Johanna’s primary research goals are directed at understanding the inner workings of states. It is the intersection of state institutions such as justice, trade and public finances, which interests her most. Her current focus on the negotiation and making of international tax norms, rules and standards grew out of her PhD work “Measuring Justice” where she explored the relationship between accountability, quantification and law amongst legal professionals within the National Prosecuting Authority in South Africa.

More generally, she is interested in how people and institutions accomplish social phenomena and precious public goods such as equality, accountability, justice and solidarity within and beyond nation states. When they make far-reaching decisions, what defines their actions and practices and how do they traverse self-interest, national interests and a global sense of responsibility?

Johanna has been since 2012 a Lecturer and Researcher at the Institute for Social Anthropology at the University of Bern, Switzerland. She holds a Ph.D in Social Anthropology (Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany 2015), and a Magister in Social Anthropology (Ludwig Maximilians University Munich, Germany 2006) and an Honours Degree in Social Anthropology (University of Cape Town, South Africa, 2004). She was a member of the International Max Planck Research School on Retaliation, Mediation and Punishment, based at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle and a doctoral student of the LOST Group between 2008 and 2012.

She is married and has two children.