Reisende Dinge // Reisende Bedeutungen: Eine transkulturelle Untersuchung der Akkulturation von Konsumgütern zwischen 1918 und 1939

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The study aims to employ methodologies developed in the realm of literary and cultural studies for the analysis of transcultural/transnational economic processes. By comparing the acculturation of foreign goods in different cultures, a universal, purely rationalistic economic theory of supply and demand will be supplemented by an analysis that is sensitive to the construction of meaning, value, and desirability in differing cultural environments. Key questions to be answered by the study are: Why, how, and by whom were consumer products brought to a foreign country? What images were created for theses products? Why did they appeal to the 'natives'? Which cultural stereotypes were employed and constructed in this process? In order to answer these questions, the overall study includes four case studies - conducted by four researchers - analysing the historically specific acculturation of consumer goods in four different environments. A final study will compare the findings of the case studies and integrate them into a theory of acculturation of consumer goods. Finally, this study is designed to work towards an Anglistische Kulturwissenschaft that is equipped to analyse the mediated constructions of meaning and desire in modern consumer society.