Wie sind Politiken und Praktiken von ‘Integration’ mit Affekten verbunden? Diese Frage steht im Mittelpunkt meiner Dissertation. Von der Annahme ausgehend, dass ‘Integration von Immigrant*innen’ als Diskurs Subjektivitäten und Grenzen zwischen einer ‘integrierten Gesellschaft’ und einem ‘nicht-integrierten Anderen’ hervorbringt, versuche ich zu verstehen, wie Affekte und Emotionen mit der (Re-)Produktion und Anfechtung solcher Grenzziehungen und Hierarchien verflochten sind. Daher analysiere ich Affekte und Emotionen und ihre Auswirkungen in Praktiken von ‘Integration’ in der deutschsprachigen Schweiz. Ich interessiere mich dafür, wie Menschen mit Migrationsbiografie ‘Integration’ erleben und wie Politiken und Praktiken der ‘Integration’ organisiert und verhandelt werden. Die Studie umfasst zum einen interaktive (Gruppen-)Interviews mit Menschen, die sich in Freiwilligennetzwerken engagieren. Zum anderen begleite ich diese Freiwilligen in ethnografischer Feldforschung bei ihren Aktivitäten im Rahmen von Integrationsmassnahmen. Mit dialogischen Methoden und einer (selbst-)kritischen Analyse meiner eigenen Gefühle als weisser Forscherin setze ich mich kritisch mit Hierarchien auseinander, sowohl im Forschungsprozess als auch darüber hinaus. Die Forschung ist an der Schnittstelle von kritischen Migrations- und Integrationsforschung, dekolonialer Theorie, Geschlechterforschung, Affect Studies, Organization Studies und Studien zu Affektive Citizenship angesiedelt. Sie wird zu einem besseren Verständnis der Bedeutung von Affekten in der Hervorbringung und Infragestellung hegemonialer Diskurse von Integration, Gemeinschaftsbildung und Staatsbürger*innenschaft beitragen.
Ahmed, Sara. 2014. The Cultural Politics of Emotion. 2nd edition. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Amelina, Anna, and Miriam Friz Trzeciak. 2020. ‘Gender on the Move: Paradigmatische Impulse für eine gendersensible Migrationsforschung’. Pp. 399–424 in Soziologie der Migration: Eine systematische Einführung, edited by T. Faist. Berlin: De Gruyter.
Ayata, Bilgin. 2022. ‘Affective Citizenship: Differential Regimes of Belonging in Plural Societies’. Pp. 47–58 in Affect, Power, and Institutions, edited by M. Churcher, S. Calkins, J. Böttger, and J. Slaby. London: Routledge.
Borrelli, Lisa Marie. 2022. ‘Tracing the Circulation of Emotions in Swiss Migration Enforcement: Organizational Dissonances, Emotional Contradictions and Frictions’. Identities 0(0):1–18.
Çiğdem, Inan. 2023. ‘Affekttheoretische Perspektiven auf Rassismus’. Pp. 191–229 in Rassismusforschung I : Theoretische und interdisziplinäre Perspektiven, edited by S. Polat. transcript Verlag.
Ellis, Carolyn. 2004. The Ethnographic I: A Methodological Novel about Autoethnography. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press.
Fischer, Carolin, Christin Achermann, and Janine Dahinden. 2020. ‘Revisiting Borders and Boundaries: Exploring Migrant Inclusion and Exclusion from Intersectional Perspectives’. Migration Letters 17(4):477–85.
Kangas-Müller, Laura, Kirsi Eräranta, and Johanna Moisander. 2023. ‘Doing Inclusion as Counter-Conduct: Navigating the Paradoxes of Organizing for Refugee and Migrant Inclusion’. Human Relations 0(0).
Korteweg, Anna C. 2017. ‘The Failures of “Immigrant Integration”: The Gendered Racialized Production of Non-Belonging’. Migration Studies 5(3):428–44.
Lugones, María. 2010. ‘Toward a Decolonial Feminism.’ Hypatia 25(4):742–59.
Maihofer, Andrea. 2014. ‘Sara Ahmed: Kollektive Gefühle - Elemente des westlichen hegemonialen Gefühlsregimes’. Pp. 253–72 in Affekt und Geschlecht: eine einführende Anthologie, edited by A. Baier, C. Binswanger, J. Häberlein, Y. E. Nay, and A. Zimmermann. Wien: Zaglossus.
Michel, Noémi. 2015. ‘Sheepology: The Postcolonial Politics of Raceless Racism in Switzerland’. Postcolonial Studies 18(4):410–26.
Work becomes ever more geographically distributed and new demands for less hierarchical organizing and workplace participation are omnipresent for enterprises today. This research project on ‘Democratic Organizing and Co-Entrepreneuring - Chances and Vices to prefigure Socio-Ecological Economies’ seek to understand how participatory and democratic practices in enterprises can support the grand challenges of our time; from fostering inclusion, justice, and emancipation to averting climate change and populisms. Empirically this research project has the chance to collect a variety of data with deep ethnographic entanglements in an extreme case study of a creative sector agency in central Europe that is co-owned and co-led. Theoretically, the project seeks to build a relationship between alternative organizing and social, emancipatory entrepreneuring and critical and affirmative perspectives by relying on feminist and queer theory and relational ethical perspectives. Further, the project seeks to contribute to theories of self-organization, agile and democratic work in the context of the gig economy and the social and ecological crises.
References:
Ferreras, I., Battilana, J., & Méda, D. (Eds.). (2022). Democratize work: The case for reorganizing the economy. University of Chicago Press.
Adler, P. S. (2016). Alternative economic futures: A research agenda for progressive management scholarship. Academy of Management perspectives, 30(2), 123-128.
Calás, M. B., Smircich, L., & Bourne, K. A. (2009). Extending the boundaries: Reframing “entrepreneurship as social change” through feminist perspectives. Academy of Management Review, 34(3), 552-569.
Gibson-Graham, J. K. (2008). Diverse economies: performative practices for 'other worlds'. Progress in human geography, 32(5), 613-632.
Fraser, N. (2016). Contradictions of capital and care.
Hjorth, D., Holt, R., & Steyaert, C. (2015). Entrepreneurship and process studies. International Small Business Journal, 33(6), 599-611.
Few women can be found in leadership positions globally, and yet fewer on executive boards, even in a highly developed country like Switzerland. My research poses the question: why are there still so few women making it into top management (C-level) positions despite Anglo-western scholarly research extensively having covered various barriers women face in the workplace over the past decades?
Data was collected using in-depth, semi-structured interviews, mainly face-to-face (70%; 30% via telephone), with 20 executive board members (10 females and 10 males) working for predominantly large Swiss Market Index listed corporations. The interviews covering the career and life trajectories of the executives were conducted in the native language of executives (65% in Swiss-German, 25% in German, and 10% in English). Respondents worked in diverse functions on the executive boards and represented some of the largest firms and sectors of the Swiss economy. Executive board members (as opposed to CEOs) were interviewed due to there being no female CEOs running any of the largest Swiss firms at the time of this study.
Due to having an educational background from specific business and military schools, which have a tradition to prepare their members for executive careers, as well as my shared gender and relevant work / social experience to the group I am studying, I am at least partially an insider researcher. Instead of seeing subjectivity as a hindrance and something one must work to avoid as a researcher, I follow those people before me who see subjectivity as an asset for deep understanding. Aiming to reach an unusual level of depth of analysis, I employ a research design, which is rooted in feminist scholarly tradition. My philosophical paradigm is one following a relativist ontology and constructionist epistemology. I analyze my data using reflexive thematic analysis by Braun and Clarke (2006; 2019; 2022), a method originating from the discipline of psychology.
Braun, V. & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77-101.
Braun, V. & Clarke, V. (2019). Reflecting on reflexive thematic analysis. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, 11(4), 589-597.
Braun, V. & Clarke, V. (2022). Conceptual and design thinking for thematic analysis. Qualitative Psychology, 9(1), 3-26.
Braun, V. & Clarke, V. (2022). Thematic analysis: A practical guide. London: SAGE.
Advisory boards currently play a central role in the survival of startups by facilitating mentoring, networking, and a legitimizing platform for raising capital. One of their most crucial roles is that of validating the startup and its founders towards potential investors. While the importance of advisory boards is well studied, advisory board practices are still considered “black boxes” by the literature (Weber, 2017). Additionally, recent research shows that women face disadvantages when trying to finance their companies (Kanze et al., 2020, 2017; Balachandra et al., 2019). Gendered practices and finance decisions that occur within advisory boards have not yet been studied in depth. To study the internal processes and practice of advisory boards, I am participating closely with a group of advisory boards in the Chilean startup context as an observing participant using practice theory as a theory and methodology.
My ethnographic study aims to answer the following research question “How do advisory boards develop over time as an organizational practice?" particularly with regards to intertwined and counter acting gendered and financing practices. Access to the field will be achieved through my active participation in the Chilean startup ecosystem as both a mentor and investor.
Balachandra, L., Briggs, T., Eddleston, K., & Brush, C. (2019). Don’t Pitch Like a Girl!: How Gender Stereotypes Influence Investor Decisions. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 43(1), 116–137. https://doi.org/10.1177/1042258717728028
Balachandra, L., Fischer, K., & Brush, C. (2021). Do (women’s) words matter? The influence of gendered language in entrepreneurial pitching. Journal of Business Venturing Insights, 15, e00224. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbvi.2021.e00224
Kanze, D., Huang, L., Conley, M. A., & Higgins, E. T. (2018). We Ask Men to Win and Women Not to Lose: Closing the Gender Gap in Startup Funding. Academy of Management Journal, 61(2), 586–614. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2016.1215}
Weber, E. (2017). Advisory boards in startups: Investigating the roles of Advisory Boards in German technology-based startups. Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden.
tina.rosenfeld@student.unisg.ch