When society observes itself: ‘Diagnosis (in) modernity’ is the focus of a new research network coordinated by the university, which is being funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) for a period of three years.
Diagnoses are made in doctors’ surgeries – but also in many other areas of daily life. “Diagnosis is a defining feature of modern societies,” says Oldenburg-based historian Dr Nikolaus Buschmann. Whether it is international education comparisons or an assessment centre for filling a dream job, whether it is talent scouting in sport or deriving political measures from COVID-19 statistics – people are constantly developing or using methods designed to help them identify problems or recognise potential, so that they can make forward-looking decisions. “The state of, for example, a society, the environment or an individual is to become quantifiable,” says Buschmann. He is one of a total of 17 researchers from the humanities, social sciences and cultural studies who, as part of a new DFG-funded network, will investigate how diagnosis shapes our everyday lives. In doing so, they will exchange ideas with other experts, including those from abroad.
The interdisciplinary network is based at the “Genealogy of the Present” (WiZeGG) centre at the University of Oldenburg. The proposal was submitted by the current director of WiZeGG, Prof. Dr Thomas Alkemeyer, a sociologist at the Institute of Sport Science. Together with the American studies scholar and deputy director of WiZeGG, Prof. Dr Martin Butler, and Buschmann, the centre’s managing director, he will coordinate the exchange within the network over the next three years. The Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg Delmenhorst (HWK) is also involved; the first and last of the six planned working meetings are to take place on its premises.
“We want to explore in greater depth how the act of diagnosing shapes social discourses and permeates everyday life,” explains Buschmann. “Which diagnoses – and thus which topics – does whom regard as relevant or irrelevant? How do modern societies come to terms with crises and challenges, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, digitalisation or migration?” The network will also examine the historical and socio-political dimensions, for instance in relation to population policy and urban planning, and will analyse national and regional differences. In this way, it aims to raise the profile of the topic – including on an international level – and open up new research perspectives for the early-career researchers involved.
In its working meetings, the network will successively examine concepts, fields, institutions, locations, techniques, forms of representation and media related to diagnosis. Among the distinguished external guests are the Bamberg-based sociologist Prof. Dr Heike Delitz, the Düsseldorf-based historian Prof. Dr Achim Landwehr, the Konstanz-based Germanist Prof. Dr Albrecht Koschorke, the Viennese literary scholar Prof. Dr Eva Horn, and the geographer, philosopher and sociologist Prof. Dr Theodore Schatzki (University of Kentucky, USA, and Lancaster University, England). The aim is to produce a joint anthology and a research framework for a larger joint project.
From the Oldenburg community of researchers and lecturers, in addition to Alkemeyer, Butler and Buschmann, the cultural historian Prof. Dr Thomas Etzemüller, the musicologist Prof. Dr Anna Langenbruch, the social scientist Dr Andrea Querfurt and the art historian Dr Anja Zimmermann are also involved.
