is clear: when she came to Bayreuth in 2012, she would have never imagined that eight years later she would still be enjoying Upper Franconian nature and culinary specialities – more about that later ;-).

Path to the doctorate

She really enjoyed writing the master’s thesis, as well as dealing with theories and enriching them with her own empirical data. “Working out something of my own” was ultimately an incentive to start her doctorate. In addition to the skills, she had learned and been able to try out in her master’s programme, it was also the offer of a research assistant position that encouraged her to take up her doctorate. Maike was thus able to participate in an interdisciplinary project (more information here) at the Academy for two years (under the management of her doctoral supervisor Erdmute Alber as well as her supervisor Dieter Neubert) and gain practical experience in event organisation and administration in addition to her academic work. 

Geographically, Maike moved from West Africa to East Africa and dealt with middle classes and entrepreneurship in Kenya in her doctoral research. She enjoyed the research in Kenya and found it “appealing to try something new again”.

But juggling a half-time job, research and family was a real challenge for her. While there was always a full semester programme at the Academy, Maike flew to Kenya during the semester break: “I was never really here or there. I was either busy with the next trip or already on my way back with one foot”. This was especially difficult for family contacts. She was regularly confronted with the question: “When are you going back to Kenya?” – because everybody knew that they would soon have to be without Maike for a few weeks or months. Overall, she really enjoyed her time at the Academy, where she was able to get to know many scholars from European and African countries and gain work experience that will certainly benefit her in her current position.

After eight years in Bayreuth – what will be missed?

Maike quickly clarifies: “Well, I’m only leaving partly. My boyfriend is from the region and is staying here for now”. The time in Bayreuth was wonderful, the small town has become her second home with the following result: “I speak Franconian fluently now and like to eat fried sausages”. Of course, Bayreuth also has other culinary highlights to offer, which we don’t want to omit here. Have you ever tried Franconian Sauerbraten with gingerbread sauce? This has become one of Maike’s favourite dishes and something she will certainly miss in Lower Saxony. 

But Maike, who describes herself as a “small-town person”, will not only miss the culinary delights here, but also the greenery, as cycling and hiking have also been part of her daily routine in recent years. The only shortcoming: Bayreuth is and remains poorly connected. She has little understanding for the fact that an ICE connection or a direct connection to Dresden, both of which once existed, have been abolished; this often makes the journey to and from Bayreuth very tedious. 

Of course, the alumna will also miss her time at BIGSAS very much. Although one often hears that “the doctoral thesis is written in a quiet chamber”, that was not the case at all in Bayreuth. This is mainly because BIGSAS is organised in such a way that you can constantly meet fellow students. Interdisciplinary work is also encouraged, for example in work groups. They provide an insight into the work of other academics and always allow you to get feedback. The “reading circle” work group has developed into an active group of writers who met repeatedly over several years in a writing ashram. Social activities were not neglected either. During the week, for example, they met at 12:30 p.m. for a lunch in the canteen (which brings us back to the culinary topic). Conversely, this meant that there was not only a boring daily library routine, but also constant exchange and mutual motivation. 

By the way: The so-called “Schreibaschram” was made possible by the UBTGS for two days. After participating, some doctoral students adopted the concept, reconstructed the content and wrote and sat together in groups of four or five people regularly over several weeks. Following the principle of “goodbye to the outside world” (mobile phones are locked away, the internet is turned off), some Junior Fellows had great success. Maike also reports: “Large parts of my dissertation were written during the writing sessions. In addition, as a group, you are also bonded together in a completely different way”. 

Participation in various conferences, especially the ECAS in Basel and Edinburgh, were also great experiences for the alumna. The opportunity to present her own research and receive feedback allowed Maike to always work on her dissertation with motivation. In Edinburgh in 2019, for example, she presented biographies of entrepreneurs that are part of her doctoral thesis. The result: “Others found my topic really appealing, too, which is the best motivation”. 

And now it’s time to return to Lower Saxony!

The search for a job after her doctorate was not easy and “it wasn’t fun”. Maike handed in her dissertation in March 2020 and was busy looking for a job for half a year. “It was Corona, of course, so a lot of application procedures were stopped. You definitely need good stamina there”. But everything’s fine at the end of the day. Because now it’s off to Hanover to the Deutsche Stiftung Weltbevölkerung, where Maike works as an officer of the executive team. The position was newly created and since November 2020 she has been working on issues in the areas of sexual and reproductive health and rights in East Africa. She reports: “As part of my new position, I am involved in various projects of the management. One that I find particularly exciting is planning the Foundation’s participation in the International Conference on Family Planning, which is to take place in Thailand this year. Here, Foundation staff from the country offices in East Africa want to report on the projects in conference papers, and staff from Brussels, Berlin and Hanover want to establish new contacts with partners and donors. The coordination of the presentation, which also includes a booth at the fair, is now in my hands in cooperation with my new colleagues”.

We wish her much success in her new job and hope that she will continue to find her way to Upper Franconia!