Raina Zimmering

Raina Zimmering (born June 11, 1951 in Dresden ) is a German historian, political scientist and sociologist, who was university professor for socio-cultural transformation research and head of the department for political and development research at Johannes Kepler University (JKU) Linz from 2007 to 2013 . Since 2013 she has been a freelance author and on the board of the New Society for Psychology (NGfP).

biography

Raina Zimmering is the daughter of the tapestry weaver Ute Pinkert, b. Rönsch, and the painter and graphic artist Werner Pinkert, who worked as a lecturer at the Pedagogical University of Dresden and the Art Academy. She grew up with three brothers in Dresden. She has been married to the doctor Ronald Zimmering since 1973 and has a son, David Zimmering (born 1975) and a daughter, Esther Zimmering (born 1977). Both children are actors.

In 1974 she graduated from the Romain Rolland Extended High School in Dresden. Zimmering then studied history , art history and ethnography at the Humboldt University in Berlin from 1970 to 1974 . In 1974 she passed her diploma as a historian and the state examination for history there. She then worked as a research assistant until 1990 and from 1985 as a senior assistant at the Institute for International Relations in Potsdam and did several research and study visits to Moscow , Poland, Cuba and Argentina . In 1984 she received her doctorate. rer. pole.

In 1990, after her habilitation , Zimmering worked, among other things, as a visiting scientist at the Social Science Research Center Berlin (WZB), as a lecturer and research assistant at the Institute for International Relations in Potsdam and as a research assistant at the University of Potsdam . In 1990/91 she worked at the WZB on the DFG sub-project “Comparison of Development Strategies between Argentina and Brazil” within the Globus world model that Karl Deutsch had launched. In 1991/92 she was Associate Professor at Harvard University and Assistant Professor at Tufts University and at Johns Hopkins University . This was followed by research and study stays in Peru , Mexico , India , Chile, Argentina and Sri Lanka as well as teaching assignments at the Free University of Berlin and the University of Potsdam. From 1990 to 1993 she worked on the DFG project (German Research Foundation) Transformation Processes “in an interdependent world” together with Elmar Altvater and Ulrich Albrecht at the Free University of Berlin.

From 1994 to 2005 Zimmering worked as a research assistant and lecturer at the Humboldt University in Berlin and taught at the University of Potsdam and the Free University of Berlin. From 1994 to 1997 she was part of the chair “Political Theory and the History of Ideas” under the direction of Herfried Münkler and was the DFG project manager on the subject of “Political Myths” and headed a research group. 1997/98 it was within the special university program III. at the Humboldt University in Berlin appointed professor and head of department for “Comparing Political Systems”. In 2005 Zimmering was appointed university professor at the National University of Colombia , Bogotá , where she lectured in Spanish at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Law at the Institute of Political Science and carried out two research projects (“Social Movements in Latin America and Transformation” and “The Gaitan Myth "). When she was appointed to the Johannes Kepler University in Linz in 2006 , she went to Austria. From 2007 to 2013, she held the position of university professor and head of the department for policy and development research. In 2009 she founded the international research group Social Movements and Transformation in Latin America together with professors and researchers from Austria, Germany and Latin American universities . During her work in Linz, she carried out several research internships with students and visited Mexico with them twice. She also went to Istanbul as part of a research internship in political sociology .

Since Zimmering's work at the JKU ended, she has been a freelance author in Berlin and has published academic articles and books on the topics of transformation and democracy research, political culture research, emancipatory movements, migration and social justice, and political psychology. One focus of her work is the investigation of the rebellious indigenous movement in Mexico, the Zapatistas. Institutionally, it is linked to the political journal WeltTrends / University of Potsdam and the Universidad Nacional de Colombia in Bogotá (National University of Colombia in Bogotá).

Zimmering is a member of the International Civil Commission for the Observation of Human Rights in Mexico (CCIODH) and has stayed with them several times in indigenous communities and conflict areas in Mexico. She is also a member of the Working Group of German Latin America Researchers (ADLAF), the New Society for Psychology (NGfP), on whose board she works, the WeltTrends eV association of the University of Potsdam, the Latin America Forum Berlin (LAF), the International Society of Cultural History and the International Federation of Public History.

From a journalistic point of view, Zimmering can be found on the reflection pages or in the Linke Tageszeitung Junge Welt .

List of publications (selection)

• Zimmering, Raina: Latin American migration and refugee movements rethinking and the view to Europe. Potsdam: WeltTrends-Verlag of the University of Potsdam. 2017, in press.
• Zimmering, Raina: The German-Mexican Security Agreement. In: WeltTrends Spezial 14, Universitätsverlag Potsdam 2015. ISSN  2193-0627 , ISBN 978-3-941880-98-6 ;
• Zimmering, Raina and Christina Steinbauer (eds.): Social movements in the “fourth wave of democratization” in Latin America. Hamburg: Verlag Dr. Kovac 2013. ISSN  1435-6651 .
• Zimmering, Raina: Regulation Theory Revisted. Anti-regulation and new modes of regulation in Latin America. WeltTrends Papers No. 21. Potsdam: Universitätsverlag Potsdam 2013. ISSN  1864-0656 and ISBN 978-3-86956-211-7 .
• Zimmering, Raina: Zapatista. A new paradigm of emancipatory movements. Münster: Westfälisches Dampfboot 2010. BN: 978-3-89691-867-3
• Zimmering, Raina: The Zapatistas in Mexico: the anti-systemic and anti-statistical character of a popular movement. Potsdam: Universitätsverlag Potsdam, 2010. ISSN  1864-0656 ; ISBN 978-3-86956-046-5
• Zimmering, Raina: Design of the themed issue of WeltTrends: Resistance and Change. WeltTrends, No. 61 July / August 2008 (for the focus of the issue see 26)., (2008) 61. ISSN  0944-8101
• Zimmering, Raina: The Revolutionary Myth in Mexico. Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann 2005. 214 pages. ISBN 3-8260-3009-5
• Zimmering, Raina: Myths in the Politics of the GDR. A contribution to the exploration of political myths. Opladen: Leske & Budrich. 2000. 385 pp. ISBN 3-8100-2732-4
• Zimmering, Raina: Development Strategies and Foreign Policy: Argentina as an Example. Berlin: Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung, FIB Papers series, series of publications by the International Relations Research Group, P91-306, 1991.
• Zimmering, Raina: The relationship between development, democracy and peace and its reflection in the politics of Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay for regional and global peacekeeping in the eighties. Habilitation thesis. Potsdam: University of Law and Administration 1990.
• Zimmering, Raina: Fundamentals and conception of foreign policy in Argentina and the country's relations with western industrialized countries from 1976 to 1980. Dissertation. Potsdam / Babelsberg: Institute for International Relations at the Academy for State and Law of the German Democratic Republic 1982.

Web links

• Literature by and about Raina Zimmering in the catalog of the German National Library
• Information about Raina Zimmering
• Publications by Raina Zimmering
• Research at the Department of Policy and Development Research

Individual evidence

1. ↑ See for example: Digital Rebels, in: Junge Welt, April 20, 2020.