Space for research on the change of dialogue cultures

Public disputes on questions of migration, racist mobilization or protests against coronavirus measures - the reaction of the public to such issues has gained in intensity. The KU’s research center “Dialog Cultures” looks at this structural change of the public sphere from a culture and social studies perspective. Due to the pandemic, last year’s event “Dialogicity and Agonality: On the new Contentiousness of Public Spheres” could now finally take place a year later than originally intended. It examined contemporary forms of the public sphere that seem to be determined by conflict, confrontation, dissent and radical negativity.

“The intensification of disputes is accompanied by reciprocal amplification effects between virtual and actual realities, between meetings in streets and squares and condensations of digital communication in social media with their resounding echos,” says sociologist Prof. Dr. Robert Schmidt, who alongside his colleague, Prof. Dr. Kerstin Schmidt from the Chair of American Studies is one of the speakers of the research center. This could lead to polarizations and to charged emotions that often have surprising mobilizing effects.

“One concern of our research center is to address different forms of dialog in different societies from a contemporary and a historic viewpoint as well as in cultural and social sciences terms. On the other hand, we also endeavor to actually create a space for dialog. We hope the exchange beyond the narrow borders of just one discipline will promote and enable all kinds of projects, be they PhD, post-PhD, or habilitation or research projects with established colleagues of the field,” says Prof. Dr. Jens Hogreve in his function as Vice President for Research. This can be seen in the topics of the different research projects that are discussed with researchers across all disciplines. One of them is concerned with methods that might strengthen teachers when facing anti-democratic beliefs in the classroom. In total, almost 20 KU researchers participate in the research center.

The hybrid kick-off conference was transmitted online from the Holzersaal in the Sommerresidenz building.
The hybrid kick-off conference was transmitted online from the Holzersaal in the Sommerresidenz building.

The aim of this research center is to give excellent researchers the freedom to work on research projects that are already well advanced, but also to complete applications for third-party funding. In addition, the research center not only offers a platform to advance excellent research centered on the humanities, but also a place where current concerns can be taken up from a cultural studies perspective thereby contributing to the dialogue between science and society.

Prof. Dr. Hogreve emphasized, that this dialogue was all about respectfully understanding and valuing the different viewpoints. “If we engage in this process, it can help us find surprising and helpful solutions in dialogue.” For this reason, international guests are also a vital part of the research center. This summer semester, the KU has international guests from the United States, China, Denmark and the United Kingdom. One of the researchers is looking a Vietnam to show how dialog differs in Western Antiquity, the colonial past and post-colonial society. This internationality is made possible by funding from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation as part of the Henriette Herz Program. The KU was able to get this funding due to its award to recruit international junior researchers.

More information is available at www.ku.de/en/research/research-infrastructure/research-institutions/ku-center-for-advanced-studies-dialogical-cultures.

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