Research

The Centre for Cultural Studies sees itself as a place for fundamental research in cultural studies and for theoretical reflection. The projects pursued at the Centre characteristically deal with interdisciplinary and comparative questions of cultural forms and cultural techniques. An interest in cultural theory and method formation is guiding the research conducted here. The Centre understands 'cultural studies’ to be process-oriented with a focus on theory building, concept transfer and practices. 'Culture' is understood as a relational, processual term.

The following research areas form the foundation for the projects developed at the Centre:

EMOTION CULTURES

MEDIA CULTURES

SCIENCE CULTURES

One further focal point is research on the following cultural forms and cultural techniques:

Recht ‒ Emotion ‒ Schreiben (Law ‒ Emotion ‒ Writing, R-E-S)

The interlinking of different disciplines, specific object areas and fields of knowledge associated with these research areas and research topics is based on:

• Reflected interdisciplinarity: The exploration of the resilience and usability of terms and concepts, considering the respective disciplinary-scientific contexts. The aim of this examination is to design new theoretical and methodological models that sharpen the respective disciplinary singularities with their specific questions and problem areas, and also make the spaces and solutions generated from the confrontation productive.
• Practical interdisciplinarity: Regular interdisciplinary events (lecture series, colloquia, workshops, lectures) as well as the analysis, interlinking and systematic preparation of knowledge and data as well as making them accessible to the public (e.g. in the form of digital anthologies) implement the interdisciplinary work of the Centre and make it visible.

The general cultural-theoretical positioning of the Centre for Cultural Studies can be outlined as follows:

• The cultural-scientific framework for research endeavours and projects is based on the media-culture-scientific focus on text, movement and language issues.
• The Centre conducts research on the normative and practical aspects of culture.
• The concept of culture can be seen as ‘culture as practice’.