Inhalt der Forschungswerkstatt Empirische Sozialforschung ist das Erlernen und Ausprobieren qualitativer Methoden. Diese Methoden brauchen Sie, wenn Sie beispielsweise eine Masterarbeit zu einem Thema schreiben möchten, bei dem Interviews und Beobachtungen nötig sind. Empirisches Arbeiten bedeutet, Realsituationen zu analysieren und auf ihre Bedeutung hin zu befragen. Der Untersuchungsrahmen ergibt sich aus Ereignissen oder Erfahrungen, bei denen Gender als Analysekategorie, sowohl als Struktur- als auch als Prozesskategorie, zum Verstehen und Deuten hilfreich ist.

In diesem Projekt geht es schwerpunktmäßig um Kleidung  und ihren Konsum. Kleidung und Mode lassen sich entlang der  textilen Wertschöpfungskette von Produktion, Vermarktung, Konsum und Entsorgung  analysieren.  Im Hinblick auf eine nachhaltige Entwicklung stellt sich die Frage, inwiefern Gender Kauf- und Konsumentscheidungen beeinflusst. Kleidung und Mode stehen in diesem Forschungsprojekt  im Fokus.

Die Forschungswerkstatt ist ein zeit- und arbeitsintensives Projekt, bei dem forschendes Lernen praktisch wird.  Wenn Sie eine empirisch angelegte Masterarbeit schreiben möchten, dann könnten Sie in der Forschungswerkstatt Empirische Sozialforschung schon erste Überlegungen für die Abschlussarbeit entwickeln.

Die Forschungswerkstatt ist auf zwei Semester angelegt. Im Sommersemester wird das Thema methodisch entwickelt, idealerweise finden sich Kleingruppen von 2-3 Personen, die ein gemeinsames Unterthema erarbeiten. Die Datenerhebung findet erfahrungsgemäß in der Semesterpause statt. Die Analyse und Interpretation der Daten erfolgt im Wintersemester. Das erste Semester wird mit einem Zwischenbericht abgeschlossen, das zweite mit einem Endbericht.

Semester: SoSe 2024

The seminar will look at the agrifood system through the lens of coffee from a feminist and social science perspective and deals with different dimensions of coffee production and consumption – the economic, ecological and socio-cultural.

Coffee production is mostly concentrated in the Global South and coffee has become one of the largest agricultural commodities. The production of coffee is highly embedded in colonial power relations: during the colonial period local food crops have for example been replaced in favor of the cash crop of coffee. However, coffee cultivation is also highly contested so that female farmers in Kenya, for example, resisted structural adjustment in the 1990s and refused to produce coffee by uprooting the coffee trees. Furthermore, many of the coffee-producing areas are affected by the climate crisis and the livelihoods of farmers are already impacted.  

At the same time, coffee consumption holds an important socio-cultural significance and plays a central role in consumers' food and drink habits, especially in Europe. Moreover, coffee shops and cafes often signal change in a region or city and are seen as drivers of gentrification processes. The consumption of specialty coffee and the use of certain equipment, roasting and brewing techniques can be linked to practices of class and social distinction.

The subject of coffee will provide an example to analyze gender relations in their intersection with other categories of social inequalities. We will, for example, discuss: How is the female coffee farmer constructed in coffee marketing? What is the potential of women cooperatives, can they decrease gender inequalities? How is gender produced and reproduced through coffee consumption in private and public spheres?

Literatur

Brownhill, Leigh S.; Kaara, Wahu M., & Turner, Terisa E. (1997): Gender relations and sustainable agriculture: rural women's resistance to structural adjustment in Kenya. Canadian Woman Studies/les cahiers de la femme.

Kinyanjui, Mary Njeri (2015): Coffee Time. Langaa RPCIG, Cameroon.

Limburg, Aubrey (2013): Large Americano, Extra Masculine: How People Do Gender at The Coffee House. Journal for Undergraduate Ethnography, 3. Jg., Nr. 2, S. 1-11.

Stolcke, Verena; Chapman, Mark D. (1988): Coffee Planters Workers and Wives: Class Conflict and Gender Relations on Sao Paulo Coffee Plantations. Springer.

Bemerkung

The content of this course is expanded by the course “Feminist Political Ecology and Ecofeminism: Theoretical debates and political strategies” (Wednesday, 4-6 pm) by Christine Bauhardt. However, students are free to take just one of the two courses.


Semester: SoSe 2024

Kommentar

This course introduces students to feminist environmentalism. We will analyse discourses and practices from diverse regional backgrounds concerning the role of gender in environmental politics. Ecofeminism is often confronted with the charge of essentialism – is this reading correct? What does Feminist Political Ecology contribute to the understanding of the current ecological crisis? Students will learn about critical perspectives on human-nature-relationships.

Literatur

References:

Alaimo, Stacy (2016): Exposed. Environmental Politics and Pleasures in Posthuman Times. Minneapolis, London: University of Minnesota Press.

Bauhardt, Christine / Harcourt, Wendy (eds.)(2019): Feminist Political Ecology and the Economics of Care. In Search of Economic Alternatives. (Routledge Studies in Ecological Economics). London: Routledge.

Mellor, Mary (1997): Feminism and Ecology. New York: New York University Press.

Mortimer-Sandilands, Catriona / Erickson, Bruce (eds.)(2010): Queer Ecologies. Sex, Nature, Politics, Desire. Bloomington, Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.

Sturgeon, Noel (1997): Ecofeminist Natures. Race, Gender, Feminist Theory and Political Action. New York, London: Routledge.

Bemerkung

Registration formalities: Personal appearance at the first session (24.4.)

The content of this course is expanded by the course “The Perfect Cup of Coffee? The Economy, Ecology and Culture of Coffee” (Wednesday, 2-4 pm) by Meike Brückner. However, students are free to take just one of the two courses


Semester: SoSe 2024

Statistische Analysemethoden und theoretische Ansätze der Gender bzw. Queer Studies scheinen zunächst im unvereinbaren Gegensatz zueinander zu stehen. Wir setzen uns damit auseinander, wie diese Kluft teilweise überwunden werden kann. Dies ist ein Methodenkurs, was bedeutet, dass der Schwerpunkt auf dem Erlernen der Grundlagen der Statistik liegt, sowie auf dem Umgang mit dem Analyseprogramm SPSS. Vorkenntnisse sind hilfreich, aber nicht zwingend notwendig. Ausreichende Englischkenntnisse zum Lesen und Verstehen der überwiegend englischsprachigen Literatur wird vorausgesetzt. 

Semester: SoSe 2024
In what ways does the organization of space reveal who we are? How are spaces organized by anti-blackness, the white nation/state or settler colonialism, heterosexuality, homophobia, gender binaries and imperialist racial hierarchy? How do the inventions of a proper and modern human emerge from European enlightenment that constructs boundaries around “the self” that relate to social and political boundaries? At the same time, how is this process discursive, material, structural, and symbolic? What is the connection between places in the city and places in the psyche? What is the connection between the imagination, the self, place, and the construction of borders around the self, the territory of the political nation-state? What are the links between the psychic self and the production and creation of a “monstrous,” ghoulish other and the creation of borders, immigration laws, and fear of a constructed geographic other, for instance, Dracula? What does Dracula have to do with fear of a geographic other, immigration, or gender, race and sexuality that is linked to our psychic selves? These questions are at the foundation of pedagogy for many educators. As educators concentrate on how racial and other non-normative subjects are formed and how symbolic and material processes sustain racial hierarchies, they can examine how dominance is taught and how it might be challenged. Critical race theory, critical geography, postcolonial, and decolonial study approach is used to examine how we learn who we are and how pedagogies of citizenship (who counts and who does not) operate in concrete places-- bodies, nations, cities, and institutions. In this course, you will learn about the production of identities in specific spaces. The course is taught from both the perspective of an educator and a researcher. The compelling question for educators is how to interrupt the production of dominant subjects. As a researcher, it is essential to understand how racial, gender and sexuality and “monstrous” differences, formations and identities are produced in specific places. A particular focus will be placed on the spatial-racial-gender violence of settler/colonialism, racial capitalism, and euro-north American imperialisms. Through this course, students learn how this violence are related to empires and nation-building and how they participate in these racial, sexual and gendered social arrangements. Next, we discuss how racial violence is sexualized and gendered. After focusing on psychoanalytic perspectives, the readings explore how whiteness, masculinity, and heterosexuality have been defended about ongoing racial dominance. Our course ends with a study of Black and abolitionist projects that disturb the dominant organization space and disrupt it.
Semester: SoSe 2024

In our contemporary world, understanding gender is not just a matter of academic pursuit but a crucial tool for dismantling oppressive structures. The seminar offers a brief introduction to research in Gender Studies, aiming to unravel its complexities, harness its liberatory potential, and navigate the pitfalls that inadvertently reinforce hegemonic systems.

This seminar serves as a dynamic space where participants embark on a journey to explore the multifaceted dimensions of gender. We will delve into theoretical frameworks and practical applications that challenge the status quo of the Cis-Hetero-Patriarchy. By fostering an inclusive and experimental environment, we encourage participants to critically engage with diverse perspectives and push the boundaries of conventional knowledge.

By the end of the seminar, participants will emerge with a deeper understanding of gender as a site of power and resistance. Armed with critical insights and practical tools, they will be equipped to embark on their own master’s journeys, contributing to the ongoing struggle for gender justice and liberation.

Depending on need and interest we will engage with questions such as:

1.     What do we stand to gain by adopting a more expansive approach to Trans* and Queer beyond identity categories?

2.     To what extent does gender and sexuality unfold differently in the non-West?

3.     What can we learn from other liberatory struggles and disciplines such as Crip Theory, Indigenous Studies, Decolonial approaches or Feminist Political Economy?

4.     How does queer/trans*/feminist world-making look like?

Semester: SoSe 2024

Who is represented in survey data and statistics and who´s struggles and needs are thereby acknowledged? The invisibility of people and perspectives in data is a problem. While the categorization of dimensions of social position in quantitative research is fraught with challenges, a sensitive and inclusive data collection through quantitative survey methodologies can be useful under certain conditions to address this knowledge gap. These conditions will be elaborated in this seminar. When is it important to collect socio demographic data in surveys and how can this be done sensitively? When is it superfluous? As a part of this evaluation, the role and position of the researcher, as well as their relation with the research objective will be reflected, critically. Possibilities to capture different dimensions of social positions will be weighed. Students will put the material into practice by developing an own questionnaire.

Semester: SoSe 2024

Starting with the introduction of the concept of "gender" as a social construction and a category of analysis, the course aims to investigate developments in gender studies through an intersectional perspective. Intersectionality, elaborated in African American feminism and theorized by Kimberlé Crenshaw in the 1980s, allows us to observe how gender intertwines other social categories (such as sexuality, race/ethnicity, class, sexual orientation, religion, citizenship) and how this intersection determines different locations within the social hierarchy. We will focus in particular on the intersection of gender and race/ethnicity. This intersection will be analyzed from a historical perspective in relation to the different phenomena of colonialism, slavery, and migration and will also be investigated through its literary representation in a memoir. In the final part of the course, a focus will be made on how social inequalities (especially those based on gender, race/ethnicity, and class) and the current environmental crisis support and reinforce each other.

Semester: SoSe 2024

Im Alltag begegnet man dem Begriff der Gerechtigkeit überall: Klimagerechtigkeit, soziale Gerechtigkeit oder Geschlechtergerechtigkeit sind nur einige Beispiele. Doch so präsent der Begriff der Gerechtigkeit auch sein mag, so unklar ist zumeist seine Bedeutung. Was ist Gerechtigkeit eigentlich? Und was ist Ungerechtigkeit? In welchem Verhältnis steht Gerechtigkeit zu Konzepten, wie Freiheit, Solidarität und Verantwortung? Wen schließen verschiedene Gerechtigkeitstheorien ein und wer bleibt außen vor? Kann Gerechtigkeit universell sein? Muss sie stets im Konkreten verankert sein? Oder kann es Gerechtigkeit gar nie geben? Im Seminar wollen wir den Begriff der Gerechtigkeit aus feministischen Perspektiven kritisch beleuchten und diskutieren, ob der Begriff trotz alledem praktisch nutzbar gemacht werden kann. Ein Schwerpunkt des Seminars liegt dabei auf dem Gerechtigkeitsbegriff im Kontext von Gewalterfahrungen.

Semester: SoSe 2024

This course delves into the multifaceted experiences, roles, and contributions of Arab women within the SWANA Region, transcending the conventional emphasis on religious oppression to encompass the intricate interplay of political, class, and regional dynamics. Its primary objective is to fortify an intellectual framework that serves as the bedrock for subsequent scholarly inquiries and research endeavors in the field of gender and women's studies. Leveraging pertinent theoretical frameworks and empirical cases from the Arab world, course participants will gain a profound understanding of the intricate complexities and nuanced factors that delineate the lived experiences of women within this distinctive geographical context.

Semester: SoSe 2024

Das Programm besteht aus einer Vorbereitungsphase im Sommersemester 2024 und der eigentlichen Mentoringphase im Wintersemester 2024/25. Student_innen werden in der Abschlussphase ihres Studiums dabei unterstützt, folgende Fragen für sich zu beantworten:

• Welche beruflichen Zielvorstellungen habe ich?
• Welche Potentiale kann ich nutzen?
• Welche Karrieren interessieren mich und passen auf meine Lebenswelt?
• Wie kann ich den weiteren Verlauf meines Studiums an meinen Berufsvorstellungen ausrichten?

Das Mentoring-Programm soll durch die Einblicke in berufliche Praxisfelder, Workshops und Coaching die Möglichkeit bieten, eigene Motivationen zu überprüfen und Vorstellungen zu reflektieren. Dies schließt ggf. auch Fragen zur weiteren Studiengangsplanung, zur Anlage der Examensarbeit in Verbindung mit der Stellensuche sowie zu Strategien der Stellensuche mit ein.

Über die organisatorische Gestaltung wird eine Vereinbarung zwischen Mentori und Mentees getroffen, in der die gemeinsamen Ziele sowie die organisatorische Gestaltung der Mentoring-Beziehung festgehalten werden.


Semester: SoSe 2024

This course will investigate the ways in which the policing of gender and sexuality intersected with the policing of (ethno) national boundaries in Central-Eastern Europe, with a focus on the state-socialist period (1945-1990) but including the interwar period and the post socialist period as contextual bookends. At the same time, it will explore the ways in which the socialist ideologies of gender equality and internationalism were actually (and selectively) implemented in these countries, the effect this had on women and men from both ethnic majority and minority populations in these countries. Finally, it takes a transnational approach, looking at the role of gender and sexuality in positioning Central Eastern Europe within the (white) West, and in the West’s perception and ‘othering’ of the region.

Semester: SoSe 2024
Studying the history of Iranian society indicates that modifications, orders and ideas coming from above in either secular or Islamic regimes, have never been accepted by Iranian people without negotiation and/or contestation; Dealing with modernity and anti-modernity approaches of different states, Iranians from various background and walks of lives, in particular women in all their intersectional diversity and heterogeneity, have always found the middle way to adopt imposed concepts and ideologies in creative ways, to navigate them with subversive potential.
Iranian women have been taking any chance to show their resistance(s) towards the gender policy of the state in public and private arenas. This course will shed light on the ways through which they have been responding, negotiating and resisting the imposed concepts and ideas by the state.

Semester: SoSe 2024