Society Research
What are the major topics of your resesarch?
As part of my Habilitation on resistance in the Mediterranean Sea, I am focusing my research on people conducting Search and Rescue (SAR) operations for refugees in the Mediterranean Sea.
Specifically, I am currently looking at discursive practices or, in other words, the question of SAR NGOs name which actors in which situations and why. For me, it is particularly interesting how specific terms are chosen, for example, to describe people who have been rescued from drowning. When do SAR NGOs speak about guests or patients? When do they talk about fleeing humans, people on the move, or refugees? Or do they use other terms? I find it really interesting, for example, that “guests” is only used for people who were searched for, found, and rescued and who are currently on an organization’s vessel. Boats were used, life jackets were present, particular social practices were implemented. These terms are not just words; they also carry a lot of meaning and a lot of practical and material considerations.
I mainly do my research using qualitative methods—for example, at the moment, I am conducting a discursive analysis, evaluating the newsletters and newsfeeds of the various organizations active in the Mediterranean Sea. In the course of that, I am observing governmental and European actors like Frontex and the Italian coast guard as well as the rescue organizations that are involved. Also I conducted interviews with members of the SAR NGOs, in particular those members who are engaged in public relations.
In the summer 2023, I am planning to do field work in order to look at the handover process for the humanitarian organizations’ boats. The organizations have a 3–5 day handover period for a new crew to take up their posts and get information on the duties from the outgoing crew. I want to look in detail at how this transfer of information, the “doing knowledge”, takes place.
I myself was in the German lifesaving association (Deutsche Lebens-Rettungs-Gesellschaft) for many years, and I know how conventional sea rescue takes place and is talked about. I can use this experience as a contrast. The comparison clearly reveals the criminalization and delegitimization strategies that are particularly aimed at sea rescues in the Mediterranean Sea. For example, a ship operated by the German maritime search and rescue service (Deutsche Gesellschaft zur Rettung Schiffbrüchiger) has never been seized in a harbor on the pretext that it has too many life jackets on board.
As the NGO activities in the Mediterranean Sea can be described as practices of resistance, it effectively links back to my doctoral dissertation, for which I investigated projects and communities in which citizens source their energy needs independently from the traditional large companies, known as community energy groups. Comparable to the SAR NGOs these groups are trying to make up for what they understand to be a lack in conventional provision of basic services, regardless of whether these services are conventionally provided by corporations or whether policy makers are deemed responsible.
Even though in my Habilitation I no longer my focus on environment and climate change these issues are still present. For example, many of the actors, such as the captains or crew involved in civil sea rescue, come from environmental organizations. Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd are or were the largest resistance organizations on the water and, in addition to holding valuable experience in activism on the water, also provide physical resources, such as access to shipyards and experienced legal representation in political court proceedings. Many activists see their involvement in environmentalism and in civil sea rescue as intertwined, because it is also very much about global fairness, and because climate change is becoming increasingly relevant as a cause of migration.
How do you normally get to work?
When I am not working from home, I use public transport. I walk to the train station in Lüneburg, which is quite nice, as I live in the old town, and can walk over the locks. Then I wait for the regional train, the Metronom, which almost always leaves late. The Metronom is very comfortable, and I can always take advantage of the time to work.
What do you consider a successful day?
A happy child! A happy child at the end of the day definitely makes the day better. That means we need to have had halfway decent weather that lets us go the playground. That makes my child happy, and it is great for me: as a parent at the playground, there is an opportunity to spend time with other adults and have a chat, just to pass the time. That is something that I have particularly enjoyed after the lockdowns, meeting with colleagues in the office and with students after seminars or just bumping into people—it makes me happy.
Of course, a successful working day also means having that feeling that I have done some useful work and have made some progress. There are days when I will have read 10 texts, where none of them was what I was looking for; but, sometimes, I read one text that provides me with new inspiration and starts me thinking and writing. This gradual shift from reading to thinking to writing, while knowing I have something to say, is my favorite thing about my work.
How did you first become interested in the topic of sustainability?
After finishing secondary school, I completed a voluntary ecological year and then started my studies in biology. During my studies, I noticed that environmental protection seemed more relevant to me than the environment itself. After a semester, it was clear to me that I had to learn something about society, and not just about nature, for effective environmental protection. Then I changed subjects, and in the midst of the many other interesting subjects and opportunities that ethnology and sociology have to offer, I lost sight of environmental issues. But after my Magister examination in sociology with Anita Engels, I started my doctoral studies in the field of sociological climate research and took up my original interests again. In my doctoral studies, I examined 3 projects (two in Germany and one in Scotland) in which citizens develop and operate energy generation initiatives.
What interests are not listed in your CV?
There are so many interesting things, I cannot restrict myself to just one!
Unfortunately, there was one aspect of my doctoral research that I could not bring into my thesis, the classic “kill your darlings” conundrum. The citizen’s energy generation project in Scotland saw them repurpose a prisoner-of-war camp; while at the same time, the World War II bunkers in Wilhelmsburg and Altona in Hamburg were adapted for energy storage and generation. I find it quite interesting that these areas and buildings from World War II, which was the big danger of its time, are being transformed after many years of lying idle to tackle a new danger in the form of climate change. That gives these areas a new significance in relation to a new risk. I find it totally fascinating and would love to write about it.
This ties in with my interest and enthusiasm for urban research, which was already a major influence during my studies. In my teaching, I regularly make urban research an issue, and I am happy that it is still proving attractive for students today, particularly with regard to gentrification.
In addition, and this coalesces with my research on sea rescue, I would like to look more intensely at the question of life and death from the sociological perspective, known as Thanatosociology. In teaching, I have already done something on this with my students, and they were very engaged and interested in the subject.
Finally, and I am planning to submit a research proposal for this, I want to examine the matter of friendship more closely from a sociological perspective. There has already been some research into friendship, particularly during specific stages of life, but no one has yet investigated the process of getting to know another person and becoming friends in detail— sometimes it is instantaneous, and sometimes it occurs over time. In contrast to romantic relationships, friends never have to define their relationship; they almost never ask each other, “Are we still acquaintances, or do you think we are friends now?” or “Am I one of your best friends?” You just would not formulate a question that way. I find these little differences fascinating. That is why I would like to look specifically at how friends gauge or assess their friendships.
What will a happy childhood look like in 2050?
I hope there is still such a thing as a happy childhood in 2050! I once read a comment that I thought was very good. The author was talking about climate change, and fortress Europe policies, and the age from which children born now or in future in Europe will begin to carry the burden of the knowledge that they will only have a happy childhood here in Europe, because a growing proportion of children born around the world do not have a happy childhood or a childhood at all. That knowledge is very hard to keep secret. But going back to your original question, I think it will always be a question of where in the world we want this happy childhood to take place. Of course, I wish all children a happy childhood, but I am afraid the reality will be that there will be fewer and fewer children who will experience it.
What comes to mind when you hear the buzzword ‘zero-emission Hamburg’?
The harbor! Hamburg has a lot of industries, which makes it clear that massive technological changes are required to achieve zero emissions. It will probably be a very different city to the one we see today, as these changes will have massive infrastructural and substantive effects. I hope it will be a more beautiful Hamburg. Of course, we always have this wonderful ideal of more green spaces, fewer and quieter cars, and smiling cyclists. I do not dare make predictions—I am just really curious to see what it will look like.
When did you stop thinking you were becoming more sustainable? Or do you still think so?
At roughly the same time I became interested in this subject as a teenager, I heard the quote by Adorno that “There is no right life in the wrong one.” This made me aware, from a very young age, that I will never have the opportunity to live rightly, as whatever I do will be thwarted by the system within which it happens. I still find it an important statement that has the power to explain a lot. I have to, am able to, and should of course act, but my actions alone cannot be independent from the system within which they occur.
While it is always frustrating to notice that one cannot change the system, it is neither possible nor constructive to keep placing this unending responsibility on oneself. A good example is the self-imposed restriction not to use plastic. As long as we have a system in which corporations are rewarded for using plastic packaging, I cannot be responsible for its use. I cannot make that wrong right. I cannot live without using plastic in a world that is based on its use.
This knowledge also kind of relieves me of a burden. Of course, I can assume responsibility for how I consume. I am lucky enough to have an income that allows me to pursue my low carbon goals as much as possible and to conduct myself as sustainably as possible—for example, I do not have a car and try to fly as little as possible, but I know that without a similar political effort and change, this will not be enough. In my view, science and academia play a special role as a watchdog: researchers investigate and point out problems and describe the structures of political and economic power that explain why, for example, even though the need to protect the environment and climate has been scientifically proven, nothing or not enough is happening.
I also have the privilege that in my job as researcher, I am not bound by the interests of a corporation but am allowed to explore issues that are important to me.
Is there anything else that you would like to add to our discussion?
I would like to say a few words about teaching, as I really have a lot of fun doing that. That is why I am on the Quality Circle Committee and the Committee for Teaching, Studies and Academic Reform (LuST-Ausschuss). To me, it is important to stand up for good teaching, particularly in the field of qualitative methods, as it is often overlooked, and students often wish there was a greater range of seminars available. For example, I also offer my students the option of recording their research seminar report during the second semester as a podcast, featuring a range of voices and perspectives.
On the subject of sea rescue, I would also like to add that I think the issue of water safety will become more important in Germany over the next few years and that more people actively engaged in water rescue organizations will be desperately needed. For a start, many children have not learned to swim during the COVID-19 pandemic, and swimming classes have very long waiting lists; furthermore, for many people who have come or will come to live in Germany from crisis zones around the world, learning to swim was or is neither possible nor a priority. The number of people in northern Europe who cannot swim or who are unsure in the water will continue to grow.