Jürgen Martschukat

Jürgen Martschukat is a Professor of North American History at the University of Erfurt and Spokesperson for the Research Unit on Voluntariness. His work spans gender history, the history of violence, the history of the body, and political history, with a focus on voluntariness as a political and cultural concept.

• Current Research: Leading projects on Voluntariness as Political Practice (2020–2024) and Voluntariness, Self-Care and Health in the US around 1865 (2024–2027).
• Key Publications: American Fatherhood: A History (2019) and The Age of Fitness (2021).

His recent publications explore the intersections of voluntariness with neoliberal subjectivity, health trends, and political practices, including works on the Lockean subject and the politics of fitness. He has organized workshops and lectures, such as the Treppenhaus-Lecture at Erfurt in 2025, discussing ambivalences of voluntariness.

• Research Unit Participation: Engaged in collaborative efforts with scholars like Mitchell Dean and Alexandra Oeser, including a special issue on The Politics of Voluntariness in Modern History for Rethinking History.