Humanities

Supported by the Werkstatt Wissenschaftskarriere (Workshops Academic Career), an Interdisciplinary Colloquium for Doctoral Candidates was held at the University of Duisburg-Essen in 2014 (Prof. Gabriele Genge, Kerstin Meincke; Department of Art and Art History). Political boundaries are demarcations that affect various areas and – visibly or invisibly – seem to separate and redefine geographical, cultural and social spaces. The concept and trope of the border seems to be of particular relevance for marking the contours of a transnational and decolonial research perspective. In recognition of the demands for a global perspective on art theory, the Doctoral Colloquium will be thematically devoted to the following questions: Which agency results from such transfers? In which media are they documented, in which aesthetic practices do they ­become effective and discernible, and how are the ensuing dynamics reflected upon? The starting point will be the critical examination ­of colonial concepts and geographies along with their specific aesthetics and artefacts. Global processes of migration and their principal agents are of particular relevance in this context.

The multiple ways in which societies and ­cultures in the Anglophone world have been affected by migration and globalisation both in past and present times form the object of research at the transdisciplinary section of Postcolonial Studies within the Department of Anglophone Studies (Prof. Patricia Plummer). The main ­areas of research are Orientalism, the Indigenous Literature and Culture of Australia, and multiculturality in Great Britain. Patricia Plummer is also a founding member (together with Prof. Ute Klammer, UDE’s Vice-Rector for Diversity Management and International Affairs, and Dr. Maren A. Jochimsen, Managing Director of the Essen College of Gender Studies, EKfG) of the Diversity Research Initiative at UDE, which examines diversity in various social, cultural, geographical and historical contexts. An interdisciplinary ­lecture series devoted to these themes takes place once a year.

Research in the area of Migration and Multilingualism within the Faculty of Humanities means research across the boundaries of disciplines and universities; it means micro-historical aspects as well as Global History, research in the light of transnational and postcolonial concerns and in regional as well as international research clusters. Its guiding questions are closely linked with concepts of identity, interculturality and intercultural communication. Only recently a consortium of the Departments of Media and Communication Studies of the three universities of the University Alliance Ruhr (UAR) has set up the School of ­International and Intercultural Communication (SIIC), which is funded by MERCUR. The Uni­versity of Duisburg-Essen is represented by the ­Department of Communication Studies (Prof. Jens Loenhoff). The first grants have just been awarded – we will report back to you.