Activities

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 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.