In the winter semester 2004/05 and summer semester 2005, the sociologist PD Dr Ingrid Oswald (St. Petersburg) represented the visiting professorship, which had been acquired by the Institute of Political Science. Dr Oswald's research focus is on migration and ethnic relations as well as gender relations using the empirical example of Eastern Europe. She offered courses on the following topics: "Migration and transnational social spaces in Eastern (Central) Europe", "Changes in everyday life in post-socialism" and "Teaching research: script for a village history".

In the summer semester 2003, Dr Amatalrauf Al-Sharki occupied the international guest professorship. The complex "Western Modernity - Islam - Public Sphere - Gender" is a central field of work for Dr Al-Sharki, who can probably be described as the most prominent Yemeni women's researcher. The Women's Studies Centre at the University of Sana'a was conceived and directed by Dr Al-Sharki. Parallel to her teaching activities, she was also very active as a journalist in the Arab world and especially in her home country of Yemen. She organised courses on the following topics: "Gender in/and Media" and "Islamic Feminists - Islamic Feminism?". The various contacts during her time as a visiting professor have resulted in joint research projects with Prof Dr Ellwanger and Dr Lydia Potts, among others. The Gender Center of the University of Sana'a (as it is now known) is involved in the project "German-Arab University Dialogue: Politics and Gender".

In the summer semester 2002, the literature and cultural studies scholar Prof. Dr. Bozena Choluj (Warsaw) was a visiting professor on the doctoral degree programme in Cultural Gender Studies. Prof Dr Choluj has been head of the subject "Gender Studies" at the University of Warsaw since 1996 and also holds a professorship for Comparative Central European Studies at the Viadrina University in Frankfurt/Oder. Her research focuses on the body, politics and gender, the textual reproduction of gender power relations, the women's movement in Poland and religion and gender. Prof. Dr. Choluj has taught courses on the Polish women's movement, on literary constructions of the body in Polish and German texts and on the political instrumentalisation of the role of the mother under fascism and communism.

The Centre for Interdisciplinary Women's and Gender Studies at the Carl von Ossietzky University (ZFG) was awarded an international visiting professorship for Women's and Gender Studies by the Nieders. MWK was made available. The ZFG was able to recruit Dr Sheila Meintjes, political scientist and Director of the Gender Studies Programme at the Graduate School of the Humanities and Social Science at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, for this position.

One of her research focuses is on "gender and violence": political violence, violence in and after armed conflicts and its specific impact on women. Her work on "Politics and Gender" relates on the one hand to a scientific critique of Western political theory and political philosophy, but also to the documentation of the discriminatory effects of public policy on women using the example of South Africa and the identification of opportunities to defend oneself against this discrimination. Dr Sheila Meintjes has conducted research on various forms of protest by women. Her basic thesis is that women's civil rights are based on a "sexual contract" with bourgeois society that has become second nature to them.

A combination of research with women's and socio-political commitment characterises the academic profile of her work. She was politically active during the apartheid era as one of the founders of the "United Women's Organisation in Western Cape" and in the "Women's National Coalition". At the beginning of this year, she was nominated by the Women's National Commission as a member of the Commission for Gender Equality at the South African Ministry of Justice.

As part of her various teaching and research activities, Dr Sheila Meintjes held the following events during her 2-month stay at the University of Oldenburg:

• 1 Seminar:
  Gender based violence in South Africa
• 2 colloquia:
  Body Politics in South Africa: Is citizenship still a sexual contract?
  Engaging the state: Women organising against violence against women
• 2 lectures:
  for interested parties from the university and the region and in co-operation with the Centre for Feminist Studies (ZFS) in Bremen
  A History of Women's Struggles for Gender Equality in the 1990s
  in South Africa
• Extensive participation in the international conference 'Societies in Transition - Challenges to Women's and Gender Studies' as advisor for the focus on South Africa

The seminar was very well received by the students. The various colloquia and lectures also met with broad interest. Building on the fruitful collaboration during the visiting professorship, further co-operation projects are planned for the future. A two-semester seminar cycle on 'Social Policy and Gender in newly integrated Countries' is currently being planned, which will be offered in parallel at the CvO University of Oldenburg and the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. It serves as preparation for research stays and internships in the other country. For the winter semester 2002/2003, a group of South African students will be offered a stay in Oldenburg. In the summer semester 2003, students from Oldenburg will then have the opportunity to study in South Africa. It is assumed that the group will consist of approx. 10 students, who should preferably be in the final phase of their studies. The financing of this project is still open. (If you are interested, please contact . Overall, Dr Sheila Meintjes' stay and academic commitment provided inspiring impetus for the ZFG's further work in research and teaching. Both the courses offered by the International Visiting Professorship in Women's and Gender Studies and the follow-up project 'Student Exchange' will deepen an international perspective within women's and gender studies.