UniGR-CBS guest researcher: Dominik Gerst

The UniGR-CBS strengthens its network with international border scholars and welcomes researchers from other European countries and beyond regularly. The latest guest was Dominik Gerst, a sociologist and communication scholar from the University of Duisburg-Essen. During his two-week stay at the University of Luxembourg, he worked with Christian Wille on interdisciplinary approaches, border complexities, and a new podcast episode.

In an interview, Dominik Gerst talks about his experiences and projects during the research stay.
 

What is your academic profile and which topics do you work on?

I studied sociology and German philology in Göttingen, did my PhD at the Faculty of Cultural Studies at the European University Viadrina and now I work in communication studies at the University of Duisburg-Essen. I guess you could call this an interdisciplinary profile, even if I would consider myself a sociologist after all. This fits in quite well with the field of border studies, in which I have been intensively involved in recent years: especially in the context of my PhD thesis on border knowledge in the German-Polish security field, but also with regard to conceptual-methodological approaches to borders. I am also interested in general questions of qualitative research.

What makes the UniGR-Center for Border Studies so interesting for your work?

Although borders have been the subject of broad and intensive public debate for some years now, there are only a few European research centers that focus on borders. The UniGR-CBS is particularly notable due to its unique location in the Greater Region, where borders and border crossings are not only research subjects but also part of everyday experience – both in research and teaching. The UniGR-CBS is also particularly relevant for my work as cultural border studies are carried out here, which are closely connected to my research.

How did you experience your stay?

My stay had two objectives: On the one hand, I wanted to learn more about the Border Studies Master's program, which is of great interest to my academic teaching due to its multilingual and interdisciplinary approach. On the other hand, I wanted to use the time to deepen a long-standing exchange on questions of the complexity of borders. A joint article project with Christian Wille on this topic has made significant progress. I particularly enjoyed the opportunity to talk about “Border Complexities” in a podcast.

Are you planning to stay in touch with the UniGR-Center for Border Studies in the future?

My contact to the UniGR-CBS dates back several years and hopefully will continue for a long time. Along with some members of the UniGR-CBS, I am part of the Cultural Border Studies section within the Kulturwissenschaftliche Gesellschaft (KWG), where we are currently working on a book project. Since the establishment of border research from a cultural studies perspective is a relatively new activity, there will certainly be opportunities for cooperation in the future!

The UniGR-CBS thanks Dominik Gerst for the exchange.
 

Contact
Dominik Gerst