Internationalization Processes of European Ethnology in the Cold War from 1945 to 1970

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Internationalization Processes of European Ethnology in the Cold War from 1945 to 1970 The historiography of European Ethnology is characterized by two significant converging desiderata: Firstly, the focus on the national origins of European Ethnology largely ignores transnational scholarly entanglements and transfers. Secondly, this methodological nationalism obscures the lasting impact of the Cold War as an eminently influential political context to the international development of the discipline. Therefore, a reappraisal of the conditions under which the discipline developed during the Cold War and which continue to influence European Ethnology today is urgently needed. This academic void is the focus of the proposed research project. Analyzing East-West German Volkskunde is an excellent object of research to obtain significant knowledge concerning the internationalization processes of European Ethnology after 1945 because it was an important point of intersection to the ideological system rivalry during the Cold War. As a representative example the proposed project will focus on the development of transnational scholarships between 1945 and 1970. It will bring to light the influence of the conceptual East-West-Bias regarding transnational activities of European Ethnology in processes of theory production and the standardization of ethnological and anthropological concepts. The project will take a detailed look at the dichotomy between Western and Eastern orientations as well as competing concepts. Parallel to these epistemological questions we will examine the sociopolitical determinations of specific practices of knowledge production and the interplay of networks, organizations and institutions. Uncovering persistent structures of transnational knowledge production will facilitate new approaches for future international cooperation.