Paderborner Popdozentur
The “Paderborner Pop Dozentur” (Paderborn Pop Lectureship) was launched in 2014 by Prof. Dr. Christoph Jacke and Ulrich Lettermann to promote exchange with prominent and renowned professionals from the broad field of the music and media industries in the context of seminars, workshops, projects, talks, round tables, etc. and students as well as the urban community. So far, Markus Kavka, Prof Dieter Gorny, Sonja Eismann and Prof Vivien Goldman have held the Paderborner Popdozentur.
In the summer semester of 2025, Prof. Vivien Goldman was the sixth pop lecturer at the Paderborn University's research centre "C:POP - Transdisciplinary Research Center for Popular Music Cultures and Creative Economies" at the invitation of Prof. Dr. Christoph Jacke. The pop lectureship was supported by the Centre for Gender Studies (GZ).
Vivien Goldman is internationally renowned as a music journalist, author, musician and feminist thought leader and led an interactive block seminar entitled "ARTIVISM - Creativity and Activism" as part of the Culture Week. The seminar was open to students from various degree programmes and combined Goldman's many years of experience at the interface of pop culture, politics and society.
Goldman, also known as the "Punk Professor", who is known for her pioneering contributions to punk, reggae, Afrobeat and jazz, among other things, drew on a wealth of experience. In her latest book "Rebel Musix, Scribe on a Vibe" (2024), she looks back on five decades of feminist pop music history. With "Die Rache der She-Punks" (German 2021), Goldman had already published a work that was received worldwide in seminars on feminist music history. She also teaches at the renowned Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at New York University.
In addition to her journalistic work, Goldman has also left her mark on the scene as a biographer of Bob Marley, as a director of music documentaries and as a musician - for example with The Flying Lizards, as a songwriter for Massive Attack or solo.
In her three-day seminar from 11 to 13 June 2025, Goldman posed the question of how exactly creative work can have a social impact without being party-political. In addition to theoretical impulses, the seminar focussed on concrete strategies of artistic intervention using the example of Bob Marley or Fela Kuti, for example, and creative work in a team that develops an artistic project together. The seminar was supported by a guest appearance by music journalist Christina Mohr (Frankfurter Rundschau, Musikexpress, Missy Magazine, Spex), who travelled to Paderborn especially to give a lecture on German feminist punk history to the students.
At the end of the Pop-Dozentur, the results of the seminar were presented to the university public at the AStA Stadtcampus. The event marked the successful finale of the seminar, a summary can be viewed here. We would like to thank Vivien Goldman for the sixth Pop Lectureship and hope to welcome her back to Paderborn soon.
Photos: Paul Schuldig, Joshua Wick, Dr. Johanna Sackel
On 23 May 2024, Sonja Eismann concluded the 5th Popdozentur of the Popular Music and Media degree programmes with an event in the Gewölbe Paderborn (gwlb). Prof.in Dr. Beate Flath moderated the evening.
In Eismann's lecture entitled "The so-called 'women's special': Why music still only has one gender - and what music journalism has to do with it", she drew attention to the role of women both in (music) journalism and in the music business. The title already indicates that the lecture is a homage to the many "women's specials" in music magazines such as Rolling Stone. Women are ascribed a special role in these "specials", but this makes it clear that women have a special status in the music world. For example, it is still difficult to find a large number of women in festival line-ups today. Music awards also often go to men, as there are far fewer women to choose from, except of course in the categories that are explicitly labelled as female, such as "Best Female Artist".
In music journalism, women also have this special status. Women are rarely to be found on magazine covers and not at all in leading positions in the leading music magazines. Discrimination against women takes place at all levels in music journalism.
In addition to Sonja Eismann's lecture, students from her "Music Journalism and Gender" seminar presented their projects in short pitches. For example, a magazine called "Female Gaze" was presented, projects relating to specific artists, such as Billie Eilish, or songs and many more. The projects will be published in a bundle afterwards.
We would like to thank Sonja Eismann for the successful event and 5th Popdozentur!
In the winter semester 2023/24, the Popular Music and Media degree programme welcomed Prof Dieter Gorny to Paderborn University for his fourth pop lectureship. He thus continued his commitment to the teaching and research activities of the degree programme and the affiliated research centre "C:POP - Transdisciplinary Research Center for Popular Music Cultures and Creative Economies", of which he is now a member of the advisory board.
As one of Germany's best-known pop music politicians and sponsors, Prof. Dieter Gorny founded institutions such as the music channel "VIVA", the "Popkomm" pop music fair and the "european centre for creative economy (ecce)". Gorny also supported the establishment of the Institute for Pop Music at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen/Bochum together with Prof Dr Christoph Jacke. Gorny is also Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Initiative Musik and the Filmstiftung NRW as well as a member of the Presidium of the German Music Council and teaches as Professor of Cultural and Media Studies at the Düsseldorf University of Applied Sciences.
The course he held as part of the pop lectureship was entitled "Pop, media and markets - historical, transformational and cultural-economic developments in one of the central sectors of the creative industries". The seminar was designed to be transdisciplinary and was aimed not only at students of popular music and media, but also at those interested in media studies and the Studium Generale programme.
The lecture was rounded off by a public talk followed by a Q&A on the future of music (television) viewing on TV and the internet, which took place on campus on 11 January 2024. The event offered all interested parties the opportunity to talk to Prof Gorny about current developments and challenges in the field of tension between pop culture and the media economy.
Interview with Prof Dieter Gorny in Stern from 23 November 2023.
Thanks to his long-standing contact with the course director Prof. Dr. Christoph Jacke, Prof. Gorny was already a guest at Paderborn University in the summer semester of 2017 for a lecture and talk, and there was great interest in a further visit and more intensive cooperation. The "Popular Music and Media BA/MA" degree programme was once again able to welcome Gorny, who is probably the most prominent pop music politician in Germany and has been an expert on the music industry for decades. Among other things, Gorny founded the music trade fair "Popkomm" and the music television channel "VIVA" and is chairman of the supervisory board of "Initiative Musik".
After a four-day block seminar entitled "Pop and digitalisation. On the technological, economic and cultural transformation of a cultural industry" was followed by a public lecture on Monday 27 January. In both the seminar and the lecture, Gorny's aim was to convey and discuss the fundamental transformation of popular music and its marketing through digitalisation and to provide students with high-level insights into international pop music industries and cultural policies. The issues surrounding copyright, the appreciation of artists and the value of music in the wake of technological advances were discussed, and the considerable dependency between music creators and (distribution) technology was made clear.
Thanks to his many years of experience in the music industry and cultural policy, Gorny was able to inspire the students with a wealth of first-hand knowledge and anecdotes. He also made reference to current affairs and demonstrated how he closely observes and analyses events and developments, inspiring the students to ask him questions about future-oriented topics in particular. Dieter Gorny himself was extremely satisfied with the seminar and enthusiastic about the very interested students. He values the degree programme as an important place where things get moving, thought-provoking ideas are taken forward and a good basis for discussion is created. Prof Dr Jacke commented: "Mr Gorny provides a newsworthy, well-founded transfer between politics, industry and science that is unrivalled in Germany, especially for the students. Gladly again and again."
In the evening after the lecture and as a successful and atmospheric conclusion to the pop lectureship, a non-university event followed, the 15th "Popkritik" in the cult pub "Sputnik" in the Riemekeviertel. The topic was "My first record", with Jenny Koliqi (BA student "Popular Music and Media"), Katharina Schmecht (MA student "Popular Music and Media"), Dominik Nösner (research assistant) and special guest Prof Dieter Gorny on the podium. The evening was moderated by Thorsten Drücker (artistic assistant). Thanks to the successful age cross-section of the panellists, a wide variety of stories were told, with lively discussions between the panellists and very active participation from the audience. This made it possible to discuss the findings again afterwards in a different setting, and the successful third Popdozentur came to a successful conclusion with a motivated look to the future and the hope that the 3rd Pop lecturer will return to the university.
In the 2016 summer semester, Markus Kavka returned once again for the second Popdozentur of the Paderborn University's Popular Music and Media programme. This time too, the seminar was entitled "I Want My MTV! Producing a music television programme: research, interview, moderation". The focus of the seminar was primarily on the joint production of a half-hour music television programme, which covered all facets of (music) journalism: editorial conception, video content, moderation and interview. The main focus was on the practical teaching of basic journalistic skills. The aim was to work together to create a broadcast-ready product that would be presented to the public at the end of the seminar.
Another very special event was Kavka's participation as a special guest at the 10th edition of the Popkritik event series on 27 May 2016, where he discussed the connection between football, media and pop culture under the title "Football is our life!" shortly before the start of the 2016 European Football Championship in France. As a music and football journalist (most recently working for RTL Nitro), he proved to be the ideal discussion and debate partner for a varied evening between pop, football and politics.
In the 2014/2015 winter semester, music journalist and TV presenter Markus Kavka took on the first pop lectureship for our Popular Music and Media degree programme at Paderborn University. Under the seminar title "I Want My MTV! Production of a music television programme: research, interview, moderation", Kavka taught the students the central basics of music journalism and was able to share his many years of practical experience in music television.
One of the many highlights of the lectureship took place at the end of the year: On 29 November 2014, a joint DJ performance by Markus Kavka and students took place at the Paderborn Residence. The participants celebrated the successful conclusion of the seminar there.