ZIRS
ZIRS
Aerial view on agriculture fields © istock/golero
© istock/golero

The Centre for Interdisciplinary Regional Studies (“Zentrum für Interdisziplinäre Regionalstudien” (ZIRS)) is a research institution of the Martin Luther University for the promotion and networking of regional scientific competences and for the management of interdisciplinary research projects.

News

Call for Papers: Futures Coal at RGS 2024 in London

ZIRS members Amy Walker and Felix Schiedlowski call for abstracts for their panel on ‘Futures of Coal’: Mapping the Geographies, Materialities and Rhythms of Coal at the Annual International Conference of the Royal Geographical Society. in London, August 2024. The authors welcome geographical, interdisciplinary, artistic, and novel contributions addressing questions and concerns in the fields of geologies of coal, genealogies of coal, temporalities of coal, materials of coal, and folklore of coal. Find the full call here. The deadline for submissions is February 16

PartEEnschaften - Transformative participation in renewable energy landscapes

Introducing new research project. In her current project at ZIRS PartEEnschaften – Transformative participation in landscapes of renewable energy, Kim Dittmann (M.A., researcher) conducts research on the connections between energy acceptance and local narratives. In order to intensify public participation and the formation of local publics, the projects aims to integrate local narratives into the planning culture of the energy transition (“Energiewende”).

The Local (and the) expert - Negotiating expertise and future-making in wind energy projects

Introducing new research project. As part of the project collaboration (PartEEnschaften), Kim Dittmann (M.A., researcher) is conducting her PhD research The Local (and the) expert – Negotiating expertise and future-making in wind energy projects , where she investigates the entanglement of knowledge and future-oriented action in the context of local wind energy projects. Her focus is on the development of (climate) expertise, its influence on individual visions of the future and their translation into concrete planning practices.

Schnittstelle Wissenschaft/Öffentlichkeit: Janine Hauer ins Planungsteam Forum Endlagersuche gewählt

Am 17. und 18. November fand das 2. Forum Endlagersuche in der Leopoldina in Halle statt. Das Forum begleitet die Arbeitsfortschritte bei der Endlagersuche der BGE mbH bis zum Start der Regionalkonferenzen und trägt dazu bei, diese für die Öffentlichkeit nachvollziehbar und transparent zu machen. Das Forum Endlagersuche wird von einem Planungsteam gestaltet, das sich aus unterschiedlichen Vertreter*innen der Zivilgesellschaft, Wissenschaft und Politik zusammensetzt. Gemeinsam mit dem Physiker Daniel Lübbert unterstützt Janine Hauer die Planung des 3. Forums Endlagersuche als eine von zwei Vertreter*innen der Wissenschaft.

Symposium: City / Energy Relations in Transformation February 28 – March 1, 2024 (Vilnius, Lithuania)

The Symposium “City / Energy Relations in Transformation” will look at the responses of actors from various fields, such as the nation-state, municipal, civil society, business, community, and cultural sector to the accelerated risks for multi-species habitats in Europe due to the intersection of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, environmental crisis, and ongoing energy transition. It will focus on the visions and emerging infrastructural politics for energy generation, transmission, storage, and consumption, conceived and put into practice to tackle this triple-faceted fragility related to energy/society relations. For more information go here.

New Publication – Michael Hoffmann and Christian Strümpell on Industrial Labour

Former ZIRS member Michael Hoffmann and Christian Strümpell have published this volume as part of the series ‘Work in Global and Historical Perspective’. The authors scrutinizes the fundamentally uneven character of industrial production and working class formation by bringing together anthropologists specializing on industrial labour in various locations from South America, Western and Eastern Europe, North Africa, and South Asia. The volume demonstrates the value of long-term ethnographic research and is of interest to a wide audience ranging from specialists in the fields of anthropology, history, sociology and development studies to students and activists. For more information go here or feel free to get in contact with the authors.

New Publication – Amy Walker and Felix Schiedlowski on Braunkohle

Amy Walker and Felix Schiedlowski, both researchers at ZIRS, have published a short piece on “Bodenschatz Braunkohle” for the collection “Erzähl mir Material”, published by Burg Giebichenstein Kunsthochschule Halle. The reader assembles creative texts about various forms of matter which have defined and continue to shape the city of Halle – salt, lignite, porphyry and amber. For more information go here or feel free to get in contact with the authors.