Visiting Fellow Rodrigo Mota presents his doctoral research project.
Foto: Thomas Abel

The sociologist Rodrigo Mota comes from Brazil and researches at the Federal University of Pernambuco, Recife (Brazil). His topic is „Individualisms and Individuations: Georg Simmel and the Sciology of the Individual“.

With Georg Simmel’s concept of the individuum as a start, combined with other ideas and own conceptions of the term “individuum” and its different meaning in different societies, one of the goals of Rodrigo Mota’s work is to examine how the concept of individualism plays a role in the perception the Global North as about the South.

In Bielefeld, Rodrigo Mota will use the time to get familiar with the systems theory approach to the concept of individuum.

Visiting Fellow Anastasia Zaplatina describes, how she researches the meaning of veneral diseases for the Red Army.
Foto: Thomas Abel

Anastasia Zaplatina is a Russian historian from the National Research University Higher School of Economics (Moskau). Her topic is „Venereal Diseases in the Red Army in 1941-45: Gender and Epidemiological Aspects“.

According to Zaplatina, there was little research before about the effect of veneral diseases in the Red Army. She developed the idea that her topic is worth researching after reading the historian Franz Seidler. According to him, more people died in the Second World War due to diseases than to direct war effects. One of her main approaches is he question, how the war changed concept of masculinity in Russia.

Anastasia Zaplatina wants to use her stay in Germany to study the research about the Wehrmacht and look for a comparative approach for her own work.

Gabriel Ferreira da Fonseca about his research concering the House Financing program of Brazil.Foto: Thomas Abel

Gabriel Ferreira da Fonseca, sociologist from the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, deals with a problem between sociology and law. He uses an approach from the systems theory, to examine the tensions between the system of law and the system of economy, which occur in the Brazilian House Financing program.

His ambitions are, putted simply, “to help the people having houses”. He wants to commit his time in Bielefeld to the purpose to go deeper into systems theory discussions.

The Fellows will be guests at the BGHS for three months.

Further information about the current Visiting Fellows, the Visiting Fellows who joint us since the start of the program in 2009 and information about the Visiting Fellow program in general:
www.uni-bielefeld.de/%28en%29/bghs/Personen/Fellows/visiting_fellows.html.