Research at MaJaC

The Marie Jahoda Center aims to create a stimulating research environment for gender studies at RUB. The interdisciplinary research profile, which is particularly rooted in the field of cultural and social sciences, is clearly outlined and consistently used for collaborative projects. The next generation of scientists also play a major role at the Marie Jahoda Center.

The research interests of the members currently run along the following lines:


Digitalisation, Sexuality, Affect

The spread of digital technologies in almost all areas of society raises questions about transformations of communication, mediality and sociality. Moreover, as digitalisation progresses, new responsibilities, social relationships and identity models are emerging. The concepts of privacy, publicity and security are renegotiated, often along with the re-drawing of ethical and moral boundaries. The current status of documentary material in the digital age is explored as part of the DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft — German Research Community) post-graduate programme “Documentary Material. Withdrawal and Excess”.

Contact:
Prof. Dr. Astrid Deuber-Mankowsky

Selected publications/projects:


Knowledge and Methods

Research on the history of knowledge, epistemology and the sociology of science can fall under this heading. From a diachronic perspective, they include studies on proto-eugenic thinking in Europe between 1750 and 1870 (Prof.  Dr. Maren Lorenz) or on the exhibition and living concepts of modernism, which are based on specific, gender-coded knowledge formations (Prof. Dr. Änne Söll).

Contact:
Prof. Dr. Maren Lorenz
Prof. Dr. Änne Söll

Selected publications/projects:

  • Änne Söll: “Period rooms. Museale Verhandlungsräume zwischen Gegenwart und Vergangenheit, Ausstellen und Wohnen” (Period rooms. Museum negotiating spaces between the present and the past, exhibition and living) (DFG Project)

Bodies and Violence

Bodies in their social and historical constitution are the subject of a wide variety of assessment and disciplinary procedures, which are often experienced as violence and thus evoke (human) legal questions. Prof.  Dr. Katja Sabisch explores, from a sociological perspective, how invasive medical practices can produce gender dualism. How the portrayal of hegemonic masculinity on the 18th  century operatic stage was modelled by violent interventions in the prepubescent male body and how it was received in other European cultures is demonstrated by Prof. Dr. Christian Grünnagel.

Contact:
Prof. Dr. Katja Sabisch
Prof. Dr. Christian Grünnagel

Selected publications/projects:

Gender Studies in the Ruhr Area

By taking part in the initiative “Gender Studies at the Universities of the University Alliance Ruhr” (GeFoR), the three participating universities have set themselves the goal of pooling and linking their research foci and study opportunities more closely.

At the Ruhr University Bochum (RUB), the TU Dortmund (TU DO) and the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE), about 80 scientists are currently working with research and teaching interests in the field of gender research. The range of subjects on offer extends from medicine to sports science, from social and cultural sciences to Protestant theology.
At the Ruhr University Bochum (RUB), the TU Dortmund (TU DO) and the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE), about 80 scientists are currently working with research and teaching interests in the field of gender research. The range of subjects on offer extends from medicine to sports science, from social and cultural sciences to Protestant theology.
The project “Gender Studies at the Universities of the University Alliance Ruhr” is funded by MERCUR (Mercator Research Center Ruhr).


Contact:

Dr. Beate von Miquel

Gender Research at the Partner Universities of the UA Ruhr

Marie Jahoda Fellowship Programme

With the Marie Jahaoda Fellowship Programme, the Ruhr University is continuing the tradition of the Marie Jahoda Visiting Professorship, which was established in 1994 and is regarded as a beacon for RUB Gender Studies. The aim of the fellowship programme is to promote international exchange on research and teaching in the field of gender studies as well as the establishment of sustainable international cooperation – and this in close connection with the research priorities of the Marie Jahoda Center for International Gender Studies. The fellowship programme is aimed at both established academic and the next generation of academics.

In the winter term 2022/2023 we were overjoyed to welcome Prof. Zintombizethu Matebeni (University of Fort Hare, South Africa) as our first Marie Jahoda Fellow. Here you have the possibility to listen to her talk “Intersectionality Revisited: An African Perspective”.

Contact:

Maximiliane Brand


Marie Jahoda Visiting Professors since 1994

Young Gender Scholars

Young Gender Scholars … brings students, doctoral students, rising stars of gender studies and established academics together into an intensive research dialogue. Funded by the Stiftung für Kulturwissenschaft (Foundation for Cultural Studies), the next generation of scholars work on current methodological developments and their own research projects and results.

There is also a blog, which provides information on conferences in the field of gender studies and career development opportunities for the next generation of scientists at the RUB Research School and the Research Academy Ruhr.

Onlinejournal kultur & geschlecht

The onlinejournal ‘kultur & geschlecht’ (culture and gender) is a transdisciplinary forum for the next generation of scientists at the Ruhr University Bochum who are researching gender issues and their contexts. It is published by Astrid Deuber-Mankowsky and Jasmin Degeling under their professorial chair of ‘Media Publicity and Media Players with Special Consideration for Gender’ at the Ruhr University Bochum’s Institute of Media Studies, and is sponsored by the Faculty of Philology and the rectorship of the RUB.

The aim is to make projects, more comprehensive term papers, bachelor’s and master’s theses, conferences and workshops with innovative approaches and questions on gender studies accessible to a wider public. The focus is on current gender and queer studies within cultural studies.

The online journal ‘kultur & geschlecht’, which is published twice a year, offers the next generation of academics, who are transitioning from masters to doctorate level, the opportunity to publish their first work and also to gain expertise in reviewing, editing and publishing publications.

The other side of the counter

Female clerks in food retail stores in the first half of the 20th century

© Daniela Rüther

During the corona crisis, female clerks in the food retail sector have experienced an unprecedented level of social recognition. The role that sales staff played in the rise of today’s large and dominant supermarket chains during the 20th century has not yet been researched. In Germany, the success story of large-scale food retailing, considered to be a pioneer in the development of mass consumerism, focuses on the efficiency and profitability of this business model and ignores the elementary factor: the women behind the counter.

The research project presented here aims for the first time to deconstruct the still prevailing narrative of mass-market retail. Empirical analysis of female sales staff is intended to generate insights not only into a more differentiated picture of the saleswoman, but also of female employment in general. In this respect, the research project contributes to the newly revived history of the world(s) of labor in Germany.

Contact: Dr. Daniela Rüther, Ruhr-University Bochum, Faculty of History, Early Modern History & Gender History, E-Mail: Daniela.Ruether@rub.de

Emerging Fields

Under the keyword “Emerging Fields”, the MaJaC organises ad hoc workshops or consultations on current gender research topics.