The University of Potsdam - A portrait
Structure
Understanding Culture Broadly
The Philosophical Faculty
Fotos: K. Fritze
In recent years, the University of Potsdam's Philosophical Faculty has redefined itself in the spirit of cross-disciplinary cultural studies. Research and teaching at the Institutes for Religious Studies, Jewish Studies, Philosophy, History, Classical Philology, German Studies, English and American Studies, Romance Studies, Slavic Studies as well as Art and Media are devoted to a broad understanding of culture that is defined by including all aspects of human life.
Drawing from the broad range of faculty specialties, the thematic concentrations of "Cultures in/of Mobility," "Forms of Life and the Know How of Living" as well as "Region and Identity in Europe" were created. This emphasis in regard to content encourages interdisciplinary cooperation, but it also incorporates perspectives that are outside the Philosophical Faculty's traditional subject canon. The Focus Area Unsettled Cultures, for example, investigates among others the history and cultural practice of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam and thereby combines different areas of study, such as theology, literature, ethics, medicine, and cosmology.
In the spirit of research-based teaching, new academic programs such as Mobility Studies are being developed to complement the already existing interdisciplinary Master's programs in Jewish Studies, Communications Linguistics, Military Studies, European Media Studies as well as others. Furthermore, the faculty highly values the intensive support of young scholars. The graduate colleges, graduate schools, and externally funded projects under the auspices of the Philosophical Faculty offer young scholars the opportunity for interdisciplinary and international cooperation.
"He who imagines a border
has already stepped over it."
Prof. Dr. Johann Ev. Hafner,
Dean of the Philosophical Faculty
