Katharina Ciax

Research fellow
Katharina Ciax
Research fellow
Katharina Ciax
Image: Katharina Ciax
Room 236
Löbdergraben 32
07743 Jena Google Maps site planExternal link
  • Short biography
    • since 02/2021

    Research fellow in the Social Geography working group at Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena

    Research fellow in DFG-funded project „Atmospheres of (Counter) Terror in European Cities“ cooperation by FSU Jena, Birmingham University, Plymouth University, Cergy-Pontoise University and the L’institute Region Paris

    • 02/2021

    Master of Arts Sociology at the University of Bielefeld with focus on Qualitative Methods Studies abroad at Ghent University, Belgium

    Master thesis: „Accessibility and Exclusion of Public Spaces. An Ethnographic Study of Public Toilets“ 

    •  04/2018

    Bachelor of Arts Sociology at the University of Duisburg-Essen

    Studies abroad at Babeș-Bolyai-University Cluj, Romania

    Bachelor thesis: „Wie wird Geschlecht in der Neuen Rechten konstruiert? Eine Strukturanalyse am Beispiel der neurechten Zeitschrift Sezession“ 

  • Research interest
    • Urban spaces and geopolitics
    • Critical security studies
    • Sensory ethnography
    • Feminist geographies
    • Urban infrastructure and affect
    • Urban public sanitation

    PhD project

    Militarised Memories - Urban Atmospheres amid Commemoration and Securitzation

    While critical research on urban security and securitization was previously focussed on legislative and political dimensions, such as the increasing implementation of militarized technologies into urban logics of security through video surveillance, highly armed and militarized police patrols and large-scale crowd management, I would like to
    a) trace how these changes are incorporated into everyday experiences of public spaces and how they are perceived and negotiated both sensorially and emotionally.
    b) Further, I would like to link negotiations of security and securitization in urban spaces with the (state) production of collective memory and examine how these are related to constructions of the enemy, the production of grievable and non-grievable lives and urban security policies and logics. Here I would like to explore questions such as: Who is commemorated (and who is not)?, What is the use of commemoration and for whom?, What social positions are (re-)produced through commemoration? Is commemoration made useful on a political level? Attention will also be paid to subaltern structures of commemoration and their practices. 
    c) In addition, I would like to connect my dissertation project methodologically and theoretically to the DFG-funded project "Atmospheres of Counter (Terrorism) in European Cities" in which I will make the everyday experience of urban spaces tangible through the concept and lens of atmospheres. 

    In addition to a sensory observation of urban spaces and urban memorial sites, I would like to make use of various sensory-ethnographic methods such as go-along interviews and sound recordings, which will enable me to trace the emotional-affective experience of city dwellers everyday life. 

  • Publications

    Peer-Reviewed

     

    Edited Books & Special Issues

    • klo:lektiv, (ed.) (2021). Pissen* ist politisch: Feministische und kritisch-geographische Perspektiven auf Geographien der Notdurft. Feministische Geo-Rundmail 84.
    • Ciax, K., F. Fuß, L. Papies, H. Schiedel en L. Staake. (ed.) (2020). Anarchafeministische Perspektiven. Moers: Syndikat A.

    Book Chapters 

    • Ciax, K. (2025). Hostile Vehicle Mitigation, spatial violence, and the affective charge of security design. In: Guillaume, X. & Grayson, K. (ed.): Security Studies: Critical Perspectives. Illustrative Case Chapter. Oxford University Press. 
    • Ciax, K. (2020). Gelebter feministischer Anarchismus in Rojava? Teilhabe, Partizipation und Bürgerschaft in den autonomen Gebieten Nordsyriens. In: Ciax, K., Fuß, F., Papies, L., Schiedel, H. & Staake, L. (ed.): Anarchafeministische Perspektiven. Moers: Syndikat A.

    Monographies

    • Simpson, P., Fregonese, S., Masson, D., Runkel, S. Benjamin, C., Berlin, S., Ciax, K., Drongiti, A., Malochet, V. (2026). Urban Counter Terrorism: Materialities, Practices, Atmospheres. London: Routledge. Ambiances Atmospheres and Sensory Experiences of Spaces Series. (forthcoming).
    • Ciax, K. (2022). Flushing Down Hegemony. Public Toilet Infrastructure and the Politics of Accessibility. Jenaer Sozialgeographische Manuskripte, Bd. 20.https://doi.org/10.22032/dbt.50222External link

    Artistic Output and Science Communication

    • Warum Frauen länger warten müssen (Aug. 2024) Radio feature in Deutschlandfunk Systemfragen, With Sabine Bongers-Römer (TU Dortmund) & Rosa Aue (Münster University)
    • Öffentliche Klos: zu wenige und zu dreckig (May 2024) Radio feature in Deutschlandfunk Nova
    • Warten, wenn ich muss. (May 2024) Audiobook and Exhibition in Das Bedürfnis, Halle/SaaleWith klo:lektiv
    • Öffentliche Klos: zu wenige und zu dreckig (Apr. 2024) Radio feature in Deutschlandfunk Kultur
    • Author collective Rosa Loo (2023): IncLoo*sive Architecture. Arch+ 252. (Download the article at the following linkExternal link.)
    • Raum Macht Toilette – Toilette Macht Raum. (2023) Ein Gespräch. Essay, in [kon]paper no9. München.With klo:lektiv
    • >>Ich will!<< Ein Klo-Manifest. (2023) Essay, in [kon]paper no9. München.With klo:lektiv
    • Stuck in Movement. (2022) Short film, premiered at AAG Shorts; filmgeographies.com. With Monica Fierlafijn-Annys
    •  

    Full list pdf, 277 kb · deof publications and presentations.

  • Presentations
    • Ciax, K. (2025): The Security-Safety Nexus: Awareness Work, Community Care, and the Policing of Urban Nightly Settings. Masterclass Women, (In)Security and Urban Space. 19th of May, Vrije Universiteit Brussel
    • Ciax, K. & S. Runkel (2024): Squares, Parks, and Crowds. Findings from Germany. Cities and (counter)terrorism: ordinary practices, experiences, and atmospheres Conference. 13. – 14. Jun., CY Cergy Paris Université. With Simon Runkel
    •  ExperiSpace: “Taking a shot at affective methodologies in the context of securitization and spatial structures of violence”. (2024) Research workshop #9 on exploring affects and emotions in current spatial research: established methods and new approaches at the Leibnitz Institute for Regional Geography, Leipzig. With Dominique Kauer & Barbara Meier
    • Urbane Plätze und Anti-Terror. Eine atmosphärische Analyse der affektiv- räumlichen Versicherheitlichung auf dem Breitscheidplatz. (2023) Neue Kulturgeographie Conference. 26. - 28. Jan., Halle University
    •  “If you see something, say something”: Affective atmospheres within the Counter-Terror State. (2022) AAG Annual Meeting; 25.Feb. - 1.Mar., New York.
    • Atmospheres of (Counter)Terror in European Cities. (2021) City, Public Space & Body Conference; 14. - 15. Dez., Goldsmiths, University London.
    • Intimacies of Infrastructure: Affective Encounters in Public Toilet Spaces. (2021) Everybody's Business – Toilets as a Contested Space Conference. 18. - 19. Nov. Humboldt-University Berlin. With Christina Peklo
    • Atmospheres of (Counter)Terrorism: How do terror and security responses change the atmosphere of public spaces in European cities? (2021) Poster presentation at IBIT Fachtagung Veranstaltungssicherheit; 19.-20. Okt. 2021; Berlin. With Simon Runkel
    • Ciax, K. [invited]: „Researching Atmospheres of Urban Counter-Terrorism: Methods and Approaches to capture the In-Between“, research seminar in the context of the ERC-Project „Urban Terrorism in Europe (2004-19): Remembering, Imagining, and Anticipating Violence“, University of Birmingham, 05.04.2022.
    • Kayser, M., Martens, T. & Ciax, K. (2021): Pissen ist Politisch. Workshop at Recht auf Stadt Forum; 3.-5. Sep. 2021; Bonn. 
  • Memberships