Cultural Dynamics Beyond Globalized Networks
The work of this transdisciplinary Research Training Group (RTG) focuses primarily on practices of connecting and excluding. In globalised networks, the ability to connect and remain connected is essential for anyone seeking to fully participate in social life. This RTG is interested in the ‘counterside’ of participation programmes across a host of networks including the media, society, the economy, politics, law, art, culture, and science and scholarship, and examines aspects of exclusion inherent within the practices of connecting in globalised networks. Our research focuses on practices of local particularisation which demonstrably exist beyond the ideal of a global standard and network. These develop in a space beyond customary national and cultural boundary lines and a priori historical periods, which are crucial for defining different concepts of modernity.
Its approach sees it act as a crucible in which a range of disciplines including art, media and cultural studies can combine with philosophy, ethnology, comparative cross-cultural studies and creative and artistic practice. It acts as a meeting point for a broad range of expertise covering locations of interest from the last two hundred years in Europe, East and Southeast Asia, North and South America, and sub-Saharan Africa and Arabia. By examining divergent concepts of culture and definitions arising from local practices of connecting and excluding, the RTG seeks to identify a new transdisciplinary approach for observing the interrelationship between participation and dissidence which is designed around processual action and dialogicity. The comparison of processes of historical change and various global, regional and local spaces raises issues of power, participation, autonomy and heteronomy and reveals the fragmented perception and symbolic narrativization of the world.
The RTG is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG).
Funding period: October 2021 to March 2026.
Speakers
Speaker
Prof. Dr. Sandra Kurfürst, s.kurfuerst@uni-koeln.de
Co-Speaker
Prof. Dr. Wolfram Nitsch, wolfram.nitsch@uni-koeln.de
Universities
The Research Training Group is a joint project of:
Universität zu Köln | University of Cologne (UzK)
Philosophische Fakultät | Faculty of Arts and Humanities
Albertus-Magnus-Platz
D-50923 Köln
↗ https://www.uni-koeln.de
↗ https://phil-fak.uni-koeln.de
Kunsthochschule für Medien Köln | Academy of Media Arts Cologne (KHM)
Peter-Welter-Platz 2
D-50676 Köln
↗ https://www.khm.de
Technische Hochschule Köln | TH Köln – University of Technology, Arts, Sciences (TH)
Fakultät für Kulturwissenschaften | Faculty of Cultural Sciences
Köln International School of Design
Ubierring 40
D-678 Köln
↗ https://www.th-koeln.de
↗ https://kisd.de
Functions
Arbeitsbereich Vernetzung
Stephan Packard, packard@uni-koeln.de
Arbeitsbereich Speicherung
Carolin Höfler, carolin.hoefler@th-koeln.de
Arbeitsbereich Standardisierung
Martin Zillinger, zillingm@uni-koeln.de
Arbeitsbereich Übersetzung
Wolfram Nitsch, wolfram.nitsch@uni-koeln.de
Partnerschaft Südafrika
Martin Zillinger, martin.zillinger@uni-koeln.de
Partnerschaft Mexiko
Gesine Müller, gesine.mueller@uni-koeln.de
Partnerschaft Japan
Sandra Kurfürst, s.kurfuerst@uni-koeln.de
Kuratorische Projekte und Kooperation mit Kulturträgern
Nina Möntmann, nmoentma@uni-koeln.de
Öffentlichkeit und Kulturträger
Carolin Höfler, carolin.hoefler@th-koeln.de
Gleichstellung
Sandra Kurfürst, s.kurfuerst@uni-koeln.de
Integration
Simone Pfeifer, s.pfeifer@uni-koeln.de
Qualitätsmanagement
Wolfram Nitsch, wolfram.nitsch@uni-koeln.de
Boards
EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES
The “connecting – excluding” Research Training Group (RTG) considers equality of opportunity, diversity and intersectionality to be of fundamental importance. The contact person for issues relating to equality of opportunity is Sandra Kurfürst.
The RTG embraced these issues early on even as it recruited its members, paying due attention to gender parity in their selection. In addition, it also set up the Gender Board to oversee measures promoting equality and diversity on behalf of the GRG. The Gender Board is made up of representatives from the various status groups and oversees and develops equal opportunity measures at the senior organisational level. The Gender Board convenes at regular intervals to discuss applications made by and measures relating to the RTG’s members.
The RTG also assists in promoting the careers of its female members by offering courses and events related to their research specialisms and the participating disciplines in order to highlight career pathways open to young female academics both inside and outside academia. The RTG also finances female members’ participation in the university’s Female Career Programme, and the Family Support service means that they also have access to a children’s play area and parent-friendly workplaces.
Events: 23rd and 29th September, 2022: Awareness/ Unconscious Bias Workshop
Equal Opportunities Board
Aminata Estelle Diouf, Carolin Höfler, Sandra Kurfürst, Simone Pfeifer, Julia Willms
Contact
E-Mail: s.kurfuerst@uni-koeln.de
INTEGRATION
The contact person for matters relating to integration is Simone Pfeifer. The Research Trainingg Group (RTG) pursues not only a decidedly interdisciplinary approach and methodology, it also defines itself – reflecting the participating disciplines and the PhD candidates that are working within it – as a programmatically international and transnational research partnership. This is reflected especially in the ethnographic and postcolonial perspective of numerous projects which focus on fields including media studies, literary studies and the fine arts. Additional topic areas traversing these fields include issues of diversity, identity and representation.
These foci correspond at the organisational level and through the operational measures undertaken by the RTG with the gender-parity staffing policy for the PhD positions as well as the establishment of the Gender Board for monitoring and promoting equal opportunity measures, access to the university’s childcare facilities and the services provided by the Female Career Programme. In addition, discussions relating to issues of equal opportunity and inclusion at the scholarly level are also an integral aspect of the GRG’s conference schedule, for example in round-table format.
Contact
E-Mail: s.pfeifer@uni-koeln.de
PUBLIC OUTREACH
The contact person for matters relating to public relations is Carolin Höfler. The Research Training Group (RTG) strives to increase the visibility of the research undertaken by its members by making it accessible to an interested public outside the academic environment. The RTG engages in collaboration with extramural, intersectoral partner institutions – for example in the form of work placements or collaborative projects, events or publications. To this end, the RTG opens its fields of research and their results to public debate and seeks to identify ways in which they might be applied in society.
Contact
E-Mail: carolin.hoefler@th-koeln.de
QUALITY MANAGEMENT
Wolfram Nitsch is responsible for quality management in the Research Training Group (RTG). In close cooperation with the office for quality management at the Department of Philosophy at Cologne University, the courses and activities at the RTG receive regular evaluation. The results of these evaluations are discussed with the RTG’s members together with the results of additional questionnaires, in particular those pertaining to their progress in their PhD projects. These discussions take place during a so-called “retreat” by the RTG board on the sidelines of the annual conference and are documented in the form of best-practice guidelines. These guidelines also record experiences from the selection process which may be used in preparations for future selection processes.
Contact
E-Mail: wolfram.nitsch@uni-koeln.de
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
Academic integrity and compliance with the principles of good academic practice are indispensible preconditions for academic study. The Research Training Group understands these principles as critical to its self-definition.