Prof. Dr. Christine Lang
Junior Professor of Social Geography and Reflexive Migration Studies
Head of the working group Social Geography and Reflexive Migration Studies
Main research interests: Migration and diversity; cities, urban politics and governance; labour and organisations, social inequality and discrimination
My research focuses on the social production of migration, diversity, and inclusion/exclusion, with a particular emphasis on the role of space. Currently, I am specifically investigating geographies of migration of medical professionals and urban governance of diversity. I am particularly interested in how diverse actors and organizations contribute to the creation of spaces of migration and difference, the factors influencing these processes, and their consequences for social structures, inclusion/exclusion, and broader societal transformation.
Since November 2023, I have been a Junior Professor of Social Geography and Reflexive Migration Studies at Osnabrück University. Prior to this, I held postdoc positions at the Institute for Geography and the Institute for Migration Research and Intercultural Studies (IMIS) at Osnabrück University, as well as at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity in Göttingen.
I received my doctorate in 2018 from Osnabrück University with a dissertation entitled “The Production of Diversity: Municipal Administrations and the Employment of Migrants and their Descendants.” During my doctoral research I held a doctoral fellowship and I worked as research associate at IMIS on a project examining social mobility among the descendants of immigrants. I hold a master’s degree in sociology from the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris, following studies in sociology and political science in Freiburg i. Br. and Paris.
Prof. Dr. Christine Lang
Institute of Geography
Osnabrück University
Seminarstraße 19 a/b
49074 Osnabrück
Room: 02/205
Phone: +49 541 969-4201
christine.lang@uni-osnabrueck.de
Office hours
n.V.
Monographs
Lang, C. (2019). Die Produktion von Diversität in städtischen Verwaltungen. Wandel und Beharrung von Organisationen in der Migrationsgesellschaft.. Wiesbaden: Springer VS. link
Lang, C., Pott, A., & Schneider, J. (2018). Erfolg nicht vorgesehen: Sozialer Aufstieg in der Einwanderungsgesellschaft – und was ihn so schwer macht (2. aktualisierte und gekürzte Auflage). Münster: Waxmann. link
Lang, C., Pott, A., & Schneider, J. (2016). Unwahrscheinlich erfolgreich: sozialer Aufstieg in der Einwanderungsgesellschaft (IMIS-Beiträge 49/2016). Osnabrück: IMIS. link
Edited volumes
Oltmer, J., Berlinghoff, M., Düvell, F., Etzold. B, Lang, C. & Pott, A. (eds.) (2025). Report Globale Flucht 2025. Frankfurt a.M.: S. Fischer.
Oltmer, J., Berlinghoff, M., Düvell, F., Lang, C. & Pott, A. (eds.) (2024). Report Globale Flucht 2024. Frankfurt a.M.: S. Fischer.
Special Issues
Pott, A., & Lang, C. (2025). Reflecting on the Geographies of Migration Research. Geographische Zeitschrift, 113(4). https://biblioscout.net/journal/gz/113/4
Lang, C., Pott, A., & Shinozaki, K. (2021). How do organisations shape migration and inclusion? Comparative Migration Studies. https://link.springer.com/collections/ejieddbicj
Journal articles
Lang, C., & Pott, A. (2025). Towards spatial reflexivity in migration research. Geographische Zeitschrift, 113(4), 212–235. https://doi.org/10.25162/gz-2025-0009
Pott, A., & Lang, C. (2025). Reflecting on the Geographies of Migration Research. Geographische Zeitschrift, 113(4), 208–211. https://doi.org/10.25162/gz-2025-0008
Lang, C. (2025). Politics of belonging and urban space: civil society interventions in French and German cities. Urban Geography, 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1080/02723638.2025.2566685
Lang, C., & Badenhoop, E. (2025). Civil society organizations and the local politics of migration: How funding contexts matter. Comparative Migration Studies, 13(1), 3. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40878-024-00420-0
Lang, C. (2022). Organizations and geographies of migration: The case of health professionals. Erdkunde, 76(4), 255-269. doi. org/10.3112/erdkunde.2022.04.02
Lang, C. (2022). (Un)Suitable Difference: Ethnic and Racializing Differentiations in Recruitment Practices of Local Administrations in Berlin. Swiss Journal of Sociology 48 (3): 489-508. doi.org/10.2478/sjs-2022-0024.
Lang, C., Pott, A., & Shinozaki, K. (2021). Organizations and the production of migration and in/exclusion. Comparative Migration Studies 9(60). doi.org/10.1186/s40878-021-00274-w
Lang, C. (2021). Accessing the public workforce: Organizational recruitment practices and the inclusion or exclusion of individuals of immigrant origin. Comparative Migration Studies 9(26). doi.org/10.1186/s40878-021-00233-5
Schiller, M., Lang, C., Schönwälder, K., & Moutselos, M. (2020). Vielfalt and diversité: how local actors in France and Germany evaluate immigration and socio-cultural heterogeneity. Comparative Migration Studies 8(48). doi.org/10.1186/s40878-020-00205-1
Lang, C. (2020). Workforce Diversity Policies in Practice: Drivers and Barriers in Local Administrations. Ethnic and Racial Studies 43(11): 1961-1980. doi. 1080/01419870.2020.1754444
Schneider, J., & Lang, C. (2014). Social Mobility, Habitus and Identity Formation in the Turkish-German Second Generation. New Diversities, 16(1), 89-105. link
Articles in edited volumes
Lang, C. (2026). Rassismus und Diskriminierung in Verwaltungsinstitutionen. In Nationaler Diskriminierungs- und Rassismusmonitor (ed.), Rassismusforschung III: Rassismus in Strukturen und Praxisfeldern (pp. 185–215). Bielefeld: transcript. Link https://www.transcript-verlag.de/shopMedia/openaccess/pdf/oa9783839467527.pdf#page=186
Keskiner, E., Lang, C., Konyali, A., & Rezai, S. (2022). Becoming Successful in the Business and Law Sectors: Institutional Structures and Individual Resources. In J. Schneider, M. Crul, & A. Pott (Eds.), New Social Mobility: Second Generation Pioneers in Europe (pp. 79-104). Cham: Springer International Publishing. doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-05566-9_4 (Open Access)
Lang, C., Pott, A., & Schneider, J. (2022). Context Matters: The Varying Roles of Social Ties for Professional Careers of Immigrants' Descendants. In E. Keskiner, M. Eve, & L. Ryan (Eds.), Revisiting Migrant Networks: Migrants and their Descendants in Labor Markets (pp. 61-81). Cham: Springer. doi. org/10.1007/978-3-030-94972-3_4
Lang, C. (2021). Der Wert des Migrationshintergrunds: Zur Bedeutung ethnischer Differenzierungen in der Personalrekrutierung öffentlicher Verwaltungen. In F. Meier & T. Peetz (Eds.), Organisation und Bewertung (pp. 217–236). Wiesbaden: Springer VS.
Lang, C., & Schneider, J. (2017). Von Kreuzberg nach Tempelhof: Räumliche und soziale Mobilität bei Nachkommen von Eingewanderten aus der Türkei in Berlin. In T. Geisen, C. Riegel, & E. Yildiz (Eds.), Migration, Stadt und Urbanität. Perspektiven auf die Heterogenität migrantischer Lebenswelten (pp. 237-258). Wiesbaden: Springer.
Lang, C. (2017). Von ‚typischen‘ und ‚untypischen‘ Einwanderungsbezirken: Migrationsbedingte Vielfalt und die ‚Interkulturelle Öffnung‘ städtischer Verwaltungen. In M. Barbehön, & S. Münch (Eds.), Variationen des Städtischen - Variationen lokaler Politik (pp. 351-373). Wiesbaden: Springer VS.
Schneider, J., & Lang, C. (2016). Barriers and Opportunities: Trajectories of Teachers with Turkish Background and the Institutional Context in Germany. In C. Schmidt, & J. Schneider (Eds.), Diversifying the Teaching Force in Transnational Contexts. Critical Perspectives (pp. 165-178). Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.
Schneider, J., & Lang, C. (2015). Bildungserfolge und Aufstiegskarrieren: Probleme der Forschung zur intergenerationalen Mobilität in Einwandererfamilien in Deutschland. In I. Dirim, I. Gogolin, D. Knorr, M. Krüger-Potratz, D. Lengyel, H. H. Reich, & W. Weiße (Eds.), Impulse für die Migrationsgesellschaft. Bildung, Politik und Religion (pp. 239-251). Münster: Waxmann.
Lang, C. (2014). "Mehr Migranten in den Öffentlichen Dienst!" Welche Hürden könnten den Zugang erschweren? In S. Bertelsmann (Ed.), Weltoffen, bürgernah und kompetent. Kommunen als Spiegel einer vielfältigen Gesellschaft (pp. 35-38). Gütersloh: Bertelsmann Stiftung.
Gans, P., Lang, C., & Pott, A. (2013). Bevölkerungsdynamik und Migration. In H. Gebhardt, R. Glaser, & S. Lentz (Eds.), Europa – eine Geographie (pp. 329-377). Heidelberg: Spektrum.
Lang, C. (2013). Europa als transnationaler Migrationsraum und Abschottungsraum. In H. Gebhardt, R. Glaser, & S. Lentz (Eds.), Europa – eine Geographie (pp. 203-208). Heidelberg: Spektrum.
Lang, C. (2010). „All men are created equal?“ - Menschenrechtspolitik nach dem 11. September. In G. Riescher (Ed.), Sicherheit und Freiheit statt Terror und Angst. Perspektiven einer demokratischen Sicherheit (pp. 249-272). Baden-Baden: Nomos.
FFVT: Forced Migration and Refugee Studies: Networking and Knowledge Transfer
Joint project of IMIS, Bonn International Centre for Conflict Studies (bicc), Centre for Human Rights Erlangen-Nürnberg (CHREN)
Duration: 01/2025 - 12/2029
Funding: BMBF
IMIS management: Prof. Dr. Christine Lang, Prof. Dr. Jochen Oltmer, Prof. Dr. Andreas Pott
IMIS staff: Dr. Franck Düvell
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The production of spaces of skilled migration: Recruitment and mobility of physicians
Subproject C3 of the SFB 1604 "Production of Migration"
Duration 04/2024 - 12/2027
Funding: DFG
Project management: Prof. Dr. Christine Lang
Project collaborators: Viktor van Versendaal, Béla Selzer (student assistant)
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Integrated Research Training Group of the SFB 1604 "Production of Migration"
Duration 04/2024 - 12/2027
Funding: DFG
Project lead: Prof. Dr. Christine Lang, Prof. Dr. Helen Schwenken
Project staff: Dr. Johanna Ullmann, Xin Wang
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TraMS: Transatlantic Exchange in Migration Studies
Duration: 08/2025 - 07/2029
Funding: DAAD ISAP program
Project lead: Prof. Dr. Christine Lang
Administration: Petra Lehmeyer
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Summer semester 2026
Lecture: Fundamentals of Human Geography I (with Martin Franz)
Human geography exercise: “Urban Development in Disadvantaged Neighbourhoods: Processes of Change in Osnabrück’s Schinkel District”
Winter Semester 2025/2026
Follow-up Seminar Research study project Serbia
Lecture: Introduction into Human Geography (with Martin Franz)
Summer semester 2025
Preparatory seminar Research study project Serbia
Field phase Research study project Serbia
WS 2024/25
Advanced seminar: Fundamentals of geographical migration research
Lecture Social Geography (with Roland Lippuner)
Day excursion: Johannisstraße Osnabrück
Summer semester 2024
Proseminar Human Geography (PS 1 + PS 2)
Human geography exercise: "The post-migrant gastronomic landscape of Osnabrück"
WS 2023/24
Advanced seminar: Fundamentals of geographical migration research
Methods seminar: Qualitative Methods in Human Geography
Day excursion: Dortmund: Urban development programs in the northern part of the city
Summer semester 2023
Proseminar Human Geography
Human geography exercise: "Urban development and local economy"
WS 2022/23
Advanced seminar "Fundamentals of geographical migration research"
Excursion: "Social urban development: Nordstadt in Dortmund"
Summer semester 2022
Proseminar in human geography
Human geography exercise: "Neighbourhood development in disadvantaged urban districts"