As part of my research internship, I have been working on aesthetic and embodied learning for democracy in the AECED project (Transforming Education for Democracy through Aesthetic and Embodied Learning, Responsive Pedagogies and Democracy-as-becoming) at the chair of Prof. Dr Susanne Weber at the Philipps University of Marburg. In this project, five other European partner universities are participating in the AECED project. I myself studied philosophy and art as a secondary school teacher in Kiel and Seville for my Bachelor’s degree and am now studying for a Master’s degree in “Empirical Educational Research” at the University of Kassel.
Personal tasks during the internship
At the start of my three-months internship in early June 2024, I was warmly welcomed by Susanne, Kardelen, Dirk and Lea. The first ‚jour fixe‘ took place on a Tuesday over tea and biscuits, where I was given a first insight into the organisation of the AECED project and the work design. My tasks included participating in international research meetings, analysing qualitative interviews together with researchers from the department, conducting interviews independently and taking part in various workshops and research events at the institute. Additionally, I participated in a school project on aesthetic education in rural areas with Dr. Lea Spahn, co-facilitated a class in this project, and attended in internal university workshops for doctoral students and organisational education seminars for students under the direction of Prof. Susanne Weber.
One of the lunch breaks with coffee on the balcony and socialising together
Susanne, Kardelen, Dirk, Lea, Julia and Vero involved me right from the start. Initially, I was given the task of proof-reading and redesigning the method guides that had already been developed, as well as the methods developed in the seminar „Organisational Consulting” with students. I was also able to participate directly in international research meetings, in which the other research teams presented their current state of research and the results of the initial analyses. In the meetings, the different research approaches of the countries were highlighted and critically discussed. Following this, I became part of the qualitative analysis team, in which we examined and evaluated the results of the research analyses from peer interviews with students in view of the research questions in weekly meetings. The students were viewed as individuals within the systemic contexts of their environment and their statements were analysed concerning the underlying institutional embedding in the university context and their environment.
During the internship, I was also able to take on data collection tasks. As part of my participation in the “Dance Performance” seminar run by Dr. Lea Spahn in the field of “Embodied Social Transformation”, I was able to conduct qualitative interviews with the seminar participants in person and online using a self-developed guideline. The interviews allowed me to hone my interviewing technique and gain insight into qualitative research data collection. In the dance piece developed by students and in the physical confrontation in dance with questions and topics of democracy education, the process of “Aesthetic and Embodied Learning” was to be examined in practice. The process of analysing the qualitative interviews is still pending and will continue beyond my time as intern. In addition, I was able to work on a project on aesthetic education at comprehensive schools with Dr. Lea Spahn in rural spaces. In this context, students were asked about their ideas about the future which were then developed aesthetically and discussed in interviews in the imagined “Office for Future Questions”. Those interviews were transformed into a performative audio installation by Fabian Zimmer, who designed the project together with Dr. Lea Spahn and set up the exhibition in an original old half-timbered house in Treysa.
When the metal balls are touched, the voices of the workshop participants sound out their ideas for the future. The installation provides visitors with auditory impressions from the future workshop, a form of aesthetic knowledge transfer.
I was also able to take part in the monthly commoning workshops with commoning experts and activists who are involved in commoning processes in various activist contexts.
I had the opportunity to gain experience in moderating and organizing a workshop meeting. Another highlight was the in-person Commoning Workshop, which included participants from all over Germany. Additionally, I was invited to participate in all the workshops organized by the institute and was consistently encouraged to contribute in various ways.
For me, a special feature of the project and its management is the recognition of each team member and the collegial interaction among them, as well as the ongoing reflection on shared communication, institutional structures, and collaboration. I had never experienced this before in university life. In this context, I was able to experience how the atmosphere at the chair can positively influence the working atmosphere and how cooperation with different international doctoral students, lecturers, staff and students can be organised in such a way that it strengthens the community and includes the individual. Understanding this form of creative and constitutive cooperation as a resource for the work context is something I will take away from the project for my future working life. Many thanks to Susanne, Kardelen, Dirk and Lea for the exciting insights and the great trust.