Political Geography / Social Geography

Through research and coursework the Political Geography and Social Geography group examines the ‘construction’ of geographies: we research how particular spaces are (re)produced – that is, bordered/defined, evaluated, insitutionalised, materially produced and communicated in texts, images, as well as, maps.

Of special interest is how particular social orders are (re-)produced and how the production of spaces is an element of power-relations. These perspectives are applied to various areas of Political Geography (for example the investigation of political concepts such as ‚securitising’ and ‘ethnicising’ of urban politics); Social Geography (for example, questions about migration, identity and space); the geographical aspects of Urban Studies (for example, global mobility of governance concepts or processes of differentiating social-spaces); as well as Critical Cartography (in particular a critical analysis of new forms of web 2.0 cartography in the context of the geoweb and the associated radical changes in cartography.

A recent focus, here in Erlangen, is the analysis of processes of Europeanisation. Although the European Union has so far not had any explicit responsibilities for ‚spatial’ policy areas, the EU exercises considerable influence: from detailed environmental guidelines to fundamental questioning of the principle of ‚territory’ in member-states. Our analysis couples approaches from Political Geography with perspectives from political science, EU studies, as well as the debates about European Spatial Development.

In particular we work conceptionally with poststructuralistic approaches such as discourse analysis and theories of hegemony, as well as postcolonial studies. Many research activities fall within the scope of the geographical study of discourses. In many projects, therefore, a wide range of methods are used (from text-based archival research, Lexicometry and linguistic analysis methods to the application of Governmentality and to discourse analysis of visual materials and practices). Furthermore, here in Erlangen, we engage with pragmatic philosophy and its relevance for geography, concepts from a Bourdieu inspired relational geography, and Science Studies approaches.

Students in the Masters of Cultural Geography program are encouraged to actively participate in the research of the Erlangen Political and Social Geography groups. Bachelor and Geography Education students are also invited to regular seminars with a political geographical focus. Researchers and students readily discuss new concepts and theories within cultural and social geography and meet regularly for the ‘Spaces - Identities - Politics’ reading group. The Erlangen Lecture in Cultural Geography further promotes an international exchange.

When undertaking research and teaching programs we co-operate with many partners within the Friedrich Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (e.g. Professor for Political Sciences and the Middle East, Central Institute of Regional Studies – Middle East section and Europe section, Central Institute for Anthropology of Religion, F. A. University Model United Nations), the Department of Cultural Informatics at the University of Bamberg as well as other non-university actors such as the Federal Office for Migrants and Refugees (BAMF) in Nuremberg. We also have close connections within many Human Geography working groups and networks (including the: Working Group on Political Geography; Conference series ‚New Cultural Geography’; Human Geography Summer School series; Working Group on Geography and Migration research, Working Group on Urban Futures; Working Group on Geography and Society).

Current and recent research projects

1. Critical Cartography/GeoWeb

• Research network “Critical Cartography” (Bittner, Glasze, Romy Hofmann, Michel, Turk)
• Web 2.0 Mapping in the Middle East Conflict (Bittner, Glasze)
• Critical Cartographies of crisis mapping and mapping as aid (Turk, Glasze)
• Visual regimes in geography between photogrammetry and digital cartography (Michel)

2. Questions on migration, cultural difference and Urban governance

• Governance and re-/production of cultural differences in the context of area-based urban politics (funding: FAU-Erlangen-Nürnberg, DAAD-PROCOPE, Weber, Glasze, 2010-2012)
• Ethnicity and urban governance: A comparison of governance and (re-)production of ethnic difference im in the context of urban governance in Germany, Canada and France (funding: cooperation Bayern-Québec; BFHZ; Bittner, Germes, Glasze)

3. New Forms of governing the urban

• Urban Health Governance as security policy. Megacities, Health and the political life of everday things (external-funding, 2011- continuing; Füller)
• Urban Discourses. Security-oriented governance in urban areas – Comparison: USA - Germany (funding: DFG, Füller and Glasze 2006 - 2009, completed)
• Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) Global expansion and contextualisation of a new model of sub-local steering (funding: DFG, Michel and Glasze 2009 - 2013)

4. Questions on the discursive constitution of spaces and places

• Discourses of (in-)security and urban development in a wider Europe – regionalisation and contextualisation, in Germany, France and Poland (funding: Volkswagen-foundation Glasze and Germes 2006 -2009, completed)
• Imagined geographies in arabic print media. A discourse analysis of al-Hayat, Asharq Alawsat and al-Quds al-Arabi (externally funded, Husseini, 2006-2009, completed)
• Counter-hegemonial spatial discourses in disadvantaged suburbs in France (DFG, Tijé-Dra and Glasze, 2010-2013)
• „On the social construction of Ländlichkeit (rurality) in Germany –Discourses and Practices “ (Doctoral scholarship from the Bayerische Eliteförderung, Baumann, 2011 - 2013)

5. Questions of Europeanisation (Chilla)

• Territoriality as „contested concept“ in the context of Europeanisation (Chilla)
• Competence and Power-sharing in spatial policy areas (Chilla)
• The meaning of the nascent political goal of ‘territorial cohesion’ (Chilla)

6. Theories and methods in cultural and social geography

• Discourse- and hegemony theoretical approaches in human geography (Füller, Glasze, Germes, Husseini, Michel, Weber, Tijé-Dra, Bittner)
• Research on methods and methodologies for operationalising discourse analytical research in human geography (Husseini, Glasze, Bittner)
• Research workshop “Raum als Dimension von Machtverhältnisse“ [Space as a dimension of power relations] (Füller, Michel)
• Human Geography summer school “Diskurs und Raum” [Discourse and Space] 2010 (Füller, Glasze, Germes, Husseini, Michel, Weber, Tijé-Dra)
• Pragmatic approaches in human geography (Geiselhart, Orlowski)
• “Geographies and the fine arts of Distinction.“ Bourdieu's contribution to a relational human geography (Haferburg, Michel)
• Science Studies approaches in cultural and social geography (Glasze, Michel, Bittner)