Research groups

Research at ICOG focuses on the study of cultural processes, their various manifestations and discussion of these subjects in

1. Europe,
2. the regions of the Eastern Mediterranean Basin,
3. the American continent (read: Mexico, United States, and Canada), and
4.  – a recent development – several Asian countries.

The research area covers the period from Babylonian civilisation (c. 3000 BC) to the present. The following periods may be distinguished:

a) Hellenistic civilisation (3rd century BC to the early-Roman imperial period) and the history of the Eastern Mediterranean Basin, and of the period between the Roman Empire and the transition from Late Antiquity to the early Middle Ages.

b) The Middle Ages, with the emphasis on the Late Middle Ages/Early Modern Times (1400-1650).

c) The Fin de Siècle and the Belle Époque (c. 1870-1920), and linked to this, the so-called ‘Long Nineteenth Century’ (1789-1920).

d) The period from the Cold War to the present, with the emphasis on the period from World War II to the present.

Researchers at ICOG represent not just many periods, but many disciplines as well: the history and theory of literature, film/TV, theatre, music, the visual arts and architecture, research into the artistic media and into the history and theory of artistic policy-making and organisation, journalism, and political, socio-economic, cultural and intellectual history, etc.

Research is organised into three multi-disciplinary research groups, all of which to varying degrees relate to the core theme of Cultural Change.

The three main research groups are: 

Politics, Media and Nation-building

Cultures and Identity

Society and the Arts