Cultures of Knowledge, Research, and Education

Research Area 8: Cultures of Knowledge, Research, and Education

The focus of this RA is on the production, transmission and utilisation of knowledge as a key dimension of cultural and social processes, closely tied up with phenomena such as subject formation, globalisation/transnationalisation and cultural transformations. Conceiving of knowledge as subject to historical change (Kuhn, Foucault), the RA investigates the social and material production of knowledge (Knorr-Cetina, Rheinberger, Latour), cognitive aspects of individual knowledge creation (Lenk, von Glasersfeld), the materialities of knowledge production (e.g. current Media Archaeology) and empirical practices of knowledge transmission in research and education. The RA consequently adopts a broad interdisciplinary approach, exploring cultures of knowledge, research and education from a wide range of analytic angles. Historical, sociological, philosophical and media-theoretical perspectives together with cognitive and psychological insights are integrated into a processual approach to knowledge cultures, thus highlighting the construction of knowledge. In the second funding period, RA 8 intends to develop its conceptual and theoretical approaches in three directions. Firstly, it will integrate in its research the study of interfaces between the sciences and the humanities, in order to deepen our theoretical knowledge and to intensify research in this field. A second major concern will be exploring the transfer and transformation of knowledge in educational contexts, including higher education (reduction, canonisation, knowledge hierarchies). Thirdly, the RA will focus on the manufacturing of knowledge and the history of science.

Research Focus

Library Life
The idea for this study crystallized during our discussions on the texts of the post-constructivist Actor–network theory (ANT) as the result of our desire for a practical application of our theoretical assumptions. Its aim is to reconstruct the practices of the organization and production of humanistic, social and cultural knowledge. The concept of Laboratory Life described in the works of Bruno Latour and Steve Woolgar serves as the theoretical basis. According to our program and comparable to work in the natural sciences, the places of impact and output for the production of knowledge in the humanities and social and cultural studies are the “laboratories”. They are nodes of the networks of human and non-human agents in these fields, which has an appreciable effect on the cognitive processes taking place there. Using the practice of narrative interview we intend to raise the consciousness of the individual steps of text production by the “producers of knowledge” and contribute to its conversion into a narrative and performative practice of reporting. In this way we hope to reveal partly unconscious and intuitive processes or reciprocal relationship of mental, social and material (work environment and used tools) factors of knowledge production. While the project illustrates how humanities knowledge is produced, it could simultaneously contribute to a demystification of the "ivory-tower" of human and social/cultural scientists. Thus, we understand the empirical analysis presented here as an important historical document of the current knowledge culture of the humanities in an interesting era of a highly increased technological and informational upheaval.

Former Research Focus and Activities: The focus of this RA is on the production, transmission and utilisation of knowledge as a key dimension of cultural and social processes, closely tied up with phenomena such as subject formation, globalisation/transnationalisation and cultural transformations. Conceiving of knowledge as subject to historical change (Kuhn, Foucault), the RA investigates the social and material production of knowledge (Knorr-Cetina, Rheinberger, Latour), cognitive aspects of individual knowledge creation (Lenk, von Glasersfeld), the materialities of knowledge production (e.g. current Media Archaeology) and empirical practices of knowledge transmission in research and education. The RA consequently adopts a broad interdisciplinary approach, exploring cultures of knowledge, research and education from a wide range of analytic angles. Historical, sociological, philosophical and media-theoretical perspectives together with cognitive and psychological insights are integrated into a processual approach to knowledge cultures, thus highlighting the construction of knowledge. In the second funding period, RA 8 intends to develop its conceptual and theoretical approaches in three directions. Firstly, it will integrate in its research the study of interfaces between the sciences and the humanities, in order to deepen our theoretical knowledge and to intensify research in this field. A second major concern will be exploring the transfer and transformation of knowledge in educational contexts, including higher education (reduction, canonisation, knowledge hierarchies). Thirdly, the RA will focus on the manufacturing of knowledge and the history of science.

The production, transmission, and utilisation of knowledge is a key dimension of socio-cultural processes, exhibiting a fundamental relationship to phenomena such as subject formation, (post)modernisation, globalisation/transnationalisation and socio-cultural transformation, to name but a few. While it is well established that knowledge is subject to historical change (Kuhn, Foucault), there has recently been an increasing interest in the socio-material production of knowledge (Knorr-Cetina, Latour), as well as in the cognitive aspects of individual knowledge creation (Lenk, von Glasersfeld) and the materialities of knowledge production (from Nietzsche to current Media Archaeology). When dealing with cultures of knowledge, it is therefore mandatory to include the practices of knowledge production and transmission which can be observed empirically: Research and education. We consequently follow a broad and interdisciplinary approach, focusing on cultures of knowledge, research and education from a wide range of different analytic angles. Historical, sociological, philosophical and media-theoretical perspectives, as well as cognitive and psychological ones, are integrated into a processual approach to knowledge cultures, highlighting the constructivist ‘nature’ of knowledge.

Former Research Focus: Paths of Knowledge: Some concepts meander through various disciplines in the humanities and in the study of culture, as Mieke Bal pointed out, and there seems to be no possibility of placing them, at least not permanently. In line with Isabelle Stengers (D'une science à l'autre: Des concepts nomads, Paris 1987), these may be called ‘nomadic concepts’. Thinking in terms of such concepts means thinking without fixed place, means thinking in constant movement, means thinking beyond the boundary lines of disciplines and academic subjects.

The foundations for this kind of thinking were lain in D’Alembert’s and Diderot’s Encyclopedia (Paris, 1751ff). In their preface, the editors describe the branches of human knowledge as a world map and chart the individual entries into distinct provinces of knowledge. The connections between these provinces appear as paths of knowledge which – interrupted by numerous obstacles – are known only to a particular country’s inhabitants or to travellers.

Along these lines, Research Area 8, “Cultures of Knowledge, Research and Education”, has tackled issues of space and place, intending to reveal the kinds of knowledge inherent in them. This approach was based on seminal theories by Edward Soja, Henri Lefebvre, Michel Foucault, Ernst Cassirer, Martina Löw and Michel de Certeau. Subsequently, Research Area 8 focused on palpable, real and virtual spaces of knowledge, supported by reading Hans-Jörg Rheinberger, Bruno Latour, Steve Woolgar, Lev Manovich and Torsten Meyer.

Since the winter term 2009/10, Research Area 8 has turned their attention to paths of knowledge. We have explored the dynamic aspect of movement in the processes of acquiring knowledge. Against this backdrop, three questions have arisen: (1) how does knowledge travel and how does it change and grow in the course of its travel? (2) How does knowledge transcend boundary lines and which boundary lines are newly drawn in the movement of knowledge? Finally, (3) how do paths of knowledge emerge? What are the highways and what are the dirt tracks of such knowledge migration?

These questions and more have been and will be tackled by the members of Research Area 8 from the interdisciplinary perspectives of history, literary and media studies and of the social sciences. A renewed reading of Mieke Bal’s Travelling Concepts (2002) has served as our common starting point. Further reading included texts by Umberto Eco, Hans-Jörg Rheinberger, Erhard Schüttpelz, Bruno Latour, Michel Callon and Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari.

Participating scholars

Altnöder, Sonja
Bartel, Michael
Beck, Anna
Becker, Stefan
Büschel, Hubertus Prof.
Burkhardt, Marcus
Busse, Neill
Coburger, Antje
Edeling, Thomas
Friedrich, Alexander (speaker)
Fritzsche, Marc
Gottschlich, Evelyn
Grünes, Andreas
Grunert, Christin
Gutzeit, Gero
Hallet, Wolfgang
Hierasimowicz, Konrad
Hoffmann, Anna
Krentel, Friedolin (speaker)
Kreuder-Sonnen, Katharina
Laba, Agnes
Michaelis, Beatrice
Müller, Jennifer Ch.
Ochs, Carsten
Peeters, Wim
Schanze, Christoph
Sicks, Kai
Simons, Sascha
Wirth, Uwe Prof. (speaker)