Doing Cultural History

1. Why did You choose this topic?

The idea of releasing a volume in the FSP's book series that brings together some of the FSP-funded papers at international conferences came up on the occasion of Research Unit's tenth anniversary. We had a reason to look back and therefore the wish emerged to gather, record, and present some of the already done work to a broader audience.

2. What new perspectives does your book offer?

Every researcher is familiar with the issue: Interesting findings besides the big project for the next monography or innovative considerations in or new perspectives on the own field of research are often the basis for a paper and the following discussion – but without conference transcript, these results, however fascinating they might be, will vanish. This time, they won't!

3. What makes your topic relevant for current research debates?

The term ›Cultural History‹ still seems to be a bit nebulous. In this book, the reader can find representative examples, what persons, who call themselves Cultural Historians, investigate, how they work, what their findings are. It won't answer the question ›What is Cultural History?‹ but rather ›How is Cultural History done?‹

4. Choose one person you would like to discuss your book with!

Every person who says: ›Oh my goodness, what are you actually doing at all those conferences?‹

5. Your book summary in one sentence:

Researchers are ›Doing Cultural History‹ – and they do it with many variations.