SFB 1288

SFB 1288 MIDTERM-CONFERENCE 16.06.2022 - 18.06.2022

SFB 1288 — Tue, 7 Jun 2022 18:29:22 +0200

The way we compare objects, concepts or people is closely related to the way we form a picture of the world and how it changes. When we compare, we attach more importance to certain objects of comparison and comparative views than to others. As a social practice and scientific method, comparison creates order; it is the key to the genesis, change and preservation of categories, norms and values.

At the SFB 1288-Midterm Conference from 16 to 18 June 2022 in Bielefeld, the following questions will be explored: What role does comparison play in the perception, representation and shaping of social and historical change? More specifically: Are practices of comparing catalysts, drivers or mirrors of change? How do these practices develop and in what ways are they influenced by other social, cultural and scientific practices and processes? Especially here, the question of how these processes and situations are modelled also plays a role. What factors are included in models of change and how are they weighted?

Processes of social change can be initiated suddenly, for example in response to political, economic and environmental challenges. Or they can be gradual and take place over a long period of time; they can affect smaller systems, communities and practices or have far-reaching, sometimes even global and historical impacts. Together with (inter)national speakers, the diversity and plurality of such processes of change will be considered. We will discuss how these processes are conceived, represented and brought about. We want to approach the topic by examining the particular orders, models and perceptions in different time periods and world regions that serve to describe, explain or bring about phenomena of change, and how they are related to practices of comparison.

In addition to presentations by SFB 1288 members, we welcome the following speakers, among others:

Mary Morgan, London School of Economics and Political Science, London: Comparing Countries: The Paradox of Too Many Numbers?

David Nirenberg, Department of History, Chicago / IAS Institute for Advances Study, Princeton: Writing the long History of Race: Comparison, Analogy, or Inter-Connection?

Joan-Pau Rubiés, ICREA & Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona: Early Modern Comparatism and the Idea of Historical Progress

Angus Nicholls, School of Languages, Linguistics and Film, London: Theories of Stadial Change in the German 'Geisteswissenschaften' around 1870-1900: Bastian, Dilthey, Scherer and Boas

Conference Program

Four more years SFB 1288

SFB 1288 — Fri, 27 Nov 2020 15:59:59 +0100

The German Research Foundation (DFG) has approved the continuation of the SFB 1288. From January 2021 on, the university will continue to conduct research on practices of comparing for another four years, which the whole SFB is very much looking forward to. The research project consists of about 50 researchers (history, literature, art history, philosophy, law and political science). For the second funding period, 11.9 million euros were approved.

The press release of Bielefeld University, with comments from the SFB and the Rectorate, can be found here (in German).

New publications: Odysseus, Polemic Comparisons, and Black Matters

SFB 1288 — Tue, 20 Oct 2020 19:16:30 +0200

In the last months, several new articles and books have been published by the SFB 1288; some of them have emerged from events or have been written on related topics.

Christina Brauner and Antje Flüchter (Eds.): "Recht und Diversität. Lokale Konstellationen und globale Perspektiven von der Frühen Neuzeit bis zur Gegenwart" ('Law and Diversity. Local constellations and global perspectives from the early modern period to the present') (subproject B01)
The topic "Law and Diversity" connects the different current discussions and shows how society deals with difference and equality—thus also as a practice of comparing. The contributors to this volume study this topic from a historical perspective and examine constellations and ways of dealing with legal diversity from the early modern period to the present.
Christina Brauner: "Polemical Comparisons in Discourses of Religious Diversity: Conceptual Remarks and Reflexive Perspectives" (subproject B01)
Using comparisons to belittle others is a technique we know from everyday life. In discourses of religious diversity, such polemical comparisons play an important role in inter- and intra-religious boundaries and hierarchies. In her article, Christina Brauner combines polemical comparisons with more general methodological questions.
Johannes Grave, Joris Corin Heyder and Britta Hochkirchen (Eds.): "Sehen als Vergleichen. Praktiken des Vergleichens von Bildern, Kunstwerken und Artefakten" ('Viewing as Comparing. Practices of Comparing Images, Artworks and Artifacts') (subproject C01)
What does comparative viewing do with pictures and observers? How is the gaze directed through comparing and how are pictures made comparable? Practices of comparing encourage physical, medial or metaphorical changes of view. The contributions in this volume take a broad historical and systematic perspective on the practices underlying the comparing of images and artifacts.
Raimund Schulz: "Als Odysseus staunte – Die griechische Sicht des Fremden und das ethnographische Vergleichen von Homer bis Herodot" ('When Odysseus Wondered—The Greek View of the Foreign and Ethnographic Comparing from Homer to Herodotus') (subproject B04)
No other culture of antiquity was as intensively occupied with the foreign as the Greeks, and developed a form of ethnographic argumentation that shaped the view of the foreign far beyond antiquity; this also included comparing different ethnic groups according to fixed criteria. The book explains these phenomena for the first time in their historical-political context.
Antje Flüchter: "Die Vielfalt der Bilder und die eine Wahrheit. Die Staatlichkeit Indiens in der deutschsprachigen Wahrnehmung (1500–1700)" ('The Diversity of Images and the One Truth. The Statehood of India in German Perception (1500-1700)' (subproject B01)
In the pre-modern era, India was a European place of longing as a 'treasure chest': Europeans were not only surprised, however, they usually also had to adapt to Indian habits and customs. In her habilitation thesis, Antje Flüchter traces the processes of description and rewriting of the German-speaking perception of India from the 16th century to the transition to modernity; she examines the production of knowledge from travelogues to compilations and encyclopedias.
Afua Cooper and Wilfried Raussert (Photos): "Black Matters" (subproject B02)
"Black Matters" is a dialogue between image and text: a jambalaya. Cooper translates Raussert's photos into poems that focus on the everyday experiences of Black people. This visual and textual dialogue pays tribute to the different "layers of Blackness" in the African Diaspora in North America and Europe. The book was included in the top 10 list of the Canadian platform "Loan Stars" from October 2020.
Leopold Ringel and Tobias Werron: "Pandemic Practices, Part One. How to Turn 'Living Through the COVID-19 Pandemic' into a Heuristic Tool for Sociological Theorizing" (associated DFG project about the institutionalization of rankings)
In their article, Ringel and Werron use the Covid 19 pandemic as an opportunity for an experiment in sociological theorizing. They propose the concept of "pandemic practices" with which they want to grasp the social practices that emerge, are reproduced, linked and separated again during the pandemic, up to the (de-)institutionalization of certain practices. They draft a first tentative typology of pandemic practices. These include the so-called "pandemic meta-practices", which discuss, compare or evaluate other pandemic practices and which, by relating to them, can help to ensure that certain pandemic practices prevail—or perhaps even remain after the end of the pandemic.

Platform Launch: Nopaque

SFB 1288 — Fri, 16 Oct 2020 14:57:58 +0200

Subproject INF (Data Infrastructure and Digital Humanities) of the SFB 1288 has published the web application nopaque. With this platform, researchers can convert their files into formats that can be further processed, automatically enrich them with information and then analyze them. Nopaque thus maps a large part of the research processes in the humanities.

All work steps are coordinated in such a way that individual services can be used in conjunction with each other. These include tools such as Optical Character Recognition (OCR), Natural Language Processing (NLP) and a Keyword In Context Search (KWIC). This toolbox can be used by researchers in the humanities from all disciplines and with different levels of knowledge. The data generated during the processes can be downloaded after each step in order to evaluate or further process them with other (external) tools.

Nopaque is developed by a small, interdisciplinary team and operated on servers of Bielefeld University. To implement the services, established open source software is used, such as Tesseract OCR and the NLP toolkit spaCy.
Since the web platform is still in the development phase, the team is happy to receive feedback on the further development of the platform.

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CFP "Digital Academy: Visualizing and Comparing"

SFB 1288 — Wed, 22 Jul 2020 09:20:57 +0200

What is a visualization? How do visualizations control the perception of data? And what role do they play in the digital humanities?

The Digital Academy of the SFB 1288 (TP INF) wants to investigate these questions within the framework of a new format. The visualizations will be approached in explorative formats. The Academy will take place exclusively in digital form from 20-23 October 2020 and will be accompanied by preparatory modules in which participants can get to know visualization practices and tools.

Projects and abstracts (500 words) on the productive power of comparative visualization practices can be submitted until 31 July 2020—together with a short CV and a letter of motivation to the following address: digital-academy@uni-bielefeld.de.

Doctoral researchers and advanced Master's students of all humanities subjects and computer science or related disciplines are invited to apply.

Further information about the call can be found here via H-Soz-u-Kult.

SFB 1288 Digital

SFB 1288 — Wed, 22 Jul 2020 09:19:14 +0200

In the SFB, too, various planned lectures, conferences and trips had to be cancelled. However, some could be converted to digital formats, such as the workshop "History and Sociology of the Future in the 20th Century: The USA as 'Great Nation of Futurity'" by doctoral researchers Julia Engelschalt (subproject A03) and Stefan Wilbers (associated).

The conference "Entrechtete Körper" ('Disenfranchised Bodies') by Antje Flüchter, Cornelia Aust (both subproject B01) and Claudia Jarzebowski (FU Berlin) could also be realized in online format.
The conference focused on forms of disenfranchisement of bodies which can be demonstrated in different contexts in the early modern period. What role did body-related elements of comparing play in early modern attempts to create order? There was an intensive discussion about the practices used by actors to compare female and male, 'deformed' and 'conform to the norm', Black and white, healthy and sick, Christian and Muslim bodies.

Instead of the classical lectures, texts were read in advance of the online conference, which were then briefly introduced by the speakers during the conference, followed by a moderator's commentary and a joint discussion. This approach proved to be very productive and will also be used for further preparation of a joint publication.

New Publications of the SFB 1288

SFB 1288 — Tue, 21 Jul 2020 19:16:11 +0200

We are especially pleased about two new publications of the SFB 1288: The anthology "Practices of Comparing", which goes back to the SFB's inaugural conference at the end of 2017 and is edited by Angelika Epple, Walter Erhart, and Johannes Grave, has recently been published. In addition to the editors' introductory essay on the research program of the practices of comparing, it contains contributions on incomparability by Hartmut von Sass, on comparing in the digital age by Anna Maria Neubert and Silke Schwandt, and on comparisons in the East-West Encounter by Zhang Longxi.

The monograph "Sich selbst vergleichen" ('Comparing oneself') of subproject C02, written by Franz Arlinghaus, Walter Erhart, Lena Gumpert, and Simon Siemianowski, focuses on the history of autobiographical writing. From different disciplinary perspectives and from the 12th century to the present day, the authors assume that in self-descriptions the focus is not on a supposedly autonomous ego, but on a relational self that is again always placed within relations. Among others, authors such as Petrus Abaelard, Giovanni di Pagolo Morelli, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Bertha von Suttner, Walter Benjamin or Didier Eribon are analyzed.

Both publications are open access and can be downloaded from the website of the transcript publishing house–the anthology of the SFB is published by Bielefeld University Press.

The "Comparison Game" in Nuclear Arms Control

SFB 1288 — Tue, 21 Jul 2020 19:12:19 +0200

When asked what the greatest threats to humanity are today, many people would probably name climate change and pandemics, writes SFB 1288 postdoc Thomas Müller (subproject A01) in the latest post on the SFB 1288 blog.

During the Cold War, the answer would have usually been 'nuclear war'. To reduce this threat, arms control was needed. Little by little, a network of treaties emerged that slowed down the spread of nuclear weapons and led to a reduction in the arsenals of the USA and the Soviet Union. This is currently threatened by the fact that the Trump government has proposed to solve its alleged problems by a new trilateral nuclear arms control agreement between the United States, Russia and China.

In the blog post, Thomas Müller discusses the "comparison game", the strategic use of comparing, which characterizes the debate on the US proposal—including video evidence of Trump's passion for comparing.

New Working Papers of the SFB 1288

SFB 1288 — Tue, 21 Jul 2020 19:10:39 +0200

New papers have been published in our SFB 1288 Working Paper series, all of which you can find here on our website.

The new Working Papers deal with different aspects of comparing and range from fundamental questions of the SFB as a whole on typologies and practice formations, to specific spatial regions of comparing, to terms that are particularly interesting in interdisciplinary discussions and their relationship to each other. In 2020 have been published so far:

Comparing and Corona

SFB 1288 — Fri, 20 Mar 2020 17:03:30 +0100

The coronavirus, its spread, the precautions—the world and our everyday reality are currently dominated by the events and reporting around COVID-19. The situation that we are now experiencing "seems to surpass any comparison in a very practical and tangible way in our personal everyday life", writes Johannes Grave (principal investigator subproject C01) in the latest contribution to the SFB blog. He describes the supposed paradox of the situation, often described as 'never experienced before' or 'incomparable', and the simultaneous extreme boom of comparisons—from case numbers to regions to age groups. You can find the article here on the blog of SFB 1288 "The Practices of Comparing" (in German).

Stephan Fasold (subproject B07) and Rebecca Moltmann (Science Communication) invited two researchers from different disciplines to the latest episode of the science podcast "Praktisch Theoretisch" ('Practical Theoretical') on the topic of corona. Together with medical historian Julia Engelschalt (subproject A03) and Oliver Razum, Professor for Public Health, they talk about current issues and concerns such as exponential growth, #socialdistancing, definitions of terms and the view back to the past. Is it possible to learn from earlier epidemics and is the Spanish Influenza of 1918 even comparable to COVID-19? The episode is available via Podigee, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts (in German).

Oliver Razum and Julia Engelschalt, Photo: Rebecca Moltmann

SFB 1288 News: Events, Articles, Audio

SFB 1288 — Thu, 20 Feb 2020 14:31:00 +0100

One of the main topics of the SFB 1288 is currently the discussion of the continuation proposal, which means a lot of thinking, writing and communication work internally. Accordingly, events and lectures will restart in May. Guests at the SFB colloquium will be, for example, Matthew Specter (Berkeley) and Michael Sauder (Iowa), who will talk about realism and comparing and the logic of quantification—more information can be found on the SFB website under "Events".

The article in Spiegel about Blumenbach and comparing, based on a conversation with the SFB 1288-associated doctoral researcher Malin Wilckens (see news article from November 2019), has been translated into French and can be found here.

You can listen to a conversation at Deutschlandfunk Kultur between the historian Birte Förster (who is working at the Department of History at Bielefeld University since January 2020 and is also currently supporting the SFB) and René Aguigah about historical comparisons in the political field: What does the Weimar Republic have to do with the AfD and how useful is this analogy? Listen to the conversation via DLF Kultur.

You can also listen to the latest episode of the science podcast "Praktisch Theoretisch" with subproject B02-postdoctoral researcher Susana Rocha Teixeira, which deals with the topic of presidential elections, the staging of masculinity and, again and again, with comparisons and comparing.

Conference "Concepts of Equality"

SFB 1288 — Fri, 20 Dec 2019 15:17:14 +0100

At the invitation of Ulrike Davy, Malika Mansouri (both subproject B06), Antje Flüchter (subproject B01), and Cornelia Aust, scholars from various backgrounds came to Bielefeld to discuss concepts of equality from a legal and a historical point of view. The workshop set out to tackle questions evolving around the limits and tensions of notions of equality: To what extent and how do concepts of equality and inequality like rank or hierarchy intersect? How did the idea of equality emerge in the first place and how was it contested throughout history (and is still today)?

The contributions highlighted critical junctures in which constellations of (in)equality became especially virulent and contested. Lynn Hunt (UCLA), for instance, focused on the emergence of 'equality' as an aspiration during the French Enlightenment, Demetrius Eudell (Wesleyan University) showed how 'equality' was the privilege of the white male citizen throughout US history, Saul Dubow (University of Cambridge) concentrated on a particular form of inequality, the apartheid regime in South Africa, and Gina Stopler (College of Law and Business, Tel Aviv) stressed the partial nature of equality in nowadays Israel, mostly affecting women and non-Jews.

Special attention was paid to the role of practices of comparing: Stressing differences or similarities, respectively, practices of comparing could and can be used to argue for a widening as well as for a narrowing down of equality.
As a preliminary result of the conference it could be concluded that 'equality'—albeit often presented as a universal all-encompassing value—limits seem to be substantive. Secondly, practices of comparing presented themselves as crucial practices when it comes to (re)drawing the limits or boundaries of equality.

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Photos: Rebecca Moltmann

New Mercator Fellow at the SFB 1288

SFB 1288 — Wed, 13 Nov 2019 16:49:34 +0100

The invitations to Bielefeld via the Mercator Fellowships are intended to facilitate particularly intensive cooperation on questions and topics of the SFB. Dr. Franz Mauelshagen works on anthropology and the implications of this idea for global history, global environmental history and our understanding of modernity and its place in the history of great transformations.

For Franz Mauelshagen, the interest in comparing is on the one hand based on historical theory. Of particular interest to him is the theory of historical change pursued by the SFB, especially with taking into account the postcolonial aspects that play a role here. On the other hand, he has, among other things, worked on Alexander von Humboldt and his comparative climatology. This climatology would probably not have existed without the scientific debate on practices of comparing, the effects of which are still noticeable today.
A working paper on these topics is planned, which Franz Mauelshagen will prepare during his time as Mercator Fellow in Bielefeld.

Franz Mauelshagen, Photo: private

The Latest in Science Communication

SFB 1288 — Wed, 13 Nov 2019 16:20:10 +0100

A lot has happened again in the field of public science, despite the current 'hot' phase of preparation of the SFB continuation proposal. For example, a video on the practices of comparing with SFB spokesperson Angelika Epple on the platform "Latest Thinking" has just been published. "Latest Thinking" sees itself as an independent open access video journal that summarizes research results and topics from all fields of science in order to increase the scope and impact of scientific findings and promote transparency.

Just published is also an article in the Spiegel about Blumenbach and the collection, comparing and measurement of skulls based on an interview with the SFB-associated doctoral researcher Malin Wilckens. Her thesis advisor is SFB spokesperson Angelika Epple and Malin Wilckens has already studied the topic in her master thesis. The article "Nachts wühlten wir unter den Knochen" (in German) can be found in the current print edition of 9 november 2019, and online here for Spiegel+ readers.

The SFB science communicator Rebecca Moltmann wrote a guest contribution for the information and discussion platform wissenschaftskommunikation.de about the podcast project "Practical Theoretical" in October. It deals with knowledge transfer and the potential of podcasts for (in the case of the SFB) humanities research transfer.
The platform is aimed at actors in public relations, science, and science journalism as well as all those interested in science communication.

Christine Peters, doctoral researcher in the SFB subproject B03, was invited to give a lecture on Alexander von Humboldt at the Augustinum Seniorenresidenz Kassel about her research. In September she was there as a guest and spoke about: "Europa im Gepäck – Alexander von Humboldts Forschungsreise durch die Amerikas". It dealt with Humboldt's universalist science and the sometimes contradictory relationship that Humboldt developed with Europe during his trip to the Americas. He uses it again and again in his travel reports as a template for comparison and sets it on the one hand as an ideal of enlightenment, but also sharply criticizes it on the other.

Four SFB at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin

SFB 1288 — Mon, 4 Nov 2019 15:31:29 +0100

Four Collaborative Research Centres with a strong historical orientation discussed and presented common interests and challenges at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin on 16 October. The participating research alliances were the SFB 1285 "Invectivity. Constellations and Dynamics of Disparagement", SFB 948 "Heroes – Heroizations – Heroisms", SFB/TRR 138 "Dynamics of Security. Types of Securitization from a Historical Perspective" and SFB 1288 "Practices of Comparing".
All four deal with 'great' questions of human societies, both in the past and in the present. The historical perspective contributes to the reflection and overcoming of present and future problems. Two event formats were intended to convey this claim to the public in exemplary fashion. The members of the research associations also had the perfect opportunity to chat, network and exchange information on the specific situation in Collaborative Research Centres.

In the afternoon, there was a world café, where discussions were held at six thematic tables with interested guests and journalists. Four tables were allocated to the topics of the individual SFB, and there were two cross-section tables on the topics of knowledge transfer and interdisciplinarity.

During the public panel discussion in the evening, entitled "Thinking with History. Troubled Times of Reflection in the Humanities", the speakers of the SFB gave short keynote speeches, as did Julika Griem as Vice President of the German Research Foundation (DFG).
In addition to discussing individual projects and research questions, the afternoon and evening sessions also focused on the role and responsibility of Collaborative Research Centres, for example in science communication.

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Photos: Maurice Weiss, Britta Hochkirchen

Beyond Borders: The 22nd International Conference on Conceptual History

SFB 1288 — Fri, 23 Aug 2019 16:00:50 +0200

The members of subproject C03 "Terms denoting comparison: The semantics of comparing from the sixteenth to the twentieth century" were represented at the 22nd International Conference on Conceptual History "Beyond Borders: Conceptualizing Boundaries, Crossings, and Disruptions" in Mexico City at the end of July with four lectures.

The topics were:

Michael Götzelmann: "Break on Through (to the Other Side): Crossing Borders in Utopias and Dystopias by Means of Temporal Comparisons"
Kirill Postoutenko: "Vrowe minne, the Love of God, and Shoah: Towards a Conceptual History of Incomparability"
Olga Sabelfeld: "Compete? Emulate? Or just observe the others? Cross-border comparisons in British Parliament"
Willibald Steinmetz: "Outrageous Comparisons: Semantic and Argumentative Patterns"

New SFB 1288 Deputy Spokesperson: Tobias Werron

SFB 1288 — Wed, 17 Jul 2019 20:09:55 +0200

Prof. Dr. Johannes Grave, deputy spokesperson of the SFB 1288 since the SFB's beginning in January 2017, left Bielefeld University and took up a professorship at Friedrich Schiller University Jena this summer term. He remains principal investigator at the SFB and also a member of the SFB's board of directors, but stepped down from his position as deputy spokesperson.

During these last years Johannes Grave played a crucial part in contributing to the SFB's research programme, organization and discussions. The SFB is very thankful, namely Prof. Dr. Angelika Epple, SFB 1288 spokesperson, and Prof. Dr. Walter Erhart, deputy spokesperson, and especially glad that Johannes Grave remains an active part of the SFB 1288.

Prof. Dr. Tobias Werron, who is leading an SFB-associated and also DFG-funded project together with Leopold Ringel on the "Institutionalization of Rankings", has been appointed as new deputy spokesperson. The SFB gains a really well-suited successor with him as he has also contributed a lot to the SFB's discussions and contents and is a long-time advisor and supporter of the research on comparing.

The leadership team of the SFB is now assembled out of three disciplines—sociology, history and literary studies—which will further strengthen the interdisciplinary dialogue.

The Return of 'World Literature'?

SFB 1288 — Thu, 11 Jul 2019 16:29:42 +0200

Galin Tihanov is the George Steiner Professor of Comparative Literature at Queen Mary University of London. His research interests include Comparative Literature and Cultural History, especially Russian, German, and Central- and East-European Culture and Thought, World Literature, or the History of Ideas.

His talk "Scales of Comparison: The Paths of Comparative Literature and the Return of 'World Literature'" concluded this semester's SFB 1288 colloquium and traced the early flourishing, subsequent languishing, and, eventually, rapid rehabilitation of 'world literature' as a particular discourse on literature. The continuous history of 'world literature' as a discourse was interrupted by the long domination of 'comparative literature' which operates a different scale of comparison.

To understand why 'world literature' fails to gain prominence until the early 21st century, despite its early visibility from the 1770s to the mid-nineteenth century, it was necessary to explain the factors that facilitate the rise of 'comparative literature' as a competing prism, so Tihanov.

At the end of his talk he briefly addressed the return of 'world literature' as a discourse responding more adequately—though far from unproblematically—to a transnationally organized world.

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Photos: Rebecca Moltmann

Before the Sight

SFB 1288 — Mon, 8 Jul 2019 15:54:21 +0200

The international conference at the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies (ZiF) Bielefeld was organized by the art history subproject C01 of the SFB 1288. It mainly focused on practices which constitute, adjust, and manipulate the viewing of images.

Divided into three sections—discursive arrangements, medial and spatial arrangements, and (im-)material arrangements—case studies with a theoretical perspective, historical or contemporary case studies were presented and discussed. One central point were practices of observing and comparing which accompany the aforementioned arrangements and presuppositions of viewing images. Moreover, the multifaceted doing of different actors was contemplated in many contributions, e.g. artists, curators, art historians, or viewers who actively or subconsciously direct the act of viewing.

The various medial examples and approaches coming from image studies revealed how interconnected the different conditions prior to the viewing of images and accompanying the act of viewing are: there is no viewing without presuppositions. It argues for the well attuned routine of the—at the conference mainly thematized—western sight that the viewing of images usually works flawlessly and rarely is reflected in itself. Only the closer look is able to unfold the interconnected net out of presuppositions.

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Photos: Simon Grunert, Corinna Mehl

Doing and Undoing Comparisons

SFB 1288 — Tue, 2 Jul 2019 18:24:31 +0200

The "forum for inter-american research" (fiar), an electronic journal established by the American Studies Programme at Bielefeld University in 2008, is the e-journal of the International Association of Inter-American Studies (IAS). The current issue Doing and Undoing Comparisons: Practices of Comparing in the Americas" includes contributions by the members of subproject B02 of the SFB 1288: Pablo Campos, Olaf Kaltmeier, Wilfried Raussert, and Susana Rocha Teixeira, and also by Marcus Hartner of the subproject B05.

Find the issue here as PDF.

The issue's contributions:

Susana Rocha Teixeira, Bielefeld University: Doing and Undoing Comparisons: An Introduction
Wilfried Raussert, Bielefeld University: 'We Wear the Mask': Modern 'Masks', Reflexivity, and Black Practices of Comparing in the Harlem Renaissance
Gudrun Rath, University of Art and Design, Linz: Contesting Inequality. Joseph Anténor Firmin's De l'égalité des races humaines, 133 years on
Olaf Kaltmeier, Bielefeld University: Invidious Comparison and the New Global Leisure Class: On the Refeudalization of Consumption in the Old and New Gilded Age
Claudia Hachenberger, FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg: Narcos and the Promotion of an U.S. (Informal) Cultural Empire Based on Processes of Stereotyping and Comparison
Carsten Schinko, University of Stuttgart/HU Berlin: How (Not) to Compare White Poverty: Class Issues, Socioeconomic Suffering, Literature
Marcus Hartner, Bielefeld University: Placing Prospero's Island: (Post)Colonial Practices of Comparing in the Academic Reception of Shakespeare's The Tempest
Yago Quiñones Triana, Universidade de Brasília: Gilberto Freyre entre duas Américas Latinas: a lusitana e a hispana. Análise da transformação da interpretação do Autor com relação a influência espanhola e portuguesa em América.
Elena Furlanetto, University of Duisburg-Essen: Declensions: Conceptual Migrations across Empires
Pablo Campos, Bielefeld University: 'Early' and 'Modern' indigenist Practices—A Comparative Analysis of the Ecuadorian and the Mexican cases
Kensedeobong Blessed Okosun, Bielefeld University: Book Review: Weird American Music

SFB 1288 Working Paper No. 1

SFB 1288 — Tue, 30 Apr 2019 16:27:54 +0200

The SFB's first working paper "Vergleichen unter den Bedingungen von Konflikt und Konkurrenz" ('Comparing under the conditions of conflict and competition') is a joint publication by the members of project area A. Its central question focuses on the specificities of comparisons or practices of comparing under the conditions of conflict and competition.

These specificities are analyzed by using sociologically inspired deliberations on the basic concepts of conflict and competition. Taking a sociology of competition as its starting point, the concepts of competition and direct violent conflicts are elucidated against the background of research contexts from different disciplines.
Another key element are the insights into five case studies drawn from the subprojects' research.

The working paper series "Praktiken des Vergleichens. Working Paper des SFB 1288" ('Practices of Comparing. Working Paper of the SFB 1288') is edited by the SFB's spokesperson and deputies, namely Angelika Epple, and the deputy spokespersons Walter Erhart and Johannes Grave.
The submitted papers are going through an internal peer review process. The working papers of the SFB 1288 are a forum for the SFB and its associates and guests, can be found via the SFB 1288's website, and the publication system of Bielefeld University, and are quotable publications.

Public Science, New Videos, Press

SFB 1288 — Fri, 19 Apr 2019 10:43:24 +0200

SFB 1288 doctoral researcher Malika Mansouri (subproject B06) opened up the lecture series "Linie 4" ('Line 4') of the Bielefeld Graduate School in History and Sociology (BGHS) at Volkshochschule Bielefeld, an educational institution. The name represents the bridge between Bielefeld University and the city of Bielefeld via the 'line 4' of the Bielefelder tram. The focal point of the public lecture series is the dialogue between researchers and a wider public.

A short interview with Malika Mansouri and a photo can be found via the BGHS's website.

We have uploaded a few new videos to the SFB's YouTube channel. You can find some lectures from the international conference "Contact – Conquest – Colonization" (11-13 October, 2018) or the latest addition, a panel discussion on the alleged 'two cultures' of Science and the Humanities (in German) which was recorded during the SFB's annual conference "Vergleichen – interdisziplinäreär" ('Comparing – interdisciplinary').

Also during the annual conference, Klaus Reinhold (Evolutionary Biology, Bielefeld University), Angelika Epple, and Walter Erhart have been interviewed for the Deutschlandfunk (Dlf) on the conference's topic. The radio report was part of the programme "Aus Kultur- und Sozialwissenschaften" ('Cultural and Social Sciences') on 28 March and can be heard here via the Dlf's website (in German).

Living means Comparing

SFB 1288 — Wed, 3 Apr 2019 12:41:47 +0200

The starting point of the conference—which kind of marked the halftime of the SFB 1288's first funding period—was the question to which extent comparing can be seen as a practice which is also being studied by other, especially empirically working sciences. For being able to trace the cognitive, biological, and anthropological fundamentals of comparing, speakers from disciplines like Biology, Cognitive and Cultural Sciences came together for the conference at the Center for Interdisciplinary Research (ZiF) Bielefeld.

After the welcome address by SFB 1288 spokesperson Prof. Dr. Angelika Epple and deputy spokesperson Prof. Dr. Walter Erhart, Prof. Dr. Heribert Hofer from the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW) in Berlin held the opening lecture. He talked about comparing in the wildlife, e.g. mistakes during comparing or costs and benefits of comparing, and gave examples from the cuckoo and the comparing of eggs to the patterns of spotted hyenas. He addressed animals which compare as well as the comparing through scientists in the field.

Between inputs on visual perception, comparisons between nature and culture, or the choice of partner in wildlife, the conference participants had intense discussions. The different scholarly perspectives offered a lot of room for a productive analysis of the subject of comparing and the specificities of the particular disciplines.

The dimension of the history of science frequently came up, but played a pivotal role during the panel discussion on the alleged 'two cultures' of the natural sciences and the humanities. Deputy spokesperson Prof. Dr. Johannes Grave (Historical Image Studies/Art History), junior professor Marie Kaiser (Philosophy of Science, Bielefeld University), Prof. Dr. em. Hans-Jörg Rheinberger (Max Planck Institute for the History of Science) und Prof. Dr. Stefan Willer (Literary Studies, HU Berlin) analyzed the debate—impactfully established by Charles Percy Snow— around the cultures of natural sciences and humanities.

Prof. Dr. Klaus Reinhold (Evolutionary Biology, Bielefeld University), Angelika Epple, and Walter Erhart have been interviewed for the Deutschlandfunk (Dlf) on the conference's topic. The radio report was part of the programme "Aus Kultur- und Sozialwissenschaften" ('Cultural and Social Sciences') on 28 March and can be heard here via the Dlf's website (in German).

We recorded the panel discussion which can be watched on the SFB 1288's YouTube channel (in German).

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Angelika Epple's opening address
Heribert Hofer
Anil Bhatti
Panel discussion
Oliver Lubrich
Klaus Reinhold
Walter Erhart
Angelika Epple
Arne Klawitter
Christian Poth
Hans-Jörg Rheinberger, Johannes Grave
Stefan Willer
Martina King

Photos: Corinna Mehl, Rebecca Moltmann

Comparing cities, or of Apples, Oranges, and Warheads

SFB 1288 — Mon, 18 Feb 2019 17:20:17 +0100

The SFB was already represented twice in the press at the beginning of 2019. Subproject B04 doctoral researcher Marie Lemser gave an interview in the Neue Westfälische (NW) in the science category. She talked about her research, her station of the SFB exhibition project "Ver//Gleichen" ('Comparing'), and covered a thematic range from the Greeks of the 4th century to contemporary comparisons of cities.

The print version of the article can be found here via the SFB 1288 website, the online version here (both in German).

"The Security Times", specifically published for the Munich Security Conference, is a special edition newspaper in which outstanding journalists, high-ranking decision-makers, and renowned academics address key debates on current issues and challenges in international security policy. Mathias Albert and Thomas Müller (subproject A01) have contributed an article to this year's issue. In "Apples and oranges and warheads" they describe why and in what way a missing globally adopted database for military spendings affects the usefulness of these expenditures as a comparative measure.

The article can be found here via the SFB website or here online (PDF).

Traveling, Narrating, Comparing

SFB 1288 — Mon, 18 Feb 2019 10:41:03 +0100

The international conference on comparing in travel narratives from and about the Americas was organized by Julian Gärtner and Marius Littschwager (both subproject B03). Julian Gärtner is a doctoral researcher at the SFB 1288 and working on practices of comparing in French world travel narratives, Marius Littschwager is an associated postdoctoral researcher and, among others, is working on questions of practices of comparing within the Americas and in exchange with Europe.

The conference participants came to Bielefeld from Brazil, Italy, Austria, Germany, France and the USA. In overall seven panels, traveling, narrating and comparing were discussed intensely. Special emphasis was placed on the entanglement of fields of knowledge and the comparing practices of observation of different disciplines, genres, and scholarly discourses in literary narratives.

As a result of the thought out exchange about the role and change of comparisons in different literary forms of representation and shapings of the Americas and literatures of the Americas, about Europe from the 18th to the middle of the 20th centuries, and across geographical, linguistic and, at last, disciplinary boundaries, the participants gained new insights into the wide field of travel literature and its narratives. The conference findings are set to get published.

Our science communication team did a short interview with three of the conference participants which can be watched via the SFB's YouTube channel.

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Organizers: Marius Littschwager, Julian Gärtner
Doris Gruber, chaired by Helene Schlicht
Paola Ravasio
Alain Guyot at his interview
Keynote speaker Alfred Bendixen

Photos: Corinna Mehl, Rebecca Moltmann