Head: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Isabel
Kranz
The Department of Cultural Studies adopts a broad conception of culture that
examines social practices, symbolic forms, and historical archives. Decidedly interdisciplinary, the department devotes its
research and teaching in particular to the relationship between culture and nature, as well as the interplay between technology
and art, and examines these concepts in terms of their historical development.
In engaging with theories ranging
from the so-called “Erste Kulturwissenschaft” to contemporary approaches (including those from the Plant Humanities, Science
and Technology Studies, and Games Studies), the focus is on working with concrete materials (texts, images, spaces). Other
key areas of focus for the department include cultural techniques (especially storytelling, play, and exhibition) as well
as the relationship between empiricism and space.
The department’s courses are open to students across the university.
In addition to a focus on teaching academic writing, the courses involve the development of exhibition and publication formats
in collaboration with students, thereby not only critically examining cultural practices from an academic perspective but
also applying them in the best sense of the term.
