Research Area Cultural Encounters – Cultural Conflicts

The Research Area “Cultural Encounters – Cultural Conflicts” is an association of disciplines from the humanities and the social sciences that investigates diverse forms of cultural contact. We understand ‘culture’ as a dynamic system concerned with the creation of meaning. These dynamics are analyzed as places of both creativity and the continuous emergence of new formations, but also of conflict-laden relations that may culminate in violence and warfare. Mobility, migration, and transfer – thus our working hypothesis – not only constitute the crucial challenges of our times, but are experiences fundamental to all epochs. These processes affect the evolution of groups, societies, religions, and behavior patterns, the creation of art and literary works, as well as practices of everyday life. As cultural phenomena, they are historically contingent and thus complex and potentially modifiable. They reflect current power structures and social inequalities; at the same time, they are intrinsically tied to the search for orientation and order.