Book prize for BGHS alumna Mahshid Mayar

BGHS alumna Mahshid Mayar will be awarded the “Shelley Fisher Fishkin Prize for International Scholarship in Transnational American Studies” on 11 November for her book Citizens and Rulers of the World: The American Child and the Cartographic Pedagogies of Empire. The prize is awarded annually by the American Studies Association for original research in the field of transnational American studies.

Congratulations for this success!

(© Mashid Mayar)

Mahshid completed her PhD in History in 2016 with the dissertation "Citizens and Rulers of the World: American Children and World Geography at the Turn of the Twentieth Century".

Welcome Day Winter Semester 2022/23

::20 new doctoral researchers at the BGHS::

On Tuesday, 11 October, the BGHS Welcome Day for the winter semester 2022/23 took place, this time again in person at the BGHS. The BGHS directors Klaus Weinhauer and Ruth Ayaß welcomed the new doctoral researchers, who had the opportunity to introduce themselves and get to know the doctoral representatives and the BGHS office staff. Sabine Schäfer then introduced the BGHS training and study programme. We wish all new members a wonderful start to their doctorate at the BGHS.

New BGHS doctoral researchers and their projects:

Jasper Bendler (Sociology): Die Entwicklung von Normakzeptanz. Eine Untersuchung der Entwicklungsverläufe, Einflussfaktoren und Wechselwirkungen der Akzeptanz von Rechtsnormen bei Jugendlichen und jungen Erwachsenen.

Felix Bitterer (Sociology): The importance of political attitudes for occupational choices and careers in public service

Melina Bonerz (Sociology): Why are we not flooding the streets? A case study of the diffusion of and coalition-building around anti-femi(ni)cide activism in Germany

Felix Gumbert (Sociology): How to Build an Echo Chamber. Virtuelle Ethnographie zur Genese von Kommunikationsräumen in sozialen Medien

Svenja Holste (Sociology): ‘The Arctic We Know?!’ Arctic knowledge, natural scientists’ worldviews and the framing of research agendas

Ricardo Kelm (Sociology): Constructing Identity, Challenging Representations: Hegemonic Struggles in Discourses on ‘European Security Identity’

Stefan Knauff (Sociology): Regionalization of Stereotyping in Online Spaces using Text Based Computational Sociology Methods

Jonas Kramer (Sociology): Das alltägliche Planungsgespräch. Die Herstellung von Zukunft in projektiven Gattungen

Jakob Krusche (History): Gruppen bewaffneter Zivilisten in Mexiko. Historische Einordnung eines Phänomens unter Bezugnahme auf aktuelle Entwicklungen

Talha Minhas (History): Practices of Comparing in late colonial and Modern Nationalist Historiography in Pakistan (1850-1980). Calling for a Global History in Pakistan through a Practice-theoretical Approach to Anti-Nationalist Historiography

Cristóbal Moya (Sociology): The force of injustice and the legitimation of social inequalities

Amelie Nickel (Sociology): Marketization, institutional anomie, and societal consequences

Hoang Long Nguyen (Sociology): Big Spatial Data: Potentials and Limitations for Empirical Social Research

Ingo Pätzold (History): „Wann fangen wie endlich an, nicht nur nachts homosexuell zu sein?“ Die diskursive Verortung der Theatergruppe „Brühwarm“ in der politischen Schwulenbewegung der 1970er Jahre in der BRD. Ein digitales Close Reading ihrer Auftritte

Stefan Rohrhirsch (Sociology): Environmentality. On the Critique of Environmental Reason

Ilgım Şimşek (Sociology): Queer Narratives Throughout Generations in Turkey

Stephan Skolarski (Sociology): Institutional racism in Germany. Intergroup contacts and ethnic prejudices among employees in public institutions

Can David Tobias (Sociology): Nationalstaatenindikatoren in the making – Die Herstellung quantitativer Leistungsvergleiche im Kontext globaler Politik am Beispiel des Financial Secrecy Index

Ragna Verhoeven (Sociology): On Unifying, Communal and Consensual Aspects of Democracy — An Analysis of Potential of the Radical Theory of Democracy

Mikko von Bremen (Sociology): Funding Priorities in Arctic Research – Institutional Structures and Consultation Processes at the Science-Policy Interface

You can find the Welcome Day presentation here:

Edvaldo Moita was awarded two prizes this year for his dissertation successfully defended in 2021. First, the Brazilian Association for Philosophy of Law and Sociology of Law (ABRAFI) – a national section of the Internationale Vereinigung für Rechts- und Sozialphilosophie (IVR) – awarded him the prize for the best dissertation in 2021. In September, he also received the “European Award for Legal Theory”, a prize awarded by the European Academy of Legal Theory (EALT). The award ceremony will take place on 24 November at Goethe University Frankfurt.

Last Year, Edvaldo Moita also prevailed against the competition and received a professorship for legal theory and philosophy of law at Fluminense Federal University (UFF), Brazil's largest university.

Congratulations on these successes!

 (©Edvaldo Moita)

Edvaldo Moita completed his PhD in sociology in 2021 with his dissertation "On the Nature and Impacts of Noncompliance: With a Study of Informality and Street Vending in Brazil".

Book Prize for BGHS alumnus Zoltán Simon

BGHS alumnus Zoltán Simon has ex-aequo received the 2022 Book Award from the International Commission for the History and Theory of Historiography (ICHTH) and the International Network for Theory of History (INTH) for his book “History in Times of Unprecedented Change: A Theory for the 21st Century” (published by Bloomsbury in 2019). The book prize was awarded for the best book on any aspect of the history and theory of historiography, published between 2016 and 2020. Congratulations for this success!

(left to right: Edoardo Tortarolo, Zoltán Simon, Ewa Domanska, Photo taken by Marek Tamm)

Zoltán completed his PhD in History at the beginning of 2018 and is currently researching the project "The End of History and the End of the World", funded by the Gerda Henkel Foundation.

::Society in Permanent Crisis?::

On the occasion of the 41st Congress of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Soziologie (DGS), which will take place in Bielefeld, the Bielefeld Graduate School in History and Sociology (BGHS), in cooperation with the Volkshochschule Bielefeld, is organising a panel discussion on 27 September 2022, 6 to 8 p.m., in the Historischer Saal of the Volkshochschule Bielefeld.

When crises or disasters occur, they must be responded to and managed. We expect politics, science and other responsible actors (including ourselves) to take countermeasures. Here, disputes can already take place: What is considered a crisis? What is the appropriate countermeasure? What means should or must be used? Can lessons be learned from dealing with previous crises?

At present, a variety of crisis experiences and crisis discourses overlap. Climate crisis, Corona pandemic and war in Ukraine keep shifting the attention of politics, the media and academia. The various crisis scenarios and crisis perceptions compete with each other, they overlap and they are played off against each other. But what does this mean for dealing with crises? Are measures or reforms prevented or made more difficult by this opposition? What does it mean for our own attention and perception of crises when the crisis mode becomes a permanent state?

In an Interdisciplinary Dialogue between sociologists and historians, the mechanisms of social perceptions of crises, crisis management and their transformations will be discussed.

With:

Oliver Dimbath (Professor of Sociology, University of Koblenz-Landau)

Eleonora Rohland (Professor of Environmental History, Bielefeld University,

Markus Schroer (Professor of Sociology, University of Marburg) and

Silke Schwandt (Professor of Digital History, Bielefeld University).

Introduction and moderation: Sabine Schäfer (BGHS) and Dr. Klaus Weinhauer (BGHS).

The Discussion will be in German.

Admission is free.

:: Non-academic careers::

Reports about Practical Projects #7

“Reports about Practical Projects” are written by doctoral researchers who have designed and carried out a practical project in cooperation with a non-university organization. The BGHS has been supporting these projects with scholarships since 2020. In the seventh part of the series, Gladys Vasquez Zevallos reports on her practical project with the Kuskalla Abya Yala.

As stated by the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, although indigenous people represent less than 6% of the world’s population, they speak more than 4,000 of the world’s approximately 6,700 languages. This statistic shows that most indigenous languages are under the threat of Language Loss. One of the main reasons for this is that throughout state formation, states implemented integration policies, especially in education, which ended up being assimilation policies. This policy meant the imposition of Western values, one of the most notable cases being the imposition of a unitary language that reinforced discrimination against indigenous nations, their culture, and languages. However, in recent years there has been a growing movement for recovering the indigenous language based on revitalization practices. These are practices to foster new speakers when the intergenerational transmission of the language has been interrupted. For this reason, I organized, in collaboration with Kuskalla Abya Yala, a workshop dedicated to the practices of the revitalization of native languages, focusing on the case of the Quechua language. Kuskalla Abya Yala is a non-governmental organization primarily devoted to the revitalization of the native languages of Quechua. Indeed, Quechua is the most widely spoken Indigenous language family in America; 7 to 9 million speakers.

Image 1: Most spoken indigenous languages © Gladys Vasquez

Kuskalla has implemented free educational programs through technological opportunities while building international solidarity networks. Thus, the workshop’s purpose was to share the experience of different actors with diverse intellectual backgrounds in diffusing the Quechua language in two main aspects:  Reflection on post-colonial structures in the production of indigenous knowledge and alternative experiences of visualization and dissemination of the Quechua language. The workshop was divided into two days, and the results were directly related to strategies for disseminating indigenous knowledge outside the educational spaces that have historically promoted linguistic discrimination.

One of the primary reflections was on the stereotypes surrounding indigenous languages and how to see them as something of the past. Indigenous communities are perceived as timeless when adaptation and migration have been their constant feature. Another reflection was that Indigenous languages are not only used for communication but also as a system of knowledge, history, memory, and identity. Much of the discussion was on how the Quechua people are revitalizing their language while recovering their identity.

All this is thanks to different practices in rural and urban areas using their educational pedagogies, music, artistic representations, and media. While many of these initiatives began, especially in the Andes, many indigenous immigrants in the United States are now promoting the Quechua language in academia and community groups. In the United States, it is the most widely taught indigenous language in universities, with approximately fifteen programs. The basis of these programs is partnerships with indigenous organizations. In this sense, the workshop promoted the creation and strengthening of networks among the actors that disseminate knowledge of the indigenous world.

Click here for Kuskalla Abya Yala.

Further information about the Non-University Careers Project can be found on the BGHS website.

:: Non-academic careers::

Reports about Practical Projects #6

“Reports about Practical Projects” are written by doctoral researchers who have designed and carried out a practical project in cooperation with a non-university organization. The BGHS has been supporting these projects with scholarships since 2020. In the sixth part of the series, Sinmi Akin-Aina reports on her practical project with the Mathare Social Justice Centre.

Mathare is one of the oldest and largest informal settlements in Nairobi, Kenya, with a population of 500,000 people. Mathare is replete with history and has been the staging ground for multiple struggles for democracy, social justice, and human rights. The Mathare Social Justice Centre was an initiative begun by young community members in Mathare in 2014 to promote social justice and to combat the extrajudicial police killings of young men in the community. Mathare is a site where daily forms of physical and structural violence have historically been allowed to occur with impunity, and with little hope for redress and justice for those in the community. Some of these forms of violence include forced evictions, land grabbling, police abuse of power and extrajudicial killings, political violence, and other forms of economic, social and psychological marginalization.  In light of these abuses, a group of young activists from the community set out to create a centre focussed on the promotion of various forms of participatory justice. This led to the creation of their foundational campaign  Extrajudicial Killings and Police Abuse of Power, which documents extrajudicial killings and state-sponsored violence. The 2017 Participatory Action Report: Who is Next? A Participatory Action Report Against the Normalization of Extrajudicial Killings in Mathare was released three years after the creation of the centre, and is one of the first of its kind, detailing the human rights violations by the state in the informal settlement of Nairobi, participatory action research compiled, lead and written by community-based researchers.

Image 1: The emblem of the Mathare Social Justice Centre

As such, in the framework of the practical project for doctoral studies at the BGHS, the aim of this initiative was to leverage skills in research, policy, or monitoring or evaluation for social change, particularly in collaboration with grassroots and community-based organizations in the Global South. Thus, I proposed a project to conduct a Program Evaluation on the Mathare Social Justice Centre’s foundational campaign on Extrajudicial Killings and Police Abuse of Power.

Much of the international development literature speaks to an existing capacity gap, between the work that is done by grassroots organizations, and the work and time commitment required for the reporting and donor accountability in said programs. Grassroots and community organizations may have fewer material resources, less opportunities/time for training, and have little time to engage in projects that are not the primary mission of the organization—as with much of the work required in monitoring and evaluation. Thus, my  project aimed to bridge this gap, when possible, for grassroots organizations engaged in critical social change and transformation.

Information for the evaluation was collected primarily through interviews, a focus group and document analysis. This included three interviews with: community members (1), program staff (1) and a board member/founder of the organization (1). The focus groups included six participants including: community human rights monitors, community mobilizers as well as program staff.  Interviews and the focus group lasted from thirty to 90 minutes.

The key strengths of the Extra Judicial Executions campaign lie in its savvy capacity for dynamic movement building and mobilizing, as well as it’s keen use of adaptable and interconnected programming responsive to the needs of the community. Despite this, certain challenges of a structural nature remain, however these are implicit to the Kenyan justice and policing system, and a culture that allows for the killing of poor, mostly male youth with impunity.

Click here for the Mathare Social Justice Centre.

Further information about the Non-University Careers Project can be found on the BGHS website.

::Non-university careers::

Practitioners in Talk - Part 27

Many ways lead out of the BGHS. But where do postdoctoral paths lead? We talk to historians and sociologists who have taken up their career outside the university. Andrea Schneider-Braunberger spoke to us about her work for the Gesellschaft für Unternehmensgeschichte e.V. and the Gesellschaft für Unternehmensgeschichte mbH.

[Figure 1: Andrea Schneider-Braunberger]

Mrs Schneider-Braunberger, you did your PhD in History in 1996. If you remember starting your career: How did you find your way into the job?

Andrea Schneider-Braunberger: My entry was, I think, unusual. The day after the disputation of my doctoral thesis, I received an amusing phone call from my doctoral supervisor. He told me about a vacancy at the Gesellschaft für Unternehmensgeschichte (GUG) for the position of managing director and asked me if I was able to formulate business letters in English. I was actually very good at that because I had worked in a typing pool during my studies. Then I applied here the same day, was invited for an interview the second day after my disputation, and got the job. At the time, I had also applied for a volunteer position at the German Historical Museum and for a position as an advisor to the German Bundestag. So it could have turned out very differently. – But that is how I ended up, without having the goal, in the position I still work in today.

To be managing director just a few days after the disputation: How did you experience it?

Andrea Schneider-Braunberger: I found it appealing to find a job where I could apply the knowledge I had acquired in my history studies. At the same time, I have to say: I studied modern history and did my PhD there, but I knew nothing about corporate history. I will give you an example: It was one of my first tasks in my first year here at GUG to organize a symposium. That was in 1996, when I looked through the list of topics of the GUG symposia since their foundation in 1976. And that is when I noticed: National Socialism was not on that list. That would be an exciting topic! The symposium on National Socialism actually took place here in early 1997. At the same time, pressure was being exerted in the USA on Deutsche Bank and Allianz AG to come to terms with their own Nazi history. And it was only after the symposium that it became clear in Germany as well: you have to come to terms with corporate history in the Nazi era. So, looking back, I would say: This symposium on National Socialism also took place because I was a bit naive.

You work for the Gesellschaft für Unternehmensgeschichte. Where do you work, exactly? 

Andrea Schneider-Braunberger: When the Gesellschaft für Unternehmensgeschichte e.V. was founded in 1976, it had the task of strengthening the subject of corporate history as a non-university institution: on the one hand, by organizing scientific conferences, symposia and working groups, and on the other hand, by publishing the “Zeitschrift für Unternehmensgeschichte”. These are the tasks we still have today as the Gesellschaft für Unternehmensgeschichte. In addition, as a non-profit association, we also carry out, for example, a project in which we develop material on corporate history for school lessons. In addition to these non-profit activities, we are economically active: Since the 1980s, GUG has been commissioned by companies either to set up a corporate archive or to carry out a study; be it on a specific question or on the entire history of the company. Due to the fact that we have received more and more orders from companies, a good ten years ago we came to a limit that we are not allowed to exceed as a non-profit organization: to generate more than half of our revenues in the economic field. That is why we founded the Gesellschaft für Unternehmensgeschichte mbH in 2012.

You head the Gesellschaft für Unternehmensgeschichte. What are your most important tasks? 

Andrea Schneider-Braunberger: First, I design our scientific projects: in terms of their content and their budget. Secondly, I have the role of a mediator between different actors: On the one hand, it is my task to explain to the companies why it is important to work on corporate history scientifically and what scientific work means in this context. On the other hand, it is my job to ensure that our authors, who are employed on a fee basis, have the confidence that we do not engage in any whitewashing and that the authors’ scientific freedom is guaranteed. Sometimes the press also comes in as a stakeholder. So it is a translation job that I have between different social worlds. Thirdly, as managing director, I have commercial tasks, contractual matters to take care of, and also strategic planning to drive forward.

What tips do you have for colleagues from sociology or history who are interested in a career in the occupational field you are in?

Andrea Schneider-Braunberger: Gain practical experience to find out where your own passions, strengths and weaknesses lie! On the one hand, the working environments in which historians or sociologists work are very different. On the other hand, we also learn about ourselves in these working worlds: For some people, it is great to deal with many people or to work in a group. And others manage well as lone warriors, for example in the basement of an archive.

Mrs Schneider-Braunberger, thank you for the conversation!

The interview was conducted by Ulf Ortmann.

You can find the complete (german) interview here: pdf.

Further information on the non-university careers project is available here.

The previous interviews in the series are available here. 

Just in time for the summer break, there is good news to report from the BGHS.

Firstly, we have succeeded in extending the position of our coordinator for internationalisation, Clara Buitrago, by one year. Clara will therefore remain with us until the end of June 2024. We are very happy about that!

Secondly, we were able to recruit three new doctoral researchers for the BGHS positions advertised in the spring. Exciting doctoral projects await us in the Faculty of Sociology, which offer excellent opportunities to connect with historical studies.

And thirdly, we were successful with our application to the DAAD Graduate School Scholarship Programme, which is not affected by the austerity measures currently being discussed. At the end of August, we will be able to announce two DAAD doctoral scholarships for international candidates, especially from developing and emerging countries (scholarships will begin in October 2023).

And then we are particularly happy with our BGHS members who were able to complete their doctorates this year:

Lasse Bjoern Lassen (History): The “Castro Doctrine”: Cuban Diplomacy in Global Solidarity Organizations 1959-1967. Propagating Democracy of the Marginalized and Defending National Sovereignty in a Hostile World (10.01.2022)

Georg Kessler (Sociology): Kriminalität im jungen Erwachsenenalter - Bedeutung für kriminologische Theoriebildung und Methodologie (09.02.2022)

Laura Lükemann (Sociology): Gender inequalities in German work organizations: differences in claims-making for career progress and working time adjustment (14.02.2022)

Torben Möbius (History): Das Management ständigen Wandels: konkurrenzförmige Vergleichspraktiken der deutschen und der US-amerikanischen Eisen- und Stahlindustrie (1870–1940) (16.02.2022)

Jan-Holm Sussieck (Sociology): Populismus. Die Zuschreibung illegitimer Volksorientierung in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (03.03.2022)

Isabell Diekmann (Sociology): Good Muslims, bad Islam? Zur differenzierten Betrachtung feindlicher Einstellungen gegenüber Menschen und Religion (14.03.2022)

Eileen Peters (Sociology): Relational inequalities at work: How are social inequalities between cate-gorically different groups (re-) produces in local workplace contexts? (15.03.2022)

Ayomide Kolawole (Sociology): The Ideas and Politics of Universal Social Pensions in the Global South: A Comparative Analysis (07.04.2022)

Katrin Weible (Sociology): Social citizenship for “the poor”? Large N data construction, conceptualization, and comparative analysis of social cash transfers across the global South (04.05.2022)

Karsten Pieper (Sociology): Publikumsbeobachtung im digitalen Wandel. Massen und Verdatung am Beispiel publizistischer Printmedien (11.05.2022)

Paul-Matthias Tyrell (History): „Only a stream between…“ Lokale Strategien im Umgang mit der „Filterfunktion“ der Grenze am Detroit River in den 1920er Jahren (01.06.2022)

Bastian Bredenkötter (Sociology): Mobile Manager als Boundary Spanner. Eine Untersuchung der Grenzstellenarbeit in multinationalen Unternehmen (21.06.2022)

Marcus B. Carrier (History): Der Wert von Methoden - Methodenwahl in der forensischen Toxikologie des 19. Jahrhunderts im deutsch-französischen Vergleich (21.07.2022)

Lili Zhu (History): Deutsch-chinesischer Waffenhandel (1922-1941). Eine Verflechtungsgeschichte (06.07.2022)

Jan Handelmann (Sociology): (Zwischen) Wissen und Nichtwissen: Vorstellungen von Fachleitungen zur Professionalität sozialwissenschaftlicher Lehrkräfte (07.07.2022)

Johannes Nagel (History): U.S. Military Reform and the Observation of the World, 1865–1905 (18.07.2022)

We congratulate them and wish them every success in the future!

Last but not least, a note on our own behalf: From 8 to 28 August, the BGHS office will be on summer break. We will not be available then. Urgent matters should therefore be dealt with immediately!

Awarded doctoral theses

The Bielefeld University Society (UGBi) awarded the prizes for the best doctoral theses at Bielefeld University on 29 June. Two BGHS graduates were also honored for their theses:

In his dissertation „Ein „Befreier“, der nicht mehr geht? Die alliierte Besatzung Süditaliens, 1943-1947“, Stefan Laffin examined the construct of this Allied occupation, which was marked by lines of conflict, internal contradictions between military and political functional logics, tensions in the Allied internal relationship, and interactions between occupiers and occupied. Currently, Stefan is teaching and researching at the History Department of Leibniz Universität Hannover.

Figure 1: Stefan Laffin (©Lena Wöhler/ Universität Hannover)

Vera Linke’s dissertation "Common Grounds. A Study of the Shared Foundations of Today's Separate Spheres of Insurance," shows that private and social insurance emerged from a joint specialized discourse in the 19th century, contrary to what separate research would suggest: In it, the current understanding of insurance was constituted as the sociation of risk through organization. Vera is currently working at the Institute for Controlling and Management Accounting at Helmut-Schmidt University/University of the Federal Armed Forces Hamburg.

Figure 2: Dr. Vera Linke (© Vera Linke)

The BGHS congratulates both alumni on their award!

Linie 4: The Hohenzollern inheritance dispute and the ‘truths’ of history

Does historical scholarship provide an authentic picture of the past or does it offer different narratives of history, located somewhere between fiction and factuality? Jan Gräber addresses this question in the public lecture series Linie 4, organised by the BGHS together with the vhs Bielefeld. In his lecture “Which present does historical science produce? An examination of the Hohenzollern inheritance dispute”, he takes the example of the inheritance dispute between the Hohenzollerns and the state of Brandenburg, which is about castles, cultural assets, money and, not least, prestige. In the discussions about the inheritance dispute, in addition to the legal and political issues, the circumstance of the “considerable advance” is particularly prominent, i.e. the question of whether the Hohenzollerns played a significant role in the rise and maintenance of power of National Socialism. On this point of contention, history provides the essential and scientific expertise and accordingly helps to decide the Hohenzollerns' right to inherit. However, the dispute also makes it clear that it is not about a quick or even correct answer to historical questions. Rather, it proves to be a struggle for historical truth and its consequences for the present. This ultimately leads to the question of which present the science of history actually creates with its interpretations of history.

Jan Gräber studied history and political science at the University of Tübingen and is doing his doctorate in history at the BGHS on the topic of "The Contradictions of an Intervening History".

The lecture will take place on Monday, 20 June 2022 at 6.15 pm in the Murnau-Saal at the vhs Bielefeld , Ravensberger Park 1. The event will be held in German

Here you can find information about Linie 4 and the lectures in the series.

Linie 4: Algorithms in the World of Work

Granting loans, allocating machines or selecting personnel - companies and other work organisations are increasingly using digital techniques when it comes to making decisions. Fundamental to this are algorithms, i.e. clear rules of action that solve mathematical problems. In the public lecture series Linie 4, organised by the BGHS together with the vhs Bielefeld, Elisa Gensler deals with the challenges and opportunities that the use of algorithms in the world of work can have on employees. In her lecture “I am not a robot" - When algorithms take over decision-making processes in the world of work”, she asks about the importance that algorithms already have for work processes and the effects on the self-determination of employees when algorithms shape decisions or even take them away from them completely.

Elisa Gensler has been working as a research assistant at the Research Institute for Cognition and Robotics (CoR-Lab) and in the research area “Technical and Social Change” at the Faculty of Sociology at Bielefeld University since 2019. Since 2019, she has also been a doctoral researcher in the interdisciplinary NRW Research College „Gestaltung von flexiblen Arbeitswelten (Arbeit 4.0)“ (Design of Flexible Working Environments (Work 4.0)) and in the BGHS. She is doing her doctorate on the topic of „Die Gestaltung und Bewertung algorithmischer Steuerung und Kontrolle in Arbeitsorganisationen und ihre Auswirkungen auf die Arbeitsautonomie von Beschäftigten“ (The design and evaluation of algorithmic management and control in work organisations and its impact on employees’ work autonomy). She studied sociology at the universities of Bamberg and Bielefeld.

The lecture will take place on Monday, 13 June 2022 at 6.15 pm in the Murnau-Saal at the vhs Bielefeld, Ravensberger Park 1. The event will be held in German

Here you can find information about Linie 4 and the lectures in the series.

::Non-university careers::

Practitioners in Talk – Part 26

Linie 4: Solidarity among neighbours

Organising neighbours, overcoming social isolation, building solidarity and fighting injustice together. Such issues are addressed by neighbourhood grassroots groups in Germany, which have recently tried to initiate lively politics from below in their neighbourhoods. Marie-Sophie Borchelt deals with the work of neighbourhood grassroots groups in the public lecture series Linie 4, organised by the BGHS together with the vhs Bielefeld. In her lecture ”Solidarity among neighbours - political action from below”, she explains what grassroots work in the neighbourhood actually is and how it works. First-hand information will be provided by an activist from a neighbourhood grassroots group who will report on how it is possible to motivate neighbours to take political action.

Marie-Sophie Borchelt has been working as a research associate in the Work Unit Politics and Society at Bielefeld University since 2019 and has been doing her doctorate at the BGHS since 2020 on the topic of “Raus aus der Subkultur – Rein in die Gesellschaft: Perspektiven zur Überwindung gesellschaftlicher Marginalität am Beispiel von Stadtteil(Basis)arbeit in außerparlamentarischen linken Kontexten in der Bundesrepublik”. She studied Gender Studies, German as a Foreign Language and German Studies as well as Spanish in Bielefeld.

The lecture will take place on Monday, 30 May 2022 at 6.15 pm in the Murnau-Saal at the vhs Bielefeld, Ravensberger Park 1. The event will be held in German

Here you can find information about Linie 4 and the lectures in the series.

::Non-university careers::

Practitioners in Talk – Part 25

Nicole Zielke: During my studies I did an internship here in the Theaterwerkstatt Bethel. That was in 2008. And I stayed – in a wide variety of employment relationships: from freelance work to third-party funded project positions to my current position, 17 percent of which is permanent. So I worked here while I was studying and doing my doctorate. The activities were very different: for example, I had a job to further develop the Theaterwerkstatt conceptually. Then I had a job to do neighbourhood work with the Theaterwerkstatt especially for people who needed support – in Bethel, in other parts of the city, but also in rural areas. And I had freelance assignments to work as a dramatic advisor on theatre productions or to lead ensembles

How did you come to your current position?

Nicole Zielke: By writing a project application to the Landesarbeitsgemeinschaft Soziokultur via the Theaterwerkstatt Bethel. The application was approved and the project aims to evaluate and further develop our artistic work. The method that we have been developing here since 2005 for artistic practice in heterogeneous groups is called “Volxtheater”. In the creation of our plays, experienced and less experienced theatre players cooperate with each other. In this project, we take a close look at this interaction of people with different life experiences, with and without disabilities, and expand our concepts in particular to include theatre work with digital means.

You work for the Theaterwerkstatt Bethel. Where do you work exactly?

Nicole Zielke: The Theaterwerkstatt Bethel is a small socio-cultural centre and free theatre that is basically funded by the von Bodelschwingh Foundation. We are three employees who are employed here. We also have freelancers. And there are fellow actors who do theatre here in their leisure time. These can be theatre productions with children, young people or adults. The players in our ensembles are schoolchildren, seniors, professionals, students, people interested in theatre or people who are cared for on an outpatient or inpatient basis in Bethel or other parts of the city. In addition to theatre productions, we have a number of other areas of work, such as the “Fachdienst Datstellende Künste”. Here we work closely with inpatient and outpatient institutions in Bethel and support clients with a high need for support in expressing themselves through artistic means in order to be able to live more self-determinedly. Second, we organize workshops and conferences on inclusion and diversity. And thirdly, we moderate communication and network processes, such as now for the Rochedale barracks in the east of Bielefeld. The barracks were used by the British Army until 2020, and together with the NRW-wide platform TRANSURBAN we will moderate a process to involve citizens in this urban planning project: What ideas do residents have of the future use of the barracks? And how should the site be designed?

Figure 2a und 2b: Nicole Zielke at work

You are project manager and art director. What are your – maybe: three – most important tasks in this job?

Nicole Zielke: The first is ensemble management. I moderate the theatre productions and keep the ensemble together. Secondly, I acquire the performances, I am in communication with the organizers and I am responsible for the logistics. Thirdly, I have a lot to do with developing the content of the plays. Fourth, I also take part in the plays. These are my tasks as artistic director. At the same time, I’m also in charge of the acquisition of project funds, public relations and the coordination of the network of freelancers. But you asked about the three most important tasks. (laughs)

What tips do you have for colleagues from sociology or history who are interested in a career in the occupational field you are in?

Nicole Zielke: At the time, it was important for me to gain practical experience here in the field of art and cultural activities. To name just one aspect: artistic practice in a large number of changing group constellations can be very stimulating, but also very challenging. I had to clarify that for myself whether I wanted to get involved. And then I had good experiences with career plan talks at the Career Service. That is where I learned about myself: I won’t earn my money with science, but I want to stay in touch with it. To this day, I have teaching assignments at various universities to give seminars on qualitative methods or in the field of aging research.

Nicole, thank you for the conversation!

The interview was conducted by Ulf Ortmann.

You can find the complete interview (in German) here:

Further information on the non-university careers project is available here, The previous interviews in the series are available here.