Dr. Michaela Doutch

My main research centres on labour and labour agency within global production and logistics networks, focusing on the global garment industry; approaches to social reproduction and reproductive labour; women, gender, and feminism in development; and multi-scalar labour struggles and movements, also linked to transnational networking and organising.

My regional focus is on mainland Southeast Asia, particularly Cambodia, as well as Ghana (with regard to the second-hand industry) and Brazil (with regard to cotton production).

2016–2022
PhD in Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Bonn, Germany (summa cum laude)

2012–2015
MA in Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Bonn, Germany (parental leave included)

2008–2012
BA in Asian Studies at the University of Bonn, Germany

since 2022
Post-Doctoral Researcher and Lecturer at the Department of Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Bonn, Germany

2021–2022
Research Assistant and Lecturer at the Department of Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Bonn, Germany

2017–2019
Various teaching assignments at the Department of Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Bonn, Germany

Supervision of bachelor's and master's theses on my main research areas and related topics.
 
WS 25/26 (4 SWS)
MA Seminar: Arbeitsgeographien in Südostasien. Entwicklung aus einer Labour-Perspektive
BA Seminar: Sozial-ökologische Konflikte in Südostasien – a companion seminar to the Lecture Series "Socio-Environmental Conflicts in Southeast Asia" (in English)

SoSe 2025 (4 SWS)
MA Seminar: Qualitative Empirische Forschung (Aktuelle Themen der Südostasienwissenschaft)
BA Seminar: Konferenzvorbereitung und -teilnahme: 5. Konferenz für Asienforschung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Asienkunde (Aktuelle gesellschaftliche Entwicklungen in Südostasien)

WS 24/25 (4 SWS)
MA Seminar: Klimawandel und Klimapolitik in Südostasien – a companion seminar to the Lecture Series "Climate Change: Critical Insights from Southeast Asia" (in English)
MA Seminar: Arbeitsgeographien in Südostasien. Entwicklung aus einer Labour-Perspektive

SoSe 2024 (4 SWS)
MA Seminar: Umkämpfte Naturverhältnisse in Südostasien. Theorie & Praxis
MA Seminar: Lehrforschung

WS 23/24 (4 SWS)
MA Seminar: Theorie und Praxis von Entwicklung in Südostasien
MA Seminar: Arbeitsgeographien in Südostasien. Entwicklung aus einer Labour-Perspektive

SoSe 2023 (2 SWS)
BA Seminar: Religionen in Südostasien. Glaube. Macht. Bewegung

WS 22/23 (2 SWS)
MA Seminar: Arbeitsgeographien in Südostasien. Entwicklung aus einer Labour- Perspektive

SoSe 2022 (2 SWS)
MA Seminar: World-Ecology und Südostasien ( + Organisation World Ecology Conference 2022)

WS 18/19 (2 SWS)
BA Seminar: Kontinuitäten und Umbrüche in Kambodscha

WS 17/18 (2 SWS)
BA Seminar: Autoritäre Herrschaft, wirtschaftliche Entwicklung und Arbeiterbewegung in Kambodscha

since 2015 (regularly)
Cambodia

03/2026
Brazil

07–08/2025
USA

03/2024
Ghana

2025
Nomination for the Teaching Award 2025, University of Bonn

2023
Gender Studies Prize (Dissertation) 2022, University of Bonn

2023–2026
Argelander Starter Kit Grant "Contested socio-ecological re/production. A systematic              investigation of the Global Garment Re/Production Network (GRPN) from a feminist labour geography perspective," University of Bonn

2022–2025
DFG Scientific Network "Global Transformation and Socio-Ecological Reproduction.                Perspectives from Labour Geography in German-Speaking Countries"

2016–2020
PhD scholarship of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation (RLS), Berlin

2015–2015
PROMOS scholarship of the BMBF/DAAD, sponsored by the University of Bonn

Recent Monographs, Edited Volumes and Special Issues

• Forthcoming. With Anne Engelhardt, Tatiana Lopéz, and Oliver Pye. Labour Geographies of Global Production Networks. Special Issue of Work in the Global Economy. Bristol, UK: Bristol University Press (01/2027).
• 2026. As editor. With Anne Engelhardt, Tatiana Lopéz, Saumya Premchander, and Miriam Wenner. Arbeitswelten – Neue Perspektiven aus Räumen der Re/Produktion. Berlin/Heidelberg: Springer Spectrum. Access
• 2022. Women workers in the garment factories of Cambodia. A feminist labour geography of global (re)production networks. Berlin: Regiospectra Verlag. Access

Recent Articles

• 2026. With Anne Engelhardt, Tatiana Lopéz, Saumya Premchander, and Miriam Wenner. "Zwischen Geographien der Arbeit und Labour Geography." In Arbeitswelten - Neue Perspektiven aus Räumen der Re/Produktion, edited by M. Doutch, A. Engelhardt, T. Lopéz, S. Premchander, and M. Wenner, 1–26. Berlin/Heidelberg: Springer Spectrum. Access
•  2026. "Starting and staying with Labour: Eine moderierte feministische partizipative Aktionsforschung mit Arbeiter:innen aus dem Bekleidungssektor Kambodschas." In Arbeitswelten - Neue Perspektiven aus Räumen der Re/Produktion, edited by M. Doutch, A. Engelhardt, T. Lopéz, S. Premchander, and M. Wenner, 333–350. Berlin/Heidelberg: Springer Spectrum. Access
• 2025. With Tatiana López Ayala, Oliver Pye, Stefanie Hürtgen, and Nadine Reis. "Labour Geography in the German-Speaking Countries: A Work in Progress." In Handbook Labour Geography, edited by A. Herod, 128–142. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing. Access
• 2025. "Zur Erforschung und Organisation globaler Wertschöpfungsketten: Der NextNode-Ansatz." PROKLA. Zeitschrift für Kritische Sozialwissenschaft 55(220): 589–607. Access
• 2024. "Globale (Re-)Produktionsnetzwerke aus feministischer LabourGeography-Perspektive: Leben und Alltagskämpfe von kambodschanischen Bekleidungsarbeiter*innen." PROKLA. Zeitschrift für Kritische Sozialwissenschaft 54(214): 77–97. Access
• 2021. "A gendered labour geography perspective on the Cambodian garment workers' general strike of 2013/2014." Globalizations 18(8): 1406–1419. Access