Integration as a Research Organization

The “Cultural Foundations of Integration” Center of Excellence at the University of Constance is the first research organization focusing on the humanities and social sciences to emerge in 2006 from the German government’s “initiative for excellence.” The theme of integration is explored at the Center on all social levels—starting with integration within the smallest possible groups and ending on a global scale. Processes of integration and disintegration are here examined in a period extending from antiquity to the present. The goal of the research at the “Cultural Foundations of Integration” Center of Excellence is to develop a new cultural theory that understands culture as a foundational element of integration. The Center’s program takes account of contemporary developments, with ongoing debates being enriched by both detailed reflection and systematic concept-formation. The Center has established an Institute for Advanced Study where scholars from all over the world can pursue their research. At the same time it has created new professorships, research groups for junior faculty, and a research training group. Scholarly exchange takes place in the Center on a cross-disciplinary basis comprising the fields of literary studies, history, sociology, political science, law, and philosophy. This creates optimal conditions for humanities and social-science research.