Center for transdisciplinary gender studies

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Logo of the Center for Transdisciplinary Gender Studies (ZtG)
Old logo version of the Center for Transdisciplinary Gender Studies (ZtG)

The Center for Transdisciplinary Gender Studies (ZtG) at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (HU) coordinates research and teaching in the field of gender studies in all participating disciplines at the HU. Among other things, it forms the roof for the transdisciplinary master’s degree course in gender studies and the bachelor’s degree as a secondary and secondary subject. The center brings together what is indispensable for a scientifically sound examination of questions of gender relations , various scientific disciplines , different actors in knowledge and the transfer of knowledge and various forms of dealing with the category of gender in all theoretical and socio-practical fields. It organizes the interdisciplinary dialogue between lecturers, researchers and students and enables Berlin-wide, supra-regional and international cooperation. From 2005 to 2013, from the working German Research Foundation funded (DFG) Research Training Group "Gender as a Category of Knowledge" very successful under the umbrella of ZtG. The ZtG hosts its own research projects and supports the acquisition of funds for research funding. It organizes scientific conferences, colloquia , lecture series , discussion forums and exhibitions. The ZtG supports students and teachers with a wide range of services, in particular through the resources of the gender library and the PC pool at the ZtG.

In 2016, the ZtG, together with the Margherita von Brentano Center at the Free University of Berlin and the Center for Interdisciplinary Women and Gender Studies at the Technical University of Berlin, founded the Open Access repository GenderOpen to permanently free publications and other knowledge stocks on gender research to make them accessible and to secure them sustainably.

History and Development

The center for transdisciplinary gender studies was established in 2003 as a scientific institution at the Philosophical Faculty III of the HU (since 2014 the Faculty of Culture, Social Sciences and Education) and is out of the Center for Interdisciplinary Women’s Studies (ZiF) founded in 1989 and the Master’s course introduced in 1997 emerged.

In 1989, female scientists came together at the ZiF who had been striving for more than 10 years to develop and establish feminist research approaches at the HU. In the early 1990s, as part of the restructuring of the East German universities at the Humboldt University, the active women scientists succeeded in anchoring women's and gender studies in various subjects. Building on this, the Gender Studies course was established in 1997 as the first master's degree in Germany.

In 2003, with funds from the Federal Ministry for Family, Seniors, Women and Youth, the Gender Competence Center and in 2005 the DFG-funded Graduate College Gender were established as a knowledge category.

The GenderKompetenzZentrum (2003-2010, forerunner of the institution of the same name of the non-profit association Gender / Queer eV) was an application-oriented research institution with an advisory function, determined equality as a cross-sectional task and supported the implementation of gender mainstreaming, especially in administrative practice, as an externally funded project at the Chair for Public Affairs Law and Gender Studies.

The Research Training Group Gender as a Category of Knowledge (2005–2013) made it possible for 13 doctoral students and two postdoctoral fellows to examine the functions of the gender category for the structuring of knowledge in an interdisciplinary manner. It served to promote the particularly high potential of young scientists in Berlin within this interdisciplinary research field and contributed to the establishment of gender research as a transdisciplinary and at the same time independent subject.

As part of the Bologna Process , a Bachelor's degree BA Gender Studies was set up as a second subject (60 study points) and a minor (20 study points) for the 2005 winter semester. Since the winter semester 2008/2009 there has been an independent, transdisciplinary master’s course (120 credit points).

Transdisciplinarity and diversity of disciplines

Gender, i.e. gender in all its complexity, is a fundamental form of organization that not only permeates all areas of life, but also structures knowledge. Gender is not seen solely as a biological fact, social role, or ascribed to individuals and groups. Rather, gender shows itself in numerous dimensions.

The ZtG is based on the knowledge that a discipline alone cannot understand gender relations and the effects of gender. The natural sciences, humanities and social sciences have to be brought together and critically reconstructed in order to conduct gender research profitably. Gender is therefore a genuinely transdisciplinary topic.

The transdisciplinary nature of gender studies is linked to the recent development of the sciences as a whole. The complementary addition of different disciplinary perspectives is often recognized as inadequate. Newer scientific and socially relevant issues in particular can hardly be dealt with professionally or disciplinary today. This is exactly what shapes the question of the gender category, its nature, origin, change and its effects.

Scientific specialist cultures open up to other fields and questions, and are exposed to different standards, conceptions, methods and terms. As a result, disciplines can learn more about their own methods and content in transdisciplinary research. At the same time, gender research benefits from critical reflection on “gender” in various subjects.

Scientists from 17 different subject and subject groups are currently participating in the HU's ZtG through offers in the course, joint research projects and memberships. These include the legal , agriculture and economics , the sociology and political science , the education and sports science , the European Ethnology and History , the theology and religious studies , the cultural studies , art history , the German , Scandinavian , English Studies / American Studies , Romance Languages , Africa - and Asian Studies .

Offers and activities of the ZtG

The ZtG motivates people to think across disciplinary boundaries, promotes interdisciplinary research by networking different fields of knowledge and strengthens an attitude that is critical of science in the subjects.

The center is a place for research and teaching on the meanings, properties, effects and changes of “gender” in social, cultural, political, scientific, normative and basic theoretical contexts. It promotes gender studies in projects and in cooperation with institutions and members of the Humboldt University and third parties.

The center:

  • coordinates the transdisciplinary course Gender Studies and supports the activities of the students
  • specifically promotes young scientists
  • builds bridges in different publics and supports the transfer of knowledge about “gender” in social, cultural and political fields
  • promotes inter- and transdisciplinary research projects and publications
  • is the contact point for teachers, researchers and students from all over the world
  • cooperates with gender research centers in Germany, Europe and the Anglo-American region
  • supports interdisciplinary communication structures through a variety of research-supporting services. This includes a reference library and a PC pool as well as multimedia offers

Cooperations

The ZtG of the HU is an active member in international and national networks.

These include, for example, at the national level the regional “ Working Group of Women and Gender Research Institutions in Berlin Universities ” (afg), the “Professional Society for Gender Studies ” and the “Non-partisan Women’s Initiative Berlin - City of Women” (ÜPFI).

At international level, the ZtG 2003-2009 in the EU project bond "Advanced Thematic Network in European Women's Studies (Athena II and III)" and the "Association of Institutions for Feminist Education and Research in Europe (AOIFE)" worked ; Since 2009 the ZtG has been a founding member of the "European Association for Gender Research, Education and Documentation EU" (ATGENDER).

Since 2008 the ZtG has been an international cooperation partner in the Swedish "Research school in Interdisciplinary Gender Studies - InterGender" . The ZtG is a founding member of the "International Research Association of Institutions of Advanced Gender Studies" (RINGS).

The ZtG is actively involved in the umbrella organization “Conference of Institutions for Women and Gender Studies in German-speaking Countries” (KEG), in the umbrella organization for German-speaking women / lesbian archives, libraries and documentation centers ida , in the “Women Information Network Europe” (WINE) and in the “Network of Berlin Lesbian / Women's Archives and Libraries” .

The foundation of the afg, the KEG and the “Fachgesellschaft Gender Studies” was largely initiated and prepared by the ZtG.

Various third-party funded research and teaching-related projects in which the ZtG is involved also contribute to the international networking of the scientists working at the ZtG.

A variety of smaller teaching and research projects arise also from the collaboration with various partners, such as the program "Comparative Women's and Gender Studies in Europe" of Carleton College and the Summer School , which together with the College of Law of Chicago DePaul University conducted becomes.

Structure of the ZtG

Structure of the center for transdisciplinary gender studies

As a scientific institution (with institute rights), the ZtG is part of the Faculty of Culture, Social Sciences and Education (until 2014: Philosophical Faculty III), but works across faculties. All teachers and students at the Humboldt University can acquire a second membership in the center, which does not affect their rights in the home faculty.

Several committees are active in the center:

  • the center council makes all fundamental decisions of the center
  • the interdisciplinary Joint Commission, particularly on study issues
  • the Scientific Advisory Board especially on scientific research issues.
  • the spokespersons of the ZtG lead and manage the center with the support of the office within the framework of the decisions and recommendations of the above. Bodies
  • the ZtG office organizes and coordinates the ongoing work of the Center

The gender professorships created since the mid-1990s are assigned to the ZtG, which are assigned to a specific subject as required and whose teaching capacity is partially or fully available for the gender studies course. As of May 2019, 17 different subjects and subject groups come into play.

Scientists in the context of the ZtG

  • Susanne Baer , Professor of Public Law and Gender Studies at the Law Faculty of the Humboldt University and since 2011 judge of the Federal Constitutional Court
  • Christine Bauhardt , professor for the field of gender and globalization
  • Christina von Braun was head of the Center for Transdisciplinary Gender Studies at the Humboldt University from 2005 to 2007
  • Astrid Deuber-Mankowsky is an associated member of the Center for Transdisciplinary Gender Studies and the ICI Berlin.
  • Irene Dölling co-founded the Center for Interdisciplinary Women's Research (ZIF) in 1989 and became its first academic director.
  • Elke Hartmann From 2002 to February 2010 she taught as a junior professor for ancient history with a special focus on gender history at the Humboldt University in Berlin. Here she was also a member of the Center for Transdisciplinary Gender Studies.
  • Andreas Kraß , Professor of German Literature and Medieval Studies as well as Gender and Queer Theory
  • Hildegard Maria Nickel 2002–2010 Deputy Spokesperson for the Center for Transdisciplinary Gender Studies at the Humboldt University in Berlin
  • Ulrike Vedder completed her habilitation in 2009 with her work The Testament as a literary dispositive in the 19th century at the TU Berlin. In the same year she was appointed to the chair for Modern German Literature from the 18th Century to the Present / Theories and Methods of Gender Studies in Literature at the HU Berlin. a. Speaker at the Center for Transdisciplinary Gender Studies.
  • Beate Binder has been teaching as professor for European ethnology and gender studies at the Humboldt University Berlin since 2008 and is co-speaker at the current ...

bibliography

  • Birgit Dahlke: Ceremonial opening of the center for transdisciplinary gender studies on July 4, 2003. In: ZtG Bulletin-Info. 27 (2003) 2, ISSN  0947-6822 , pp. 1-2.
  • Irene Dölling : 10 years center for interdisciplinary women's studies at the HU. A personal reminder of the beginnings. In: ZtG Bulletin. 19 (1999), ISSN  0947-6822 , pp. 13-27.
  • Hildegard Maria Nickel : The ZiF. A paradigm for the institutionalization of women's and gender studies. In: ZtG Bulletin. 19 (1999), ISSN  0947-6822 , pp. 1-12.
  • Anna-Katharina Pelkner: Feminist science and political interference. The ZiF of the Humboldt University Berlin was born. In: ZtG Bulletin. 19 (1999), ISSN  0947-6822 , pp. 28-41.
  • Gabriele Jähnert: Duration alternating. The Center for Interdisciplinary Women's Research (ZiF). In: Central Institution for the Promotion of Women's Studies and Women's Studies at the Free University of Berlin, Center for Interdisciplinary Women's Studies at the Humboldt University of Berlin (Ed.): German-Austrian meeting of the coordination offices for the promotion of women's studies and women's studies at universities. FU-Berlin, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-929968-09-6 .

literature

  • Center for transdisciplinary gender studies at the Humboldt University in Berlin (ed.): Gender studies in German-speaking countries: courses of study, experiences, challenges. Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-89626-385-4 .
  • Gabriele Jähnert: Beginnings of women and gender studies at the Humboldt University since the end of the 1970s. In: Exhibition group at the Humboldt University of Berlin and the Center for Interdisciplinary Women's Research (Ed.): From the exception to the everyday. Women at the Berlin University Unter den Linden. Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-89626-103-7 , pp. 235–248.
  • Gabriele Jähnert: The center for interdisciplinary women's research. In: Exhibition group at the Humboldt University in Berlin and the Center for Interdisciplinary Women's Research (ed.): From the exception to the everyday: Women at the Berlin University Unter den Linden. Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-89626-103-7 , pp. 261-264.
  • Katrin Schäfgen: The Gender Studies course at Humboldt University. In: Exhibition group at the Humboldt University of Berlin and the Center for Interdisciplinary Women's Research (Ed.): From the exception to the everyday. Women at the Berlin University Unter den Linden. Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-89626-103-7 , pp. 265-271.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ GenderOpen - a repository for gender research. In: gender.hu-berlin.de. Retrieved May 15, 2019 .
  2. ↑ story (s). In: Portal of the Center for Transdisciplinary Gender Studies. Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, accessed on July 25, 2017 .
  3. ↑ a b center. In: gender.hu-berlin.de. Retrieved November 19, 2017 .
  4. ↑ genderkompetenz.info. Historical archive of the Gender Competence Center. Retrieved December 12, 2018 .
  5. ↑ Research Training Group “Gender as a Category of Knowledge”. In: gender.hu-berlin.de. Retrieved October 21, 2017 .
  6. ^ [1] Website of the Center for Transdisciplinary Gender Studies, Study section. Retrieved September 16, 2016.
  7. ^ Website of the Center for Transdisciplinary Gender Studies, section International / Cooperation / Networking . Retrieved September 16, 2016.
  8. ↑ a b The institutes of the Faculty of Culture, Social Sciences and Education. Overview. Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin , 2019, accessed on May 13, 2019 .
  9. ^ Statutes of the Center for Transdisciplinary Gender Studies at the Humboldt University in Berlin. (PDF 11 KB) September 29, 2003, accessed on May 13, 2019 .