Conference “At the Cutting Edges of Knowledge Production: Borders and Black Holes in Academic Dialogue” will be opened on October 18th

On October 18th, as well as the 2nd and 8th of November 2021, we will discuss The Challenges of the Anthropocene (October 18, 2021), Social Inequalities and Political Exclusion (November 2, 2021), and Inter-Cultural Dialogues (November 8, 2021) with representatives of the collaborative projects in the Humanities and Social Sciences as well as international colleagues and project partners. Each day of the event will be rounded off by an Interregional Dialogue on the topic. You can find further information about the program and the participating projects on the event homepage.

The dialogical exchange between researchers on an equal footing is a basic normative principle of the academic field. Differentiations within the field result from academic recognition and merits. As democratic as this ideal may sound, the academic landscape is also permeated by multiple, intersectional inequalities, discrimination, and exclusionary mechanisms. There is often still a gulf that is rooted in a historically developed colonial geopolitics of knowledge particularly between the Global North and the Global South. Here, an equal dialogue cannot be established solely through inclusion; rather, eurocentric orders of knowledge, which are constitutive for the global institutions of knowledge, must also be questioned. Further, intra-academic boundaries of knowledge are drawn by the organization in disciplines. In view of the dawning era of the Anthropocene, the sharply drawn boundary between natural and cultural sciences proves to be particularly problematic. In this context, the proposed conference aims at critically examining the limits of academic knowledge production and to discuss steps for further transdisciplinary and transcultural dialogues.

Part of the conference is also an event slot on the topic of science communication. In addition to input from the perspective of science journalism and from the perspective of a science communication capacity, the projects will have the opportunity to exchange their own experiences in science communication. Presentations of good practice and discussion of the opportunities and risks of science communication will round off the event. The event is aimed exclusively at representatives of the funding guidelines Maria Sibylla Merian Centres, Käte Hamburger Kollegs and Regional Studies.