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Astrid Matejcek, MSc.


About me:

Since august 2021, I have been working as a lecturer as well as a research assistant in the research group on cultural geography of the Department of Geography at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. At the University of Heidelberg, I started my geography studies in 2012 and completed my Bachelor of Science with a thesis on rural development through agritourism in Ecuador. Continuing my studies, I moved to the Department of Geography at the University of Bonn for my master’s degree with a focus on “Globalization and Development”, where I also supported research and teaching in the research group of Julia Verne. After my master’s degree with the thesis “Approximating the Past – the Restoration of Wildlife Corridors in Kilombero Valley, Tanzania”, I joined the CRC 228 ” Future Rural Africa: Future-making and social-ecological transformation” as a PhD student.


Contact:

Institute of Geography

Johannes Gutenberg-Universität

Johann-Joachim-Becher-Weg 21

55099 Mainz

Room: 02-162

E-Mail: astrid.matejcek@uni-mainz.de


Research Interests:

Postcolonial Science and Technology Studies, Eastern Africa, Experimenting, Human-Technology-Environment Relations, Post-Phenomenology, Ethnographic Methodologies, Technological Pilot Projects, Agricultural Development, Actor-Network-Theory, Tanzania, Digitalization, Participant Observation


Research Projects:

C04 Smart Futures

Drawing on debates about “information and communication technologies for development” (ICT4D) and engaging with ethnographic empirical work, I critically examine how mobile applications, digitally-enabled interactive content generation, and artificial intelligence systems are being piloted in the context of agricultural development in rural Tanzania.


Publications:

Matejcek, Astrid (2022) Das tansanische Reisfeld als lebendes Labor? Eigenlogiken des Übersetzungsprozesses einer technologiezentrierten Pilotstudie in ein Agrarentwicklungsprojekt, Geogr. Helv., 77, 239–252, https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-77-239-2022.

Matejcek, Astrid & Verne, Julia. (2021). Restoration-as-development?

Contesting Aspirational Politics Regarding the Restoration of Wildlife Corridors in the Kilombero Valley, Tanzania. The European Journal of Development Research. 10.1057/s41287-021-00403-2.

Matejcek, Astrid & Verne, Julia. (2021). Mobile Applications to Secure Tenure in Rural Tanzania: Anticipating Diverging Agricultural Futures and the Production of (In)securities in the Kilombero Valley. Culture Unbound. 10.3384/cu.2021.13.3

Blogposts:

Notes from the field: Cultivating Rice in the Kilombero Valley – Future Rural Africa (crc228.de)

Corona-Blog — Department of Geography University Bonn (uni-bonn.de)


Activities:

  • Conference presentation on Testing and Developing Digital Technologies in and for Tanzanian Agriculture at the 4S Toronto: “Good Relations: Practices and Methods in Unequal and Uncertain Worlds.”, 10.6.2021 – 10.9.2021
  • Conference presentation on Piloting Digital Technologies in Rural Tanzania at the NKG XVII Bonn: Technocultures & Technoscapes, 30.01.-01.02.2020
  • Workshop Presentation on a mobile mapping tool and contested land rights in Southern Tanzania at the “Digitized nature” workshop in Bonn, 2.12.2019
  • Summer School: Politics of anticipation – Exploring Social-Ecological Transformation through the lens of Future Studies, July 29th –August 2nd 2019 – Nairobi and Naivasha, Kenya
  • Research stays in Tanzania (and Kenya) Feb-Apr 2018, Sept-Oct 2018, Feb-Sept 2019, Feb-Apr 2020
  • Organization of the PhD-Workshop on interdisciplinary research and bridging gaps between natural sciences and humanities, in Lindlar 14.12.2018 – 15.12.2018


Teaching:

Summer term 22

  • M8 Übung: Theorien und Methoden der Humangeographie C „Der Cyborg in Dir!“
  • M6/M8ED/M13ED Geländepraktikum Humangeographische Methoden C „Mainzer Foodscapes“

Winter term 21/22

  • M3 Regionale Geographie: Bonn – Ehemalige Hauptstadt, UN-Stadt, Postkoloniale Stadt

Teaching at University of Bonn:

  • Humangeographie Aufbau Part 2 (Seminar Bachelor Geography, Winter term 2020/2021)
  • Tutor for the scientific writing course in the UNU Joint Master program



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