Dr. Benedikt Schmid
Research Associate
Central research questions
Broadly speaking my research engages with the question how societal trajectories can be shifted away from current patterns of unsustainability towards social and environmental justice. Within the complex and divergent processes of global change, I take a particular interest in community initiatives and social enterprises working towards alternative economies. My primary empirical focus, thereby, is on localized productive infrastructures and the concomitant practices of tinkering, making and repair in the Global North. Conceptually, I draw on practice-theoretical scholarship allowing for the consideration of both the performativity and materiality of social relations. Taking a participatory and transdisciplinary approach, my research aims to develop strategies and build coalitions with and between a variety of actors and participants.
Research topics and projects
- Alternative Economies / Diverse Economies
- Degrowth and Transformation
- Global Change
- Political Geography
- Practice Theory and Materiality
- Community Initiatives and eco-social enterprises
- Transdisciplinary research (methods)
Teaching activities
- Seminars on: alternative economies, neoliberalism, critical geography, qualitative methods
Memberships
- Member of the Sustainable Consumption Research and Action Initative (SCORAI) (https://scorai.net/)
- Member of the Environmental Justice Netzwerks (EnJust) (https://enjust.net/)
- Member of the "Verband für Geographie an deutschsprachigen Hochschulen und Forschungseinrichtungen"
- Manager of the ARL working group "Wohlstandsalternativen und Regionalentwicklung"(https://www.arl-net.de/de/projekte/wohlstandsalternativen-und-regionalentwicklung )
- Manager of the ARL working group on post-growth economies(http://www.arl-net.de/de/projekte/postwachstumsökonomien )
- Member of the Community Economies Research Network(http://www.communityeconomies.org/ )
- Member of DFG network on practice theories(http://www.praktikentheorie.de/ )
- Member of the association “Verein zur Verbreitung offener Werkstätten”
Vita
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Member of the academic staff, University of Freiburg, Germany | |
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Doctoral candidate and research assistant, University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg | |
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Teaching fellow at the Universities of Heidelberg & Freiburg, Germany | |
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Research assistant, University of Freiburg, Germany |