Africa Research Group

Overview

The Africa Research Group is coordinating anthropological, museological and historical studies and deepens the knowledge of students of the faculty interested in African studies. The Research Group is teaching courses related to Africa and organizes fieldwork research method seminars with the participation of the core members and the experienced research fellows of the Research Group. In cooperation with the Museum of Ethnography (Africa collection), the Research Group offers research opportunities for students and visiting scholars interested in material culture. The Research Group builds upon existing research cooperations with African universities and seeks to extend and deepen these cooperations by applying to Erasmus Mobility+ grants.

Themes

  • Museology in the XXI century, the role of ethnographic museum in the postcolonial world
  • The role of anthropology in the educational and scientific life of developing countries
  • Research in the differences between applied and theoretical anthropology
  • Applied and theoretical research of humanitarian and development organizations

Research grant

‘TRACE: Checkpoints, Conflict, and the Politics of Circulation’ research grant from XCEPT Fund and the Danish Institute for International Studies (Ferenc Dávid Markó and Joshua Craze)

The focus of the research grant is the anthropological study of the system of militarycheckpoints and roadblocks in South Sudan. As part of the scholarship, the two researchers carried out ethnographic fieldwork in Jonglei, South Sudan and participated in a three days long conference in Entebbe, Uganda. The research report is forthcoming in 2026 and the researchers plan to publish two peer-reviewed publications in international journals. The research grant is in cooperation with the Danish Institute for International Studies based in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Research group members

  • Csaba PRÓNAI, leader of the research group, Habil. Associate Professor, Department of Cultural Anthropology, ELTE Faculty of Social Sciences

  • Ferenc Dávid MARKÓ, Research Director, Recurring Visiting Lecturer, Department of Cultural Anthropology, ELTE Faculty of Social Sciences

  • Kata Rita SÁRFFY, Research Assistant, Cultural Anthropology MA student, Faculty of Social Sciences 

  • Bence Ágoston FEHÉR, Research Assistant, Cultural Anthropology MA student, Faculty of Social Sciences 

  • Tamás RÉGI, Fellow, Museum of Ethnography

  • László Eduárd MÁTHÉ, Fellow, Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs 

  • Diana FELIX DA COSTA, Research Fellow, SOAS

  • Joshua CRAZE, Research Fellow

  • Abubaker LNDI, Research Fellow, PhD student, University of Lisbon 

  • Chuol GEW NHIAL NGEPRIAL, Research Fellow, PhD student, Tangaza University

  • Isaac WAANZI HILLARY, Research Fellow, PhD student, Durham University

Keywords

Africa, anthropology, museology, museum studies, East Africa, Sahel, fieldwork

News and events

  • 2025/26 Fall semester: KAN 117.1 – ’Afrika Antropológiája’ course, Department of Cultural Anthropology (Ferenc Dávid Markó) 
  • 2025/26 Fall semester: EKAN 117.1 – ’Anthropology of Africa’ course, Department of Cultural Anthropology (Ferenc Dávid Markó) 
  • 2025/26 Spring semester: EKAN127 – ’African research fieldwork seminar’ course, Department of Cultural Anthropology (Ferenc Dávid Markó, Joshua Craze, Isaac Waanzi, Choul Gew, Diana Felix) 
  • July-August 2025: Fieldwork among Nuer prophets, Ayod, South Sudan (Ferenc Dávid Markó, Joshua Craze, Choul Gew) 
  • October 2025: Participation in the YATA Hungary – Hungarian Academy of Sciences ’Budapest Sahel roundtable (Ferenc Dávid Markó, László Eduárd Máthé)
  • November 2025: Participation in the ’Checkpoints, Conflict, and the Politics of Circulation’ workshop in Entebbe, Uganda (Ferenc Dávid Markó and Joshua Craze) 
  • December 2025: ’A Country for Old Men: The State of the Nuer White Armies of South Sudan’ publication (Joshua Craze) 
  • December 2025: ’The role of the diaspora in the conflict in Jonglei State’ publication (Choul Gew)

Contact information (leader)

Ferenc Dávid MARKÓ
Department of Cultural Anthropology
ELTE Faculty of Social Sciences, Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE), Budapest, Hungary
Address: 1117 Budapest, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/A
E-mail: marko.ferenc@tatk.elte.hu