Center for Interamerican Studies
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The Center for InterAmerican Studies (CIAS) is a cross-faculty institution of the Faculty of History, Philosophy and Theology and the Faculty of Linguistics and Literary Studies at Bielefeld University , which deals with research and teaching with the American double continent. The CIAS emerged in 2011 from the interdisciplinary teaching and research network of InterAmerican Studies, which was established in 2002, and the university focus “Latin American Studies” defined when the university was founded. Its members include researchers from the fields of history, sociology, political science, theology, Latin American studies, American studies, literary studies, linguistics, law and biology from Bielefeld University and the social affairs department of Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences .
idea
The CIAS is an expression of a new orientation of regional studies in the course of the diverse dynamics of globalization , whereby more and more interregional and intercontinental problem areas and issues are taken into account. In the Americas, cultural, social and political contrasts between the post-industrial world, as well as “emerging” and “developing countries” meet like hardly any other region of the world. Despite the evident geopolitical differences between North and South America and the Caribbean, the societies of the western hemisphere are shaped by the common history of European colonization and slavery, which has produced persistent post-colonial deep structures up to the present day. The CIAS is therefore on the one hand a member of traditional associations of regional studies such as the Working Group on German Latin America Research (ADLAF). On the other hand, it also contributes to the institutionalization of area studies in the German research landscape and participates in the realignment of regionally designed research associations - for example in the association CrossArea eV, of which the CIAS is one of the founding members.
tasks
Accordingly, the CIAS has placed the comparative and transregional research of interculturality, identity politics and coloniality, cultural politics and mediality, social movements, integration and social transformations as well as migration and transnationalization dynamics in the Americas at the center of its work, which is expressed in numerous research projects. From 2013 to 2020, the research activities of the CIAS were bundled in the BMBF- funded project “The Americas as an interwoven area”. The CIAS coordinates the research project that the CALAS - Maria Sibylla Merian Center for Advanced Latin American Studies . organized.
Another focus of the work of the CIAS is the area of international networking. The management of the International Association of Inter-American Studies is based at Bielefeld University, and there are numerous cooperation agreements with universities and research institutions in the Americas.
Teaching
In teaching, the CIAS strengthens an interdisciplinary and interregional perspective in area studies. It thus takes into account the recent requirements for transnationalization in cultural and social sciences that arise in the context of current globalization processes. In the area of postgraduate studies, an independent interdisciplinary master's program "Inter-American Studies" is offered. In the bachelor's program, the minor minor subject “History and Culture of Latin America” is offered.
Every semester, the CIAS offers a research colloquium on Inter-American Studies that is open to everyone. In addition, the CIAS organizes events such as conferences, congresses and summer schools.
Publications
A central publication organ of the CIAS is the e-journal FIAR: Forum for Inter-American Research. Furthermore, the work of the CIAS is characterized by diverse publications, some of which appear in the series IAS Inter-American Studies / Estudios Interamericanos.
Individual evidence
- ↑ fiar - forum for inter-American research. Retrieved March 24, 2020 (English, sp).