03
Fachbereich
Gesellschaftswissenschaften
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Prof. Dr. Encarnación Gutiérrez-Rodríguez

Research at culture and migration

The members of the professorship are interested in decolonial perspectives of social analysis and theory; critical theory, feminist and queer theory; and epistemologies of the South as well as critical migration and racism studies.


In terms of content, this is done by focusing on thematic fields such as coloniality and migration/refugee, global inequality, racial capitalism, (neo-)extractivism, memory-political struggles, intersectional structural violence, material feminisms, solidarity, conviviality and creolisation. Research projects take place on topics such as migration, feminism and memory politics; human rights and precarious/undocumented migration; affect and labour; city, transculturation and conviviality; institutional racism at the university. 


Currently, Prof. Dr. Encarnación Gutiérrez-Rodríguez is working on issues of decolonial mourning, creolising conviviality, institutional racism and affect in higher education, human rights and the coloniality of migration.

​Supervision of Early Career Researchers

Prof. Dr. Encarnación Gutiérrez Rodríguez has been external examiner on one Habilitation and am supervising three R2 and R3 ECR. Further, She has been first supervisor of 12 completed PhDs at the Justus-Liebig-University Giessen (8) and The University of Manchester (4) and as second supervisor of 5 completed PhDs at the JLU (4) and Manchester (1). Additionally, she is currently the first supervisor of four PhDs and the second supervisor of 3 PhD at the Goethe-University Frankfurt and the JLU. She has also been the mentor of three PhD students from three different Universities (University Konstanz; Goethe-University; Marburg). She has been invited to be an external PhD reviewer in 10 PhD defenses, a.o. ERASMUS University Rotterdam, Goldsmiths University, Universidad de Guadalajara, Universidad Complutense, Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea, University of Zürich, Humboldt University. Further, she has been a committee member in PhD defenses at the JLU and now at the Goethe-University Frankfurt. The career path of the completed PhDs is the following: 4 Assistant Professors (USA, Canada & Germany); 5 PostDocs; 4 professionals working in the area of refugees, migrant women and international cooperations.

​Social Impact and Engagement

Prof. Dr. Gutiérrez Rodríguez' research has involved close collaborations with migrant and refuguee organizations, in particular women's organizsations in Germany such as Women in Exile e.V. and International Women's Space. Most fo which focus on knowledge transfer activities, with both academic and non-academic audiences, on questions regarding conviviality, asylum and migration.


Since 2002, she has also supported NGO's in the field of postmigrant transcultural society building in Germany (Bildungsinitiative Ferhat Unvar) and Austria (MAIZ). And since 2021 she has proactively been involved in the creation of a Migrant Feminism Network, focusing on conviviality and intersectional justice.


She is engaged in human rights advocacy work for migrants and refugees since the 1980s and work locally with different initiatives such as Women in Exile e.V. and the Bildungsinitiative Ferhat Unvar. She is also an active member in cultural and political initiatives supporting democracy and a member of the initiative in Defence of Migration Society (Zur Verteidigung der Migrationsgesellschaft). She participates in knowledge transfer events in theaters (HAU, Mousonturm) and cultural institutions (Instituto Cervantes).

Selected Research Projects

  • PI in the DFG-Research Group “Human Rights Discourses in the Migration Society" (MeDiMi) (FOR 5321), Head of Research of the Research Project “Human Rights Discourses in Political Migrant and Refugees Groups in Germany and the Unitede States", since September 2022; first phase ends August 2026; application to second phase for four more years
  • PI in the ERASMUS+ Research Project: “Building  Inclusive Societies. Diversifying Knowledge and Tackling Discrimination through Civil Society Parcipation in Universities" (co-ordination Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona) (2019-22)
  • PI in the Hesse Ministery of Sciences and Arts (HMWK) Research Project “Migrant Women Feminism in the German Women's Movement, 1985-2000" (2018-2020)
  • PI in DFG International Cooperation Programm with the University of West Indies, Trinidad and Tobago and JLU on “Local Entanglement of Global Inequalities" (2016-18)
  • European Social Fund (ESF), “Housework and Caretaking. Strategies of Reconciliation and Conditions of Employment with a Focus on Gender and Migration. A Comparative Study with Spain, Germany, Austria and the UK (2003-4), Co-PI with Red Cross, Madrid, Spain.
  • European Social Fund (ESF), “From Welfare to Work in Migration Society. A Comparative Study with Spain, UK and Germany" (2002-3), Co-PI with Red Cross, Madrid, Spain.

Functions

Membership in Advisory Boards and research Networks

  • International Advisory Board of the BMWF Network Project – Mecila (Maria Sybilla Merian Centre Conviviality-Inequality in Latin America), FU Berlin/São Paulo.
  • Commission of the Ministery of Science and Arts of the Land in Hesse (Hessisches Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kunst) on “Koloniales Erbe in Hessen / Colonial Heritage in Hesse", headed by Professor Dr. Benedikt Stuchtey, Philipps-University Marburg, and Professor Dr. Hubertus Büschel, University Kassel.
  • Revaluing Care in the Global Economy (RCGE) Advisory Board Member, Duke Universtity.
  • Council of Migration (Rat für Migration), Berlin.
  • Academic Board of RN32 'Sociology of Migration', European Sociology Association (ESA).
  • Head of the German Sociology Association Section on Women and Gender Studies (2014-18)
  • Member of the Academic Board of RN 32 Sociology of Migration, European Sociology Association (since 2013)
  • Evaluator for European Research Council Consolidator Grant 2023, ESRC (UK), AHRC (UK), Volkswagen and DFG (both Germany), ANEP (Spain), NWO (Netherlands), SNRC (Switzerland)
  • Reviewer of numerous international scientific journals such as Current Sociology; Australian Feminist Studies; Gender, Work & Organization; Race and Ethnic Studies; European Journal of Women's Studies; Feminist Review; Journal of Immigrant and Refugee Studies
  • Mentor for Early Career Scholars for Mentoring Hesse; German Foundation and Diversity Mentoring in University of Konstanz.

Leading Role in Professional Bodys 

  • Member of the International Advisory Board of the research project Intersectional Border Struggles and Disobedient Knowledge in Activism (KNOWACT), University of Helsinki, Finland, 2019-2022.       
  • Principal Investigator at the Graduate School of the Study of Culture (GCSC), Justus-Liebig-University, 2016-2022.
  • Chair of the Section of Women and Gender Studies in the German Sociology Association (DGS), 2014-2018.

​Human Capacity Development

  • Vice-Dean for Research at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Goethe University Frankfurt (2022-25)
  • Head of the Senate-Working Group RAU, working against racism and antisemitism at the Goethe-University (2023-24)
  • Member of Scientific Boards of Maria Sibylla Merian Centre Conviviality-Inequality in Latin America (2022–2026); Revaluing Care in the Global Economy (RCGE), Duke University (2021–2026); Research Project „Border Struggles and Disobedient Knowledge in Activism“ (KNOWACT), University of Helsinki (2019–2022);   
  • Member of the Commission of the Hesse Ministery for Science and Culture on “Colonial Heritage in Hesse" (2021-22) 
  • Vice Representative of the Executive Board of the Graduate Centre for the Study of Culture (GCSC), JLU, (2020-22)
  • PI in the Graduate Centre for the Study of Culture (GCSC), JLU, 2014-2022 (supervision of completed PhDs five; in course of submission two)
  • Member of the German Council for Migration, Berlin (since 2019)


​Doctoral Projects

Doctoral projects on the following topics have been supervised so far: Racism, Migration and Labour; Belonging and Material Culture; Solidarity Movements and Decoloniality; Refugee Strike and Marcuse; Indigenous Feminism and Neo-Extractivism; Decolonial Perspectives and Peace Negotiations in Colombia; Insitutional Discrimination and Transculturality in Higher Education; Global Learning and Decolonial Perspectives; Feminist-Intersectional Perspectives on Everyday Violence; Coloniality of Border Regimes; BPoC and Migrant Memory Politics of Racial Critical Struggles; Intersex and Discourses of Naturalisation; Queer Feminist Perspectives in Social Science Quantitative Methods; New Feminism and Postmigrant Pop Culture; Latin American Migration, Labour Market and Citizenship in Spain.

​Awards and Prizes

  • Maria Sybilla Merian Centre Conviviality-Inequality Award, 2020/21.
  • British Academy UK-Latin American/Caribbean Link Award, PI in the Collaboration between Brazil and the UK on “Feminization of Labour. Domestic Work and Affect in a Transnational Context", The University of Manchester, 2010-11.
  • Ford Fellowship Award Five Colleges Women's Studies Research Centre, 2008.
  • AHRC, Migration and Diaspora Cultural Studies Network Award (MDCSN), PI, The University of Manchester, 2006-8.
  • Humboldt Foundation Feodor Lynen-Research Award 2002-04.
  • Augsburg Scientific Prize for Intercultural Studies 1999.
  • DFG-PhD Award for the Graduate Studies Programm “Gender Relations and Social Change", 1995-98.
  • ASA-Award for Research Practice and Collaborative Work in Latin America, Ecuador, 1991-92.