The Universities of Leipzig, Halle-Wittenberg, Jena and Erfurt set up a
joint research forum in the humanities and social sciences on 1 December 2016.
The forum, entitled "Forum for the Study of
the Global Condition", brings together scholars from numerous
disciplines, studying the global entanglement of contemporary societies and
their historical roots. In addition to the four universities, involved are the
Leibniz Institute for Leipzig, the Max Planck Institute for Ethnology, the
Simon Dubnow Institute for Jewish History and Culture Leipzig, and the Center
for the History and
Culture of Eastern Central Europe at the University of Leipzig (which
will become part of the Leibniz Gesellschaft on 1 January 2017).
The initiative is based on the idea that the Central German
Universities, together with the institutes of the Max Planck Society and the
Leibniz Gesellschaft, have an excellent expertise in the analysis of global
processes, with their professionalism and experience in collaborative research.
Existing
collaborative and individual projects are to be linked with each other
and supplemented by appropriate forms of doctoral qualification and
research-oriented teaching.
In terms of content, it is about the paradox that more and more people
are involved in and affected by global interdependencies, but that they are
skeptical about a globalized future for various reasons. The Forum does not
study "globalization", but explores how different actors deal with
transnational migration, exchange of goods, financial flows and the transfer of
ideas, and thus create "the global" at all.
"Through an interdisciplinary combination of our competencies in
the new Forum, we will be able to form a competitive center, whose research is
attracting international attention and is thus highly attractive to excellent
young scholars and master students," says Prof. Dr. Beate Schücking,
Rector of the University of Leipzig. "In Central Germany, we are
constantly showing how good inter-institutional cooperation can be achieved.
The institutionalised cooperation between Halle, Jena and Leipzig has now been
in existence for more than 20 years, special research areas such as those of
the
nomadic societies have made the best use of this foundation and the
relatively young German Center for Integrative Biodiversity Research is
developing into an internationally visible lighthouse. The study of global
processes is now building on this."
More important collaborative projects have been approved in the recent
past, such as the Leibniz Science Campaign "Eastern Europe - Global
Area" between Leipzig, Halle and Jena, and the special research area
"Spatialization Processes under Globalization Conditions" (University
of Leipzig, Leibniz Institute for Ethnology, History and Culture of East
Central Europe). The new research Forum also links thematically to topics and
projects of the "International Year of Global Understanding", which
has its origin at the University of Jena and focuses on questions of
sustainability and the understanding of global contexts.
"The research Forum will be an expression of cooperation between
university and non-university research centers in Central Germany,"
emphasized Prof. Dr. Walter Rosenthal, President of the Friedrich Schiller
University of Jena (FSU). Bringing together excellent human and social sciences
expertise is an important step "to promote interdisciplinary research in
these fields", so Rosenthal.
In terms of content, the University of Jena inter alia focuses on
literature, history, and sociology. The existing research and graduate colleges
as well as the collegiate research groups represent an excellent starting point
for the successful cooperation. The President of the FSU also emphasizes that
the promotion of young scholars is a particular concern of the new Forum. Thus,
by means of a joint program of excellence, the proportion of international
graduate students in Central Germany would be significantly increased.
"Halle contributes its expertise primarily to questions of law and
the possible implementation of national legal systems in the context of
international norms," says Prof. Dr. Udo Sträter, Rector
of the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg. The University of
Halle and Jena, among others, are part of the University's interdisciplinary
research center "Society and Culture in Motion" as well as the
Aleksander Brückner Center for Polish Studies. Another important partner is the
Max Planck
Institute for Anthropological Research in Halle.
At the University of Erfurt, the sociological and historical research at
the Max Weber Center for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies concentrates on
the changing world-relations of individuals and entire societies, which are
increasingly challenging in the face of growing uncertainty about the result of
the many overlapping global interdependencies. Professor Walter Bauer-Wabnegg,
President of the University of Erfurt, said: "The comparative analysis of
world relations in the field of culture, in particular, also includes
historical aspects well before the 19th century and our time."
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