In this research group, we deal with contextual, conceptual and methodological questions arising from Africa-related research on the basis of specific doctoral projects. We also reflect on current and past knowledge circulation and academic relations between Africa and Europe. The group functions as an open forum for interdisciplinary exchange within JGU Mainz, but also invites doctoral candidates and researchers from outside, especially from Africa and the diaspora, to give short lectures. The regular meetings in either digital or face-to-face formats are intended to provide an opportunity to present aspects of one’s own doctoral project in a research workshop and to further develop them in joint discussion. The working languages are German, English and French, as required.

Janika Kunzmann, Lena Scheibinger

Other members of the research group: Alassane Traoré, Jahn Lukas Hermann, Antonia Fendt, Melda Demir

The Forum Antike offers students and doctoral candidates at JGU an open space for academic exchange, networking, and mutual support. Anyone who is working on topics related to antiquity in their studies or doctoral research, or who has a general interest in ancient history, archaeology, and related issues, is welcome to join. The aim of the forum is to create a lively, interdisciplinary platform that facilitates networking, promotes exchange across disciplinary boundaries, and highlights the diversity of approaches to antiquity.
The forum is therefore not limited exclusively to Greco-Roman antiquity, but also includes neighboring cultural areas and temporal contexts. The aim is to foster interdisciplinary exchange between different disciplines, from classical studies and Egyptology to art history, allowing all participants to benefit from expertise in different fields.
The working group focuses on the projects and questions of the participants. In regular meetings during the semester, participants can present their own work, discuss methodological approaches, practice scientific presentation, or read and discuss texts together. Where possible, doctoral students and researchers from within and outside JGU will also be invited to give short presentations. At the same time, the forum provides a space for informal discussions in a relaxed atmosphere.
A particular focus is on collegial support: presentations can be rehearsed, sources and literature can be discussed, and digital working methods can be tested. Everyday organizational issues relating to qualification work can also be clarified in an uncomplicated manner. In addition, workshops, workshop discussions, joint reading meetings, and smaller events are planned during the lecture-free period. The working languages of the working group are German and English.

Vincent Hupfauer, Andrea Suquet

Other members of the research group: Niklas Ziegler, Sait Can Kutsal, David Eibeck, Jonas Mach

The research group “Body and Media in the 21st Century” focuses on the development of media-specific aesthetics and semantics of the body and its components as organic materialities in the present of the 21st century. In particular, the neo-materialist theories and theory hybrids of recent decades have decisively shaped the current understanding of corporeality with concepts of transcorporeality (Alaimo 2010), plasticity (Malabou 2000, 1994), the cyborg (Haraway 1991) and the posthuman (Braidotti 2013, Hayles 1999). Forms of the organic are never to be understood as pure naturalness, but have always been techno-bio-political hybrids, especially in the 21st century (cf. e.g. Haraway 1991, Preciado 2008). It can be assumed that new technologies, virtual platforms and their media formats, which are primarily based on “small forms” (Vogl et. al. 2021), play a decisive role in constituting body images (content and form). If we assume that the spread of virtual spaces is not accompanied by a disembodiment, as has often been predicted, but that the material and immaterial (Lyotard 1985) interact and are mutually dependent, this opens up exciting spaces for reflection for literature, arts, media studies and sociology, the potential of which has certainly not yet been exhausted.

The interdisciplinary research group aims to scrutinize the “body and media” nexus from a wide variety of perspectives, with an explicit focus on crossing disciplinary boundaries. The research group is intended to provide an open exchange format for ideas and thoughts on the topic and is open to all interested parties.

As the first interdisciplinary meeting place for the research group, the Mainz Academy of Fine Arts hosted the junior conference “Body-Parts: Micro-Forms of the Organic in Literature, Art and Film”. As follow up to the event a joint publication is planned.

Körper-Teile: Mikroformen des Organischen in Literatur, Kunst und Film | Parties – Corps: Microformes de l’organique dans la littérature, l’art et le cinéma

Larissa Frömel, Vanessa Franke

Other members of the research group: Benjamin Doubali, Aurora A. Sauter, Nhu Y Linda Nguyen, Waldemar Isak

Due to more than two years of Covid-related closures, it has become difficult not only for students but also for doctoral candidates to network within and beyond the faculty. However, research work in the field of the Middle Ages in particular benefits from interdisciplinary cooperation, for example between the fields of history, archaeology, art history, philology, theology (etc.), and scholars from all of these areas should find something of interest in the group. The time period specified for interested parties is intended to go beyond the classic 500-1500 period to include issues from late antiquity up to the transition to the early modern period.

The research group is initially intended to provide an opportunity for networking between researchers on medieval topics within the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, but also to offer researchers from outside the university involvement through workshops and lectures. The plan is to hold 3-4 sessions per semester + further opportunities during the semester break, thus offering doctoral candidates, interested students or anyone working on thematically related theses, a platform for the exchange of ideas. This should provide opportunities for discussion, presentation of work and discourse on specific, research questions as well as providing insights into the state of knowledge and research in the various disciplines represented in the group (see above). Since the time frame of the research group has been deliberately kept broad, the focus can extend to discussion of methodological questions: assistance with talks and presentations (a kind of rehearsal for conferences and congresses), support with source and literature research, help with questions on digital methods in projects in the digital humanities, as well as assistance with simple questions of the everyday organisation of work on the thesis will also be dealt with in the research group.

Helena Geitz, Patrick Minkus

Other members of the research group: Sait Can Kutsal, Isabelle Rahms, Marco Büttner, Adrian Dünweg, Regina Molitor, Bart Peters, Eduard Visintini, Samira Fischer, Isabelle Vowinkel

The research group brings together doctoral students at different stages of their doctoral studies who want to support each other in overcoming practical (writing) problems. The formats of the working group have become established over the past few years and a stable network has developed across different locations (Team Mainz, Team Germersheim, and Team Remote). With the writing retreat, the working group has also developed a format that has been incorporated into the regular offerings of the GSHS. This successful work is to be continued in the new period with input from new members. The focal point continues to be regular joint writing and work sessions, which the members organize independently. These sessions will deliberately alternate between periods of concentration and communicative situations in order to create a pleasant, inviting, and productive atmosphere. The members of the group will reflect on their working techniques and offer methodological assistance with writing problems in order to learn and practice reading, writing, and revision strategies. It is planned to draw on external expertise for this purpose and to involve a mentor. The group sees itself as a platform for offering support—whether it be sharing helpful resources and literature, providing collective answers to questions, or jointly developing realistic schedules for scientific work. Members of the group can seek advice and assessments from each other, e.g., text feedback on scientific texts of up to three pages. The working group has once again set itself the goal of being a point of contact for mutual support among peers. The focus is on low-threshold, supportive, social, and interdisciplinary exchange within the peer group. The aim is to incorporate different perspectives. The self-managed digital infrastructure, which forms the backbone of the group, also enables location-independent participation. The working group provides a structured, needs-oriented, open, and stable offering for doctoral students at the GSHS.

Benjamin Doubali, Ann-Kathrin Venz

Other members of the research group: Jonathan Lasi, Maike Roth, Johanna Weinstock, Kathrin Lutz, Nadja Schulz, Nadine Müller, Lydia Kleinstück

The primary goal is to establish a sustainable networking structure for JGU doctoral researchers from various disciplines in the field of qualitative (social) research. This could then be used for various needs and occasions, such as the mutual exchange of ideas on qualitative research methods & specialist discourses, joint coding and analysis procedures, joint interpretation workshops and further training opportunities through guest lectures. The aim is to hold regular meetings with specific intentions, which are coordinated and agreed on by the participants in advance. In this regard, the joint use of a digital communication infrastructure (e.g. MS Teams) seems sensible, and can be used to exchange and store further information (files, resources, links).

Philipp Schlosser, Nadine Müller

Other members of the research group: Kathrin Lutz, Benjamin Doubali, Luca Pascal Winklmüller, Lydia Kleinstück, Tamara Schwinn

The research group “Transnational Environmental Humanities (TEH)” focuses on the positioning of the humanities within the public and academic discourse on socio-ecological and socio-political problems. Despite different academic backgrounds, our shared concern revolves around the ongoing climate, planetary, and humanitarian emergencies, which pose an existential risk to both human and non-human life on earth. In this respect, TEH delves into the multifaceted dimensions of environmental, social, and political crises, aiming to critically examine them within the broader context of power constellations. This includes analyzing the influence of neoliberal capitalism and related issues such as patriarchal, racist, and (neo)colonial structures, as well as the division of the world into a Global North and a Global South. Additionally, our research project explores the legal, normative, and narrative aspects shaping these crises and the temporal factors influencing their development.

Our interdisciplinary and transnational exchange addresses connections across various academic disciplines. To do so, we collectively tackle issues such as environmental ethics and ecological justice, media aesthetics and communication, collective co-creation of solutions, critical resource thinking, technological changes, resilience strategies, as well as various forms of protest, activism, and engagement of socio-political actors, while integrating Indigenous knowledge.

The fundamental questions guiding our research group centre on envisioning the coexistence of humans, non-humans, and the environment in the future, as well as determining the desired role of humanity in the Anthropocene era. Our main goal is to discuss conceptional and methodological questions, foster knowledge exchange, and organize various activities such as guest lectures, workshops, publications, podcast production, and website development to share insights on the future of human civilization and sustainable global development. We also seek to establish a collaborative research network by engaging with relevant individuals and organizations within academia as well as from non-academic sectors such as civil society and policymakers.

We enthusiastically invite those passionate about transnational environmental humanities to join us on our journey towards knowledge and wisdom.

Environmental Humanities: Approaches – Methodologies – Connections (24.01.2025, 9:30 – 16:00 Uhr)

The workshop “Environmental Humanities: Approaches, Methodologies, Connections” was hosted by the Transnational Environmental Humanities (TEH) research group on the 24th January 2025 at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz.

The event aimed to deepen opportunities for collaboration and foster transdisciplinary research within the environmental humanities. Bringing together scholars from diverse fields—including American studies, social and cultural anthropology, film studies, human geography, and sociology—the event sought to enrich research questions, and methodological approaches, while identifying more common ground for collaboration.

Structured around three key phases, the workshop opened with presentations by invited researchers: Prof. Dr. Simone M. Müller (Augsburg University) and Dr. Paul Reszke (Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz). Both researchers offered insights into interdisciplinary environmental humanities research. The talks resonated strongly with participants’ backgrounds and interests, stimulating meaningful discussion.

The second phase employed a World Café format to encourage active participation and knowledge sharing. Three thematic tables explored (1) Approaches: Science and Society / Activism, (2) Methodologies: Research and Reasoning, and (3) Connections: Interdisciplinarity / Multidisciplinarity. Participants engaged enthusiastically, and the format proved highly effective in generating rich and complementary perspectives.

The workshop concluded with a plenary session in which participants shared key takeaways, highlighted particularly interesting aspects, and offered feedback. The final discussion revealed a strong collective interest in continuing the conversations initiated during the workshop. Participants agreed to plan a follow-up meeting to develop future collaborative activities within the environmental humanities.

With a total of 15 attendees, the workshop provided an ideal setting for both structured dialogue and open exchange, reinforcing the value of transdisciplinary engagement in this growing field.

Yasamin Khalighi, Judith Maria Poersch

Other members of the research group: Granaz Baloch, Paul Hummel, Carolin Magdalena Jesussek, Blanca Luque Capellas, Theresa Mentrup, Markus Reuter, Dr. Fabienne Pradella, Kathrin Lutz, Dr. Oliver Völker