About
Vision and Outlook
Experience
Academic and Expanded
Contact
Vision and Outlook
Thomas Daniel Johari (before marriage: Krippner)
Nationality, German.
A Quick Glance
I am an anthropologist, teacher and researcher concerned with social and educational transformations. My interest lies in the relationship between cultural technologies, linguistic intelligence and their links to the past, present and future.
I have established a focus on India and its highly dynamic education sector. More than 15 years of professional and personal experience in this incredible country has given me deep insights into its diverse social landscapes and rendered me an ambassador for students and their urge to transform the education system.
In my recent work I align my cultural competence, educational experience and research methods as an enabler for young world citizens accross borders to follow their aspirations towards a more sustainable collective future.
Focus group discussion
with students
conducted for my research at Christ University Bengaluru (2019)Anthropology is an academic field concerned with different world views, cultural practices and social transformations. In my academic career, I established a focus on South Asia, combining various related topics such as languages,education,youth and future. The unique techniques of ethnographic fieldwork and qualtitative methods in the discipline enable me to address complex social situations and problems in a systematic way.
Between Cultures
Travelling across and living in India for many years, I have shared life and work experiences with the people I encounter on my visits to various parts of the country and its diverse cultures. In my academic and professional journeys, I have explored its vernacular traditions and inquired into local forms of education.
Fieldtrip to Tamil Nadu (2007) - Clay as a traditional Indian Raw Material for sustainable daily Products
Conducting Research
In my PhD research I followed university students into their daily reality at a private university in metropolitan Bengaluru in South India. My approach combines micro perspectives on their individual experiences and aspirations with a macro perspective on the contemporary developments in a highly dynamic Indian education sector. The project offers close insights into teaching- and learning processes in a local context by employing intercultural pedagogic approaches. In my research on decision-making in young students’ aspirations, I enable them to grow beyond borders by contributing to a collective future as significant participants.
With over 15 years of fieldwork experience in India and fluency in multiple local languages, I have established a vast network of students, professionals and institutions all over India. Learning from, with and through Indian students, educators and parents and their local and global perspectives has inspired me to promote new educational perspectives.
The meaningful individual and collective relationships I acquired in different social contexts in and beyond India provide the potential to reimagine teaching and learning practices for the future of local and global communities. In my own professional future, I wish to facilitate education in a sustainable way across diverse cultural contexts.
In my work, I combine my areas of expertise as an Anthropologist, educator and researcher. The techniques and methods I applied in my research on Indian students are highly relevant for different fields comprising education. I look forward to working with individuals and organisations with whom I can share my experience in conducting qualitative inquiries.
Beyond my ethnographic fieldwork I wish to continue teaching as a meaningful social activity through which I can extend the intercultural competence comprised in Anthropology. My goal is to bring students’ voices into the foreground for a collective reconsideration of our concepts of education for the future.
Personal Background
Born in 1983 in the city of Ulm (Germany), I grew up and went to school in small-town Bavaria with plenty of nature and forest and local traditions around.
Embracing recent Transformations in my private and professional Life
In the past year my life has offered an entirely new dimension of emotional growth: Becoming a father for a family has been a beautifully challenging transformation, which allowed me to become a more meaningful being than I could have imagined.
For my wife Shirin and me, this has been a spiritual benchmark since the beginning of our little big heartbeat Alexander Jahaan.
With decades of travel and migration between worlds, living a seemingly more structured and “settled” life turned out actually more exciting as we are witnessing and accompanying the milestones of Alex’s developmental journey in each of his everyday explorations.
After dedicating the largest part of our attention to being there and growing with Alex in his initial months, both of us wish to now carry our new reflective insights and shared experiences into a creative and professional future.
As a teacher, learner and education researcher, I can project the intellectual, social and emotional magnitude and relevance of the field of my professional interest into a new dimension.