Stefan Rohrhirsch

Stefan Rohrhirsch is a Research Associate and doctoral researcher at the Bielefeld Graduate School in History and Sociology, Bielefeld University, affiliated with the Faculty of Sociology's Department of Politics and Society (Department 4) under the Flügel-Martinsen Group.

His academic background includes:

• Master of Arts in Political Theory from Goethe University Frankfurt and Technical University Darmstadt (2018-2022, with distinction); thesis: "Biopolitics as the Government of Things: With Foucault toward a post-anthropocentric understanding of biopolitical governmentality"
• Visiting Student at the New School for Social Research, New York (2020, DAAD-funded)
• Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy with Sociology minor from Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (2014-2017)
• Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with Sociology minor from Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (2012-2016)

Rohrhirsch's research critically examines the political-philosophical implications of the Anthropocene through the lens of biopolitics and materialist theory. His doctoral project "Kritik der ökologischen Vernunft" (Critique of Ecological Reason) investigates how ecological governance modulates material environments to manage human and non-human populations, challenging traditional political subject-object dichotomies. The three-phase project combines genealogical analysis of "Environmentality," political-theoretical implications of biopolitical governance, and exploration of emancipatory alternatives beyond current nature relations.

He actively presents his work at international forums including:

• "Mit Foucault zu einer Kritik der Ökologie" at the "Usages de Foucault/Gebrauchsweisen von Foucault" conference (Berlin, November 30, 2024)
• "Biopolitics as Government of Things: Towards a Critique of Ecological Reason" at the ECPR General Conference (Dublin, August 13, 2024)