InterSpaces

ZiF Bielefeld
InterSpaces ist der Podcast des Zentrums für interdisziplinäre Forschung (ZiF) der Universität Bielefeld, wo interdisziplinäre Forschung in Gruppen gefördert wird. Diese Perspektivenvielfalt soll im Podcast hörbar werden, weswegen in den meisten Folgen mehrere Wissenschaftler*innen aus unterschiedlichen Fächern über ihre gemeinsamen Forschungsthemen sprechen.

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InterSpaces is the podcast of the Center for Interdisciplinary Research (ZiF) at Bielefeld University and is funding interdisciplinary research in groups. This diversity of perspectives is meant to be audible in the podcast, which is why most episodes will feature several researchers from different disciplines talking about their joint research topics. 

Episode #28: Can Postsocialism be Colonial?

with Birgit Glorius, Helma Lutz and Andreas Vasilache

12.08.2026 59 min

It is easy to understand or frame the end of socialism or communism as a direct transition towards democracy. But like most things in life, that does not go nearly far enough to understand the multi-faceted upheavals and consequences of such a radical change. If we think about states and regions like Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Poland or even East Germany, there is often terminology involved like “keeping up” (with the West for example), or “backwardness”.

This sounds a lot like colonial key-/’buzz’words and results in the question: Can Postsocialism be colonial? That is the very interesting main question of the Resident Group “Postcolonial and Postsocialist Interdependencies Across Borders” that worked at ZiF from April to July 2026.

Three fellows (two of them convenors) of the group are guests in this episode: Human Geographer Birgit Glorius, sociologist Helma Lutz and political scientist Andreas Vasilache.

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Publikationen 

Weitere Folgen

Episode #27: Volcano Voices

with Ulf Büntgen and Clive Oppenheimer

11.06.2026 41 min

Volcanic eruptions can affect the Earth’s climate system, and climate variability occupies an uncomfortable place in historical enquiry. Even though human de...

Episode #26: The Lush World of Random Matrices

with Jean-Philippe Bouchaud, Valentina Ros and Tobias Galla

13.05.2026 48 min

Random Matrix Theory (RMT) stands out as a unifying framework at the core of seemingly unrelated fields ranging from signal processing, theoretical ecology, ...

Episode #25: Robust Decision Heuristics for Natural and Artificial Intelligence

with Mohan Sridharan, Özgür Şimşek and Gerd Gigerenzer

15.04.2026 69 min

Since September 2025 the long-term research group “Robust Decision Heuristics for Natural and Artificial Intelligence” is working at ZiF. The group seeks to ...