Summer Institute Cologne is looking forward to its sixth year and to the topic of “Construction Sites”. The international program at the University of Cologne offers annual graduate-level seminars on topics in cultural history as well as lectures, poster presentations, academic workshops, and an excursion. In 2018, there will be seminars in the historiography and theory of the arts and culture.

We invite graduate and postgraduate students from Art History, Classics, Comics Studies, Communication, Cultural Studies, Dance, English, Film, German, Japanese Literature, History, Literary Studies, Media, Music, Performance, Sound, Theatre, and related fields to apply for this international interdisciplinary program. (All sessions will be conducted in English.) Participants and faculty of 2018 will explore perspectives on the topic Construction Sites through three themed seminars:

- Comics & Visual Narration

- Sound

- Theatre Historiography

Each seminar will be led by a pair of scholars from Northwestern University (Evanston, USA) and the University of Cologne (Germany). Each participant enrolls in one seminar, thus composing an individual study program. Seminars and workshops are enhanced by excursions, lectures by alumni, poster presentations by students, and social gatherings. The University of Cologne assists participants in identifying accommodation and with other basic logistics.

Construction Sites

In a profound way, scholarly projects are “construction sites” that exist in tension between what is visible/readable/undertaken and what unfolds in the work-in-progress. Scholars utilize various skills and techniques towards an end ‑ assembling material, generating insights, crafting arguments ‑ and yet the end result may be very different from what was planned. Being “under construction” implies flexibility, improvisation, and ongoing adaptation.

How is evidence recognized as such and marshalled while arguments are “under construction”? Seminars in Comics & Visual Narration, Sound Studies, and Theatre Historiography explore the implications of this, both for participants’ projects and in thinking about how research aggregates into what we call “disciplines” and “fields.”

— 27 August ‑ 7 September 2018

— Location: Theaterwissenschaftliche Sammlung, University of Cologne

— Deadline for applications: 28 February 2018

Extended Deadline: 15 March 2018

— Open to graduate students (master’s and PhD)

— Fee: 200.00 Euro, reduced fee for Cologne students: 70.00 Euro

— The fee covers lunches, excursions as well as snacks, and coffee.

— You will find the application form, a preliminary timetable, and more

information on http://www.sic.phil-fak.uni-koeln.de

— Please feel free to contact the coordinator Sabine Päsler:

sabine.paesler@uni-koeln.de