The research group "Autonomies, Boundaries and Identities" (ABI) studies the interplay between minorities and indigenous peoples, on the one hand, and identity and territory on the other.

The group focuses on the nexus between institutional government and governance arrangements, questions of collective belonging and identity, and boundary making processes. More specifically, ABI carries out basic and applied multidisciplinary research on:

• autonomy and self-government
• identity (trans-)formations
• securitization processes
• minority and kin-state relations
• cross-border cooperation in minority and indigenous peoples’ contexts.

ABI brings the perspective of minority and indigenous peoples’ studies into other disciplines and vice-versa.

• The focus on minority and indigenous people contributes, for instance, to other disciplines by contextualizing the research from a socio-political and historical perspective and by emphasizing localness rather than state-centeredness.

• The group provides for further knowledge regarding key-concepts within different study fields, such as autonomy studies, security studies and border studies by zooming in on minorities and indigenous peoples’ realities.

• The projects create synergies between knowledge and methodologies of the different disciplines and research foci within and beyond our group by applying and combining methodologies of legal and social science as well as historical research.

This multidisciplinary approach allows us to provide fresh insights into the key concepts. Our research is primarily qualitative in nature, including comparative approaches, single case studies as well as ethnography and historiography.

Geographically, our research focuses mainly on Europe, but we study also other areas, such as Latin America and Southeast Asia.

ABI’s basic research feeds into academic publications and presentations, teaching materials and lectures that are targeted mainly at our academic peers and university students. Our applied research targets at specific stakeholders, such as policy makers, public officials, and other interest groups, and takes the form of reports, policy briefs, and policy recommendations.

Both ABI’s basic and applied research activities are disseminated to a wider public and the end-users through scientific publications, local and international media channels as well as various online formats.