Head of Department:
Univ.-Prof. Dr.phil. Dipl.Sozw. Nanna Heidenreich
The Latin prefix trans means
over, across, beyond, to the other side; it suggests movement. Yet, what underlies this prefix and its idea of transcending
are settings. These operate with demarcations, attributions, enclosures, and comparisons. In this sense, the Department of
Transcultural Studies, newly established in 2020, stands first and foremost for the critical examination of these settings
and the procedures that go along with them. The department looks into territorial, geopolitical, social, epistemological,
legal, disciplinary, and institutional orders that are reflected in conventions, discourses, social and political constellations,
and practices in order to then deal with the processes that arise when orders come together: crossings, transgressions, infiltrations,
appropriations, conflicts, frictions, transformations.
From an academic point of view, the examination of transcultural
processes requires awareness of the connections between research practice and research content. This results in a necessary
multiplication and opening of knowledge and learning cultures, always aware that universities are not a power-free space.
The Department of Transcultural Studies takes a look at structures and asks: How can knowledge be decentralised? How can this
be translated into action – including that of research and teaching? How do we pose our questions and which ones? And last
but not least: how to imagine otherwise?
