Vorlesungsverzeichnis

Era and Technology. From stone age to light year. (Seminar)

Termin:
wöchentlich | Mittwoch | 12:15 - 13:45 | 13.10.2025 - 30.01.2026 | C 12.108 Seminarraum

Inhalt: We often assume today that technological change is a major factor in societal change and that it tends to lead to historical progress. In this seminar we will put it as question: How much did sciences, materials available and discoveries stamped the society in general and embossed the epoch of human evolution? How did science and technology evolve as human activities? How do they relate to the larger civilization? The seminar will focus on historical transitions in terms of changes in materials use and technologies applied and connect them with changes in policy, culture and way of living starting with: the Neolithic Revolution and coming to Nanotechnology or furthermore the future of the 21th century.

Artificial Intelligence – Understanding opportunities and limitations across disciplines (Seminar)

Dozent/in: Detlef Schwarting

Inhalt: AI (Artificial Intelligence) has become ubiquitous in the discourses on technological, economic, and societal development either as a savior or as a threat, both in the media and in various disciplines of science. In general, it can be stated that AI, in addition to having undeniable benefits and opportunities for humanity in the health care sector, in industrial processes and as a supporting tool in many situations of human life, also presents several existing or potential risks that are equally not yet holistically understood. In principle, an all-encompassing investigation would be called for that weighs benefits against risks and assesses them with a view to future developments. In fact, many discussions on the topic pick out individual aspects of the technology or individual applications and derive normative judgments. The assumptions made and their origins are often not clear. Many studies approach the topic from a mono-disciplinary perspective. It is the objective of this seminar of overcoming this by taking a cross-disciplinary view on AI’s functionality, opportunities, limitations, and shortcomings as a basis for further normative conclusions which will be detailed on a follow-on seminar. Some of the key questions that will be discussed in this seminar: • How does what computer scientists call "artificial intelligence" come into being? What are the mechanisms of action, how does cognition and judgment of AI come about? • What is natural intelligence, what does the intelligence theory of psychology tell us about it, and what clues does this provide for the understanding the limitations of artificial intelligence? • What is creativity and can AI ever be creative (in the human sense)? • What insights arise from the centuries-long discussions of the philosophy of mind, especially on the body-soul problem and on human consciousness for the classification of artificial intelligence? • Can human consciousness be "naturalized"? • What does science know about the functioning of the human brain and especially about the emergence of consciousness? • Does AI have free will and is the hypothesis that the human brain is determined plausible? • What is autonomy and is AI truly autonomous? • Can AI assume responsibility? • How does AI affect individuality of humans? • Does it affect human dignity? How?

Botticelli Contemporary: Canon Critique in Contemporary Art (Seminar)

Dozent/in: Vera-Simone Schulz

Termin:
wöchentlich | Mittwoch | 10:15 - 11:45 | 13.10.2025 - 30.01.2026 | C 12.111 Seminarraum

Inhalt: This master seminar focuses on the work of Black and PoC artists that engage critically with canonical works of art. The course will investigate how contemporary artists revisit, reinterpret, and subvert the meanings of historical artworks, how they interrogate power structures, create dialogues about representation, identity, and colonial histories, and challenge the Eurocentric canon. Focusing on artists such as Yinka Shonibare, Titus Kaphar, Hew Locke, Sammy Baloji, and Harmonia Rosales who critically respond to the European Renaissance in their works and who expose the entangled histories of empire, trade, and colonial exploitation, the seminar examines the impact of the past onto the present and the ways how present pasts are also continuously negotiated in the arts. The course discusses how contemporary artworks challenge the masterpiece discourse, question racial representation and historical visibility, and interrogate the history of enslavement, colonial and imperial legacies, and gender dynamics in the art historical canon. The seminar will consist both of close readings of individual artistic responses – when Harmonia Rosales reinterpreted paintings by Botticelli or when Lubaina Himid challenged Picasso –, and it will consider the question of canon critique on a broader methodological level, examining strategies of appropriation, transformation, and resistance, questioning who is included in canons and how histories are told or erased through visual culture, and how marginalized stories are being unearthed by contemporary artists today to complicate narratives of art history.

Concepts of the In-Between: Hybridity, Creolization, Mestizaje, Syncretism, Chix’i (Seminar)

Dozent/in: Sebastián Eduardo Dávila

Termin:
wöchentlich | Mittwoch | 10:15 - 11:45 | 13.10.2025 - 30.01.2026 | C 14.103 Seminarraum

Inhalt: Searching for conceptualization beyond dualistic and dichotomous models, authors stemming from different fields have focussed on in-betweenness as a site of mixture, fusion, or juxtaposition or doubling. They have adapted terms from fields as diverse as botany, religion, and linguistics for the study of culture, knowledge, and society: hybridity, syncretism, creolization. Others have returned to racial categories like mestizaje, anchored in Latin American colonial history, or turned to Indigenous concepts like ch’ixi. Throughout the seminar, we will discuss these approaches based on readings from various fields of thought, focusing on their disciplinary, theoretical, and political differences while sharpening our own methodologies to address in-betweenness.

Debatten in den Sozialwissenschaften (Komplementärstudium) (Seminar)

Dozent/in: Astrid Séville

Termin:
Einzeltermin | Mo, 02.02.2026, 12:00 - Do, 05.02.2026, 18:00 | C 12.001 Seminarraum | Das PhD-Seminar findet als Blockseminar statt und ist für Masterstudierende geöffnet.

Inhalt: Das Seminar steht allen Promovierenden der Leuphana offen. Es widmet sich zentralen Debatten der Sozialwissenschaften und diskutiert ihre Relevanz für heutige Forschung. Es werden Schwerpunkte auf den Positivismusstreit, den Historikerstreit und auf die Kontroverse um eine mögliche Politisierung der Sozialwissenschaften unter dem Begriff einer transformativen Wissenschaft gelegt; Anregungen und Änderungen sind aber willkommen. Die Teilnehmerinnen und Teilnehmer werden mit diesen akademischen Auseinandersetzungen vertraut gemacht und dazu eingeladen, ihre jeweiligen Forschungsprojekte konzeptionell, methodisch und paradigmatisch zu reflektieren. In welcher Tradition stehen ihre je eigenen Forschungsfagen? Wie zeigt sich hier das eigene Wissenschaftsverständnis? Wie lassen sich gesellschaftliche Phänomene erforschen? Wie steht es um die Relevanz des eigenen Projekts – oder sind Nützlichkeitserwägungen gänzlich abzulehnen?

DIY Ethics. Structures, values and strategies of independent production from underground culture to maker movements (Seminar)

Dozent/in: Robin Kuchar

Termin:
14-täglich | Mittwoch | 10:15 - 13:45 | 20.10.2025 - 30.01.2026 | C 12.010 Seminarraum

Inhalt: DIY, or “do-it-yourself,” is not only a widely used and colorful term in youth culture, but has also been gaining increasing attention in the context of education and work. It emerged as a specific culture of prduction originating from the punk movement in the 1970s and has since developed in multiple directions. In this seminar, we will examine the concept of DIY and the associated forms of production. We will trace the emergence of a global DIY culture through case studies, discuss the significance of DIY careers and the pursuit of autonomy, and reflect on the growing importance of DIY in the context of postmodern economics and the maker movement. Therefore, we will first focus on the conceptual level before examining, discussing, and critically questioning current manifestations of DIY ethics in presentations and papers.

Ethnografische Forschung in Theorie und Praxis (Komplementärstudium) (Seminar)

Dozent/in: Melanie Ptatscheck

Inhalt: Das Seminar vermittelt Promovierenden grundlegende und vertiefte Kenntnisse der ethnographischen Forschung in Theorie und Praxis. Dabei werden zentrale methodologische und methodische Konzepte der Ethnographie behandelt und mit konkreten Forschungsbeispielen verknüpft. Besonderes Augenmerk liegt auf den Herausforderungen der ethnographischen Feldforschung, insbesondere im Hinblick auf Forschungsethik, Datenerhebung und -auswertung. Die Teilnehmenden entwickeln die Kompetenz, ethnographische Methoden reflektiert einzusetzen und ihre eigenen Forschungsvorhaben kritisch zu hinterfragen. Nach einer allgemeinen Einführung werden die folgenden Perspektiven spezifisch behandelt: (1) Grundlagen der Ethnographie: Konzepte und Methodologie - Historische Entwicklung und theoretische Grundlagen ethnographischer Forschung - Abgrenzung zu anderen qualitativen Methoden - Reflexivität und die Rolle der Forschenden im Feld - Zugang zum Feld: Chancen, Herausforderungen und Strategien (2) Methoden der ethnographischen Datenerhebung - Teilnehmende Beobachtung: Formen, Herausforderungen und Protokollierung - Qualitative Interviews: Narrative, problemzentrierte und Experteninterviews - Virtual/Online-Ethnographie: Digitale Felder, Herausforderungen und Chancen - Autoethnographie: Forschung aus der Innenperspektive und eigenen Erfahrung - Triangulation und Mixed-Methods-Ansätze in der Ethnographie (3) Datenanalyse und Interpretation - Ethnographisches Schreiben: Vom Feldnotizbuch zur Publikation - Theoretische Kodierung und Grounded Theory - Ethnographische Fallstudien und dichte Beschreibung - Herausforderungen der Repräsentation: Stimmen aus dem Feld, Machtverhältnisse und Ethik (4) Ethik und Verantwortung in der ethnographischen Forschung - Informed Consent und Datenschutz in der ethnographischen Praxis - Machtverhältnisse und die Beziehung zwischen Forschenden und Beforschten - Sensible Themen und vulnerable Gruppen: Herausforderungen und Lösungsansätze - Wissenschaftliche Integrität und Umgang mit Forschungsdilemmata (5) Anwendung ethnographischer Methoden auf die eigene Forschung - Reflexion der eigenen Forschungsprojekte vor dem Hintergrund ethnographischer Konzepte - Diskussion von Feldzugängen, Datenerhebung und Analyse im Peer-Format - Entwicklung einer Forschungsstrategie: Verbindung von Theorie und Praxis - Herausforderungen des ethnographischen Publizierens und Schreiben für verschiedene Zielgruppen Die Themenblöcke werden miteinander verknüpft, um Querverbindungen zwischen Theorie und Praxis sichtbar zu machen. Dabei steht der Austausch über konkrete Forschungsprojekte der Teilnehmenden im Zentrum.

Gender and Inequality Matter for Entrepreneurship (Seminar)

Dozent/in: Rebecca Namatovu

Termin:
wöchentlich | Mittwoch | 12:15 - 13:45 | 20.10.2025 - 30.01.2026 | C 14.103 Seminarraum

Inhalt: Entrepreneurship is increasingly recognized as playing a key role in economic growth and poverty alleviation. The rapidly growing markets of developing countries are often seen as full of untapped opportunities for entrepreneurs. However, entrepreneurs in developing countries face various challenges such as difficult business environments with conflicting institutional demands, resource constraints, inequality, and widespread poverty. Despite these challenges acting as barriers to business start-up and growth, resource scarcity and uncertain institutional contexts also create opportunities for entrepreneurship. As a result, new forms of entrepreneurship are emerging, aiming to address gender opportunity gaps, inequality, poverty, and institutional voids. These initiatives, which can be for-profit, non-profit, or hybrid organizations, all utilize business principles to drive social, environmental, and/or institutional change. The course "Gender and Inequality Matter for Entrepreneurship" explores the opportunities and challenges for entrepreneurship in developing countries. It delves into the significance of gender, inequality, and their intersectionality in entrepreneurship for development. The course covers various theoretical approaches to entrepreneurship and examines different forms of entrepreneurship, including entrepreneurship in the informal economy, social entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship with the Base of the Pyramid (BoP), sustainability entrepreneurship, and digital and institutional entrepreneurship. It also evaluates how unequal practices and gender biases impact entrepreneurship for development and critically assesses the potential contributions of entrepreneurship to sustainable development. The course emphasizes the influence of the institutional, economic, and cultural environment on entrepreneurship opportunities and strategies, and evaluates how business models, such as social entrepreneurship and community-based enterprises, are either inclusive or help to improve gender disparities and other inequalities within the specific contexts of their operation.

Introduction to Theories of Gender and Diversity (Seminar)

Dozent/in: Ben Trott

Inhalt: This seminar introduces some of the key theoretical approaches to the study of gender and other forms of social difference and heterogeneity. It includes an attention to theories of sexuality, racism, disability/able-bodiedness, the legacies of colonialism, and social/economic class. Over the course of the semester, students explore the historical relationship between theories that were developed within feminist and other social movements in the second half of the twentieth century and those that have subsequently taken hold within critical fields of study in the university. These include Women’s Studies, Gay and Lesbian Studies, Queer Studies, Transgender Studies, Black Studies, Post-Colonial Studies, Disability Studies, sociological theories of class and inter-disciplinary scholarship on diversity and intersectionality.

Judicial Politics (Seminar)

Dozent/in: Natascha Zaun

Termin:
wöchentlich | Mittwoch | 10:15 - 11:45 | 13.10.2025 - 30.01.2026 | C 14.204 Seminarraum

Inhalt: This course addresses the role of courts in politics, an often neglected topic in Political Science. We ask how law and rights matter, how they affect policy and what influences judicial decision-making. What is the role of public opinion in court decisions? How independent is the judiciary from politics? And how does ideology or gender influence the decision-making of judges. While most of the literature on this topic addresses these aspects in the US context, we try to also cover non-US cases where possible.

Management and Organization Theories (Seminar)

Dozent/in: Elke Schüßler

Inhalt: The course exposes students to foundational and current management and organization theories. The topics of this course are organized along key themes and challenges of organizational life, such as formal vs informal organizing, power and politics in organizations or changing institutional demands. Initially, traditional and more recent perspectives on organizations and organizing are introduced. Finally, the course will also attend to moral and ethical issues of organizing and digital and algorithmic organizational forms and practices.

Space as Living Environment (Seminar)

Dozent/in: Maria Teresa Costa

Termin:
wöchentlich | Mittwoch | 16:15 - 17:45 | 13.10.2025 - 30.01.2026 | C 12.002 Seminarraum

Inhalt: The seminar proposes to approach space not as an object of perception, but as a medium in which we are immersed. This shift has significant consequences: the traditional epistemic model—centered on a subject perceiving an object—should be replaced by a reciprocal relationship between an observer who perceives space and the space that, in turn, acts upon the observer. In this view, space cannot be considered separate from our perception, nor from the media and instruments that, whether innocently or not, mediate and enable that perception. Like sound, space envelops us and immerses us, directing and structuring our movements, rhythms, perspectives, and thoughts. In doing so, space helps shape our world. But how does space affect our physical, psychological, and emotional conditions? Throughout the seminar, we will engage with this question through close readings of key texts in aesthetics, architectural theory and affect theory, as well as through interactions with other media forms—including images, videos, and performances.

Theories of Law (§ 4 Abs. 1 Nr. 1 lit. d NJAG) (Seminar)

Dozent/in: Axel Halfmeier

Termin:
wöchentlich | Mittwoch | 08:15 - 09:45 | 13.10.2025 - 30.01.2026 | C 14.006 Seminarraum

Inhalt: Unlike a traditional course on legal theory that focuses on the abstract question “what is law,” this course looks at a specific theoretical development that has been very influential in the 20th century; the development of legal realism and the law and economics movement. These instrumental approaches to law have developed mainly in the U.S., but have had impact all over the world. The course will look at the roots of this approach in the writings of Oliver Holmes, go through the main "realist" period in the 1920s and 1930s and will then move to the post-war development of law & economics, looking at the Coase theorem and other seminal writings on law & economics in the later 20th century.

Think Mathematically, Act Algorithmically: New Trends in Algorithms for Identification and Monitoring (Complementary Studies) (Seminar)

Dozent/in: Paolo Mercorelli

Inhalt: The course is structured in three parts: - Kalman Filters: the linear case, the nonlinear case (extended and augmented Kalman filters), cascaded Kalman Filters, Dual Kalman Filters - Recursive Least Squares Methods System Identification - Introduction to Wavelets packets: Data Analysis and Reconciliation The topics mentioned above are developed using Matlab/Simulik directly in the Computers Room together with the teacher.

Think REAL: Cultivating Regenerative Entrepreneurial Mindsets (Seminar)

Dozent/in: Theres Konrad

Inhalt: In the first block of this course, students will engage in several embodied and creative exercises which constitute the point of departure for the following theoretical part: The exploration of certain educational theories, including an examination of critical pedagogy and critical entrepreneurship education. The second block of this course will be actively informed by this engagement and co-created by the students, based upon their ideas. The course highlights the significance of (self-)awareness and consciousness, as the success of any intervention depends on the interior condition of the change-maker. Students will cultivate an “entrepreneurial mindset” – a powerful leverage point for societal change – and be challenged to move from idea to conscious, co-created action. Through self-reflection, introspection, embodied exercises, and engagement with critical theories, participants will develop core competencies such as personal leadership, collaboration, and implementation. Educational theories will pave the way towards a critical awareness of science and practice, allowing students to put certain assumptions and norms into question - as a point of departure for regenerative entrepreneurship. The course emphasizes proactive engagement, encouraging students to reflect on their ways of learning and translate insights into (new) practices.

Think REAL: Developing inclusive entrepreneurial solutions (Seminar)

Dozent/in: Steffen Farny, Theres Konrad, Svenja Rehwinkel

Inhalt: How can organizations create meaningful social impact while staying financially sustainable? This seminar dives into the fascinating world of social enterprises and hybrid organizations - businesses that blend profit and purpose to tackle urgent social and environmental challenges. Through real-world cases like HEYHO, a muesli company that provides jobs for individuals with lived experiences (such as incarceration, homelessness, mental health disabilities and more), we will explore how organizations successfully combine market logic with mission-driven goals. Students will gain insights into the unique opportunities and challenges of social enterprises and hybrid organizations. In this interactive course, we will not only study inspiring examples but also design innovative micro-trainings to apply these lessons in practice, thus equipping yourself with tools to foster positive change in future organizations. If you’re interested in sustainability and new ways of doing business, this seminar will challenge and inspire you.