Dr Ann-Kathrin (Katya) Rothermel

Postdoctoral Researcher
Contact
+49 40 866077-70
rothermel@ifsh.de
Hamburg
ORCiD
Social media

Vita

Ann-Kathrin (Katya) Rothermel (she/her) is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Societal Peace and Internal Security research area. She previously worked at the University of Bern as a Postdoc Researcher in the Horizon Europe project UNTWIST, which investigated the role of gender in right-wing parties’ electoral successes across Europe. Before her position in Bern, she also worked for one year at the NGO ‘Das NETTZ’ as academic advisor to civil society projects promoting democracy and countering hate online. Katya studied Political Science at the FU Berlin and LSE in London. She holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Potsdam. Between 2017 and 2020, she was an affiliate researcher at the Berlin Graduate School for Global and Transregio nal Studies of the Cluster of Excellence SCRIPTS.  

Research profile

Katya’s expertise lies at the intersection between gender and political violence. Here she investigates the discursive and affective dynamics of radicalization into anti-feminist and male supremacist discourses of the co-called Manosphere as well as their connections to far-right groups and discourses. A second focus lies on the role of gender in mainstream institutions’ (including media, parties, civil society and International Organizations) efforts to counter violent extremism. She is currently particularly interested in the discursive-affective interaction between progressive and regressive mobilizations around gendered conceptions of ‘resistance’, ‘radicality’ and ‘failure’.

  • Male and white supremacist (online) radicalization
  • (Anti-)feminist mobilization
  • Gender in efforts to prevent and counter terrorism and violent extremism
  • Far-right normalization and democratic resistance 

Memberships & professional activities

  • Research Fellow at the Institute for Research on Male Supremacism
  • Research Fellow at the Research Network of Reactionary Politics 

Selected Publications

  • Rothermel, Ann-Kathrin. 2025. From Differentiation to Nexus Governance - Dynamics of Change in the UN’s Inter-Institutional Governance of Terrorism and Violent Extremism. International Studies Quarterly 69 (4): sqaf081. DOI: 10.1093/isq/sqaf081.
  • Rothermel, Ann-Kathrin, Megan Kelly. 2024. ‘Outsourcing Patriarchy’ in Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (P/CVE). Cambridge Review of International Affairs 37 (6): 880-909. DOI: 10.1080/09557571.2024.2312840.
  • Rothermel, Ann-Kathrin. 2023. The Role of Evidence-Based Misogyny in Antifeminist Online Communities of the ‘Manosphere’. Big Data & Society 10 (1) DOI: 10.1177/20539517221145671.
  • Rothermel, Ann-Kathrin, Laura J. Shepherd, ed. 2023. Gender and the Governance of Terrorism and Violent Extremism. London: Routledge. DOI: 10.4324/9781003381266.
  • Rothermel, Ann-Kathrin. 2020. “The Other Side”: Assessing the Polarization of Gender Knowledge Through a Feminist Analysis of the Affective-Discursive in Anti-Feminist Online Communities. Social Politics 27 (4): 718-741. DOI: 10.1093/sp/jxaa024.
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