About
Andreas Wimmer’s research brings a long term historical and globally comparative perspective to the questions of how states are built and nations formed, how individuals draw ethnic and racial boundaries between themselves and others, and under which conditions these processes result in conflict and war.
Using new methods and data, he searches for patterns that repeat through history. He has pursued this agenda across the disciplines of sociology, political science and social anthropology and through various styles of inquiry: ethnographic field research (in Mexico and Iraq), comparative historical analysis, quantitative research, network studies, and formal modeling. Wimmer’s research seeks to better understand how ideas travel across countries and continents in the contemporary world.
Awards
- Distinguished Career Award, International Migration Section of the American Sociological Association, 2018
- Doctor of Letters honoris causa, McGill University, 2016
- Distinguished Scholar Award of the Ethnicity, Nationalism, and Migration Section of the International Studies Association, 2014
Relevant Publications
Wimmer, A. (2018). Nation building: Why some countries come together while others fall apart. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Wimmer, A. (2013). Ethnic boundary making: Institutions, power, networks. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Wimmer, A. (2013). Waves of War. Nationalism, state formation, and ethnic exclusion in the modern world. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Wimmer, A. (2005). Kultur als Prozess. Zur Dynamik des Aushandelns von Bedeutungen (Culture as Process. The Dynamics of Negotiating Meaning). Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften
Wimmer, A. (2002). Nationalist exclusion and ethnic conflict: Shadows of modernity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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CIFAR is a registered charitable organization supported by the governments of Canada, Alberta and Quebec, as well as foundations, individuals, corporations and Canadian and international partner organizations.