Forschung

11.04.2024 - Official Inauguration of DFG-funded Research Training Group on "Cross-Border Labour Markets" RTG 2951

On April 8, the newly established Research Training Group "Cross-Border Labour Markets: transnational market makers, infrastructures, institutions" RTG 2951 was officially inaugurated with a Launch Event at Bielefeld University. Speaker Ursula Mense-Petermann (Professor of Economic Sociology and Sociology of Work, Bielefeld University) and Co-speaker Karen Shire (Professor of Comparative Sociology and Japanese Society, University Duisburg-Essen) welcomed the 11 Principal Investigators from Bielefeld University, University Duisburg-Essen, and University Osnabrück, as well as the group of 11 newly appointed doctoral researchers, one Postdoc, as well as two associated researchers to the Research Training Group.

The Research Training Group investigates cross-border labour markets and the transnational organizations, infrastructures, and institutions that facilitate and stabilize such labour markets extending beyond national boundaries.

The rector of Bielefeld University, Professor Angelika Epple, congratulated the international  and interdisciplinary team of PIs for their success and praised their commitment and determination in this highly innovative project.

Keynotes were given by sociologist and migration scholar Ludger Pries (Ruhr University Bochum) and by labour market economist Michele Battisti (University of Glasgow), thus representing the interdisciplinary outlook of the RTG.

11.04.2024 - DFG-funded Research Training Group on "Cross-Border Labour Markets" starts its work

On April 1, the new Research Training Group "Cross-Border Labour Markets: transnational market makers, infrastructures, institutions" (RTG2951) began its work. This collaboration between Bielefeld University and University Duisburg-Essen will serve as the academic home for a diverse group of 11 doctoral researchers and 1 Postdoc from various countries including Azerbaijan, Brazil, India, Jordan, Egypt, Germany, Russia, Syria, and Turkey. Five of them will be based at University Duisburg-Essen, while seven will be at Bielefeld University.

The doctoral researchers Aamir Ali, Anar Muradov, Ammar Kakisch, Benedikt Heckens, Duaa Kattana, Elisabeth Schmidt, Ezgi Elmas Uluergüven, Kadir Engil, Karim Mousa Ashour, Mariana Gomes, Mark Simon, and the Postdoc Sandhya A.S. as well as associated researchers Jonas Feldmann and Lisa Mansfeld, will conduct innovative research on cross-border labour markets and the transnational organizations, infrastructures, and institutions that facilitate and stabilize such labour markets extending beyond national boundaries.

The RTG is led by Ursula Mense-Petermann (Professor of Economic Sociology and Sociology of Work at Bielefeld University) as Speaker and Karen Shire (Professor of Comparative Sociology and Japanese Society at University Duisburg-Essen) as Co-speaker. This Research Training Group is funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) for a period of five years with a total budget of up to 6.7 million euros.

14.12.2021 - Neue Publikation von Anna Spiegel

Spiegel, Anna (2021): ‘Permanent provisionality: The homes of mobile managerial professionals between temporariness and permanence’, Transitions: Journal of Transient Migration, 5:2, pp. 89–108, https://doi.org/10.1386/tjtm_00034_1

This article ‐ based on ethnographic research on German and American managers conducted in China, Germany and the United States between 2011 and 2014 ‐ examins how mobile professionals make sense of the transience of their current homes and how transience is reflected in their homemaking practices. The article argues that for mobile professionals the home becomes a critical place not only because of new multilocal spatialities but also because of new transient temporalities. Due to the corporate practice of giving successive temporary contracts, the mobile managers’ everyday life is characterized by a ‘permanent provisionality’, that is, an incongruence of the initially imagined and the actual time horizons of their mobility. The article shows how this ‘permanent provisionality’ is worked into the material and social textures of expatriate homes.

14.06.2021 - Einladung zum Vortrag/Invitation “Global work, transnational life and (im)mobility in pandemic times"

On Tuesday, 22nd of June, 2021 at 12:15, Irene Skovgaard Smith (University of East Anglia, UK) will present her current research in a talk entitled “Global work, transnational life and (im)mobility in pandemic times". The talk is part of the seminar „ Mobile Professionals. Transnational labour markets, careers and occupational cultures” organized by Anna Spiegel in the summer term 2021. It will take place in English via zoom. For further information and to register for the zoom session, please contact anna.spiegel@uni-bielefeld.de

Abstract:
The COVID-19 pandemic transformed our globally interconnected world almost overnight as cross-border immobility was enforced, striking at the heart of globalisation as we knew it. The coronavirus spread along international network ties and the response across the globe was travel bans, entry bans and border restrictions. The present study explores the impact of this disruption on the everyday transnationalism driven by international business, global work, career mobility and high skilled migration. The study focuses on the lived experience of transnational professionals in global corporations whose lives and work span geographical boundaries. 23 narrative interviews were conducted (virtually) from May 2020 onwards. The participants come from across Europe and beyond (Azerbaijan, Australia, Brazil, Canada, India, Indonesia, Mexico and the US) and live in Amsterdam, Berlin, Dubai, Geneva, Hamburg, Liechtenstein, London, Oslo, Perth, Vancouver and Singapore working for 20 different global corporations. The study explores how the pandemic has impacted the global work and transnational lives of these professionals and their sense of ‘home’ and belonging.

10.06.2021 - Einladung zum Vortrag "The Passport(s) of a Virtuoso: Transnational -- International -- Cosmopolitan Careers?"

Wir möchten Sie herzlich zum Vortrag "The Passport(s) of a Virtuoso: Transnational -- International -- Cosmopolitan Careers?"von Izabela Wagner (Collegium Civitas, Polen) einladen. Die Veranstaltung ist Teil des von Anna Spiegel angebotenen Seminars „Kunst als Arbeit. Arbeit und Beschäftigung in der Kultur- und Kreativwirtschaft" im Sommersemester 2021. Sie findet am Montag, dem 21. Juni 2021 von 12 bis 14 Uhr c.t. in englischer Sprache via Zoom statt. Für weitere Informationen und zur Anmeldung zur Zoom Sitzung kontaktieren Sie anna.spiegel@uni-bielefeld.de

We would like to cordially invite you to the presentation "The Passport(s) of a Virtuoso: Transnational -- International -- Cosmopolitan Careers?" by Izabela Wagner (Collegium Civitas, Poland). The event is part of the seminars „Art as Work. Work and Employment in artistic and creative labour markets” organized by Anna Spiegel in the summer term 2021. It will take place on Monday, 22^nd of June, 2021 from 12:15 to 13:45 in English via zoom. For further information and to register for the zoom session, please contact anna.spiegel@uni-bielefeld.de

Abstract:
According to the romantic idea, artists are cosmopolitans — they are citizens of the world. This deep conviction seems to be shared by sociologists because only recently appeared specific literature dealing with a problem of cultural differences in art worlds. The seminar is devoted to the analysis of the international dimension of creative careers focusing on objective and subjective elements. I focus on the creative careers of violin virtuoso and my work is based on the ethnographic research conducted over 10 years in the young violin virtuoso world.