Project in SFB 1671 Heimat(en) New subproject lead by Christiane Brosius in SFB 1671 “Heimat(en)"
Starting in October 2024, the Department of Visual and Media Anthropology, with Prof. Dr. Christiane Brosius as project leader, hosts a subproject within the Collaborative Research Centre (SFB)1671 “Heimat(en)” -- Home(s)-Phenomena, Practices and Representations. The interdisciplinary initiative, approved by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) in May 2024, encompasses 24 subprojects housed in seven faculties. The speaker is Prof. Dr. Christiane Wiesenfeldt (Musicology, Heidelberg University).
Investigating and describing why and how the concept of "Heimat" (homeland) becomes an integral part of human relations with the world is the central goal of the broader research initiative. To achieve this, the diversity and dimensions of “Heimat” are explored and analyzed through model theory from a historically and globally comparative perspective. The German term "Heimat" carries a complex semantics that has changed multiple times since the early modern period and is by no means clear-cut, especially as it is intertwined with related semantic fields (home, house, place, community, nation, homeland, etc.) as well as its counterparts in other languages and cultures. Concepts and practices of natural and sociocultural connectedness are examined across various societal, media, and cultural contexts. Heimat is understood as a dynamic model that can be observed and analyzed from the pre-modern era to the present, and in a transcultural context.
Two SFB-projects are hosted at HCTS. Prof. Dr. Barbara Mittler is collaborating with PD Dr. Stefan Menzel (Musicology, Heidelberg University) in Subproject B01: In Search for Home—Musical Practices in East Asia, while Brosius is engaged in Subproject B02: Searching for Home and Homemaking between Household and Neighborhood in Nepal, with Diego Jaimes-Niño, M.A. as a doctoral student. Subproject B02 aims to contribute to the concept of “Heimat” as a multi-relational and transcultural model of belonging by focusing on the artistic, architectural and social practices of younger Nepalese individuals. Attention is paid on new global nationalist, populist, or other 'tribalist' entities and essentialisms as well as on dimensions of critical regional studies. The subproject uses ethnological methods to examine current praxeological aspects of belonging in Nepal: urbanization, migration, and natural disasters lead to ongoing reinterpretations of home. Research foci include art practice, curation, and festivals, as well as archiving and social and architectural spatial design (neighborhood as 'placemaking'). The first phase of SFB 1671 “Heimat(en)” will run until summer 2028.