Christoph Antweiler is a cultural anthropologist with an expertise in geology and currently Senior Professor at the Institute of Oriental and Asian Studies at the University of Bonn, Germany. His main theoretical interests are socio-cultural evolution, human universals and vernacular cosmopolitanism. His main research region is Southeast Asia. He is involved in the Excellence Cluster Bonn Center of Dependency and Slavery Studies and a member of the Academia Europaea, London.