GRK 515:  Imaginatio Borealis - Perception, Reception and the Construction of the North

• Subject Area: Linguistics
• Term: from 1999 to 2008
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 272699

From the Middle Ages to the present, European cultures have continuously been forming and transforming mental images and discursive concepts of the North. Such concepts have strongly influenced the ways in which Europeans understand themselves and others and they are still at stake in current debates on European issues. The underlying notion of Northernness, however, has not yet been sufficiently explored within the interdisciplinary framework of Cultural Studies. The phenomenon in question can be considered a long and complex process in which experiences of the "Lebenswelt" and discursive constraints continuously shape and modify the prevailing concepts of Northernness. While the power of the human imagination (imaginatio) regularly creates signs, texts and discourses of the North (imagines boreales), no a priori meaning can be ascribed to them as they are permanently exposed to the perils of construction and deconstruction. This is why the concept of Northernness is subject to historical changes that may be reflected in terms of politics, territorialism, religious confession, language and culture.

• DFG Programme: Research Training Groups
• Applicant Institution: Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel
• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Olaf Mörke
• Participating Researchers: Professor Dr. Heinrich Detering; Professorin Dr. Annelore Engel-Braunschmidt; Professor Dr. Gerhard Fouquet; Professor Dr. Javier Gómez-Montero; Professorin Dr. Silke Göttsch-Elten; Professor Dr. Ulrich Kuder; Professor Dr. Lutz Käppel; Professor Dr. Albert Meier; Professor Dr. Siegfried Oechsle; Professor Dr. Lutz Rühling; Professor Dr. Bernd Sponheuer; Professor Dr. Ludwig Steindorff