"Globalisation is challenging clearly definable national identities and creating new, cross-border concepts of identity," explains Prof. Dr Martin Butler. The Americanist founded the DIVERSITAS research network.
The international and interdisciplinary research network DIVERSITAS (Diversity Studies International Teaching And Scholarship Network) analyses the dynamics of cultural contact and cultural transfer. The researchers are interested in the cultural and medial consequences of the globalisation process. "In order to be able to discuss these processes as precisely as possible, a transcultural and interdisciplinary approach is required," says Butler.
The University of Oldenburg, the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg (South Africa) and the University of Mumbai (India) work together in the research network. Under the leadership of Butler and Dr Hendrike Lehnguth from the Institute of English and American Studies, it brings together teachers and researchers from the fields of literature and cultural studies, sociology, psychology, musicology and gender studies. "The increasing diversity and interpenetration of cultural forms of expression makes the idea of national borders seem like a relic of bygone times. In the network, we want to examine the facets of transnational culture in an interdisciplinary way and find out how they affect the self-image of people in the three continents," explains Butler.
A workshop entitled "Transcultural Spaces/Hybrid Selves" will be held at the University of Oldenburg from 2 to 6 July to kick off DIVERSITAS. Parallel to the meeting in Oldenburg, the Institute is offering a DIVERSITAS summer course for the first time. All Master's students from School III - School of Linguistics and Cultural Studies can take part. The network and the events are part of the Research-Oriented Teaching in Focus (FLiF) initiative.