Research

My research focuses on German and European history in the 19th and 20th centuries, with a special interest in connecting to other world regions, especially Africa and the Atlantic World. Transnational and global historical approaches are at the heart of my work.

I am interested in questions of socio-economic development, including the formulation of ideas and the production of knowledge as well as the political practice of international development cooperation and the social effects of these policies on the ground.

Next, I specialize in the social and cultural history of work, especially in the cultural and creative industries. State regulation, professionalization processes and the representation of interests with a special focus on unions are just as much at the centre of my research as the changing individual perceptions and attributions of the meaning of work and the effects of globalisation processes on the working world.

Finally, I understand the musical world as a social microcosm that grants access to general historical issues of the most diverse kind, including the relationship between the military and civil society in the 19th century, the role of infrastructures in globalisation processes and the prospects and limits of European integration in the long 20th century.