Press Releases

April - June 2021

April

May

• [07.05.2021] Fashion victims on board Sebastian Brant’s Ship of Fools. Moral satire about human foolishness still encourages self-knowledge 500 years after the author’s death – woodcuts by Albrecht Dürer allow us to see parallels to the graphic novel – also deals with hostility to science at a time when printing was invented – episode 5 of the Cluster of Excellence’s research podcast “Religion and Politics”.
• [21.05.2021] Hass (hate) comes from hetzen (to hound): the history of an emotion. Literary scholar sees escalation of language in public discussion over last ten years – research project on politicizations and instrumentalizations in past and present literature – history of language shows connection between Hass (hate) and hetzen (to hound) – Episode 6 of the Cluster of Excellence’s research podcast “Religion and Politics”.

 

June

• [06.06.2021] Sociologist Marc Helbling new Hans Blumenberg Visiting Professor. During stay at Cluster of Excellence, Helbling to work on Islamophobia and right-wing extremism – Lecture on 8 June on Islamophobia in Western Europe
• [17.06.2021] “First empirical evidence of an identity-related societal cleavage”. International survey by Cluster of Excellence reveals division of European societies into two entrenchedcamps of substantial size – In Germany, one third hold opposing positions on national belonging, threat, disadvantage – “Politics should not take one side: positions should be traced back to their respective functional core, compromises sought, polarization stopped” – Most comprehensive survey on identity conflicts in Europe to date
• [28.06.21] Fake news long before Trump. Research at the Cluster of Excellence on fake news in the Middle Ages – Conference of literary scholars and historians on hoaxes and their cultural negotiation in the European Middle Ages – “Whether courtly plots or conspiracy theories in the face of the plague: fake news was an unsettling factor long before mass media” – Results in episode 8 of the Cluster of Excellence’s “Religion and Politics” research podcast