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Writing, Why “No One Has Studied This” Is Scholarly Writing’s Most Dangerous Comfort Zone

Let’s talk about one of academia’s most cherished myths: that identifying an unstudied area automatically creates a valuable research problem. We’ve all done it. Faced with the need to justify our research, we fall back on that comfortable phrase: “While scholars have extensively studied X, there is a gap in…

Ukrainian Migrants’ Digital Connections to Family and Homeland during the War

TRAFO – Blog for Transregional Research By Taisiia Ratushna All you need is love. Zaporizhzhia, 2024. Photo by Taisiia Ratushna When Yulia fled Ukraine with her young daughter in March 2022, leaving behind her husband and their home, her phone became her link to home and her source of news…

Writing Transnational Jewish Visual Histories of the Mediterranean after 1800 through Images of Movement and Acceleration

By Anna Sophia Messner The exhibition “Juifs d’Algérie”, which was dedicated to two thousand years of Jewish history in this southern Mediterranean region of North Africa, was presented at the Musée d’Art et d’Histoire du Judaïsme in Paris from September 2012 to January 2013.[1] The exhibition also traced the various…

What contributions can AI make to understanding in the humanities?

After the presentation led by Professor Claus Beisbart from the University of Bern, I became particularly curious about his reference to the notion of “understanding” and how it differs from knowledge. To explore this further, I looked up several resources online and discovered the following:  “Understanding is the knowledge about…

What contributions can AI make to understanding in the humanities?

After the presentation led by Professor Claus Beisbart from the University of Bern, I became particularly curious about his reference to the notion of “understanding” and how it differs from knowledge. To explore this further, I looked up several resources online and discovered the following:  “Understanding is the knowledge about…

“One of the most striking challenges I encounter in theology is its rigidity and binary thinking” – 5in10 with Abeer Khshiboon

Abeer Khshiboon is a scholar specializing in intersections of religiosities, indigeneities, and postcolonial studies. She received her first MA in Education from the University of Haifa, a second MA in Jewish Theology from the School of Jewish Theology at the University of Potsdam. Her doctoral research at the Theological Faculty,…

“One of the most striking challenges I encounter in theology is its rigidity and binary thinking” – 5in10 with Abeer Khshiboon

Abeer Khshiboon is a scholar specializing in intersections of religiosities, indigeneities, and postcolonial studies. She received her first MA in Education from the University of Haifa, a second MA in Jewish Theology from the School of Jewish Theology at the University of Potsdam. Her doctoral research at the Theological Faculty,…

An American Banker in East Berlin – David Rockefeller’s Trip to Socialist Germany

by Marcus Dietrich June 5, 1975, was meticulously planned. After his arrival at Berlin-Schönefeld airport at 16:30, the honored guest was to be gifted flowers by a stewardess of the East German airline Interflug. Comrade Horst Kaminsky, president of the Staatsbank – socialist Germany’s version of a central bank –…

An American Banker in East Berlin – David Rockefeller’s Trip to Socialist Germany

by Marcus Dietrich June 5, 1975, was meticulously planned. After his arrival at Berlin-Schönefeld airport at 16:30, the honored guest was to be gifted flowers by a stewardess of the East German airline Interflug. Comrade Horst Kaminsky, president of the Staatsbank – socialist Germany’s version of a central bank –…

Once More, with Feeling: A ‘Sober’ Reappraisal of How-to Sources  

In my recently deceased mother’s belongings, amongst many other things, I found a recipe collection. The recipes were outdated; the booklet consisted of collectible cards illustrated with faded photos from the 90s. Some recipes were handwritten, scribbled down by different hands (including that of my 10-year-old self). Others bore witness…

TAKE 5 With PALOMERA – European Commission

The PALOMERA project, funded by the EU, has undertaken a two-year effort to investigate the reasons behind the limited inclusion of books in open access funder policies. Its goal was to offer actionable recommendations aimed at addressing this issue. In the latest edition of our “Take 5 with PALOMERA” blog series,…

Poor Connections

By Jeremy F. Walton In recent years, research ethics have become a site of intensive inspection and introspection across European institutions of higher education that channel substantial public monies into academic projects. Ethical protocols and commitments have expanded to constitute a new form of academic governmentality and self-discipline. The consequences…

M. Woellner’s Möbeltischlerei Nachf. BHR – A 18871

Max Woellner’s furniture joinery was founded in 1871. Berlin was booming, not least because of the high reparation payments that the German Reich had demanded from defeated France. The capital was growing fast and the new houses needed new furniture. It is not clear from the documents who exactly founded…

When Marsden arrived in the Bay of Islands for Christmas 210 years ago.

This article summarises an article by Zana Bell “Marsden’s first Christmas” published by New Zealand Geographic in 2006.1 As the festive season approaches, we often reflect on traditions and moments that have shaped our celebrations. In Aotearoa New Zealand, one such pivotal moment is the first Christian service held on…

Walking through the streets of Calicut (IV)

— Susanne Rau Preliminary note: The following text was started in September 2024, shortly before I flew to Kerala, and then completed there. A first, longer version was discussed at the colloquium of the Max Weber Centre on 29 October 2024. I would like to thank all those present for…