Research Associate
After vocational training as a paramedic, Paul Hummel studied at the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg and the Université de La Réunion. He completed two combined bachelor’s programs in the subjects of Geography, Political Science and Sports Science. He then specialized his training as a human geographer in the English-language master’s degree program Human Geography: Globalization, Media and Culture at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. In his master’s thesis, he dealt with political and indigenous identity in the music of the P’urhépecha in Michoacán, Mexico. The documentary Raíces y Brotes (2023) was created as part of a practical film approach to geography.
After two years of professional activity with a regional focus on the countries of the French-speaking Sahel within the Africa portfolio of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), Paul Hummel has been working as a doctoral candidate and academic staff member in the Human Geography work group under the direction of Prof. Dr. Veronika Cummings since October 2023.
In his current research, he deals with migrant self-narratives in the context of European migration between the western Sahel states and Europe. The focus is on cultural forms of expression such as music or Film, which are understood as a form of urban identity formation and subjectivation as well as politicized counter-designs to dominant migration policy discourses. He is particularly interested in the extent to which artistic practices in exile and migration contexts can promote social resilience, while at the same time being integrated into postcolonial and defamatory narratives. His work examines the unequal preconditions for creative resilience and understands aesthetic practices as a central site of spatially manifesting social conflicts.
Manvelidze, K. & P. Hummel (2025): Blue Batumi. The ‘Las Vegas of the Black Sea’ between tourism value creation and socio-ecological vulnerability. In: City and water. Geographical Review (12) 2025, pp. 42-47.
Hummel, P. (2025): Our land, our pirekuas. Music as a form of resistance and its appropriations. In: Science & Peace 3: 45-47.
Sommerlad, E. & P. Hummel (2025): Researching with moving images: perspectives on an applied film geography. In: Bauer, L., K. Beurskens, J. Dobrusskin, N. Küttel, J. Miggelbrink, A.-L- Müller & E. Nöthen (eds.): Visualizing Qualitative Geographies: A Handbook. Münster: Westfälisches Dampfboot: 123-131.
Hummel, P., Sommerlad, E. & Zschocke, J. (2024). Doing Film Geographies with the Video Documentary Approach. VisQual Methodbox. https://visqual.leibniz-ifl-projekte.de/methodbox/2024/03/21/video-documentary/
Hummel, P. (2023). Raíces y Brotes – P’urhépechan Music, Politics & Identity. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4D74iCH30yU (22.3.2024)
Hummel, P. & Sommerlad, E. (2025). Doing Film Geography. Reframing (In) Visibilities of Urban Migration. Bolzano Art Week 2025 – Democracy Remapped. October 2025, Bolzano. 15.10.2025
Hummel, P. (2025) Navigating Urban Displacement: Resilience and Sense of Community Among Diasporic Groups from the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) in France. 22nd IMISCOE Annual Conference, July 2025, Paris. 05.07.2025
Cummings, V., Hummel, P. & Sommerlad, E. (2024). Film-based methods and their (geo)ethical implications: Reflections on the example of migration geographies of the urban. Conference Visual Geographies – Approaches, Methods, Questions. Dfg Network “Visual Geographies”, November 2024, Leipzig. 29.11.2024
Cummings, V., Hummel, P. & Sommerlad, E. (2024).
Hummel, P., Sommerlad, E. & Zschocke, J. (2024). Creation of the scientific documentary Raíces y Brotes (2023) – P’urhépechan Music, Politics & Identity. Workshop discussion: Contemporary mediation formats of regional studies knowledge – concepts, applications, experiences. Saxon Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Leipzig (SAW), October 2024, Leipzig. 15.11.2024
Film-based methods and their geoethical implications:Reflections based on the example of urban migration geographies in Palermo. SPOTLIGHTS Seminar – Staring at People. Interdisciplinarity and ambiguity of playing with the visibility of humans in cities. September 2024, Bucharest. 16.09.2024
Hummel, P. (2024). DIY Filmmaking at the Intersection of Urban Political Activism, Music and Migration. KISMIF International Conference ‘DIY Cultures, Democracy and Creative Participation’ (KISMIF 2024). July 2024, Porto. 13.07.2024
Cummings, V. & Hummel, P. (2024). “Uncovering” migrants everyday life and the production of the urban space in Europe through art-based methods. Forthem Blended Intensive Program (BIP) 2024: “Migrants and Cities”. Università degli Studi di Palermo (UNIPA), June 2024, Palermo, 10.06.2024
Gutenberg Graduate School of the Humanities and Social Sciences (GSHS)
FORTHEM Diversity and Migration Lab
AK Geographical Migration Research
Summer semester 2025:
- Major field trip with preparatory seminar: Georgia 2025
Winter semester 2024/2025:
- Practice class Human Geography I (Social Geography): Group F + G
Summer semester 2024:
- Seminar & Research Workshop : Exploring Migrants and the City: Place-Making in Palermo/ Sicily
Winter semester 2023/2024:
- Major field trip with preparatory seminar: Georgia 2024
Consultation hour:
By appointment via email
