Haußmann (* 1958; † 2006) studied Ethnology and Prehistory at the University of Tübingen. Among his teachers were Thomas Schweizer, Matthias Laubscher and Friedrich Valjavec. Haußmann carried out field research amongst the Mbirao in Guadalcanal/Solomon Islands and graduated on questions of ethnozoology and ethnobotany among the Mbirao in 1994.
Intellectually he was influenced by the writings of Hans Peter Duerr and Werner Müller; his scientifc work, however, was guided by Cognitive Anthropology, esp. by the work of Brent Berlin.
From 1995 onwards he worked for the local museum of his hometown, Ebersbach an der Fils. From 1997 until his sudden death in 2006 he headed the institution. His most important exhibition was on Rev. Hermann Diem, important member of the Confessing Church during Nazi-time and parson of the Ebersbach parish.
Publications:
1987 Umweltklassifikation und -kognition im melanesischen Raum: Pflanzen- und Tierwelt im indigenen Verständnis, unveröff. Magisterarbeit, Univ. Tübingen
1994 Vögel in der Kultur der Mbirao. Ergebnisse ethnoornithologischer und ethnotaxonomischer Untersuchungen in einer Ethnie der Salomonen. Holos-Verlag, Bonn, ISBN 3-86097-092-5 (Hochschulschrift; zugleich: Tübingen, Universität, Dissertation, 1994)
(text and photo: D. Haller)
