Director
Manager / Scientific Coordinator
Honorary Director
About
Interculturality is a central theme of our times. The close proximity and coexistence of people from different cultural implications in a shared territory is what distinguishes modern societies; the processes of these new configurations are on the agenda in both national and international politics. Close to 100 social scientists and other academics at Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz are carrying out interdisciplinary research under the auspices of the Center for Intercultural Studies. The researchers are analyzing the changes in living conditions that result from emigration/immigration as well as cultural contacts and are investigating the connections between science, politics, and ethnic minorities.
Founded in 1997, the Center aims at generating synergy between the many humanities and cultural studies disciplines at Mainz University as Interdisciplinary Research Platform. To date, a great number of intercultural and interdisciplinary research projects with international cooperation have been initiated and given support. The projects promoted at present range from investigations into historical contacts between cultures through studies of cultural models conveyed by films to current European issues such as the social and cultural development and changes. In previous years, the Center has promoted innumerable conferences, financed more than fourty guest professorships and put on numerous public events with literary figures, artists and musicians in collaboration with cultural organizations.
Since 2014 the center is establishing the new publication series “Intercultural Studies”, published by the Universitätsverlag Winter in Heidelberg, Germany. The center aims to give an insight into relevant research about interculturality by this series. The volumes appear partly in English, too. Recent publications are Leistungsbeschreibung / Describing Cultural Achievements: Literarische Strategien bei Hans Blumenberg / Hans Blumenberg’s Literary Strategies (2020) and Developing Transnational American Studies (2019).
https://www.blogs.uni-mainz.de/zis-eng/bibliography/intercultural-studies/