About
Helma Lutz was Professor of Sociology with a focus on women’s and gender studies at the Goethe University Frankfurt/M. from 2007 to 2021. In teaching and research, she is concerned with the intersection of Gender, (transnational) Migration, Ethnicity, Nationalism, Racism and Citizenship in Europe. In the past two decades, she has focused in particular on Care Migration from Eastern Europe.
Helma Lutz has written 6 monographs, 16 books as (co-)editor, edited 11 special issues for various (international) journals and published over 100 articles in three languages (German, English and Dutch). Some articles have been published in Spanish, Polish, French and Greek translation (see Publications).

Curriculum Vitae
2005 | Habilitation in sociology, University Münster, Germany |
1999 | Habilitation in educational science, University Münster, Germany |
1990 | PhD in sociology, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands |
1983 | MA in sociology, Free University of Berlin, Germany |
1976 | BA in social work, University of Kassel, Germany |
1972 | graduated (Abitur) from Gymnasium Hann.Münden, Germany |
Employment
2007 – 2021 | Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies, Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany |
2006 | Guest Professor at the Sorbonne, (École Pratique des Hautes Études, EPHE), Paris, France |
2005 – 2006 | Maria-Goeppert-Mayer-Guest Professor for International Women’s and Gender Studies, University of Hildesheim, Germany |
1999 – 2007 | Reader, University of Münster, Germany, Department of Education and Social Sciences |
2000 | Visiting Professor at the ‘International Women’s University’ Hanover, Germany |
1998 – 2000 | Member of the Curriculum Committee of the ‘International Women’s University’, Hanover, Germany |
1997 – 1999 | Acting Professor: Education and Women’s Studies, Goethe-University of Frankfurt, Germany |
1996 | Scholar in Residence, Amsterdam School of Social Science Research, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands |
1991 – 1996 | Assistant Professor at the Department of General Social Sciences and the European Research Centre on Migration and Ethnic Relations (ERCOMER), University of Utrecht, The Netherlands |
1985 – 1990 | Researcher at the “Centre for Race and Ethnic Studies” University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands |
1983 – 1985 | Social planning, International Building Exhibition in Urban Redevelopment, Berlin, Germany |
1980 – 1983 | Lecturer at the Technical University of Berlin (TU), Germany |
1976 – 1980 | Social worker in different projects in Germany (Kassel, Bremen, Berlin) |
Teaching and Research
I have a long-standing interest in migration, ethnic relations and in feminist scholarship. My work is situated at the intersection of gender studies, migration studies and cultural studies combining insights from sociology, and political sciences with a focus on feminist research. These are reflected in my teaching where I teach courses at undergraduate, graduate and post graduate levels in gender studies (intersectionality and masculinities), ethnic relations, migration, anti-racisms and multiculturalism, qualitative methods of social research (interview techniques, biographical analysis, discourse analysis and focus groups), transnational and postcolonial identities. I have published extensively in German, English and Dutch. My articles were translated into French, Greek, Spanish, Turkish, and Polish.
Academic Self Administration
2015 – 2021 | Acting Director Cornelia Goethe Centre of Women’s Studies and Gender Relations |
2015 – 2016 | Director Study Affairs, Institute of Sociology, Goethe University |
2011 – 2012 | Co-Director, Academy for Teachers’ Training, Goethe University |
2011 – 2021 | Associate Executive Director Cornelia Goethe Center of Women’s and Gender Studies, Goethe University |
2010 – 2013 | Director ‘IPP Transnational’, Programme for the internationalization of the PhD programme, Faculty of Social Sciences, financed by the German Academic Exchange Service |
2009 – 2011 | Associate Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, Goethe University |
2010 – 2021 | Coordinator: Gender studies, MA Sociology |
2005 – present | Professorial member of the Cornelia Goethe Centre |
2007 – 2021 | Initiator and board member of numerous Gender and Diversity activities at Goethe University Frankfurt. |
Research Projects
(Third party funding)
2017 – 2021 | Decent Work? Transnational Home Care Arrangements. D-A CH-Project financed by the German Research Council (DFG) as lead agency, researchers: Dr. Ewa Palenga-Möllenbeck, Aranka Wandtke, Iga Obrocka. |
2013 – 2015 | Feminism vs. Multiculturalism? On the discursive construction of powerful dilemma s, funded by The Hessen State Ministry of Higher Education, Re-search and the Arts, research assistant: Kristina Nottbohm |
2011- 2012 | Men in the Global Care Chain. A case study on Polish handymen, financed by Ministry of Science, Hessen (Principal investigator) |
2010 – 2012 | Reconstructing Biographies in Exile: Chechen Refugee Women in Aus-tria, Germany and Poland. Supervision of Post-Doc Researcher Dr. Al-ice Szczepanikova, A.v. Humboldt Foundation. |
2008 – 2010 | Bi-national German-French Grad-school (Theme: Socialisation, Family and Gender in the Context of Migration) in Cooperation with University of Strasburg/F |
2007 – 2010 | Landscapes of Care Drain. Care Provision and Care Chains from the Ukraine to Poland and from Poland to Germany, financed by the Ger-man Research Foundation, part of the European Science Foundation’s EUROCORE project: Migration and Networks of Care in Europe. A Comparative Research Project (Principal investigator) |
2001- 2005 | Gender, Ethnicity and Identity. The ‚New Maids’ in the Age of Globalisa-tion. Research Project financed by the Volkswagen Foundation |
2001 – 2004 | Member of the Scientific Network ‚Servant Project‘, a thematic network financed by the European Union, 5th Framework Programme, Key Ac-tion: Improving the Socio-Economic Knowledge Base‘. (German Princi-pal investigator) |
2001 – 2002 | Experience of Space and Place. An Oral-History Project about the living conditions of female domestic workers, township residents in the Eastern Cape Province in South Africa; in Co-operation with Prof. Jan Coetzee, Rhodes University, South Africa; supported by the German Scientific Council. |
1990 – 1995 | The social heritage of migration: Biographies of Surinamese mothers and daughters, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands |
1985 – 1990 | Connecting Worlds. Turkish migrant women as mediating social workers in Germany and the Netherlands, University of Amsterdam, The Nether-lands. |
Member of editorial boards
2011- present | Series-Editor: Gender and Society, VS Verlag, Frankfurt |
2007 – 2015 | International Corresponding Editor: Feminist Review |
2004 – 2022 | Associate editor: European Journal of Women’s Studies |
2003 – 2015 | Board of advisors: Feministische Studien |
since 1997 | Guest editor: Frauen in der Einen Welt, Das Argument, European Jour-nal of Women’s Studies, Social Policy and Society |
1992 -1997 | co-editor COMENIUS, Journal on Education and Culture, The Nether-lands |
Functions in (inter)national organisations and advisory boards
2018 – 2023 | President RC05, Research Committee on Racism, Nationalism, Indigenei-ty and Ethnicity, International Sociological Association |
2010 – 2018 | Board member of RC05, International Sociological Association (ISA) |
2011 – 2015 | President Biographical Research, German Sociological Association (DFG) |
2008 – 2010 | Co-Organizer of the Centennial Congress of the German Sociological As-sociation, Theme: ‘Transnational Socialisation’, October 2010, Frankfurt |
1998 – 2003 | Vice President of the German Section of Biographical Research |
1998 – 2002 | Vice President, RC38, ISA |
2000 | Advisory Board of IFU (Internat. Women’s University, Hanover) |
1994 – 1998 | Secretary and Board Member of Research Committee RC 38 (Biography and Society), ISA |
1994 – 1998 | Scientific advisory board, New Ethnicities Unit. Univ. of East London |
1995 – 1998 | Member of panel of advisors for several international research projects in Britain (Oxford Brookes University) |
Reviewer/Evaluator
Research Foundations: European Science Foundation; German Research Foundation; German-French Foundation; Swiss National Foundation; Austrian Academy of Sciences; Belgian Science Policy, Netherlands Scientific Research Council; Rijksbanken Foundation, Sweden; British Academy, UK; Canada Council for the Arts; Lars Hierta Memorial Foundation; Fulbright Commision.
Journals: European Journal of Women’s Studies, Social Science and Medicine, Thamyris, Tijdschrift voor Gender Studies, Migrantenstudies, Gender Studies, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Feminist Studies, feminist review, feministische studien, Journal for Ethnic and Migration Studies, International Sociology and many more.
Awards/Distinctions
2023 | May, Guestprofessorship, University of Milano, Social Sciences |
2022 | February, Guestprofessorship, University of Milano, Social Sciences |
2012/13 | Fellowship Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington DC |
2012 | Alexander v. Humboldt Award for ‘outstanding German scholars’ from Riks-bankens Jubileumsfond Foundation, Stockholm, Sweden |
2008 | Award for the Translation of the book ‘Vom Weltmarkt in den Privathaushalt’ by the joint price initiative: Thyssen Foundation, German Federal Foreign Office and German Publishers and Booksellers Association |
2004/05 | Fellowship The Netherlands Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIAS), Wassenaar, The Hague/The Netherlands |
PhDs (finished)
Finished:
- Dr. Juliane Karakayali
Transnationale care workers in Haushalten Pflegebedürftiger - Dr. Tina Spies
Migration und Männlichkeit. Biographien junger Straffälliger im Diskurs - Dr. Ewa Palenga-Möllenbeck
Gelebter Alltag und historische Imagination: Transnationale Arbeitsmigranten aus Oberschle-sien - Dr. Elise Pape
Innerfamiliäre Transmissionsprozesse am Beispiel marokkanischer Einwandererfamilien in Deutschland und Frankreich – Eine Drei-Generationen-Studie (Cotutelle mit der Universität Straßburg) - Dr. Celine Camus
The Glass ceiling at the university: from under-representation to gender contestations - Dr. Katrin Huxel
Positionierungen männlicher Jugendlicher mit Migrationshintergrund im Geflecht von Ge-schlecht und ethnisch-kulturellen Zugehörigkeiten - Dr. Petra Rostock
Jenseits von >Identität< Zu den Un/Möglichkeiten nicht-identitärer Strategien politischen Handelns - Dr. Linda Supik
Statistik und Rassismus. Die statistische Erfassung von ‚Rasse‘/Ethnizität und die Messung von Diskriminierung am Beispiel des britischen Zensus. - Dr. Veronika Ott
Ambivalentes Regieren zu Sexarbeit und Menschenhandel: Praktiken und Wissen im Feld der Fachberatungsstellen. - Dr. Catharina Peeck-Ho
“Winning Hearts and Minds“? Maßnahmen zum Empowerment muslimischer Frauen und die Aushandlung von Citizenship am Beispiel der britischen ‚Prevent‘ Strategie - Dr. Anna Safuta
Between familialism and formalization: Domestic services provided informally by migrant workers in two diverging policy contexts. - Dr.Flamina Bartolini
Reproductive health in the ‘illegality’. Undocumented migrants in Germany. - Dr. Marija Grujic
Serbian Nationalism and Internally Displaced Persons from Kosovo – the intersection of reli-gious, national and gender identities. - Dr. Yevgenia Wirz
Transnationale Care-Netzwerke ukrainischer Arbeitsmigrantinnen. - Dr. Eliane Kurz
Zwischen Theorie und Praxis. Konzeptualisierung von Differenz: Intersektionalität in feminis-tischer politischer Praxis. - Dr. Katrin Springsgut
Zur Bedeutung sozialer Ungleichheitskategorien für Studierende mit Migrationshintergrund. - Dr. Rafaela Werny
Gepflegte Männlichkeit. Eine biographische Perspektive auf Männlichkeitskonstruktionen hochaltriger Männer im Rahmen institutioneller Pflege. - Dr. Matthias Schneider
Männer, Flucht und Identität. Über die Identitätskonstruktionen von aus Eritrea geflüchteten Männern entlang ihrer Lebensgeschichten
Under supervision:
- Ina Schaum
Jüdischsein, Deutschsein, Verliebtsein. Eine Untersuchung von Liebesbeziehungen junger jüdischer Erwachsener in Deutschland - Benita Kawalla: Zwischen Familienliebe und Formalitäten
Über die intrafamiliären Aushandlungen von Staatsbürgerschaftskonstruktionen, Zugehörig-keiten und acts of citizenship von mixed-status Familien im Libanon. - Aranka Benazha
Bringing the Market Home. Zur Rolle transnational agierender Vermittlungsagenturen in der 24-Stunden-Betreuung