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.

Here you find further information.

Maximiliane Brand, M.A.
Coordination Gender Lab
Universitätsstraße 105, E1 Raum 08
Telefon: +49 (0)23432-26646

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.

Here you have the possibility to listen to lectures of the Marie Jahoda Fellows.

Contact:

Maximiliane Brand


Marie Jahoda Visiting Professors since 1994

Visiting Researchers

Dr. Olga Matveieva
Universitätsstraße 105
Raum 1/02
E-Mail: olga.matveieva@rub.de

The research focuses on the societal and democratic implications of digitalization in Eastern Europe, particularly examining the cooperation between local governments and civil society organizations. It employs a gender lens to analyze how digital environments impact processes of societal democratic transformation, with a specific emphasis on outcomes related to gender mainstreaming.
Disciplines (visiting professorship within DAAD, 2025): “Civic activism as a cultural phenomenon”; “Socio-Cultural Transformations in Eastern Europe”.
Fellowship program (2022-2025): “Democratic transformations in Ukraine driven by technologies: analysis of the gendered impact of the digitalisation reforms on the society and public management.”


Dr. Mehtap Tosun
Universitätsstraße 105
Raum 1/02
E-Mail: mehtapttosun@gmail.com

Research areas: Gender Studies, Memory Studies, State & Political Violence, Ethnicity and Identity Politics, Labour History and Sociology of Work.
Fellowship program: Humboldt Research Fellowship.


Dr. Olimpiada Usanova
Universitätsstraße 105
Raum 1/12
Email: olimpiadausanova@yahoo.com

Research areas: gender based violence, gender equality and political regime.
Fellowship program: Alexander von Humboldt Foundation/ Philipp Schwartz Initiative.


Dr. Sharon Adetutu Omotoso
Universitätsstr. 150
Raum GB 1/37
Email: sharon.omotoso@ruhr-uni-bochum.de
        sa.omotoso@ui.edu.ng
        sharonomotoso@gmail.com

Discipline: African Studies | Focus: Gender and Media Studies
Fellowship program: Georg Forster Research Fellowship for Experienced Researchers


MaJaColloquium

The MaJaC Colloquium aims to present the diversity of research projects related to gender studies at Ruhr-Universität Bochum and to raise awareness of the importance of gender in various areas of society. The focus is on interdisciplinary exchange, intersectional perspectives and stimulating discussions between the speakers, interested parties from the university and Bochum’s society. The public event took place for the first time in the winter semester 2023/2024 and has been offered three times per semester since then. Traditionally, an impulse is given by the respective Marie Jahoda Fellow in the winter semester. Professors, research assistants and graduates (of Gender Studies) provide insights into their current research.

contact:

Maximiliane Brand


Past events:

MaJaColloquium in the summer semester 2024

Wed, May 8, 2024, 6 p.m., Laura Jentgens (RUB alumna): Influencerinnen der extremen Rechten – über die Kommunikationsstrategien extrem rechter Frauen online

Wed, 29 May 2024, 6 pm, Dr. Daria Khrushcheva (RUB): Homophobie als Politik des Staates? Fallbeispiel Russland

Wed., July 03, 2024, 6 pm, Yassir Jakani (RUB): Zwischen ideologischen Verflechtungen und gewaltsamen Manifestationen – eine integrierte Analyse des Antifeminismus und Rechtsterrorismus in Deutschland

MaJaColloquium in the winter semester 2023/24

Wed, 8 November 2023, 6 pm, Prof. Dr. Gunda Werner (RUB): Gender und Theologie – exemplarisch an der Rezeption Judith Butlers in der (katholischen) Theologie

Wed, 13 December 2023, 6 p.m., Dr. Julia Habermann (Hanover): Gewalt gegen Frauen – Brücken bauen zwischen den Disziplinen

Mi, 17. Januar 2024, 18 Uhr, Princess Sibanda, PhD (University of Fort Hare/Marie Jahoda Fellow 2023): Theatre of/for Disobedience: An African Queer Resistance

WG Masculinities

Masculinity studies have made great progress in recent years and have not only become more visible within gender studies, but their research field is also currently the subject of sometimes heated public debate. On this basis, the Working Group Masculinities aims to offer an open and collegial forum for academic exchange without committing itself a priori to a particular theoretical or disciplinary approach. The WG Masculinities is thus open to all those who work academically on the phenomenon of ‘masculinity(ies)’, e.g. from the humanities and social sciences, and who are interested in an inter- and transdisciplinary exchange. A particular focus is on the promotion of young researchers, i.e. the constructive discussion of dissertation and habilitation projects as well as the organisation of workshops and conferences.

Responsibility:

Prof. Dr. Änne Söll
Kunstgeschichte der Moderne mit einem Schwerpunkt in der Kultur- und Geschlechtergeschichte 
aenne.soell@rub.de

Prof. Dr. Christian Grünnagel
Romanische Philologie, insbesondere Literaturwissenschaft und Literaturdidaktik
christian.gruennagel@rub.de

Prof. Dr. Henriette Gunkel
Transformationen audiovisueller Medien unter der besonderen Berücksichtigung von Gender und Queer Theory
henriette.gunkel@rub.de

Events:

Lecture series in summer term 2024:

Fr, 07. Juni 2024, 12-14 Uhr, GB 7/60 und Zoom: Prof. Dr. Gregor Schuhen (RPTU): Prekäre Männlichkeiten in Nicolas Mathieus  „Leurs enfants après eux“ und Joseph Ponthus’ „À la ligne“.

Fr, 21. Juni 2024, 12-14 Uhr, Uni 105 E/14 und Zoom: Prof. Dr. Carlos Halaburda (Universität zu Köln): Latin America’s Queer Anatomy in Belle Époque Paris: Paul Groussac, Gabriel Yturri, and Abject Glamour.

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

Young Gender Scholars

The Marie Jahoda Centre also plays an important role for young academics. At RUB, the doctorate in Gender Studies is carried out at the Faculty of Philology. All doctoral students at Ruhr-Universität Bochum are automatically members of the RUB Research School. Here, doctoral candidates will find a wide range of opportunities for the best possible realisation of their research project as well as a continuous exchange with other doctoral candidates. This is supplemented by programmes offered by the Research Academy Ruhr. Further networking in the UA Ruhr also takes place within the framework of GeFoR.


The event series Young Gender Scholars meet … brings together students, doctoral candidates, rising stars of gender studies and established researchers in an intensive research dialogue. The series offers an insight into the everyday university research life of our early career researchers. As part of YGSM, they report on their own research projects and results. In addition, current theoretical and methodological developments and debates are discussed.

YGSM was launched in 2018 by Dr Anike Krämer and Maximiliane Brand. The series was originally funded as a project by the Foundation for Cultural Studies and organised by an interdisciplinary group of doctoral students with a focus on the category of ‘gender’.

The series will be continued as part of the Gender Lab. Once a semester, doctoral students present their dissertation projects in a workshop that is open to all status groups. The workshop is supplemented by a public lecture by established academics invited by the doctoral students.

Contact:

Maximiliane Brand


Past events:

Summer semester 2024

Public lecture on 13.06. by Prof. Dr. Melanie Groß (FH Kiel): Intersektionale Perspektiven auf Mädchenarbeit
Workshop on 14.06. with Anne Rauber (FH Bielefeld): Verhütung als Sorgearbeit von Mädchen

Winter semester 2022/23

Public lecture on 19.01. by Dr. Ines Böker (University of Paderborn): Gendermythen avant la lettre: Zum Verhältnis von Ambiguität und Mythentransformation
Workshop on 20.01. with Barbara Bollig (RUB): Der Sonne Enkelin, der furchtbaren Hekate Tochter – Zeitgenössische Arbeit an Medea-Stoff und Weiblichkeitsmythen

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