Activities

The Affective Resonances of Images of Migration versus Migrants’ Human Rights

On Thursday 29.01.2026, DiML director Prof. Dr. Greta Olson and Dr. Simona Adinolfi are holding a lecture on “The Affective Resonances of Images of Migration versus Migrants’ Human Rights” as part of the lecture series “Writing Rights: Law, Literature, and the Subject on the Move” at the University of Osnabrück. In their lecture, topics of anti-migration, anti-LGBTQIA+ and anti-environmentalist sentiments are discussed and the opposition between negative images of migration and positively connoted representation human rights analyzed.

The lecture takes place at the University of Osnabrück at Neuer Graben 29 in Osnabrück/Schloss Raum 11/211 at 06:00 PM.

Prof. Dr. Julian Ernst at Hessischer Landtag with "Jugend Debattiert"

On January 28, 2026, the deputy director of the Center, Prof. Dr. Julian Ernst, was at the Hessian State Parliament with "Jugend debattiert" (Youth Debates). He spoke from a media education perspective about political communication and what democracy sounds like. Media offerings for civic education should not be confused with political education (e.g., in schools). In addition, there is a need for political media education that addresses the technological conditions of digital political communication. More information can be found here.

Call for Papers: "Humanrightization in Migration Societies: Conditions, Forms, Consequences" (MeDiMi Conference 2026)

The Center is pleased to share the Call for Papers for the upcoming final conference of the first funding phase of the MeDiMi project.

The interdisciplinary research group “Human Rights Discourse in Migration Societies” (MeDiMi) is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and studies discursive practices in migration-related conflicts

The deadline for proposals in English or German is 23 February 2026. The conference will be held in person on 7–8 May 2026 in Giessen.  

Please find out more about the CfP here.

Publication: Law & Critique | Recht & Kritik

The Center for Diversity, Media, and Law at the University of Giessen is delighted to announce its second book publication, Law and Critique / Recht und Kritik (2025), which was published in open access as the second volume in the “controversial” book series with the Verlag Karl Alber, and co-edited by Jochen Bung, Franziska Martinsen, Hanna Meißner, Christian Schmidt, Benno Zabel, and the Center's director Greta Olson. The publication of the essay collection was generously supported by the Open Access publication fund of the University of Giessen, and by the Center for Diversity, Media, and Law.
 
The volume asks if legal critique is possible during a period of autocratic legalism, polycrisis, and “law-fare”? In essays written in English and German, twenty-nine authors address the ambivalent relationship between law and critique. Some perform critical race theoretical, decolonial, and posthumanist criticism. Others discuss the need to defend legal certainty during democratic crises.
 
The volume features essays by:
 
Ino Augsberg | Daria Bayer | Eva Bredler | Jochen Bung | Stanley Fish | Sara Gebh | Heide Gerstenberger | Peter Goodrich | Malte-Christian Gruber | Ralph Grunewald | Jonas Heller | Almas Khan | Frans-Willem Korsten | Susanne Krasmann | Daniel Loick | Franziska Martinsen | Esther Neuhann | Greta Olson | Laura Petersen | Anat Rosenberg | Christian Schmidt | Cheryl Suzack | Karina Theurer | Gerlov van Engelenhoven | Carolina Vestena | Frieder Vogelmann | Tim Wihl | Claudia Wirsing | Nicole M. Wright | Benno Zabel
 
You can access the text via this link. 

Bundesweiter Aktionstag #4Genderstudies at JLU

The Center is pleased to announce that the Bundesweiter Aktionstag #4Genderstudies (18.12) will take place at JLU on December 16, 2025. In cooperation with the Political Science Department's Gender Studies program, we have created an afternoof of events to invite anyone interested in, studying, or working in the field of gender studies. The event will take place at Alter Steinbacher Weg 44, Seminar Building II, Room 204.
From 4:00 to 6:00 PM, Dr. Folke Brodersen will launch their book "Handbuch Queere Jugendarbeit," followed by Tarek Shukrallah, who will present their book "Nicht die Ersten. Bewegungsgeschichten von Queers of Color in Deutschland." A get-together will follow from 06:00 to 07:00 PM, where attendees can engage in further discussions and enjoy a festive drink.

Call for Papers: "KI ALS GEGENÜBER – KI-CHATBOTS IM ALLTAG JUNGER MENSCHEN UND IHRE PÄDAGOGISCHEN KONTEXTE"

The Center is pleased to announce a Call for Papers titled "KI ALS GEGENÜBER – KI-CHATBOTS IM ALLTAG JUNGER MENSCHEN UND IHRE PÄDAGOGISCHEN KONTEXTE", co-initiated by the deputy director of the Center for Diversity, Media, and Law, Prof. Dr. Julian Ernst.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has long since become a ubiquitous topic that is present in science, education, business, and everyday culture, and is the subject of intense debate. AI plays a central role in everyday life, especially for young people. This CfP is looking for papers shed light on the different aspects of the quasi-social relationships between AI chatbots and young people, as well as the implications of these for different educational contexts.

Please find out more about the CfP here.

 Stellungnahme des Center for Diversity, Media, and Law (DiML) zur angekündigten Gründung einer AfD-Jugendorganisaton in Gießen

Stellungnahme des Netzwerks Geschlechterforschung Hessen zur Abschaffung des Forschungsschwerpunkts „Dimensionen der Kategorie Geschlecht – Frauen- und Geschlechterforschung in Hessen“ des Hessischen Ministeriums für Wissenschaft und Forschung, Kunst und Kultur (HMWK)

Das HMWK hat 2025 sein langjähriges, erfolgreiches Förderprogramm der Frauen- und Geschlechterforschung in Hessen beendet. Das Ministerium will die Mittel stattdessen dauerhaft in die allgemeinen Hochschuletats integrieren, wobei unklar bleibt, ob und wie sie der Geschlechterforschung zugeführt werden. Es begründet dies mit der Etablierung und Entbürokratisierung des Fachs – einer Darstellung, der das Netzwerk Geschlechterforschung Hessen – welches von Mitgliedern des DiML mitgegründet wurde – entschieden widerspricht. Es geht dabei unter anderem um den Verlust eines einzigartigen Förderprogramms mit hoher Qualitätssicherung, welches insbesondere für Wissenschaftler*innen in der Qualifikationsphase von hoher Bedeutung war. Dies bedeutet eine Verschlechterung der Bedingungen für Geschlechterforschung in Hessen. Das Center for Diversity, Media, and Law unterstützt eine weiterhin auf Qualitätskriterien begründete Förderung, Stärkung und institutionalisierte Verankerung der Geschlechterforschung an hessischen Hochschulen – gerade in Zeiten besonderer demokratischer Verantwortung. 

Das ganze Statement finden Sie hier.

Launch Event: The Global Law and the Humanities Mentorship Programme

Keynote "Wenn der Pornokonsum außer Kontrolle gerät - Wissenswertes zur Pornografie-Nutzungsstörung" by Prof. Dr. Rudolf Stark

As part of the two-day interdisciplinary workshop “Algorithms of Desire,” in which researchers from the DACH region will take an in-depth look at the topic of digital porn literacy, the Center for Diversity, Media, and Law (DiML) invites you to a public keynote address: “When porn consumption gets out of control – interesting facts about pornography use disorder.”

Renowned psychologist Prof. Dr. Rudolf Stark, who is in charge of the pioneering PornLOS project at JLU, and has been featured in print and broadcast media on this topic many times, will talk about current findings on the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of problematic porn use. Prof. Stark will speak about pornography use as a disorder at Margarete-Bieber-Saal on 23 October, 6 PM c.t.

No previous registration required, everyone is welcome to join.

Introduction to Gender and Sexuality, Critical Race
Theory and Anti-Racism, Decolonial Thought, and
Disability Studies and Activism

Understanding how categories of gender and sexuality relate to race and racisms as well as to class, ability, cisgenderism, religion and nationality and citizenship status are central to the lecture series. Beyond diagnosing forms of discrimination based on categories of identity, the lecture series examines ways to promote anti-racism, trans-inclusivity, and anti-ableism.  Most importantly, the lectures reflect on the present. This series of interactive lectures functions as the introductory lecture for the university’s certificate for Gender, Sexuality and Diversity Studies. 

The lecture is held every Wednesday  from 4 - 6 pm. at Phil. 1 campus in lecture hall A4.

Manuscript Workshop "Garcia Márquez as Law: A Study in Constituent Power and the Imagination"

The Center was honored to be a part of the manuscript workshop “Garcia Márquez as Law: A Study in Constituent Power and the Imagination” at Stanford University on 10 October 2025. Héctor Hoyos and Jorge González-Jácome shared their reading of Garcia Márquez’s fictions as a form of legal pluralism that explores how power is constituted by the people imaginatively “to stir affective communities near and far, reimagining not just the world, but its often invisible, yet unequivocally powerful legal scaffolding.”  

The discussion was enriched by the highly interdisciplinary perspectives of Comparative Literature scholar Haiyan Lee, Caribbeanist literary scholar Nadia Celis, Iberian medievalist and legal thinker Jesús Rodríguez Velasco; criminologist Sora Han, Law and Humanities scholar Peter Goodrich, and Senior Executive Editor at Columbia UP Philip Leventhal. 

We look forward to the publication of “Garcia Márquez as Law,” a monograph that opens the legal-theoretical aspects of the author’s work with expressive joy. 

Programmbegleitende Qualitätsetwicklung (PROQUA) "Kultur macht stark. Bündnisse für Bildung"

On September 23 our own Folke Broderson is part of a syposium on Mapping Identities: Persönlichkeitsentwicklung mit Kultureller Bildung. More information on the topic can be found in the picture. His own talk is on the topic of Sexuelle und geschlechtliche Vielfalt in der Arbeit mit Jugendlichen. Handlungsperspektiven für die Kulturelle Bildung and is the first lecture of the day at 10:00.

The syposium is happening at Deutsches Hygiene-Museum Dresden and online participation is available from 09:45 till 12:45. Registration can be done here: www.proqua-kms.de under the rider "Fachkonferenzen".

For further information please contact the Akademie der Kulturellen Bildung des Bundes und des Landes NRW e. V. (Tel: 02191 794-0; E-Mail: info@proqua-kms.de)

Summer Camp 2025: Techniques and Ethics of Generative AI

We are pleased to announce this year’s summer camp at JLU, exploring the techniques and ethics of generative AI. From September 8-26 you have the chance to be part of an interdisciplinary exchange of knowledge through different workshops, discussions, and lectures. Choose your level and come along to discover the changes caused by AI.

See here more information about the program and registration.

Announcing: The Global Law and the Humanities Mentorship Programme

In Defence of the Legal Humanities: Guest lecture by Greta Olson at the LHA Launch Event and Inaugural AGM

"In Defence of the Legal Humanities" is a panel discussion that is part of the Legal Humanities Association Launch Event and Inauguration. The LHA is an UK-based learned society, dedicated to the cultural understanding of law. Prof. Dr. Greta Olson is one of the three speakers of the 90 minute panel discussion which is followed by the LHA's Inaugural AGM.

• Tuesday July 22nd, from 10:00 - 12:00 (UTC+1)
• The event will take place via MS Teams, klick here to join

If you are interested in joining the LHA, the attached picture offers more information on the membership and the LHA's goals.

Trump 2.0: The Return & The Resistance: Gastvortrag von Greta Olson beim GGS Sommerfest

Beim diesjährigen Sommerfest des Gießener Graduiertenzentrum Sozial-, Wirtschafts- und Rechtswissenschaften der JLU am 11. Juni 2025 wird Prof. Greta Olson einen Gastvortrag halten. Unter dem Titel „Trump 2.0: The Return & The Resistance“ wird sie über die aktuellen politischen Entwicklungen in den USA sprechen.

Programm:

In der Aula (18.00 - 19:30 Uhr):

• Grußwort der Vizepräsidentin der JLU, Prof. Dr. Wencke Gwozdz
• Grußwort des Geschäftsführenden Direktors des GGS, Prof. Dr. Peter Tillmann 
• Einblicke in die Forschungstätigkeiten junger Wissenschaftler:innen
• Gastvortrag Prof. Dr. Greta Olson

Vorplatz am Seiteneingang der Aula (ab ca. 19:30 Uhr):

• Stehempfang des GGS
• Lernen Sie die Sektionen, ihre Aktivitäten und Sprecher:innen kennen
• Netzwerken Sie mit GGS-Mitgliedern und Kooperationspartner:innen
• Treffen Sie die Direktor:innen und die Mitarbeiter:innen des GGS

Es wird um Anmeldung bis zum 4. Juni 2025 gebeten.
Weitere Informationen sind hier zu finden.

Photographing with Care: Representing Violence in Global Health Photography

Join Prof. Dr. Michael Kippner in a discussion about representation, violence and global health photography based on the photographs by Claudia Bejarano Zambrano who's photography centers women often made invisible in La Ladrilla, Mexica and the violence they endure.

• Friday June 6th, 12:00 Et on Zoom
• To join, you can register here

”Algorithmische Empfehlungssysteme verstehen lernen”: Coffe Lecture von Julian Ernst

Algorithmische Empfehlungssysteme prägen den digitalen Alltag – sei es durch Hinweise auf neue Videos, Songs oder Produkte. Diese sogenannten Recommendation Engines sind auf zahlreichen Plattformen präsent und beeinflussen das Handeln sowie die Wahrnehmung der Welt von Nutzer*innen. Doch wie diese Systeme funktionieren, bleibt für Nutzer oft unsichtbar, was im Sinne der kommerziellen Interessen der Plattformbetreiber liegt. Trotz dieser Opazität entwickeln Nutzer im Umgang mit solchen Systemen ein intuitives Verständnis sowie Strategien, die unter dem Begriff „Algorithm Literacy“ zusammengefasst werden können. Die Coffee Lecture bietet Einblicke in nutzerzentrierte Forschung zu Algorithmen und damit verbundene medienpädagogische Fragestellungen. Dabei werden empirische Befunde zur Wahrnehmung und Nutzung von Empfehlungssystemen vorgestellt sowie Ansätze diskutiert, wie ein kritisches Bewusstsein im Umgang mit diesen Systemen gefördert werden kann.

Der Vortrag ist auf dem YouTube-Kanal der UB Gießen zu finden.

 Online-Vorlesungsreihe „Vom Kind aus?!"

Das Team des Projekts „Studienangebot Bildungsrecht“ lädt unter dem Titel „Vom Kind aus?!“ zu fünf Veranstaltungen ein, die sich Fragen des Status von Kindern und Jugendlichen als Rechtsträger*innen sowie der Bedeutung von Kinder- und Jugendrechten in Gesellschaft, Schule und Jugendhilfe widmen. Die Vorträge und Diskussionsrunden der interdisziplinären Veranstaltungsreihe im Dialog zwischen den Rechts- und Erziehungswissenschaften finden jeweils von 18:15-19:45 Uhr über das Webkonferenzsystem BigBlueButton der Universität Gießen statt.

Eine Anmeldung kann hier erfolgen.

Termine & Referent*innen:

• 21.05.2025 – 18:00 - 20:00 - Jugend im Blick des Jugend(straf)rechts, Vortrag: Prof. Dr. Jens Puschke
• 04.06.2025 – 18:00 - 20:00 - Kinderrechte als Grundrechte?! Kinderrechte ins Grundgesetz!?, Vortrag: Prof. Dr. Philipp Donath
• 18.06.2025 – 18:00 - 20:00 - Kinder- und Jugendrechte in der inklusiven Schule, Podiumsdiskussion: Prof. Dr. Anja Seifert, Prof. Dr. Michael Wrase, Nicole Schäfer
• 02.07.2025 – 18:00 - 20:00 - Kinder- und Jugendrechte in der inklusiven Jugendhilfe, Podiumsdiskussion: Prof. Dr. Benedikt Hopmann, Prof. Dr. Dr. Christian Bernzen
• 16.07.25 – 18:00 - 20:00 - Kinderrechte in Verfahren der Kinder- und Jugendhilfe und des Familiengerichts, Vortrag: Prof. Dr. Ludwig Salgo (Universität Frankfurt)

 Fellowship Haidamteu Zeme: "Living Archives: Diagrammatic Histories as Narratological Ways of Being"

We are happy to welcome our second research fellow at the Center for the summer of 2025: Welcome, Haidamteu Zeme! As part of her visiting fellowship at DiML under the 'Modes and Media in Narrative Studies' project, which is supported by the Scheme for Academic and Research Collaboration (SPARC) of the Government of India, she examines discursive formations in language through the framework of translation.

“Living Archives: Diagrammatic Histories as Narratological Ways of Being.”

Living archives and diagrammatic histories are two key terms that help frame the idea of ‘non-text’ conceptualised in my work. The work engages with questions of form, media, and medium through discourses on language. It critically examines theories of language, particularly their ideological framework and historical constructions, to highlight the affect, “Eurocentric” (Samir Amin, 1970) values have had on languages that have been “cartographically zoned” outside Europe (Apter, Lezra, Wood, 2004). How do we grapple with the limits of representation, language, meaning-making, and the desire to structure and archive ‘gaps’ despite the inherent and inevitable instability of memory (Derrida 1995). The framework proposes to rethink the ‘textual’ properties of speech, images, textiles, and monolithic structures with which communities interact, interpret, and ‘read’ meanings onto them, while also drawing attention to epistemic privileges of ‘writing.’

Haidamteu Zeme is a doctoral fellow in Literature and a Teaching Assistant at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, India. Her research interests include comparative literature, translation studies, and affective archives. She is currently working on a project with Zubaan Publications on women’s movements in India from the 1940s to the 1950s. She is the 2024-2025 Sher-Gil Sundaram Arts Foundation and Asia Art Archive (SSAF-AAA) Grantee for Archiving Histories of Ideas, Art, and Visual Cultures. She was the recipient of the Zubaan Research Grant for Young Researchers from Northeast India (2022-2023)  and a Summer School Fellow at the Highland Institute, Nagaland (2024). Two of her essays on translation and oral archives have been published by  South Asian Review (2023) and International Society of Folk Narrative Research (2024) . Haidamteu’s prose poem on Manipur was published in SAPIENS (2024) .

Diskussion über Druck auf traditionelle Medien unter Trump Regierung

Prof. Great Olson war am 5.Mai 2025 zu einer DJV-Diskussion zum Thema „Wie steht es um die Pressefreiheit in den USA?"eingeladen. In der Diskussion wurden Themen rund um die Delegitimierung und Einschüchterung der klassischen Medien wie der New York Times oder der Washington Post behandelt, genauso wie der Medienpopulismus und Rechtsruck der unter Trump entstanden ist.

Die entsprechende Pressemeldung des DJV ist hier zu finden. Außerdem veröffentlichte die Gießener Allgemeine einen Artikel.

Im Juni 2025 erschien außerdem eine Ausgabe des Magazins ”Blickpunkt” mit dem Schwerpunkt Pressefreiheit und Fake News:

Fellowship Dr. Laura Petersen: "Anonymous Avant-Gardes: Artistry of the Prisoners as an Aesthetic Intervention in the Weimar Republic"

We are happy to welcome Dr. Laura Petersen as the second fellow at the Center for the summer semester 2025. As part of her fellowship at DiML, Dr. Petersen will pursue her current research on the cultural and legal history of the Weimar Republic, with a special focus on the role of artistic expression within institutional and marginal contexts. Dr. Petersen’s stay has been supported by the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD). We are very much looking forward to the exchange and interdisciplinary dialogue her presence will bring to our community.

"Anonymous Avant-Gardes: Artistry of the Prisoners as an Aesthetic Intervention in the Weimar Republic":

Notable as one of the first catalogues of prison art, Hans Prinzhorn’s book, Bildnerei der Gefangenen: Studie zur Bildnerischer Gestaltung Ungeübter (Artistry of the Prisoners: Studies of the Art-Making of the Untrained) (1926) exhibits and analyses objects made by unnamed prisoners in penal institutions in Germany and throughout Europe. Trained as an art historian as well as a psychiatrist, Prinzhorn’s book was a follow-up to his successful publication Bildnerei der Geisteskranken (Artistry of the Mentally Ill) (1922) but, in contrast, the reception to Artistry of the Prisoners was ambivalent. Analysing and then going beyond Prinzhorn’s own account of his work, this project will explore themes such as the role of artistic communities and influences, training, materials, and the relationship between objects, art-making and institutions. The aim is to re-frame Prinzhorn’s publication, situating it within the penal reform and radical artistic communities of the Weimar Republic.

Dr. Laura Petersen’s research is cross-disciplinary, integrating approaches to visual culture and literature with jurisprudence, particularly in Germany in the 20th Century. Currently, Laura is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute for Interdisciplinary Legal Studies in Lucerne, Switzerland, working with a team on a major SNSF research grant on the project “Imagining Justice: Law, Politics and Visual Culture in Weimar Germany”. She is also an Adjunct Research Fellow at La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia. Laura won the international writing prize Zipporah B. Wiseman Prize for Scholarship on Law, Literature and Justice(2021) and the Harold Luntz Prize (2023). She is currently the Vice President of the Law, Literature and Humanities Association of Australasia. Her first monograph, Practices of Restitution: Law and Aesthetics in Modern Germany will be published by Cambridge University Press in 2025.

Dr. K Allison Hammer Wins John Leo & Dana Heller Award

The Center for Diversity, Media, and Law proudly celebrates our valued member and former fellow, Dr. K Allison Hammer, for receiving the John Leo & Dana Heller Award for Best Single Work, Anthology, Multi-Authored, or Edited Book in LGBTQ Studies. Their monograph Masculinity in Transition looks at “toxic masculinity” through a trans and queer lens to explore its historical root systems and cultural and political expressions.

This award, presented at the Popular Culture Association’s national conference on April 18, 2025, in New Orleans, honors outstanding scholarship that deepens our understanding and representation of LGBTQ people in popular culture. Dr. Hammer’s work exemplifies this mission, and we are thrilled to see their contributions recognized on a national stage.

Tagungsbericht zur Tagung "Geschlechterkulturen und Krieg"

Auf der Informations- und Kommunikationsplattform für Geschichtswissenschaften H-Soz-Kult ist ein Bericht von Michelle Damm zur Tagung "Geschlechterkulturen und Krieg" des DiML im November 2024 erschienen. Der vollständige Bericht ist hier zu finden. 

Job Offer:Postdoc (m/f/d) in the fields of Gender, Sexuality, and Diversity Studies

We are pleased to announce the opening of a new postdoctoral position with a focus on gender studies. The position is to be filled as of 1st July, 2025. You can find the job advertisement here in English and German. 
For further questions, please contact Dr. Jutta Hergenhan: jutta.hergenhan

Countering Attacks on the Freedom of Research and Teaching: #FreedomOfResearch

The Executive Board of the Center for Diversity, Media, and Law (DiML) has decided today that DiML will join the statement of gender researchers against attacks on academic freedom and gender studies, which was first published by the Gender Studies Association. Our DiML member and co-spokesperson of the DiML Working Group “Diversity” Prof. Christine Klapeer was involved in drafting the statement. You can find the full statement here.

Roundtable am GCSC: Generative KI und (Hochschule) Kultur

International Graduate Centre for the Study of Culture (GCSC) in Kooperation mit dem Center for Diversity, Media, and Law (DiML), Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen

Generative KI-Systeme wie ChatGPT, Midjourney oder DALL-E haben Prozesse der Text- und Bildproduktion auf den Kopf gestellt und können als Ausdruck einer „scientific revolution“ (Kuhn) betrachtet werden. Der massenhafte Zugang zu Formen generativer KI führt dabei auch zu kulturellen Umwälzungen, die nicht zuletzt die Schule und Hochschule betreffen. Sicher geglaubte Praktiken werden irritiert und etablierte Kategorien grundsätzlich in Frage gestellt: etwa die Leistungsüberprüfung durch schriftliche Hausarbeiten, Basiskompetenzen im Bereich des wissenschaftlichen Arbeitens oder auch grundlegende Kategorien wie „Autorschaft“ oder „Kreativität“. Ziel des Roundtables ist es, disruptive Potenziale generativer KI für Schule und Hochschule kritisch zu reflektieren sowie Perspektiven für den zukünftigen Umgang mit entsprechenden Technologien zu diskutieren.

Workshop "Text, Drehbuch, Film - Adaption und Transformation"

Die Drehbuchautorin Nicole Armbruster (Filmuniversität Konrad Wolf Babelsberg) gibt Einblicke in die praktischen Aspekte des kreativen Schreibens auf dem Schnittfeld von Text, Film und Adaption. Fallbeispiel ist die aktuelle ARD-Produktion "Ein Mann seiner Klasse" nach dem Roman von Christian Baron (2021/2024). Anhand von Schreibübungen zu ihrem Drehbuch sowie zu Klassikern der Filmadaption stehen Fragen der Rezeption und Transformation literarischer Stoffe im audiovisuellen Medium im Zentrum des Workshops. Die Teilnahme am Workshop steht allen Interessierten offen.

Tagung "Geschlechterkulturen und Krieg"

Kulturelle Artefakte und Medien wie Filme, Fotografien, literarische Werke, Malerei und Graphic Novels, Theaterinszenierungen oder Ausstellungen weisen ebenso wie Egodokumente daraufhin, dass Krieg von jeher die kulturelle Verfasstheit von Geschlechterbeziehungen herausgefordert hat. Im Vorfeld, während und nach Kriegen werden Geschlechterordnungen zugleich aufgebrochen und gefestigt. Möglichkeiten und Räume geschlechtsbezogener Veränderungen öffnen oder schließen sich, auch wenn dies angesichts von Verwüstungen sowie politischen, ökonomischen u.a. Umwälzungen zunächst weniger sichtbar scheint (vgl. Hagemann/Schüler-Springorum 2002). Mediale und kulturelle Deutungen von Geschlecht im Zusammenhang mit kriegerischen Auseinandersetzungen spielen dabei eine zentrale Rolle, so unsere These. Die weitreichenden Implikationen von Krieg auf Geschlechterkulturen sollen daher im Zentrum der geplanten Tagung stehen, wobei historische Fallbeispiele dazu dienen sollen, Zeitdiagnosen des Verhältnisses von Geschlechterkulturen und Krieg vorzunehmen. Die Auswirkungen von Krieg und Militär(dienst) auf die Pluralität geschlechtlicher Identitäten, Geschlechterverhältnisse und -ordnungen sowie Konstruktionen von Männlichkeiten, Weiblichkeiten und Queerness sollen, auch in intersektionaler Perspektive, anhand von kulturellen Artefakten und Medien untersucht und diskutiert werden. Nicht zuletzt soll gefragt werden, wie geschlechtersensible und -plurale Erinnerungskultur gestaltet werden kann. 

Organisatorinnen der Tagung 

Dr. Jutta Hergenhan, Wissenschaftliche Geschäftsführerin des Center for Diversity, Media, and Law, vormals: Zentrums für Medien und Interaktivität, der Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen, Politikwissenschaftlerin mit Schwerpunkt Gender Studies. 

Jana Keidel (Erstes und Zweites Staatsexamen), Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin (DFG-gefördert) am Institut für Romanistik im Bereich Französische Literatur- und Kulturwissenschaft der Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen, Forschungsschwerpunkte: u.a. Kriegslyrik und Gender Studies.

Diversity Workshop with Guest Researchers: International Perspectives

In October 2024, Prof. Niluka Silva (English, University of Colombo), Dr. Elizabeth Drame, (Special Assistant to the Vice Chancellor, Division of Community Empowerment and Institutional Inclusivity (CEII):  Department of Teaching and Learning, Autism Spectrum Disorders Program Coordinator, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee): and Prof. Chia Youyee Vang (Vice Chancellor, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in the Division of Community Empowerment & Institutional Inclusivity and Professor in the Department of History) took place in a workshop on “Doing Diversity Now.” Prof. Neluka Silva gave an input talk on “The Construction of Ethnic and Religious Identity in Post-War Cinema in Sri Lanka.” and Dr. Elisabeth R. Drame offered an input on “Sites of Risk for Black Autistic Youth in Police Encounters” A discussion of what it means to be doing diversity-related work now, and where diversity programs and initiatives are going in light of the US elections was held also with Julia Volz, Head of the International Office of the University of Giessen.

We thank everyone involved in making this workshop possible and are looking forward to hosting them again soon.

Diversity Issues in the USA: Transnational Perspectives on the 2024 Presidential Elections

When the U.S. sneezes, the world catches a cold. – Khanyisile Phillips (South Africa)

Join the book launch on Wednesday, 23 October from 4:15 to 6 PM / 16:15 to 18:00 (CET).
Everyone is welcome. No need to register beforehand.
With bans on reproductive rights and access to health care, with censorship in schools and universities, and the instrumentalization of rights rhetoric itself, diversity stands at the heart of the elections in the United States.
    Diversity Issues in the USA: Transnational Perspectives on the 2024 Presidential Elections (transcript 2024) examines how the American elections influence diversity issues in the United States and elsewhere. Authors focus on reproductive and immigration rights, planetary justice, epistemic and physical violence against LGBTQIA+ people as well as efforts to abet this violence. The book and its contributors highlight the symbolic and political weight of the 2024 U.S. elections as a watershed moment for citizens of the world.

The book launch will begin with inputs by:

Chia Youyee Vang (Vice Chancellor, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in the Division of Community Empowerment & Institutional Inclusivity and Professor in the Department ofHistory)

Āryā Jeipea Karijo (human, activist, storyteller and community organizer Kenya, Global Narratives Hive, TransQueer Fund and Collective)

and

K. Allison Hammer (Assistant Professor of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies at the Southern Illinois University at Carbondale).

And feature spotlights on diversity issues by authors Melanie Kreitler (University of Giessen), Marzia Milazzo (University of Johannesburg), Sabine N. Meyer (University of Bonn), Georgiana Banita (University of Bamberg), Maik Paap (University of Giessen), Birte Christ (University of Giessen), Sara Polak (Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society), Esther Edelmann (Leiden University) and Frans-Willem Korsten (Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society), Christine M. Klapeer (University of Giessen), and Mariel Reiss (University of Marburg).

The launch will be moderated by Greta Olson (Professor of American and British Literature and Cultural Studies and Director of the Center for Diversity, Media, and Law (DiML) at the University of Giessen).

Edited by Melanie Kreitler and Greta Olson, Diversity Issues in the USA marks the first volume in the transcript book series [diversity, media, and law] with the Series Editors Dr. Jutta Hergenhan, Prof. Julian Ernst, Prof. Malte-C. Gruber, and Greta Olson.

Join us in person:
Philosophikum I
Room A1
Otto-Behaghel-Str. 8-10
35394 Giessen

Or, digitally via the following link.

If you have issues logging in, please contact ralph.zoth@zmi.uni-giessen.de (German) or hiwis.olson@anglistik.uni-giessen.de (English).

Forschungstagung: Sprachpolitiken als (de-) demokratisierende Geschlechterpolitiken? Aktuelle Auseinandersetzungen um geschlechtergerechte und geschlechterdiverse Schreibweisen 

Organisator*innen der Tagung:

Prof. Dr. Christine M. Klapeer, Professorin für Politikwissenschaft mit Schwerpunkt Gender Studies und Direktoriumsmitglied des Centers for Diversity, Media, and Law (DiML) an der Justus-Liebig Universität Gießen.

Dr. Inga Nüthen, derzeit Vertretungsprofessorin der Professur Theorien und Politiken von Geschlechterverhältnissen an der Universität Münster und wissenschaftliche Referent*in des Zentrums für Gender Studies und feministische Zukunftsforschung der Philipps-Universität Marburg.

Dr. Jutta Hergenhan, Wissenschaftliche Geschäftsführerin des Centers for Diversity, Media, and Law (DiML) der Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen, Politikwissenschaftlerin mit Schwerpunkt Gender Studies.

In der Tagung geht es um eine sorgfältige analytische und multiperspektivische Einordnung und wissenschaftliche Deutung aktueller Auseinandersetzungen um geschlechtergerechte und geschlechterdiverse Schreibweisen – insbesondere mit Blick auf das komplexe und umkämpfte Spannungsverhältnis von Demokratie, Politik, Geschlecht und Sprache/sprachlicher Gerechtigkeit (Hergenhan 2012). Durch einen inter- und transdisziplinären Dialog zwischen Forscher*innen aus unterschiedlichen sozial-, politik- und rechtswissenschaftlichen Feldern soll die Tagung zu einer analytischen und theoretischen Schärfung sowie Erweiterung von wissenschaftlichen Konzepten, Ansätzen und Erklärungsmodellen zu diesem genannten Spannungsverhältnis beitragen und eine differenzierte Analyse dieser aktuellen sprachpolitischen Auseinandersetzungen forcieren.

Wenn Sie an der Forschungstagung teilnehmen möchten, bitten wir um Anmeldung mit Angabe Ihrer institutionellen Anbindung und Ihren vollständigen Kontaktdaten unter:

powi.gender

Anschließend erhalten Sie alle notwendigen Informationen!

Weitere Informationen zum Tagungsprogramm finden Sie hier.

Recording of panel discussion "Was beschäftigt deutsche Wähler:innen bei den U.S.-Präsidentschaftswahl?" now online

A recording of the panel discussion „Was beschäftigt deutsche Wähler:innen bei der U.S.-Präsidentschaftswahl?“ is now online. The panel saw Prof. Helmut Breitmeier (Political Science, JLU), Prof. Greta Olson (American Studies and Cultural Studies, JLU), and Andreas Schwarzkopf (Frankfurter Rundschau) discuss the relevance of the upcoming elections in terms of the crisis of democracies, diversity issues, far-right populism, and the trans-Atlantic relationship. Dr. Birte Christ (American Studies, JLU) moderated the panel. 

Lecture and Workshops by Prof. K. Allison Hammer during their fellowship stay

Dr. K. Allison Hammer (Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, Women, Gender, and Sexuality studies) recently finished their month long fellowship at the Center for Diversity, Media, and Law. The fellowship stay was generously supported by the Forschungscampus Mittelhessen. The fellowship commenced with a workshop on “Trans/forming Legal, National, and Cultural Concepts of Personhood” on 28 June with Vera Volkmann (Forschungscampus Mittelhessen), Dr. Mariel Reiss (Center for Conflict Studies, and Center for Gender Studies and Feminist Futures, Philipps University Marburg), Dr. Jutta Hergenhan (Political Science and DiML, JLU),  Prof. Christine M. Klapeer (Political Science and Gender Studies, DiML, JLU), Prof. Andreas Langenohl (Sociology, DiML, JLU), and Prof. Greta Olson (English and American Cultural Studies, DiML, JLU).
    It included Dr. Hammer’s lecture in the series “Diversity Issues in the USA: Transnational Perspectives on the 2024 Presidential Elections,” and a second workshop on 16 July with faculty and students on “Trans Utopia,” featuring Dr. Hammer’s forthcoming essay “Exuberant Embodiment: A Trans Utopia for an Unbearable Present” forthcoming in Utopian Studies: The Journal of the Society for Utopian Studies 35, no. 3 (Winter 2024).

A recorded version of Dr. Hammer’s lecture. “How to Make an Enemy: Transmisogyny and the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election,” which was held on 3 July, is now available online.

Recently, Dr. Hammer’s book Masculinity in Transition (U of Minnesota Press, 2024) was designated as one of the “10 best LGBTQ+ books of 2024 (so far)” by Pride.com.

“A Politics of Shredding: The Far-Right's Approach to Biodiversity and Environmental Disaster“

This talk takes its cue from a meme-phrase that all measures to protect nature and the environment should be “subject to the shredder” – a meme that began to travel since 2016. For far-right parties, such as the Republican Party under Trump or the Dutch Party for Freedom under Geert Wilders, international agreements aimed at preserving biodiversity and the protection of life and environments must be shredded, or “cut to pieces”. Using Trumpism as the starting point for our analysis, we intend to describe systemic factors that go beyond the mere focus on individual political figures and their national contexts. Catastrophic climate change, alongside the rise of an equally catastrophic political climate in the face of environmental disaster, can only be understood through a broad spectrum of critical concepts that shed light on the culture and politics of shredding. We argue that the far-right is following a similar logic throughout the West with a politico-ecological agenda that serves the private interest of agricultural and extraction industries, ranging from commodity farmers and meat corporations to multinational oil companies. We contend that a solution to their agenda of collective destruction cannot be found within the current political system. The far-right acts as a quasi-, or no sot quasi, fascist instrument to safeguard the private interests of unsustainable industries.

“How to Make an Enemy: Transmisogyny and the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election”

Dr. K. Allison Hammer’s (Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies) guest lecture on “How to Make an Enemy: Transmisogyny and the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election” on 3 July 2024 at 4:00 PM CET.
Prof. Christine M. Klapeer (JLU, Politikwissenschaft mit dem Schwerpunkt Gender Studies) will provide a response.

This talk examines how a Trump presidency may put trans people at risk of being stripped of their right to exist in public. To understand the danger that he and his administration represent, it’s essential to recall the autocratic attempt undertaken from 2016-2020. However, while much attention has been paid to his desire to be a dictator, his deep ties to White Christian nationalism have been under-theorized in trans studies. Evangelical extremists at the center of his future administration threaten to turn trans people, transfeminine individuals in particular, into personae non gratae. Their views on the body, sexual sin, the family, as well as the restriction of “woman” to the realm of reproduction all play a role in their demonization of what they call “transgender nationalism.” The vigilante and the world crusader will be discussed as two powerful figurations that convey the radical transformation they envision for the United States and for the rest of the world.
    The lecture is part of a series of talks on “Diversity Issues and the 2024 U.S. Presidential Elections: Transnational Perspectives” at the University of Giessen and is supported by the Center for Diversity, Media, and Law. Dr. Hammer’s text will be published in an open-access book by the same name with transcript in October 2024.

Dr. Hammer will be conducting research at the Center for Diversity, Media, and Law at the JLU through 17 July. Their stay is generously supported by the Forschungscampus Mittelhessen.  Dr. Hammer will conduct a workshop on TransUtopia on 16 July at the Center from 12 until 2 PM.

 June 13-14, 2024

Input - Output: Didactic perspectives on artificial intelligence (AI)

The ZMI section "Medien und Didaktik" invites you to a two-day interdisciplinary workshop "Input - Output: Didactic perspectives on artificial intelligence (AI)". The event will take place on Thursday, June 13, 2024, from 4 to 7 pm, and on Friday, June 14, 2024, from 9 am to 12:30 pm in the Margarete Bieber Hall at Justus Liebig University Giessen.

Margarete-Bieber-Saal
Ludwigstr. 34
35390 Gießen

 August 1, 2023

Beyond the Gaze: Media Awareness for Media Inclusivity (For Educational Purposes)

Beyond the Gaze is a non-commercial short film intended for educational purposes that was made at the University of Giessen, Germany in 2023.

The film engages with meanings of “the gaze” in order to open people up to thinking about how we interact with popular media. Originally, Laura Mulvey used the concept of “the male gaze” (1975) to describe film techniques that turn women into objects without subjective points of view, and to think about the profound pleasure people take in looking at films and seeing as the camera does. Since then, the term “the gaze” has come to denote White, colonialist, cis-hetero-patriarchal, and ableist ways of seeing and thinking that are transported by film, television, and other media. By revisiting different conceptualizations of “the gaze,” the film aims to promote a deeper understanding of power dynamics and media narratives that shape society.

Beyond the Gaze quotes insights by scholars such as Frantz Fanon, Toni Morrison, Stuart Hall, bell hooks, and Laura Mulvey on how to recognize and resist prejudiced ways of seeing. The film then introduces methods for addressing discrimination in media on the levels of representation, production, and reception. By taking viewers behind the camera, Beyond the Gazedemonstrates how to use reverse engineering to understand how camera work and sound combine to shape media experience. The film describes existing tests for measuring diversity and inclusion. These tests include the Bechdel-Wallace test (1985) to see if a film or television show recognizes women as actual people; the DuVernay test (2016) to see if a film portrays Black, Indigenous, and People of Color as individuals with complex experiences; the Vito Russo test (2019) to measure whether LGBTQIA persons are depicted in ways that go beyond sexual orientation and gender status; and the Riz test (2018) to see if Muslims are presented as individuals rather than as negative stereotypes.

In front of the camera, interviewees reflect on when they first noticed the gaze and how the gaze has affected them personally. They discuss their techniques for enjoying media, when possible, while remaining critically vigilant about how media can make existing social hierarchies appear natural and ‘good.’ The filmmakers and actors imagine what media could be and what we can make it be – a garden in which everyone finds a place for themself.  

The film team would like to thank the Justus Liebig University of Giessen for generous financial support of the film.