Öffentliche Vorträge im Rahmen der Summer School „Globalization and Diversity“ 2019

Im Rahmen der Summer School "Globalization and Diversity" finden insgesamt sechs öffentliche Vorträge in englischer Sprache statt.

Vortragsort ist jeweils das Tagungszentrum an der Sternwarte (Geismar Landstr. 11b).

Die Räume sind barrierefrei zugänglich. Alle sozialwissenschaftlich Interessierten sind herzlich eingeladen. Eine Registrierung ist nicht erforderlich.

8.7., 14:00 - 15:30: Astrid Biele Mefebue (Institut für Diversitätsforschung, Universität Göttingen) und Katharina Kreissl (Universität Salzburg, Österreich): Global) trends in social change, diversification and in-equality – a critical introduction to diversity studies

9.7., 15:15 – 16:30: Yvonne Franke (Institut für Diversitätsforschung, Universität Göttingen): Global social inequality and diversity

Diversity emerged first as a political concept within the social rights movements in the so-called Global North. More recently, it has become popular as both a theoretical concept and a policy instrument applied to public and private institutions as well as business actors. As a legal concept, it is usually tied to a national framework. At the same time, political and theoretical perspectives focusing on global (social) inequalities have been somewhat reluctant to pick up diversity as a concept. The lecture sets out to assess the potentials of combining the current discussion of diversity with insights from debates on global social inequality. To this end, I will address central aspects of global social inequalities and elaborate their linkage to individual positioning, privileges and discrimination within the nation state.

11.7., 15:15 – 16:30: Sabine Grenz (Universität Wien, Österreich): Doing qualitative-empirical research: Making sense of fluid and intersectional power relations

In social science methodology textbooks, the research situation is conceptualized as being as neutral and confidential as possible. However, in many study reports we find hints on the difficulties related to this neutrality and confidentiality. In this talk I will focus on the complexity of interviewing processes by drawing on my own research on gender and sexuality from a Foucauldian perspective as well as research of feminist researchers who reflected on issues of gender, sexuality, social class and race as factors that potentially influence interview outcomes, for instance, by creating particular silences. I argue that they need to be perceived as enriching and not disturbing aspects of research and included into our data reconstruction.

12.7., 15:15 – 16:30: Shinji Kajitani (Universität Tokyo, Japan): Design as theory and practice for social inclusion

Today, diversity is discussed everywhere. There seem to be two background influences for this. 1) Globalization has increased the opportunities for encounter and conflict among people from different areas of the world. 2) Democracy makes us more conscious about human rights and discrimination against various groups of people within a society such as the poor, disabled, less educated, or somehow disadvantaged.
Recently, the notion of “social inclusion” is receiving more and more attention. This is the concept and practice, system and institution, which address the problem of social exclusion of people who are disadvantaged in terms of their gender, race, ethnicity, religion, nationality, generation, sexual orientation, disability, education, language, job, economic or social status. At the same time, in the field of design, there is a trend which is closely related with social inclusion, as is literally seen in the phrase “inclusive design”. That is, how can design contribute to expanding social inclusion? What is its theoretical basis for this mission? How can design put it into practice? This lecture will be concerned with design as an activity which contains both theory and practice for social inclusion.

15.7., 15:15 – 16:30: Akasemi Newsome (Universität von Kalifornien, Berkeley, USA): The Color of Solidarity: Explaining the Conditions of Labor Union Support for Immigrants

Little is known about when and why labor unions help immigrants. My book manuscript, The Color of Solidarity, argues that when immigrant activists mobilize themselves, then partner with native trade unionists, they can pressure union leaders to support their concerns. This talk provides an overview of three issue areas critical to the demands of immigrant union members: extreme right wing parties and movements, workplace discrimination, and job marginalization. I then discuss a case study of job marginalization at unionized public hospitals in the United Kingdom and Germany. The case study shows that how identities are constructed in mobilization helps to account for pro-immigrant action by unions. My book contributes to research on the contemporary European labor movement, the growing precariousness of working conditions and the increasing heterogeneity of the workforce.

16.7., 15:15 – 16:30: Kristin Aune (Universität Coventry, UK): Religious diversity in higher education in Europe and North America

The talk will introduce religion as a diversity issue in higher education that should be considered alongside gender, race, class and others. It will trace the history and contemporary contexts of religion in universities and argue that religious diversity should be seen as a resource, rather than as a threat or something that should be marginalised, in the contemporary university.