Allgemeine Heilpädagogik
Theorie der Heilpädagogik und Rehabilitation

(Theory of Rehabilitation and Special Education)

Research

The focus of our research activities is theoretical research. Theoretical research can mean three things: 1) theory is a mode of research, 2) theory is the object of research, 3) theory is the aim or result of research. All three forms, which are often intertwined, play a role in our work.

Vulnerability research

The low-threshold ‘Vulnerability Working Group’ has been in existence since 2015. Together with Prof. Dr Jörg Zirfas (Chair of General Educational Science with a focus on Educational Anthropology, University of Cologne) and his academic colleagues, we deal with various disciplinary and theoretical approaches and conceptualisations of vulnerability and attempt to establish it as an independent educational science concept. We understand vulnerability as an anthropologically grounded, tense, dialectical, historical, social and cultural category. This opens up the possibility of reformulating a whole series of pedagogical questions of both a theoretical and practical nature.

In addition to numerous book and journal articles, the following books have emerged from our research work:

• Burghardt, Daniel/ Dziabel, Nadine/ Höhne, Thomas/ Lohwasser, Diana/ Stöhr, Robert/ Dederich, Markus & Zirfas, Jörg (2017): Vulnerabilität. Pädagogische Herausforderungen. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer.
• Stöhr, Robert/ Lohwasser, Diana/ Noack Napoles, Juliane/ Burghardt, Daniel/ Dederich, Markus/ Dziabel, Nadine/ Krebs Moritz & Zirfas, Jörg (2019): Schlüsselwerke der Vulnerabilitätsforschung. Wiesbaden: Springer VS.
• Dederich, Markus & Zirfas, Jörg (Hrsg.) (2022): Glossar der Vulnerabilität. Wiesbaden: Springer VS.

Doctoral Theses

Julia Bucher
Working Title: Violence, Recognition and the Meaning of the Other. Reflections on a Theory of Inter-subjectivation Following Judith Butler and Contemporary Trauma Theories.

Despite a broad current discussion on the intervention and prevention of violence and abuse, educational science has so far only insufficiently addressed the processes of subject genesis that become virulent in violent contexts on a theoretical level. The way in which violence affects subjects and how these are produced by violence is the central subject of this doctoral project. One of the few subject theories that considers power-theoretical and psychodynamic processes equally and in interaction is that of Judith Butler. Their subject theory is used here to discuss the relationship between violence and subjectivity. Additionally, this study examines contemporary trauma theories, which tend to exclude power-theoretical questions, but attempt to deal more explicitly with inner-psychological processes and the associated questions and connections of language, representation and representability, experience, memory and recollection. Taking an intersubjective perspective, processes of recognition are taken into consideration. The aim of the work is thus to work out central elements of subject genesis, drawing on Butler's post-sovereign subject on the one hand and on trauma theories on the other, which help to achieve a better understanding of the complex intra- and interpsychic dynamics of violence and thus make a contribution to pedagogy in terms of subject theory.

Lea Braitsch
Working title: Abolitionist Pedagogy

The dissertation project ‘Abolitionist Pedagogy’ aims to combine an abolitionist perspective with a (special) educational approach. Not only is it assumed that this synthesis will enable productive further developments of the respective other approach, but also that these perspectives have similarities in their normative frameworks and political objectives - which is connected to an ethical stance that also forms the foundation of this work.
Pivotal element in this regard is the normative-moral positioning of the chosen approaches, according to which no person is dispensable. In a way, this seemingly insignificant claim forms the starting point of this work: By interpreting the concept of the ‘superfluous’, considering the concept of polycrises and analysing (state or pedagogical) punishments and penalties, it can be shown how the affirmation regarding the value and dignity of every life has become fragile in current times.
Based on the premises of abolitionist and (special) educational theories, it is intended to develop an idea of pedagogy that takes into account both a structural and an anthropological dimension. As such, this work doesn't only focus on the examination of (general) systems of oppression, but also seeks to take a closer look towards the subject living in these structures and systems. Thus, a pedagogical idea will be outlined which, on the basis of these critical analyses and by including this moral stance, does not have to resort to carceral and punitive practices.

KuBIn - Kulturelle Bildung und Inklusion (Cultural Education and Inclusion) (completed)

The KuBIn - Kulturelle Bildung und Inklusion (Cultural Education and Inclusion) project, funded by the german Federal Ministry of Education and Research, focuses on the potentially “inclusive dimensions” of cultural participation in the field of music and language arts and is being carried out in an interdisciplinary collaboration between cultural studies education research (Prof. Dr Cornelie Dietrich, University of Lüneburg) and general curative education (Prof. Dr Markus Dederich, University of Cologne). The guiding question is whether and to what extent educational processes of linguistic-musical communication, together with the development of artistic skills, can contribute to the reduction of possible fears of contact and stereotyping patterns of perception between children with and without disabilities. Cultural education is said to have a considerable transfer effect in terms of breaking down “internal” barriers - the research project initially meets these assumptions with scepticism. For example, little is known about the connections between perception processes and the development of judgements and attitudes - especially in children. In this project, following the phenomenological theory of perception, we assume that attitudes are aesthetically based and are often accompanied by unconscious affective resonances. Accordingly, orders of participation, and thus questions of inclusion and exclusion, are also based on sensory-based mutual perception and communication.

Against this background, a comparative design in two sub-projects was chosen to address the research question: on the one hand, the physical side of communication will be analysed in everyday inclusion-oriented primary school lessons (Cologne sub-project) and, on the other, in musical-artistic, extracurricular educational settings (Lüneburg sub-project). In the Cologne sub-project, these “micrological processes” will be analysed in terms of material, spatial, personnel, didactic and curricular aspects to determine whether they reveal order-forming structures, patterns and rules. Methodologically, the ethnographically designed data collection is based on (partly video-supported) participant observations, interviews and group discussions at three survey points over a period of three school years (project duration until 12/2019). The materials are analysed with reference to body-phenomenological and cultural-theoretical frameworks. The comparative analyses of the results of both sub-projects with regard to orders of participation that manifest themselves on the inter-bodily level are central. The research project aims to make a contribution to the empirical and theoretical foundation of the interplay between perception, artistic design and participation in inclusion-oriented educational settings.