College UA Ruhr: Publications

#In book
#RG Beregow

Gefühlsschläge. Popkritik als postironische Übung

In: Thomalla, Erika (ed.): Die Wahrheit über Kid P. Wie ein Hamburger Punk den deutschen Popjournalismus erfand | Hamburg: Junius | 2025 | pp. 84–87

#Article
#RG Beregow

Beregow, Elena / Bilgin, Emre

Shed Theory und die neue Trap-Ästhetik

DOI URL

In: Pop. Kultur und Kritik 24 | 2025 | pp. 32–39

#Article
#RG Beregow
#peer-reviewed

Beregow, Elena

Thermische Intrasubjektivität. Eine Soziologie des Schwitzens

Dieser Beitrag entwickelt eine soziologische Perspektive auf das Phänomen des Schwitzens. Statt es als rein biologische Reaktion zu verstehen, untersucht der Artikel, wie es zum Bestandteil und Effekt von Machtbeziehungen wird. In Auseinandersetzung mit dem Konzept der thermischen Gewalt (Nicole Starosielski) und dem „model case“ der Sweatbox wird gezeigt, dass der Gewaltbegriff an seine Grenzen stößt, wenn es zu alltäglichen Aushandlungsprozessen thermischer Machtbeziehungen kommt. Um den umweltlichen Charakter und die Materialität des Schwitzens denken zu können, wird Karen Barads Begriff der Intra-Aktion mit Blick auf thermische Phänomene kritisch diskutiert. Als ein spezifischer Modus der Intra-Aktion wird der Begriff der thermischen Intrasubjektivität vorgeschlagen, der auf die Machteffekte sensorischer Relationen zielt. Der Begriff beschreibt die prekäre Gleichzeitigkeit von Entsubjektivierungsprozessen durch Hitze einerseits und deren subjektivierenden, fixierenden Wirkungen andererseits. An historischen Beispielen werden die differenzerzeugenden Effekte des Schwitzens – u. a. seine Bedeutung für körperliche Arbeit, für vergeschlechtlichte Hygieneregime und rassifizierende Diskurse – herausgearbeitet. Derlei Machtbeziehungen wirken durch sensorische Umwelten, deren Bedeutung nicht zuletzt mit Blick auf die Zunahme von Hitzewellen an Brisanz gewinnen dürfte.

DOI URL

In: Berliner Journal für Soziologie 35 | 2025 | pp. 243–265

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#Senior Fellows
#peer-reviewed

Bettcher, Talia Mae / Orlandi, Nico

‘What Ever Happened to Joy?’ Talia Mae Bettcher Interviewed by Nico Orlandi

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In: APA Studies on LGBTQ Philosophy 25 | 2025 | pp. 2–6

#Article
#RG Kranke
#peer-reviewed

Bosi-Moreira, Bruna / Kranke, Matthias

Global Green Visions and World Order in the Anthropocene

This special issue on what we call global green visions offers a vantage point for understanding global environmental governance in the Anthropocene through the lens of world order(s). Specifically, we suggest in this introduction that a variety of international and transnational actors craft green visions, thereby not only outlining what (un)sustainability means for them but also promoting distinct conceptions of future world order. In other words, ideas about sustainability are not politically innocent; instead, each explicitly or implicitly revolves around a particular conception of world order. The special issue bridges and complements existing work in international relations and global environmental politics by examining how the global green visions of various actors interact with understandings of world order, rather than merely acknowledging that claims about what is “sustainable” and “unsustainable” are contested. In fact, global green visions are contested precisely because they entail renegotiations of how to govern under the increasingly difficult conditions of the Anthropocene.

DOI URL

In: Global Environmental Politics | 2025 | pp. 1–10

#In book
#RG Kranke

Bosi-Moreira, Bruna / Kranke, Matthias

World (Re)Ordering through Green Growth and Degrowth Futures

DOI URL

In: Wilson Rowe, Elana / Beaumont, Paul / de Oliveira Paes, Lucas (ed.): Governing Nature and the Making of World Order | Bristol: Bristol University Press | 2025 | pp. 127–142

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#Senior Fellows
#peer-reviewed

Brown, Stephen

The decriminalization of same-sex relations in Botswana: National, regional and international dimensions of LGBTQI+ activism

This article examines the first instance in the past 25 years of the decriminalization of same-sex relations in Africa via strategic litigation. It asks: What are the main factors that contributed to decriminalization in Botswana in 2019? What relative role did national, regional and international actors play? Drawing in part on interviews with key actors and observers in Southern Africa, it argues that Botswanan LGBTQI+ activists’ efforts outside the courtroom played a key role. They mobilized crucial support, expertise and financial resources of allies at home and elsewhere in Southern Africa, with some financial assistance from the Southern African affiliate of an international philanthropic network. Nonetheless, national activists maintained ownership of the process. The case thus contradicts assumptions in the literature that when human rights activists obtain assistance from transnational activist networks, the aid comes from the Global North and the international actors dominate the process.

DOI URL

In: Sexualities Special Issue: Queer Organising in the Global South | 2025

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#Senior Fellows

Bu, Qingxiu

Data sovereignty in Africa: steering digital transformation between China and the West

Digital sovereignty has become a pivotal concern for Africa striving to reduce their reliance on foreign powers for data storage and processing. Central to these efforts is the development of digital infrastructure, including data centres, often established with the support of Chinese telecommunications companies (CTCs). In the context of the ongoing technological rivalry between the U.S. and China, this study contends that CTCs are playing a prominent role in shaping Africa’s digital future. Their involvement in infrastructure projects significantly influences the contours of digital sovereignty across the continent. Yet, amid growing Western concerns over potential cyber espionage and the export of digital authoritarianism through Chinese technology, this paper emphasises that Africa’s digital sovereignty and developmental priorities must remain paramount, regardless of which foreign partners are involved in the continent’s digital transformation.

DOI URL

In: International Cybersecurity Law Review | 2025

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#Senior Fellows

Bu, Qingxiu

Industrial Policy in the Global Climate-Trade Nexus

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In: Sowels, Nicholas; Wouters, Jan; Dulak, Michał; Lattore, Maria (ed.): The European Union in an Illiberal World | Chichester: John Wiley & Sons | 2025 | pp. 73–82

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#RG Kranke
#peer-reviewed

Campbell-Verduyn, Malcolm / Kranke, Matthias

(Post-)growth infrastructures

This introductory paper outlines and situates the special issue’s core concept of growth infrastructures, defined as socio-material arrangements oriented towards or facilitating the pursuit of economic growth. We argue that the quest for continuous economic growth is not merely a matter of policy or institutional design, but instead more deeply embedded in intersections of ‘hard’ physical objects and ‘softer’ social relations. Mobilizing scholarship from across the social sciences, we bridge the study of infrastructures with the study of (post-)growth, two research agendas whose disconnect has inhibited deeper insights into the infrastructural relations underpinning (post-)growth regimes. Deliberate foregrounding of the relational underpinnings of growth is necessary, we contend, to better account for how infrastructures and the politics of (post-)growth are socio-materially entangled.

DOI URL

In: Economy and Society 54 | 2025 | pp. 597–619

#Book
#RG Kranke

Campbell-Verduyn, Malcolm / Kranke, Matthias (ed.)

(Post-)Growth Infrastructures. Economy and Society 54(4) (Special Issue)

URL

London: Taylor & Francis | 2025

#Article
#RG Kranke
#peer-reviewed

Campbell-Verduyn, Malcolm / Kranke, Matthias

Post-growth tokens or token post-growth? Bitcoin, alt-coins and infrastructural evolution in digital finance

This paper examines the paradoxical (post-)growth trajectory of Bitcoin, the first ‘cryptocurrency’, as a case of infrastructural change in digital finance. Bitcoin's founding phase revolved around the principles of self-governance and self-limitation, which combined to create a commitment to degrowing the financial system and limiting monetary production to impede accumulation. Yet growth logics soon began to unfold after Bitcoin's creation in 2009. How and why did that shift occur, and with what implications? We rely on white papers and outputs of alt-coin founders to trace the socio-technical relations underpinning the emergence and expansion of ‘alt-infrastructures’ oriented around growth. We demonstrate how what was originally designed as a post-growth infrastructure largely, albeit not fully, succumbed to conventional growth dynamics over a fairly short period.

DOI URL

In: Economy and Society 54 | 2025 | pp. 765–788

#In book
#Senior Fellows

Coltofean, Laura et al.

What Is Wrong with This Image? Reflecting on Past Diversity Through Visual Representations of Gender Stereotypes in Archaeology

Gender and feminist archaeologists have fought for decades against gender stereotypes through academic writing, museum exhibitions, and popular literature, among other mediums. Despite their efforts, many of these stereotypes—e.g. depictions of men only as hunters and producers of tools and women only as gatherers and caregivers, or same-sex practices being considered a modern invention or a disorder—continue to survive and even flourish, both in academic and non-academic settings, especially in countries where gender archaeology does not exist or where gender in archaeology is barely discussed. These stereotypes reflect essentialist interpretations and (visual) representations of the past, which often replicate contemporary ontologies, perceptions, and dichotomies. The past, however, was probably just as diverse as our contemporary reality. Using a feminist and intersectional framework, this paper discusses the possibilities and challenges of creating more diverse and inclusive visual representations of the past. It does so by presenting the case study of an editorial project resulting in an illustrated booklet on gender stereotypes in archaeology, edited under the aegis of the Archaeology and Gender in Europe Community of the European Association of Archaeologists. In a thought-provoking and open way, this booklet addresses often uncomfortable topics concerning gender in archaeology through images and text, in an attempt to raise awareness among the professionals and fans of the discipline of archaeology.

DOI URL

In: Matias, Jo Zalea; Scheyhing, Nicola; Gutsmiedel-Schümann, Doris (ed.): Diversity in Visual Representations of the Past | New York: Springer | 2025 | pp. 93–103

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#Senior Fellows

Donahue, William C.

Weltmeister des Vergessens. Zum amerikanischen Exzeptionalismus

URL

In: Merkur 79 | 2025 | pp. 91–98

#In book
#Senior Fellows

Egya, Sule Emmanuel

Global South Ambivalence of Transformation? Literature, Extractive Capitalism, and Literary Militancy in West Africa

URL

In: Müller, Simone M. / Schmidt, Matthias / Twelbeck, Kirsten (ed.): Ambivalences of Ecological Transformation: Perspective from the Environmental Humanities | Milton Park: Routledge | 2025 | pp. 143–156

#Book
#Senior Fellows

Erthal, Alice / Wegner, Douglas

Strategy and Leadership for Grand Societal Challenges. Bridging Theory and Practice

Strategy and Leadership for Grand Societal Challenges: Bridging Theory and Practice offers a thorough examination of grand challenges (GCs), addressing the origins and impacts of these global issues while outlining practical solutions. Through a blend of theoretical exploration and real-world case studies, this book reveals how businesses, governments, and organizations can strategically approach GCs to foster societal progress. It presents a toolkit for addressing GCs, focusing on key areas like multi-stakeholder collaboration, innovative business models, and responsible innovation. Readers will gain insights into ethical and transformative leadership and the importance of open strategizing, which prioritizes transparency, inclusivity, and socially aligned decision-making. Practical guidance and theoretical frameworks equip leaders to navigate the complex and sometimes paradoxical aspects of GCs, helping them drive meaningful, sustainable impact. This book is essential reading for academics, researchers, and advanced students in the fields of business management, leadership studies, and public policy, especially those focused on addressing complex societal issues through strategic frameworks. It also offers valuable insights for scholars investigating the intersections of ethics, responsible innovation, and multi-stakeholder collaboration. While practitioners and policymakers may find actionable strategies within its pages, scholars and professionals alike will benefit from its rigorous theoretical foundation and empirical case studies.

URL

New York: Routledge | 2025

#In book
#RG Fastenrath

Fastenrath, Florian et al.

The Politics of Expectations in Local Government. (De-) Financialization Processes in the US and Germany

Local governments have increasingly embraced financial engineering in times of austerity. The characteristics and causes of this process have been examined under the concept of state financialization in a recently growing multidisciplinary literature. It remains puzzling, however, why a dramatically failed financialized approach to public finance in some cases leads to definancialization, while in others it proves to be resilient. Drawing on two comparative case studies of policy responses to crisis situations arising from the use of opaque financial instruments (swaps) at the local level in Germany and the US, this chapter examines the conditions leading to these different patterns of policy change. By bridging approaches to policy change after crisis with current research on fictional expectation formation, the chapter points to the centrality of the “politics of expectations.” Policy outcomes are the result of fierce struggles between financial experts and civil society actors to influence decision-makers’ expectations in times of fundamental uncertainty.

DOI URL

In: Lenel, Laetitia; Nützenadel, Alexander; Streb, Jochen; Köhler, Ingo (ed.): The Routledge Handbook of Economic Expectations in Historical Perspective | New York: Routledge | 2025 | pp. 578–598

#Article
#Senior Fellows
#peer-reviewed

Franzel, Sean / Kaminski, Nicola

Zeitlichkeiten von Journalpublikation, Entzeitlichung im Buch. Aviso eines Editionsprojekts zu Theodor Fontanes »Vor dem Sturm« in der Zeitschrift Daheim (mit Probelektüren)

URL

In: Fontane Blätter 119 | 2025 | pp. 117–166

#In book
#Senior Fellows

Ganeva, Mila

Cabaret in Transition: Ilse Bois' Parodies Between the Times and Between the Genres

URL

In: Barnstone, Deborah Ascher; Brett, Donna West (ed.): Modernist Aesthetics in Transition. Visual Culture of the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany | London: Bloomsbury Publishing | 2025 | pp. 199–218

#Article
#Senior Fellows

Ganeva, Mila

Die Magie der echten Kabarettpersönlichkeit. Die Komikerin Ilse Bois und ihr Filmschaffen von 1913 bis 1927

URL

In: Filmblatt 30, 88/89 | 2025 | pp. 4–23

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