About Us : Mission Statement
The Institute of Culture Studies (IKW) is one of the Austrian Academy of Sciences’ research institutes committed to cross-disciplinary basic research on socially relevant issues in the humanities, arts and social sciences. Its three research groups are engaged in research on Knowledge Production | Memory Culture | Antisemitism Studies
About the IKW
The Institute of Culture Studies (IKW) is one of the Austrian Academy of Sciences’ research institutes committed to cross-disciplinary basic research on socially relevant issues in the humanities, arts and social sciences. Its three research groups are engaged in research on Knowledge Production | Memory Culture | Antisemitism Studies
Key Research Questions
The institute’s research focusses on the following lead questions: how do societies engage with their own past? Which kinds of knowledge are created, fostered, shared and preserved—and which are rejected? How is social identity constructed on the basis of shared knowledge and collective memory? What kind of exclusionary mechanisms are involved, not least in the form of antisemitism past and present? How are antisemitic codes perpetuated in collective memory? How can culture studies research help combat discrimination and social polarization?
Research Agenda: Constructions of Identity—Forms of Interaction—Forms of Inclusion/Exclusion
The institute’s research examines the ways in which academic and non-academic statements, practices and artefacts are created, substituted, perpetuated, translated, made topical, represented and staged in the context of identity construction. The principal focus is on Austria and Central Europe and their historical and current global entanglements.
Drawing on cutting-edge culture studies theories and methodologies, historians, literary scholars, political scientists and culture studies scholars are engaged in various forms of innovative cross-disciplinary cooperation suited to generate new insights.
Research Groups
- Wissensproduktion | Knowledge Production with theme platform OEAW colonial
- Gedächtniskultur | Memory Culture with ERC working group on "Globalized Memorial Museums"
- Antisemitismusforschung | Antisemitism Studies
Overarching Goal
The institute’s overarching goal is the creation and the communication of internationally relevant research-based knowledge in the humanities, arts and social sciences by means of
- Scholarly publications
- Evidence-based political consultancy
- Public Engagement
Activities
- Basic Research
- Annual International Conference
- International Workshops
- Culture Studies Jour fixe. Fostering Early-Career Academics
- Visiting Scholars
- Literary and Culture Studies Committee of the Austrian and the Hungarian Academies of Sciences
- SPRACHKUNST Journal
- Diploma and PhD Students