Global Transformation and Socio-ecological Reproduction: Perspectives of Labor Geography (in German-speaking countries)

The network wants to anchor Labor Geography as an independent research field in German-speaking geography. Labor Geography places the spatially relevant actions of working people and labor movements at the center of the analysis of geographical development processes. In the English-speaking world, it has become a recognized subdiscipline of geography, which in recent years has been expanded to include perspectives that increasingly address everyday activities, informal work, social reproduction, new forms of organization and actors from the Global South. The network aims to bring together German-speaking scientists who research and publish with and on Labor Geography. This is how synergy effects are to be achieved who contribute to the establishment of the subdiscipline in the German-speaking scientific area and to the further development of international labor geography. For this purpose, the network wants to work on and update two overarching, current topics - global transformation processes and socio-ecological reproduction. In the topic "Global Transformation Processes" we want to deal with the latest research (also by network members) that asks how workers and their organizations react to the transnationalization and digitization of production processes and at the same time help shape them geographically. Theoretically, a subject-focused perspective is linked here with new debates about the structures and causes of global inequality. In the "Social-Ecological Reproduction" strand, ongoing work by network members on social reproduction work and the embedding of work in social relationships with nature is discussed and further developed. The discussion is linked to more recent debates about the social status of work. First, a (global-local) labor geography of the Covid-19 pandemic will be developed as a cross-cutting topic for the two strands of the topic, and second, methodological questions of labor geography will be discussed. The network will work together in a result-oriented manner in six intensive, three-day workshops over a period of three years. The focus is on the joint publications: a German-language "Handbook of Labor Geography", a special issue on "New Perspectives in Labor Geography" in a German-language geographic journal, as well as other topic-specific articles in German-language and international scientific journals. The development of these publications is supported by an intensive exchange with renowned international representatives of Labor Geography. The network also explicitly wants to promote young scientists and offer opportunities for further development. After the end of the course, the cooperation is to be consolidated, among other things, through joint research work. The development of these publications is supported by an intensive exchange with renowned international representatives of Labor Geography. The network also explicitly wants to promote young scientists and offer opportunities for further development. After the end of the course, the cooperation is to be consolidated, among other things, through joint research work. The development of these publications is supported by an intensive exchange with renowned international representatives of Labor Geography. The network also explicitly wants to promote young scientists and offer opportunities for further development. After the end of the course, the cooperation is to be consolidated, among other things, through joint research work.