{"id":10562,"date":"2023-04-03T07:32:21","date_gmt":"2023-04-03T05:32:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.humangeographie.uni-mainz.de\/?page_id=10562"},"modified":"2026-04-20T13:18:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T11:18:08","slug":"start-humangeographie","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.humangeographie.uni-mainz.de\/en\/","title":{"rendered":"Human geography"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/jgu-base-pageheader>\n \n<\/jgu-base-anchornavigation>\n
<\/div>\n\n\n<\/jgu-base-heading>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n

The various projects in our work group can be assigned to four thematic fields in our research and teaching: Uneven Geographies of Im\/Mobility & In\/Justice, Ethic Scapes, Sustainability Utopias<\/strong><\/strong> and Media Geography<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At its core is the geographical examination of questions of social inequalities that are reproduced through spatial constellations, especially in urban spaces, everyday life or spaces of the possible. We deal with utopian as well as real designs for transformation processes and alternatives for securing a future worth living. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n \n<\/jgu-base-image><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/jgu-base-heading>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/u><\/strong><\/h3>\n

<\/h3>\n

RECOMENT<\/u><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Leibniz ScienceCampus RECOMENT: <\/strong>“Resiliencies: Comparing and Integrating Methodologies, Methods, Narratives, and Theories<\/em>“<\/p>\n

Rethinking resilience – interdisciplinary, integrative, innovative<\/strong><\/p>\n

Resilience has long since become a central concept in science, politics and society. The growing importance of the concept of resilience is accompanied by an increasing diversity of disciplinary approaches – from Biology and Sociology to Cultural Studies and Ecology. Resilience processes can therefore not be understood from a single disciplinary perspective. Interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research approaches are required. <\/p>\n

This is precisely where the Leibniz ScienceCampus RECOMENT<\/strong> (“Resiliencies: Comparing and Integrating Methodologies, Methods, Narratives, and Theories<\/em>“) comes in: The aim is to analyze resilience phenomena across disciplines without dissolving the diversity of scientific perspectives into a unified theory. By comparing and integrating methods, procedures, narratives and theories, RECOMENT aims to build bridges between disciplines and develop new forms of productive inter- and transdisciplinary collaboration. <\/p>\n

RECOMENT understands resilience as a heuristic lens – as an observational perspective to better understand bio-cultural, socio-ecological and socio-historical processes. The central question is: Which resilience concepts prove to be analytically fruitful in which context – and how can different approaches be brought together effectively?<\/strong> <\/p>\n

(Further information: https:\/\/www.lwc-recoment.de\/<\/a> )<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n

“NetzWerkBildung Fair Migration”<\/u> <\/strong><\/h3>\n

(Grant from the Mainz Science Foundation)<\/p>\n

Knowledge and ethical competence for the use of (AI) technologies in the context of migration and flight<\/strong><\/p>\n

Especially against the backdrop of increasing populist and democracy-threatening movements (see also the statement published by scientific associations on the occasion of the 2025 federal elections “For a political orientation towards facts and the historical commitment to human rights” (link: https:\/\/rat-fuer-migration.de\/2025\/01\/31\/fuer-eine-politische-orientierung-an-fakten-und-der-historischen-verpflichtung-auf-die-menschenrechte\/)<\/a>, a geo-ethical formulation for the humanitarian and thus socially more sustainable and stabilizing design of migration processes in the sense of good governance<\/em> is currently of great importance. <\/p>\n

By focusing on opportunities and risks (especially dehumanization) through the use of technology in migration and refugee management, the participatory project contributes reciprocally to greater transparency and strengthening the agency of important actors through a targeted change of perspective and greater transparency of knowledge and experience.<\/p>\n

Using the methodology of iterative network building, the project contributes to the creation of participatory knowledge competence on flight and migration and to the strengthening of democratic capacity. The insights generated from the day-to-day work of both the political-administrative and NGO perspective are synergistically linked to the further development of the intercultural communication tool IncluKIT for employees in the field of initial reception in the refugee situation (see below). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\" <\/strong><\/p>\n

IncluKit<\/u><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Inclusive intercultural Communication Training Kit for Initial Reception of Migrants<\/strong><\/p>\n

IncluKIT is a training kit aimed at the whole spectrum of volunteers and professionals involved in the initial reception of newly arrived migrants in European countries, focusing on the analysis of mismatched expectations and misunderstandings during this transitional phase.<\/p>\n

Built on multiple case studies of critical incidents of professionals and volunteers working in reception of migrants or refugees, IncluKIT transposes typical conflict or challenging situations into case stories that can be easily imagined and playfully explored in order to induce reflexivity and allow all parties involved in the process to develop mutual understanding and increase intersubjectivity. It consists of standalone session materials that guide participants (ideally few of them) with or without a facilitator, through subsequent tasks and assignments finishing with a debriefing checklist. <\/p>\n

IncluKIT is the FIT FORTHEM co-creation pilot project of the FORTHEM Lab Diversity & Migration<\/a>. FORTHEM<\/a> is an alliance of nine European universities, six of which are involved in IncluKIT: Universit\u00e0 degli Studi di Palermo (Italy), Johannes Gutenberg-Universit\u00e4t Mainz (Germany), Universit\u00e9 de Bourgogne (France), Jyv\u00e4skyl\u00e4n Yliopisto (Finland), Uniwersytet Opolski (Poland) and Universitat de Val\u00e8ncia (Spain). The two external stakeholders for the project are SIETAR Europa<\/a> and diversophy\u00ae<\/a>, with the support of SIETAR Switzerland<\/a> and the SIG Migration<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Contact: inclukit@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n

(Link: https:\/\/ws.uni.opole.pl\/inclukit\/)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/jgu-base-section>\n

<\/div>\n\n\n<\/jgu-base-heading>\n\n\n\n \n\n \n\n
\n
\n

We deal with the im\/\/material dimensions, practices and designs of spatial reconfigurations of future designs as well as with questions about their access and exclusion mechanisms. The focus is on visions of social-ecological living environments worth living in the future. A special focus is on sustainability utopias – for example in the contexts of degrowth or resilience – which often emerge in urban transformation processes, but reproduce or conceal existing power asymmetries (e.g. in smart cities or in the concept of neo-natures). To critically reflect on these dynamics, we draw on conceptual approaches from philosophical ethics and the analysis of media productions and narratives of utopias and dystopias. Current projects deal with urban transformations in Muscat (Oman) as well as with processes, practices and spatial futures in the Indian Ocean region (Mauritius) and the Arab Gulf states (Dubai, Doha). Following on from the Geographies of Encounter<\/em>, we ask which new conceptions of the urban are being negotiated and produced. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n \n<\/jgu-base-image><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/jgu-base-accordionitem>\n\n\n \n\n
\n
\n

In our engagement with im\/\/mobilities, we look in particular at border and migration regimes and ask about their effects on identity, belonging, exclusion and the resulting geographies of (in)visibility. Our focus is on the politicized issue of refugee migration to the EU as well as on long-established labor migration regimes in the Indian Ocean, especially in the Arab Gulf States and the Sultanate of Oman. In addition, we deal with Black Geographies<\/em>, which analyze the spatial dimensions of Black life realities, as well as with general methodological questions of differentiation and constructions of foreignness. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n \n<\/jgu-base-image><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n<\/jgu-base-accordionitem>\n\n\n \n\n

\n
\n

In the context of planetary responsibility, we examine current understandings of values in dealing with planetary resources and their public negotiations. Our work ties in with debates on moral geographies<\/em>, critical resource geographies<\/em> and legal geographies<\/em>. In conjunction with Legal Geographies<\/em>, we analyze in particular the everyday practices of environmental responsibility and their influence on jurisprudence, legal regulations and the development of new concepts such as environmental personhood. We also examine socio-ecological issues from an anti-patriarchal perspective, for example in the context of transnational place-making through diasporic activism by women* from Pakistan in Berlin. In particular, we ask questions about visibility, dignity and embodied practices and reflect on methodological and epistemological approaches in the field of migration and media geography research. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>

<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n \n<\/jgu-base-image><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n<\/jgu-base-accordionitem>\n\n\n \n\n

\n
\n

Our media geography perspective is interwoven with the other research fields – we understand it both as an object of research and as a methodological approach for our main topics. In various projects, we analyze mediatized landscapes and spaces that are (re-)produced through Film, Photography or sounds and music. The focus is on the (co-)production of media representations and practices. We also deal with theoretical and practical perspectives on creative audiovisual methods, which are also used in our research.Our media lab <\/a>offers a wide range of opportunities to develop innovative formats for science communication such as DIY podcasts or (documentary) films. We are also co-editors of the book series Media Geography at Mainz<\/a><\/em>which acts as an international publication organ for media geography research. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n \n<\/jgu-base-image><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n<\/jgu-base-accordionitem>\n\n<\/jgu-base-accordion>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/jgu-base-section>\n

<\/div>\n\n\n<\/jgu-base-heading>\n\n\n<\/jgu-base-postlisting>\n\n\n \n\n \n\n

2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Poersch, J. M. (2026): The UN Ocean Decade and Its Performative Impact on North Sea Governance: An Extended Event Ethnography. In: Ocean and Society<\/em> 3. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.17645\/oas.11355<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hummel, P., E. Sommerlad & V. Cummings (2026): Doing Reel Geographies: Situating Responsibilities and the (In)Visibility of Migration through Short Vertical Films<\/a>. In: Annals of the American Association of Geographers<\/em>. (Online first) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2025<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sommerlad, E. & P. Hummel (2025): Researching with Film: perspectives on an applied film geography. In: Bauer, L., K. Beurskens, J. Dobrusskin, N. K\u00fcttel, J. Miggelbrink, A.-L- M\u00fcller & E. N\u00f6then (eds.): Visualizing Qualitative Geographies: A Handbook<\/a>. M\u00fcnster: Westf\u00e4lisches Dampfboot: 123-131. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Becklake, S., T. Freytag, G. Rainer, E. Sommerlad & C. Steiner (2025): Tourism is not<\/em> an island. Retheorizing tourism geography. <\/a> Geographical Journal 113 (3): 197-205.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hummel, P. (2025): Our land, our pirekuas. Music as a form of resistance and its appropriations. In: Science & Peace 3: 45-47. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sommerlad, E. & A. Jansson (2025): From Representation to Entanglement: 40 Years of media geography. In: Scottish Geographical Journal<\/em> 141, 3-4. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1080\/14702541.2025.2544917<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Poersch, J. M. (2025): Experiencing the North Sea – “Ship-Alongs” as a mobile method<\/a>. In: Naumann, M. & A. Str\u00fcver (eds.): Handbuch Mobile Methoden in der Sozial- und Raumforschung. transcript\/utb.: 56-67.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sommerlad, E. & R. Mauer (2025): Panoramas of the future: film cartographic views of cities in science fiction film and Gulf futurism. In: Ullmaier, J., R. Mauer & C. W\u00f6rsd\u00f6rfer (eds.): Everything in view: Perspectives of an intermedial panorama<\/em>. Wiesbaden. Springer: 491-535. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/978-3-658-48233-6_17<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sommerlad, E. & P. Hummel (2025): Researching with moving images: perspectives on an applied film geography. In: Bauer, L., K. Beurskens, J. Dobrusskin, N. K\u00fcttel, J. Miggelbrink, A.-L- M\u00fcller & E. N\u00f6then (eds.): Visualization of Qualitative Geographies. A handbook <\/em>. M\u00fcnster.<\/a> Westf\u00e4lisches Dampfboot: 116-124.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adscheid, T. & Bruns, A. (2025). (Un)Human Urbanity: Black Geographies in the Age of the Planetary. sub\/urban Journal for Critical Urban Research<\/em>, 13<\/em> (1), 13-41. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.36900\/suburban.v13i1.996<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adscheid, T. (2025). Who can afford to be human? Struggling for Affordable Housing in East London. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research<\/em>, 49<\/em> (2), 376-392. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/1468-2427.13304<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2024<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adscheid, T. (2024). The need to escape: Carceral entrapments and fugitive manoeuvres amidst London’s vicious housing circle. Radical Housing Journal<\/em>, 6<\/em> (1), 83-103. http:\/\/doi.org\/10.54825\/HMOL4671<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hummel, P., Sommerlad, E. & Zschocke, J. (2024). Doing Film Geographies with the Video Documentary Approach<\/em>. VisQual Methodbox. https:\/\/visqual.leibniz-ifl-projekte.de\/methodbox\/2024\/03\/21\/video-documentary\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lange, B. & Cummings, V. (2024): Spatially differentiating perspectives on post-growth. Geographical Review, 7\/8, 4-8. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Poersch, J. M. (2024). The North Sea and the EU’s interregional energy politics – a legal geography analysis. In T. Meyer & F. Weber (Eds.), Energy Geographies: Negotiating the French-German interface<\/em> (pp. 59-77). Springer VS. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/978-3-031-69797-5_4<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sommerlad, E.& Reeh, T. (2024):Media tourism in the Hunsr\u00fcck. Geographical Review<\/em>, 11<\/em>, 44-49.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2023<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hummel, P. (2023) Ra\u00edces y Brotes – P’urh\u00e9pechan Music, Politics & Identity<\/em> [Video]. Youtube. https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=4D74iCH30yU<\/a> (22.3.2024) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n<\/jgu-base-accordionitem>\n\n<\/jgu-base-accordion>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n \n<\/jgu-base-buttonitem>\n\n<\/jgu-base-button><\/div><\/div>\n<\/jgu-base-section>\n
<\/div>\n\n\n<\/jgu-base-heading>\n\n\n\n \n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n<\/jgu-base-idm-person>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n<\/jgu-base-idm-person>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n<\/jgu-base-idm-person>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n<\/jgu-base-idm-person>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n\n \n<\/jgu-base-listitem>\n\n\n \n<\/jgu-base-listitem>\n\n\n \n<\/jgu-base-listitem>\n\n\n \n<\/jgu-base-listitem>\n\n<\/jgu-base-contactcard>\n\n<\/jgu-base-slider>\n\n\n\n \n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n<\/jgu-base-idm-person>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n<\/jgu-base-idm-person>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n<\/jgu-base-idm-person>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n<\/jgu-base-slider>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/jgu-base-section>\n

<\/div>\n\n\n<\/jgu-base-heading>\n\n\n\n

Toni Adscheid<\/p>\n