Univ.-Ass. Mag.a Hanna Grabenberger
About the Person
Since October 2023 | University assistant (pre-doc) at the University of Innsbruck, Institute of Educational Science; Doctorate under Prof. Dr. Erol Yıldız
Since 2022 | Freelancer as external trainer at the Extremism Information Centre
2019-October 2023 | Course leader/trainer at Interface Vienna, Jugendcollege StartWien
2019-2023 | Freelancer at the Documentation Centre of Austrian Resistance (DÖW): Guide at the Steinhof Memorial, trainer at schools: prevention of right-wing extremism and awareness of anti-Semitism
2022-2023 | Concept and material development for the Ministry of Education (topic: Holocaust education for German as a foreign language)
2018/2019 | German as a second language trainer at IKI- International Cultural Institute Vienna, PROSA, and at the Polytechnic School
PhD project
Pupils' perspectives on religion at school as a place of representation. Ambiguities and religion-related literacy.
The dissertation examines pupils' perspectives on religion at school as a place of representation and thus positions itself in the field of ‘religion, school and young people’, which has been the subject of public debate for some time. Religious plurality often appears to be implicitly problematized, especially when it is linked to migration and natio-ethno-cultural affiliations. Such interpretations also have an impact on the field of education: in the search for explanations for tensions, supposed ‘cultural conflicts’ are invoked, whereby culture and religion become symbolic borders of marking differences. The fact that these simplifications themselves have a polarising effect and shape young people's perspectives is usually ignored.
Against this background, the dissertation analyses young people's articulations in group interviews on the topic of ‘religion in school’. The aim is to reconstruct how school, as an institutional hub for religion-related discourse, structures respondents' access to the subject of religion and how young people interpret, process and help shape these discursive frameworks. Particular attention is paid to the reciprocity of subjectivation processes between the individual and society, as well as to the active role of young people in shaping religion-related narratives.
Contrary to dominant discourses that primarily label young people as a problem or risk group, this work asks whether and how their articulations reveal practices that challenge assumed lines of difference and, at the same time, enable solidarity in dealing with actual perceived differences. The focus is on practices of ambiguity, without ignoring the fact that some young people reproduce discourses based on dichotomous ‘us-them’ distinctions. From the analysed knowledge bases and practices, a religion-related literacy is reconstructed that describes the reflective, situational and relational approach to religion in the school context.
Research interests
- Religion in post-migrant society
- Migration education
- Ideologies and politics of inequality
- Criticism of racism and anti-Semitism in educational work
- History and remembrance of the Shoah in DaZ and DaF lessons
Publications
Blaschitz, V., Perner, K., Grabenberger, H., Weichselbaum, M., Dirim, İ., & Templ, V. (2020): Die Aneignung von Deutsch als Zweitsprache im Dialekt Standard-Kontinuum, in: Zielsprache Deutsch 2/2020, 3-20.
Dannerer, M., Dirim, İ., Döll, M., Grabenberger, H., Perner, K. R., & Weichselbaum, M. (2021): Sprachliche Variation: Grundlagen und Vorschläge für den Regelunterricht 2021, FörMig Material, Band 11. Waxmann Verlag.
Grabenberger, Hanna (im Druck): „Gesellschaftskritik“ in der antisemitismuskritischen Vermittlung. Überlegungen in Bezug auf gesellschaftliche Bedingungen in Österreich. In: Gutfleisch, Henning; Hermert, Alexander; Rajal, Elke; Schubert, Kai E.; Walter, Vanessa (Hg.): Grenzen der Erfahrung. Gesellschaftskritische Perspektiven auf Antisemitismus und Bildung.
Grabenberger, Hanna; Yildiz, Erol (2025). From Public Images of Islam to Everyday Muslim Practice. Religions, 16(5), 555. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16050555.
Lectures and other contributions
- Various lectures and workshops for specialist audiences outside academia
- The concept of a ‘multi-ethnic society’ for anti-Semitism-critical education with young people – workshop contribution at the CFP workshop ‘Post-migration and Didactics – Schools and Universities in Dialogue’, Hamburg, Germany, 31 January–1 February 2025
- (Experiential) perspectives and projections on young people. Incorporating experiences of racist discrimination into anti-Semitism-critical education – panel contribution at the ‘8th Annual Conference on Migration Research in Austria’, Innsbruck, 18–20 September 2024
- Possibilities for anti-Semitism-critical education practice in Austria using perspectives from Critical theory – panel contribution at the conference ‘Ticket Thinking – Social-critique Perspectives on Anti-Semitism & Education’, Justus Liebig University Giessen, together with Bianca Kämpf, 8 & 9 April 2024
Memberships
FIPU Research Group: Research Group on Ideologies and Politics of Inequality