Prof. Ph.D. Rebecca Pates

Prof. Ph.D. Rebecca Pates

Wiss. Mitarbeiterin (Außerplanmäßige Professorin)

Political Theory and Democracy Research
Geisteswissenschaftliches Zentrum
Beethovenstraße 15, Room H3 0.05
04107 Leipzig

Phone: +49 341 97 - 35636
Fax: +49 341 97 - 35694

Abstract

Rebecca Pates studied at the University of Oxford, the University of Hong Kong and the McGill University in Montreal. She has been at the University of Leipzig since 2001.


She is currently active in academic self-administration as Chair of the Examination Board, Chair of the PhD Committee, member of the Senate, member of the Equal Opportunities Committee and member of the STiL Steering Group. Outside the university, she is co-editor of the Interdisciplinary Studies of Sex for Sale series at Routledge. Her team consists of staff members of the project "PoliLab: Strangers in their own country?".

Professional career

  • since 04/2008
    Full Professor with a specialisation in Identity and Representation, Department of Political Science, Universität Leipzig, Germany
  • 10/2001 - 03/2008
    Assistant Professor in Political Theory, Universität Leipzig, Germany
  • 10/1990 - 06/1998
    Tutor & Lecturer in Philosophy, McGill University, Montréal, Canada
  • 03/1990 - 08/1990
    Secondary School Teacher, Kwun Tong Maryknoll College, Hong Kong

Education

  • 10/1990 - 09/2001
    McGill University, Montréal, Canada: PhD in Philosophy.
  • 10/1986 - 06/1989
    Oxford University, Oxford, UK.: BA in Philosophy & Modern Languages. FirstClass Honours.
  • 08/1977 - 07/1986
    Königin-Katharina-Stift. Stuttgart, Germany: Abitur.

Panel Memberships

  • 08/2019 - 05/2021
    Member of the University Senate. Leipzig University.
  • since 10/2017
    Member of the Board of Examiners for the PhD programme, Faculty of Social Sciences, Leipzig University.
  • since 10/2013
    Chair of the Board of Examiners for the Political Science degrees, Department of Political Science, Leipzig University.
  • 11/2012 - 10/2017
    Member of the Management Committee. COST Action IS1209: “Comparing European Prostitution Policies: Understanding Scales and Cultures of Governance”.
  • 10/2011 - 09/2018
    Equal Opportunity Commissioner, Faculty of Social Sciences, Leipzig.
  • 07/1998 - 01/2000
    President of the McGill Teaching Assistants’ Union, McGill University, Montréal, Canada

What state actors do and what they say they do diverges in interesting ways and makes the functioning of the state - in specific situations at least - as an apparatus of rule a little more transparent. Rebecca Pates is engaged in this political ethnography, and over the years has secured a number of projects on topics such as human trafficking (HWP, EU-AGIS, DFG), right-wing extremism (EU-Daphne, Thyssen) and belonging and nationalism (BMBF). 


At the moment Rebecca Pates is leading a research project on "Strangers in their own land", which focuses on the question of what hostility to migration and friendliness towards migration mean for the cohesion of society. More information on this project can be found here: https://www.politische-laboratorien.de/


  • Menschenhandel im Lichte institutioneller Praktiken. Ein deutsch-französischer Vergleich
    Pates, Rebecca
    Duration: 01/2014 – 12/2019
    Funded by: DFG Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
    Involved organisational units of Leipzig University: Institut für Politikwissenschaft
    show details
  • Strangers in their own land? A Study on the Malleability of Narratives using Political Laboratories
    Pates, Rebecca
    Duration: 03/2018 – 02/2021
    Funded by: BMBF Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung
    Involved organisational units of Leipzig University: Politische Theorie und Demokratieforschung
    show details
  • IS1209 - Comparing European Prostitution Policies: Understanding Scales and Cultures of Governance (ProsPol)
    Pates, Rebecca
    Duration: 04/2013 – 04/2017
    Funded by: EU Europäische Union
    Involved organisational units of Leipzig University: Institut für Politikwissenschaft
    show details
  • Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence - "The European Union and Its Rural Periphery in East Central Europe"
    Lorenz, Astrid
    Duration: 10/2020 – 04/2024
    Funded by: EU Europäische Union
    Involved organisational units of Leipzig University: Fakultät für Sozialwissenschaften und Philosophie; Leipzig Research Centre Global Dynamics (ReCentGlobe)
    show details

more projects

  • Leser, J.; Pates, R.
    The Wolves are Coming Back. On the Politics of Fear in Eastern Germany
    Manchester: Manchester University Press. 2021.
    show details
  • Pates, R.; Oguzhan, D.
    Das Land mit Migrationshintergrund und sein Bundestag. Über Diversitäts- und Repräsentationsvorstellungen zur Bundestagswahl 2021
    Communicatio Socialis. Zeitschrift für Medienethik und Kommunikation in Religion und Gesellschaft. 2021. 54 (4). pp. 497–508.
    show details
  • Pates, R.
    Policing order: ethnicity in statistics and the functions of nationalism
    Policing Race, Ethnicity and Culture. Ethnographic Perspectives from across Europe.. Manchester: Manchester University Press . 2023. pp. 53–71.
    show details
  • Pates, R.; Leser, J.
    The Framing of Right-Wing Populism. Intricacies of ‘ Populist’ Narratives, Emotions, and Resonance.
    The Palgrave Book on Populism. London: Palgrave Macmillan. 2021.
    show details
  • Pates, R.
    Die Wölfe sind zurück. Biopolitische Figurationen von Zugehörigkeit
    Die neue Mitte? Ideologie und Praxis der populistischen und extremen Rechten . Köln: Böhlau. 2021. pp. 207–228.
    show details

more publications

  • Akademiemitgliedschaften: Member of the Academia Europaea
    Pates, Rebecca (Institut für Politikwissenschaft)
    awarded in 2020 by Academia Europaea.
    show details
  • Keynote lectures: Key Note. “The Regulation of Alterity and the German Nation. Some Considerations on the Logics of Anti-Extremism Initiatives.” State of extremism prevention and counteraction in the US, UK, and Germany. Funded by the DAAD, University of Cambridge
    Pates, Rebecca (Institut für Politikwissenschaft)
    awarded in 2018 by University of Cambridge.
    show details
  • Andere Stipendien/Forschungspreise: PARIS Research Fellow, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands
    Pates, Rebecca (Institut für Politikwissenschaft)
    awarded in 2014.
    show details
  • Andere herausragende Auszeichnungen: Theodor-Litt Award for Excellence in Teaching
    Pates, Rebecca (Institut für Politikwissenschaft)
    awarded in 2004 by Universität Leipzig.
    show details
  • Andere Stipendien/Forschungspreise: Alma Mater McGill Research Fellowship
    Pates, Rebecca (Institut für Politikwissenschaft)
    awarded in 1994 by McGill University, Canada.
    show details

more awards

  • Konferenz (gefördert durch die Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung)
    1989/90 – Aufbruch ohne Ende?
    Politisches System Deutschlands und Politik in Europa
    Event Organiser: Vogel, Lars; Lorenz, Astrid; Pates, Rebecca
    21/11/2019 – 22/11/2019
    show details

more events

The focus of teaching in the winter semester is on questions of representation, its meanings and implications. Who is overrepresented, who is underrepresented? Is this a problem of democratic theory, or a practical one, or a problem at all? What can be done, and what are the intended and unintended consequences of the - often identity-political - action?


In the summer semester, the focus of the courses is on the project module and the research module, in which students deal with different research topics, practise collecting or analysing data, and finally in presenting a research process. In addition, seminars are offered on details of qualitative social research, which largely consist of practising the techniques taught. For example, on grounded theory, discourse analysis or the combination of both in a situation analysis according to Adèle Clarke.


  • Winter semester: Identity and Representation (lecture)

    The focus of teaching in the winter semester is on questions of representation, its meanings and implications. Who is overrepresented, who is underrepresented? Is there a problem in terms of democratic theory, or a problem of praxis, or even a problem at all? What can be done, and what are the intended and unintended consequences of the - often identity-political - action?


Research fields

Politics, political science, Society

Specializations

  • Geschlechterpolitik
  • Menschenhandel

Contact for media inquiries

Fax: +49 341 97-35694
Phone: +49 341 97-35636