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For certain types of work, it is necessary to immerse yourself in it entirely and not think about anything else for a period of time – the writing process for a dissertation or habilitation is surely one of them. It was precisely for this reason that twelve doctoral and postdoctoral students and associated doctoral candidates from the SFB retreated for a few days of intensive work in Klein Glien, Brandenburg…

How does socio-spatial segregation shape the experience of urban space? In this blog post, Nicolas Zehner reflects on a recent research trip to Cape Town by taking a closer look at the intricate relationships between queer dating, Pokémon Go, and urban transportation. Although seemingly unrelated, these forms of urban sociality are all intimately linked through structural inequality.

Tradition or Transition? “When do you celebrate Christmas?” is a question that was often asked in Ukraine at the end of December 2023. It indirectly inquires whether a person is […]

Eine Wiese in einem kleinen mecklenburgischen Dorf. Hier gibt es Enten, Gänse, Ornitholog:innen, Bienen, Schmetterlinge, Naturliebhaber:innen, Vogelnistkästen und einiges andere. Es klingt nach ländlicher Idylle. Carl-Jan Dihlmann und Ilse Helbrecht zeigen in ihrem Artikel „Ländliche Räume als relationale Gefüge. Argumente für eine ontologische Wende in der Ländlichkeitsforschung“ jedoch, dass bei genauerem Hinsehen ländliche Räume durchaus komplexer sind, als es der herkömmliche Fokus auf Naturnähe und Landwirtschaft nahelegt. Im Blogbeitrag stellt Carl-Jan Dihlmann das in der Geographischen Zeitschrift erschiene Paper vor und gibt Einblicke in die Entstehung eines wissenschaftlichen Fachartikels.

A thin line between ethics and aesthetics haunts these reflections on field research in an African city, approached through the positionality of a researcher from a European context. Based on some visual impressions encountered during the fieldwork, the researcher Francesca Ceola retraces the process of reorientation in a place geographically and culturally very far away from her habitat recognizing what she knows in what she sees. In doing so, she contests the abstraction of “going to do fieldwork” as separate from everyday scientific practices.

How does the Kenyan middle class live? Subproject A05 “Being Home” examines living spaces in Nairobi and their significance for identity formation, drawing on urban developments of its colonial past. Project leader Jochen Kibel and cooperation partner Makau Kitata talk to journalist Brenda Strohmaier about their first findings.

CRC 1265 researcher Eric Lettkemann unravels the intriguing dynamics between digital technology and public spaces. Uncovering contrasting approaches to the of hybrid reality game Pokémon Go, from cemetery bans in Germany to seamless integration in Tokyo, he discusses the social implications and future challenges of such locative media as we navigate an evolving world where the digital of physical increasingly overlap.

In West Africa, an entertainment genre called Afronovela is booming. Like South American telenovelas, they are romantic soap operas, but set in Africa. Especially in Senegal and the Ivory Coast, an industry of its own has emerged. In subproject C06, the French sociologist Séverine Marguin and the Congolese director and film scholar Daddy Dibinga Kalamba investigate how these series stage narrations of successful lives.