The study starts with a historical overview of the notion of gender and sexual identity and belonging in the German Christian church as seen from a queer and intersectional gender studies perspective. The following study moves to explore three individual experiences and encounters with the Christian church. The experiences are contemporary and have been made by queer Christians inside the church and during the creation of a personal faith that is suitable for their needs. With the analytical help of the feminist standpoint theory and queer theory, the researcher examines a limited empirical corpus based on three interviews. The study centers on the experiences of these participants and asks fundamental questions about how to unite two significant belongings that seem to be contradictory. These sample stories include individuals who openly belong to the queer community. They have worked in and for the church or study theology. The stories of such double belonging have been investigated through semi-structured interviews. The discussion and analysis outline similar experiences made by the participants. The main findings include the lack of language and role models that lead to experiences of loneliness and exclusion. How they construe their sense of faith varies as faith is individual. Nevertheless, and as highlighted, is the immense significance of being religious, the importance of spirituality and faith for the inquired members of the LGBTQIA+ community, but not necessarily church as an institution.

Brazil is in the 132nd position in the ranking for female parliamentary participation according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s latest report (2019). Black women are the ones least involved in national politics. In the state of São Paulo 94 state Deputies were elected in 2018, of these only 11 are women and only 3 are black. This research looks at black female political participation in Brazil, focusing on political engagement in the state and municipality of São Paulo. It employs black feminist theory to investigate the hindrances for black women’s political participation. Intersectionality and political science theories were used as part of the theoretical framework. The research question explored was: “What are the obstacles for black female political participation in Brazil?”. This question is connected to larger issues of gender, race, class, political representation and participation. Semi-structured interviews with black women engaged with institutional politics were conducted, followed by a thematic analysis. The research found four main obstacles preventing a greater participation of black women in politics. The issue of visibility, that is, having enough social capital to gain attention from voters, prevents many black women from receiving support by their political parties. Having a network is also said to be important for those starting in politics, as it can give them the necessary visibility to grow in their political parties. Political education is considered an important tool to have a successful candidacy and is currently overlooked by political parties. Finally, financial investment is said to be underprovided to black female candidates. The interviews show that the obstacles presented are linked to structural racism and sexism within the political parties and in society. Despite their personal investment and engagement, black women are often demeaned. They are perceived as not capable of being good politicians. The oppressions they suffer for their race, gender and class are also experienced in the political arena. They are often silenced as political subjects, but they keep fighting back.

Die Dissertation befasst sich am Beispiel Berlins mit den Wechselwirkungen zwischen der Alterung der Gesellschaft und wachsender Diversität. In sechs Fachartikeln werden methodologische Zugänge zum Zusammenspiel von Alter und Diversität entwickelt und neue empirische Befunde aus qualitativer und quantitativer Empirie vorgestellt. Auf Basis der empirischen Erhebungen wird gezeigt, inwiefern gängige gesellschaftliche Altersbilder den komplexen Lebenslagen im Alter nicht gerecht werden, und entsprechend auch der institutionelle Umgang mit Diversität im Alter vielfach nicht adäquat ist. Daran anknüpfend schlägt die Arbeit eine räumliche Perspektive als methodologischen Zugang für die Analyse des Zusammenspiels von Alter und Diversität vor. Aus dieser räumlichen Perspektive werden drei empirische Beispiele analysiert: Die Nutzung öffentlicher Parks durch ältere Menschen, Umzugspläne und Umzugsmotivationen im Alter, sowie die Bedeutung der räumlichen Nähe für das Entstehen von sozialen Netzwerken in der Nachbarschaft im Alter. Die Arbeit leistet damit sowohl auf empirischer als auch auf analytischer und methodologischer Ebene einen wissenschaftlichen Beitrag: Sie vermittelt zunächst vertiefte Einblicke in die Lebenslagen älterer Menschen mit unterschiedlichen Hintergründen. Auf dieser Basis hinterfragt die Arbeit die implizite Normierung der mittleren Lebensjahre als objektiven Beobachterhorizont und unterstreicht die Notwendigkeit, Diversität mehrdimensional zu denken. Die Arbeit plädiert insofern dafür, die Konzepte Intersektionalität und Superdiversität zu verknüpfen, um auch innerhalb sozialer Gruppen genauer differenzieren zu können. Dabei erlaubt eine räumliche Perspektive einen offenen Blick auf Diversität und ermöglicht es, die bislang getrennten Forschungsfelder der Diversitäts- und Altersforschung zu verbinden. Die Arbeit schließt mit Handlungsempfehlungen für Politik und Planung. / The dissertation deals with the interplay between the aging of society and growing social diversity, drawing on Berlin as a case study. In six papers, the dissertation develops methodological approaches to scrutinize the interplay of age(ing) and diversity and presents new empirical findings from qualitative and quantitative empirical research. Based on the empirical findings, the dissertation shows that prevalent societal images of old age do not do justice to the complex life situations of older people and, accordingly, the institutional handling of older people’s diversity is inadequate. In addition, the thesis develops a spatial perspective as methodological approach to analyze the interplay between age(ing) and diversity. Employing this spatial perspective, the thesis examines three empirical cases: The use of public parks by older people, relocation plans of older people, and the importance of spatial proximity for older people’s social networks in the neighborhood. The dissertation thus makes a scientific contribution on an empirical as well as on an analytical and methodological level: First, it provides in-depth insights into the life situations of older people with different backgrounds. On this basis, the thesis questions the implicit norming of middle age as an objective perspective and underlines the necessity of thinking diversity in a multidimensional way. In this respect, the paper argues for linking the concepts of intersectionality and superdiversity in order to differentiate more precisely within social groups. A spatial perspective allows an open view on diversity and makes it possible to connect the previously separate fields of research on diversity and gerontology. The work concludes with recommendations for policy and planning