The DFG Heisenberg Professorship is part of the “Thinking with Wetlands” research group, which focuses on wetlands in Central and Western Europe between 1630 and 1997. Our work commences from a fascination that wetlands are neither land nor water and can serve as a catalyst for critically questioning binary concepts. In its research, the research group places the fluid and ambivalent nature of wetlands at the center of its analysis to examine the ambiguous and often controversial visions, terminologies, and experiences of the relationships between humans and wetlands.

Our working group “Thinking with wetlands” meets regularly for reading sessions, exchange on our work or wetland walks and excursions. We are a collaboration of the Institute for European Cultural History (IEK), the Environmental Science Center (WZU), and the Bukovina Institute, and have received SEED funding from the University of Augsburg.

More Information on the Working Group

Funded by the Elite Network of Bavaria and directed by Dr. L. Sasha Gora, the "Off the Menu: Appetites, Culture, and Environment" junior research group merges food studies with the environmental humanities to probe the relationship between eating and ecology. The team, which includes the doctoral researchers Philine Schiller and Penelope Volinia alongside the research assistant Annika Feldmeier, seeks to highlight how cuisines act as key sites of environmental transformations. In short, “Off the Menu” asks: What does it mean to rethink environments—especially watery ones—through a culinary lens? How do appetites shape and reshape the world? And what comes first: the food or the appetite?

Website der Forschungsgruppe "Off the Menu"

Here, at Universität Augsburg, I am engaging in discussions about Hawaiʻi and bringing indigenous perspectives into global conversations. More specifically, many discussions have reflected upon water and how various societies perceive its essence. This has led to research into the history of water in Augsburg, protests to protect the environment, water deities, wetlands discussions, cultural artifacts, traditional ecological knowledge, and most recently, diving into the Blue Humanities current.