GRK 2650:  Experiencing Gender. Constitution and Transformation of Being in the World

• Subject Area: Social Sciences ; Literary Studies
• Term: since 2021
• Website: Homepage
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 432521237

The central idea of the Research Training Group (RTG) is to conceptualize gender theoretically as experience, thereby strengthening embodied gender research within, between, and across disciplines. For us, understanding gender research as embodied means considering that people are bodily constituted living beings who existentially experience their gendered being in the world. The constitution of gendered modes of existence and the transformation of the gender order remain central research topics. However, with a focus on articulations of gendered and gendering experiences, our gaze is now directed toward the crucial space between constitution and possible transformation. The structural and individual conditions under which it is possible to articulate gender take center stage. These articulations, which as bodily process inherently involve a further development of experience, can become transformative on a social level particularly when they are perceived and shared by others. Meanwhile, the disciplines involved in the RTG – Sociology, Political Science, German Literary Studies, Educational Science, Sports Science, Health Communication, and Medicine – bring a broad spectrum of different modalities of articulation (linguistic, artistic, motoric, emotional, and somatic) into view comparatively for the first time. With its focus on articulation, which we understand as the concrete-sensual side of creating meaning (about oneself and others), the RTG intervenes in the central debate within gender studies concerning the relationship between language and the body. Instead of viewing language and the body as distinct and opposing entities, we take the experiencing and speaking, lived body as our starting point. This investigation of bodily language experiences opens a fundamentally new, both theoretical and empirical outlook for the understanding and analysis of gender and gender relations. The qualification concept aims primarily to foster the timely completion of innovative dissertations and prepare doctoral students for (international) careers within and beyond academia. The concept is tailored to the research program, while relying on existing structures for and long-standing experiences with doctoral qualification at Bielefeld University. Our training program systematically intertwines the acquisition of disciplinary competencies vital to pursuing a successful career in academia with the cultivation of interdisciplinary perspectives and questions. Special working formats provide a framework for junior scholars to engage in innovative research, continuous exchange between disciplines, and the development of socially relevant gender research topics for the scientific community and the broader public.

• DFG Programme: Research Training Groups
• Applicant Institution: Universität Bielefeld
• Spokesperson: Professorin Dr. Tomke König
• Participating Researchers: Professor Dr. Walter Erhart; Professor Dr. Oliver Flügel-Martinsen; Professorin Dr. Valerie Kastrup; Professorin Dr. Diana Lengersdorf; Professorin Dr. Sabine Oertelt-Prigione; Professorin Dr. Doreen Reifegerste; Professorin Dr. Barbara Thiessen; Professorin Dr. Heidemarie Winkel; Dr. Benedikt Wolf