Faculty of Social Sciences and Cultural Studies

Course Description

Artificial intelligence, especially large language models found in many digital applications, including social media apps, is ubiquitous—usually without us noticing. Our everyday lives, from everyday language use to discussions in the political public sphere to political action, are now significantly influenced by AI applications.

The visualization of everyday and political content, but also doxxing, swarming, and other forms of discrimination and agitation are playing an increasingly important role. The financial and economic context of influential tech companies is also significant. 

The seminar aims to explore the question of how AI programs should be understood, how technical path dependencies influence democratic processes, and how trends toward tech autocracies are emerging.

Faculty

Faculty of Social and Cultural Sciences

Department

Institute of Political Science

Lecturer

Prof. Dr. Regina Kreide 

Study Period (dd/mm/yy)

13/04/2026 - 17/07/2026

Mode and Time

Synchronous
Weekly: Tuesdays, 6 p.m. - 8 p.m.

Class Format

Seminar

Online Tool for Teaching

BigBlueButton

Language of Instruction

English 

Target Group

Master
Open for students of the following subject/field: Political Science, Sociology, Social Sciences

Prerequisites

English

Examination Format

Presentation in class, written exam

ECTS

4-8, according to requirement

Course Description

The accelerating changes in the global climate are linked to a rise in the frequency and severity of extreme weather events and natural disasters, such as floods, droughts, and even earthquakes. These challenges transcend national borders, pose serious risks to societies, and give rise to new socio-political, economic, legal, and technological questions, as well as pressing transformation needs, necessitating a re-evaluation of disaster risk management strategies. Given the relevance and interdisciplinary significance of this topic, this lecture offers interdisciplinary perspectives on disaster risk (reduction) management. The lecture is structured into three thematic blocs, aligned with the disaster risk cycle. In the first bloc “(Natural) Hazards, risks and disasters”, students learn more about the governance of risks and the development of disasters. This bloc focuses on water-related risks in general, climate change scenarios and the political, economic and legal understanding of risks and disasters. In the second bloc “Prevention, mitigation and preparedness”, climate challenges are analysed from economic and engineering perspectives. This bloc highlights (green) financial policies and seismic risk prevention. In the third bloc “Response and recovery”, several disaster case studies are discussed and the impacts of disasters on food systems, pro-social preferences and community resilience are examined. The lecture combines sessions from the following disciplines: Political Science, Economics, Geography, Engineering, Law.

Faculty

Center for International Development and Environmental Research (ZEU)

Faculty of Social and Cultural Sciences

Department

Department of Political Science

Lecturer

JLU: Prof. Dr. Helmut Breitmeier, Prof. Dr. Sandra Schwindenhammer, Katrin Strobehn

Study Period (dd/mm/yy)

13/04/2026 - 17/07/2026

Mode and Time

Synchronous and Asynchronous (recorded)

Class Format

Lecture

Collaboration

Philipps University Marburg: Becker, Chifflard, Dickler, Schwirplies, Vollan; University of Limoges: Lepetit, Noah, Tacneng; University of Calabria: Furnari, Zimmaro

Course Description

What does „ethics“ mean? Why does it matter (if it does)? How can we think (decide) and act ethically? And, what would be the answers to these questions if we are economic agents (of any kind)? Either as a single businessperson (e.g., freelancer), a shopkeeper, or the CEO of a multinational company, what are the ethical principles we must follow, and what are the consequences if we do not? These are the questions that „Business Ethics“provides considerable responses for. Business ethics is the field of „shoulds“ and „should n’ts “ at the micro-, meso-, and macro-level socioeconomic interactions. It benefits from theories and empirical findings in Philosophy, Sociology, Psychology, Behavioral Economics, and Organization Sciences, to draw a practical framework within which acting ensures minimizing costs for „others“ (e.g., society, environment) and maximizing benefits for „everyone.“ Responsible entrepreneurship, a more contemporary concept, goes beyond the „cost-minimizing“ standpoint and suggests ways for proactive, other-oriented value-creation. These two fields, merged into one course, can familiarize the audience with the plausible bright side of the economic world (so that they can actualize it) and equip them with functional scales to determine what, in the current business world, is and isn’t ethical and/or responsible. The course’s reference book is Managing Business Ethics: Straight Talk about How to Do It Right (2021), one of the most cited and admired textbooks in business ethics; however, relevant papers will also be utilized as supplementary material.

Faculty

Faculty of Social and Cultural Sciences

Department

Department of Sociology

Lecturer

Farhad Feizi

Study Period (dd/mm/yy)

13/04/2026 - 17/07/2026

Mode and Time

Synchronous
Weekly: Tuesdays, 4 p.m. - 6 p.m.

Class Format

Seminar

Online Tool for Teaching

BigBlueButton

Language of Instruction

English 

Target Group

Bachelor, Master, PHD
Open for students of the following subject/field: Economics, Business, Management, Social Sciences, Sociology, Political Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Global South Studies, Development Studies, Sustainability Studies, etc. 

(The seminar is not exclusively designed for specific fields, although the mentioned groups may find it more interesting)

Prerequisites

English (Listening B2, Speaking B1)

Examination Format

Presentation

ECTS

3 ECTS

ECTS without examination

2 ECTS

Course Description

Following IPCC, Southern Africa is among those regions worldwide, most vulnerable to climate change impact. Consequences can be observed already by drought, extreme weather, etc., in many parts seasons are shifting with consequences to agriculture, water security and modes of sociation. Climate change is not just one of the most urgent environmental challenges of our time. As anthropogenic climate change, it emerges from economic, political, and social conditions. It is thus impacting on social institutions, cultural self-understanding, and political and economic development. This class traces the social and cultural dimension of climate change with focus on Botswana and South Africa, two societies in the Southern African region that struggle with the diverse impact of climate change. 

Faculty

Faculty of Social Sciences and Cultural Studies

Department

Department of Sociology

Lecturer

Prof. Jörn Ahrens

Study Period (dd/mm/yy)

13/04/2026 - 17/07/2026

Mode and Time

Synchronous (tba)

Class Format

Seminar

Online Tool for Teaching

Zoom

Language of Instruction

English

Target Group

Bachelor

Open for students of the following subject/field: sociology, anthropology, cultural studies, political sciences

Prerequisites

English on a basic level for academic discussion

specialised knowledge: according to the state of BA studies

other requirements: active participation in class, esp. including text awareness

Examination Format

Academic paper or presentation

ECTS

6

Course Description

This seminar takes a closer look at how we communicate, learn, and work together in an era shaped by artificial intelligence. We will explore established and emerging theories of communication and cooperation and examine how generative AI is beginning to influence teaching, learning, and professional practice across different educational settings. Rather than treating AI as a purely technical phenomenon, we will consider its social, ethical, and pedagogical consequences, particularly with regard to inclusion, participation, and justice within European education systems.

Throughout the semester, we will work with concrete examples from schools, universities, and adult learning. Participants will assess both the opportunities and the constraints of AI-supported tools and reflect on what responsible use can and should look like in collaborative learning environments. The course is deliberately designed to be interdisciplinary: students will engage with academic literature, analyse case studies, experiment with digital tools, and discuss their insights in structured synchronous sessions.

A central element of the seminar is the collaborative project work. In mixed, international teams, participants will develop a small practice-oriented project that brings together communication theory, cooperative learning approaches, and ethical frameworks for AI. My aim is to provide a space in which students can think critically, test ideas, and build the communicative and collaborative competencies that will shape future educational practice.

Faculty

Faculty of Social Sciences and Cultural Studies

Department

Department of Education Science

Lecturer

Erum Afzal

Study Period (dd/mm/yy)

13/04/2026 - 20/07/2026

Mode and Time

Synchronous, hybrid
Block seminars 
Start date: Monday 13/04/2026, 2 p.m. - 4 p.m.

Class Format

Seminar

Online Tool for Teaching

Zoom

Language of Instruction

English, German

Target Group

Bachelor/Master/PhD/Teacher Training

Open for the following subject field: Educational Sciences, Social Sciences, Psychology, Digital Humanities, Communication Studies, European Studies

Examination Format

Presentation & Paper

ECTS

12 ECTS

Course Description

The seminar “Democratic Development of Migration and Mobility”is inspired and based on the EU Peace forerunner seminars “Migration and Health in the European Union and Turkey,” which we (Prof. Ilgit from Cukurova U. and Prof. Sascha Krannich) did in the summer semester 2025. This seminar should deepen the insights of the forerunner project and enlarge the geographical scope of migration and democratic development above Germany and Turkey, and include developments in Italy and Spain as well. While we investigated the nexus of migration and health in the first seminar, this seminar focuses particularly on the interrelations of migration and democratic development by addressing the question of how migrants in European countries affect democratic developments in their countries of residence as well as of origin. In a comparative perspective, we explore how democratic development interacts with cross-border mobility, civic participation, and public discourse. Through conceptual and comparative discussions, the course examines how migrants, diasporas, and the broader public engage in re-defining democratic values and practices across Europe and its neighbourhood. For instance, we take a look at discourses about refugees in Germany, which resulted in the so-called “Stadtbild” debate, and in Italy and Spain about the negotiation processes and enforcements of asylum policies. The seminar should improve knowledge about issues of peace, migration, and democracy, and contribute to a better understanding of European migration and integration policies, and enlarge intercultural competences and English skills of students and future teachers (particularly regarding terminologies, categories, and concepts of peace and democracy).

Faculty

Department of Social and Cultural Sciences

Department

Institute for Sociology

Lecturer

Zekiye Gürün-Ücem (PhD candidate), Dr. Sascha Krannich

Study Period (dd/mm/yy)

13/04/2026 - 17/07/2026

Mode and Time

Synchronous
tba

Class Format

Block seminar

Online Tool for Teaching

Zoom

Language of Instruction

English 

Target Group

Bachelor, Master, PhD, Teacher Training

Open for students of the following subject/field: political science, sociology, geography, social sciences, teaching posts (Lehramt), (intercultural competence, teaching posts (Lehramt)), and other subjects

Prerequisites

English B2

Examination Format

presentation and paper

ECTS

3

Course Description

The course will discuss open government data as a socio-technological issue. It will prepare students to work with open data as a practitioner or scholar. Seven seminars will constitute three main modules. 

The first module (seminars on April 01 and 15) will provide basic concepts to understand open data development globally. It is expected that interactive discussions about open data role in democratic countries will take place during these sessions on the basis of the suggested readings. 

The second module (seminars on April 29, and May 13 and 27) will be devoted to theoretical approaches to analyze open data. Students will be invited to adopt multidisciplinary social science lens to look at this phenomenon and to prepare an individual analytical paper afterwards. 

The third module (seminars on June 10 and 24) will discuss examples of open data practices from different countries. It is planned to invite two open data practitioners to talk about their work and to have an interactive discussion with course participants. 

The course will conclude with a group assignment to present open data practices in a specific country from a critical perspective of the studied material. As a result, students will be prepared to use open data in their future work and to conduct further academic studies on it.

Faculty

Social Sciences and Cultural Studies

Department

International Graduate Centre for the Study of Culture (GCSC)

Lecturer

Ievgen Bilyk

Study Period (dd/mm/yy)

start date April 01

Mode and Time

Synchronous,
Biweekly: 4 p.m. - 7 p.m., in the following dates: April 01, April 15, April 29, May 13, May 27, June 10, June 24

Class Format

Seminar

Online Tool for Teaching

BigBlueButton or Zoom

Language of Instruction

English

Target Group

Master

Open to students of the following fields: Sociology, Economics, Cultural Studies, Political Science, Science and Technology Studies, Information Technologies

Prerequisites

English B2
Knowledge in Social Sciences or Information Technologies Bachelor's Degree 

Examination Format

Exam pre-qualification: Participation in at least five out of seven seminars (50% of score) 

Two-part exam:

• Individual analytical paper (30% of score) – to be submitted by June 07, 2026
• Group presenation of case study (20% of score)  – during last seminar on June 24, 2026

ECTS

5

ECTS without Examination

2

Course Description

This seminar examines how platform media organize public meaning and responsibility. Drawing on a critical theoretical approach and recent debates on media polarization, we investigate how power is articulated and how hegemonic discourses emerge; who performs the care work that sustains information environments; and how data extraction and recommendation systems govern publics. The course focuses on visual media and transnational cases, co-selected with students in the first session.

The course’s meaning/power framework draws on Stuart Hall (encoding/decoding; articulation) and Antonio Gramsci (hegemony; common sense). We connect this to feminist theories of social reproduction and care (Nancy Fraser; Tithi Bhattacharya) and to decolonial critiques of knowledge and labor (Françoise Vergès), as well as analyses of data colonialism (Nick Couldry and Ulises A. Mejias). Methods are introduced through scholarship on framing and visual analysis.

In the seminar, we will identify who claims to protect whom, who shoulders moderation and verification labor, and how “safety” narratives authorize exclusion or control by analyzing public clips and posts, media articles and essays, and short excerpts from screen media (films and TV shows).

By the end of the course, students will be able to explain and apply core concepts to concrete platform artifacts; evaluate the distribution of care and labor in an information ecology and propose at least one care/externality indicator; communicate and self-assess results for academic and non-academic audiences; and reflect on ethics and limits.

Faculty

Faculty of Social and Cultural Sciences

Department

International Graduate Centre for the Study of Culture (GCSC)

Lecturer

Marina Iaroslavtseva

Study Period (dd/mm/yy)

13/04/2026 - 08/06/2026

Mode and Time

Synchronous
Mondays 2 - 4 p.m. CET

Class Format

Seminar

Online Tool for Teaching

BigBlueButton

Language of Instruction

English 

Target Group

Bachelor, Master

Open for students of the following subject/field: Media & Cultural Studies; Communication/Journalism; Political Science & International Relations; European Studies; Gender Studies; Cultural Anthropology; Film/Screen Studies; Digital Humanities

Prerequisites

English B2

Laptop with stable internet; ability to join live sessions and work in small teams; willingness to view and discuss potentially sensitive political content; live participation in at least 6 of 9 sessions

Examination Format

Group presentation of selected case study (during last seminar on 9^th June) & individual analytical essay

ECTS 

3

ECTS without examination

2

Course Description

In a rapidly globalizing world, increasing migration and multiculturalism have heightened the socio-cultural complexities in educational systems. Teachers now face the challenge of integrating this diversity while actively promoting equal opportunities and justice. This seminar aims to equip future educators with the necessary skills and attitudes to foster respect and build inclusive, peaceful, and tolerant classroom communities. By developing a global mindset, teachers can serve as role models for their students, demonstrating how to embrace diversity.

Important: This seminar depends on mutual exchange and interaction. Active participation is therefore expected. 
 

Faculty

Faculty of Social Sciences and Cultural Studies

Department

Department of Childhood and School Pedagogy

Lecturer

Annika Brück-Hübner (JLU), Tatiana Joseph (University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee)

Study Period (dd/mm/yy)

start date: 22.05.2026

Mode and Time

Synchronous and Asynchronous

block seminar (dates):
22.05.2026 - 15:00-18:00 CET - Online Kick-Off 

23.05-29.05.2026: Asynchronous work of 2h 

29.05.2026 - 15:00-18:00 CET - Seminar Session 1

12.06.2026 - 15:00-18:00 CET - Wrap up Session 1

13.06-18.06.2026: Asynchronous work of 2h 

19.06.2026 - 15:30-17:30 CET - Seminar Session 2

26.06.2026 - 15:30-17:30 CET - Wrap up Session 2

10.07.2026 - 15:30-17:30 CET - Group Work 1

17.07.2026 - 15:30-17:30 CET - Group Work 2

24.07.2026 - 15:00-18:00 CET - GW Presentations & Final Reflection

Class Format

Seminar 

Collaboration

Tatiana Joseph (Department of Teaching and Learning, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee)