Transnationalisation and Regionalisation from the 18th Century to the Present

Their International Ph.D. programme "Transnationalisation and Regionalisation from the 18th Century to the Present" pursues an interdisciplinary approach to all dimensions of transnational entanglements, organisations and cultural attitudes. It combines the research of areas dealing with the spatial dimensions of social and cultural processes. In particular, the programme incorporates

• History
• Geography
• Cultural Studies
• Sociology
• Politics
• Economics
• Linguistics
• Literary Studies

The programme focuses most on the following regions:

• Western Europe,
• Middle and Eastern Europe,
• sub-Saharan Africa,
• Latin America
• East Asia

The programme proceeds from the assumption that spatial dimensions exist within processes of economic transformation and cultural identification, as well as being present within social groupings and political structures. These processes are examined with a view towards their historical point of evolution until the present day.

These spatial dimensions of social, cultural and political action are linked to agents, whose active shaping of space is given particular attention in this study and research programme. As well as the creative agents, discourses and institutions are examined which help strengthen these terrritorial processes. The programme integrates numerous theoretical and methodological perspectives and includes many diverse fields of empirical research.

So that individual dissertations do not lose sight of the transnational or intercultural links to processes of region making or nation building, the programme arranges the teaching of methodology in relation to the comparison of societies, intercultural research and cultural transfers.