Working group for comparative mythology

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The Working Group for Comparative Mythology ( AVM ) is a registered literary association that is dedicated to interdisciplinary research into mythology as well as religious and cultural history, tradition research, superstition, philosophy, and myth theory and the reception of myths. This makes the AVM one of the few research communities of its kind in the German-speaking area .

The association promotes cosmopolitanism and tolerance and opposes all types of manipulation and the instrumentalization of myths as well as political and religious extremism.

history

The AVM was founded on January 27, 1995 in Leipzig on the initiative of authors, scientists and interested parties who are enthusiastic about myths and culture. From now on, his task should be to deal with the myths and religions of different cultures, to compare them and to examine their influence on current ways of life and thought. In addition, the working group also deals with the relationships between mythology on the one hand and literature and visual arts on the other, in particular with the reception of the mythical in the works of authors and artists.

Right from the start, the Working Group for Comparative Mythology has set itself the task of preserving myths from oblivion and uncritical interpretation, as well as examining the influences of mythology as a whole on the present in areas such as literature , art and culture . The AVM counteracts the frequent political or economic instrumentalization and falsification of myths (especially Germanic mythology) with publicistic information and open discourse.

What also makes the association special is that the concept of myth is understood as fundamental to world cultures and world religions, whose similarities and differences need to be examined, compared and questioned. Where do we come from? Who are we? Where are we going? Are the questions that resonate in each of the projects carried out annually, for which the working group holds up to 20 events (readings, lectures, panel discussions).

Until 2019, the founding member and first chairman of the AVM was the writer and publicist Reiner Tetzner . The Anglicist Elmar Schenkel took over the chairmanship of the association on March 1, 2019 . The members of the working group are often both researching and journalistic.

Well-known writers, authors and scientists who have presented their works and research to the working group include: a. the historian Johannes Fried , the archaeologist Harald Meller , the journalist Eva Menasse , the political scientist Herfried Münkler , the Islamic scholar Annemarie Schimmel , the theologian Friedrich Schorlemmer , the philologist Rudolf Simek , the philosopher Peter Sloterdijk as well as numerous writers like Thomas Böhme , Volker Braun , Peter Gosse , Werner Heiduczek , Wolfgang Hohlbein , Adel Karasholi , Bernd-Lutz Lange , Erich Loest , Clemens Meyer and Uwe Tellkamp .

To date, the AVM has carried out around 500 events and numerous excursions, implemented 27 funding projects and published over 30 specialist publications in the club's own publisher, Edition Vulcanus .

Since 2018, special events, excursions, exhibitions, reading about literary and scientific debates on culture and myths as well as special mythical, literary, cultural-historical, ethnological topics have also been discussed in the association-run MYTHO blog. The articles written by scholars and writers are published every Friday and received by readers worldwide.

The AVM is supported by the Leipzig Cultural Office, the Haus des Buches Leipzig Board of Trustees, the Federal Office for Family and Civil Society Tasks , the Dresden Civic Foundation and the Sparkasse Leipzig .

The AVM is based in the House of Books in Leipzig.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 20 years working group for comparative mythology. In: Leipziger Internet-Zeitung. January 26, 2015, accessed May 31, 2020 .
  2. ↑ God of War: The Father, the Son, the Sacred Game? In: Giga. May 7, 2018, accessed May 31, 2020 .
  3. ^ Association entry for the study group for comparative mythology at the city of Leipzig. Accessed May 31, 2020 .