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Prof. Dr. Christian Steiner

Christian Steiner
Prof. Dr. Christian Steiner
Chair of Human Geography | Fachsprecher
Phone +49 8421 93-21539
E-mail christian.steiner@ku.de
Building Osten 18 | Room: O18-104
Postal Address
Ostenstraße 18
85072 Eichstätt
Office hours
The Human Geography Group is not staffed for the time being. However, we are always available for you by email.

Christian Steiner studied geography, political science, and public law at the University of Mainz, where he also completed his doctoral degree in 2008. He subsequently led a study for the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) on the effects of the global economic crisis on poorer population groups who work in tourism. He was a visiting fellow at the Center for Modern Oriental Studies in Berlin and spent a total of three years as a temporary professor at the universities of Frankfurt and Osnabrück, before spending a year as a visiting professor at the University of Innsbruck in Austria.

His research papers have been awarded the international research prize of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Tourismuswissenschaften (German Tourism Society) and the Hans Bobek Prize of the Österreichische Geographische Gesellschaft (Austrian Geographical Society).

He has been W3 Professor of Human Geography at the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt since May 2016.

Seit Mai 2016 ist er W3-Professor für Humangeographie an der Katholischen Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt.
   

Education and career

  • May 2016–present: W3 Professor of Human Geography, Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt
  • Mar.–Apr. 2016: Research associate at the Institute of Human Geography, Goethe University Frankfurt
  • Mar. 2015–Feb. 2016: Visiting Professor of Human Geography at the Institute of Geography, University of Innsbruck
  • Oct. 2014–Feb. 2015: Research associate at the Institute of Human Geography, Goethe University Frankfurt
  • Jul. 2013: Habilitation in geography at Goethe University Frankfurt (thesis title: Pragmatism – environment – space. Potentials of pragmatism for interdisciplinary human–environment relations research in geography). The thesis was awarded the Hans Bobek Prize of the Österreichische Geographische Gesellschaft
  • Oct. 2012–Sep. 2014: Temporary W3 Professor of Human Geography at the Institute of Geography, University of Osnabrück
  • May 2011–Sep. 2012: Research associate at the Institute of Human Geography, Goethe University Frankfurt
  • Mar.–Apr. 2011: Research associate at the Institute of Geography, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
  • Apr. 2010–Feb. 2011: Temporary W3 Professor of Economic Geography at the Institute of Human Geography, Goethe University Frankfurt
  • Apr. 2010–May 2011: External expert reviewer for the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), Madrid, and the International Labour Organization (ILO), Geneva
  • Jul. 2008: Doctoral degree (Dr. rer. nat.) from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (grade: summa cum laude; thesis title: Tourism, security, and organizational learning processes – effects of September 11 on the strategies of actors in the tourism industry in the Arab world from the perspective of pragmatic geography). The thesis was awarded the international research prize of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Tourismuswissenschaften
  • Jun. 2006: Visiting researcher at Middle Eastern Technical University, Ankara (Turkey)
  • Jan. 2004–Mar. 2010: Research associate at the Institute of Geography, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz; lecturer at the Institute of Geography, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
  • 1995–2002: Diplom degree program in Geography with minors in Political Science and Public Law at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. Diplom thesis on foreign direct investment in Egypt’s tourism sector and the strategies of multinational companies (grade: outstanding)
      

Awards, fellowships, and scholarships

  • 2015–2016: Visiting professorship in human geography at the Institute of Geography, University of Innsbruck (Austria)
  • 2014: Hans Bobek Prize 2013 of the Österreichische Geographische Gesellschaft
  • 2010: Visiting research fellowship at the Center for Modern Oriental Studies in Berlin (Germany’s only non-university research center for Middle Eastern studies)
  • 2009: International research prize of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Tourismuswissenschaften in the category ‘best international thesis of 2008’
  • 2001: DAAD scholarship for a research stay in Egypt
       

Reviewer activities

  • British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies
  • Current Issues in Tourism
  • Geographische Zeitschrift
  • International Journal of Tourism Research
  • Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change
  • Leisure Studies
  • Middle East - Topics & Arguments
  • Tourism Geographies
  • Tourism Management
  • The Service Industries Journal
  • STANDORT
  • Zeitschrift für Tourismuswissenschaft
  • Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftsgeographie
       

Memberships

  • Verband der Geographen an Deutschen Hochschulen (Association of Geographers at German Universities, VGDH)
  • Association of American Geographers (AAG)
  • German Middle East Studies Association (DAVO)
  • Member of the scientific advisory board at the German Middle East Studies Association (DAVO) (since 2006)
  • Head of the DAVO working group ‘Economy’ (since 2007, with S. Wippel and A. Zorob)
  • Deutsche Akademie für Landeskunde (German Academy for Regional Studies)
      

Research interests

In his work, Christian Steiner follows a process-oriented and interdisciplinary approach to integrative research on the relationship between humans and the connatural world, which draws on John Dewey’s philosophy of classical pragmatism. In his ‘geography of the connatural world’, Steiner investigates how humans learn to deal creatively and transactively with constantly changing circumstances in their (non)human connatural world and the associated insecurities and risks, and how they are continuously finding new solutions to the problems with which they are faced. His studies both the individual physical experiences and practices of individuals and the social and normative power structures that they are subject to and help shape.

This perspective enables him to leave behind the standard dichotomies between nature and culture and between material and meaning, and to develop an ultimately holistic perspective on human–environment relations. On a conceptual level, this changed perspective calls for a union of humanity and nature in which the two are equals, and therefore offers an opportunity for people to take a new ethical and practical approach to dealing with their environment in which perspectives of sustainable development are particularly important.

Accordingly, his empirical research focuses on topics including sustainable use of the environment, the political economy, and sustainable development in fields such as tourism and viticulture. His work focuses on regions of Germany, Austria, the Arab world, and New Zealand.

Topics

  • Philosophy of science and methodology: philosophical pragmatism and geography
  • Sociogeographical human–environment relations research: discussion of the ‘third column’; adapting to climate change and sustainable regional development
  • Economic and tourism geography shaped by cultural studies: temporary labor migration; organizational and individual learning processes in creative methods of handling crises and risks; direct investment and political risk in tourism; political economy of tourism; geographical development research; sustainable livelihoods in tourism; globalization research
  • Urban geography: Post-modern urban development in the Arab states of the Persian Gulf

Regions

  • Arab world (especially Egypt, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates)
  • Germany (Rhine-Main area, Rhenish Hesse/Palatinate, Berlin)
  • Austria (Tyrol)
  • New Zealand
  • Maldives
      

Roles on editorial and supervisory boards for academic journals

  • Berichte. Geographie und Landeskunde (ISSN: 0005-9099)
  • Zeitschrift für Tourismuswissenschaft (ISSN: 2366-0406)

Publications

Artikel

Buch

Aufsatz in einem Buch

Herausgeberschaft einer Schriftenreihe oder einer Zeitschrift

Projektbericht, Forschungsbericht, Gutachten

Preprint, Working paper, Diskussionspapier

Veranstaltungsbeitrag (unveröffentlicht)

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