In various parts of the University of Konstanz, we research and teach on the topics of diversity, racism and discrimination.
Research on the topic of diversity
- Overview of research projects on the topic of diversity from the Office for Equal Opportunity, Family Affairs and Diversity website: Research on diversity
Research on topics related to racism and discrimination
The Cluster of Excellence “The Politics of Inequality“
- In order to have reliable data and facts to contribute to this discussion, the Research Group on Higher Education led by Thomas Hinz, a professor of empirical social research and a principal investigator in the Cluster of Excellence "The Politics of Inequality" at the University of Konstanz, conducted an online survey of 2,000 students and 2,000 members of the general population in December 2023 to study anti-Semitic prejudices. Press release: How widespread is anti-Semitism among students?
- Principal investigators, Professor Katharina Holzinger (Politics and Public Administration) and Professor Katharina Kupisch (Linguistics), research on the ethnically determined policy relating to the Sámi in Norway and Sweden: ?Ethnische Politik“ – Ein Mittel gegen Ungleichheiten zwischen Gruppen? (Ethnic policy – a means of reducing inequality between groups?). The Sámi in Norway and Sweden
- Principal investigator Professor Nils Weidmann (Politics and Public Administration) researches the causes of ethnically-motivated violence: Mobilization of inequalities: From grievance to conflict
Dr Karl Helmut Eberle research project
- Emeritus Professor Aleida Assmann (Literature, Art and Media Studies), Emeritus Professor Jan Assmann and Junior professor Christiane Bertram (Empirical Educational Research) investigate how civil society should address the increasing threat of harm from groups that base their own counterculture on exclusion and hate: Gemeinsinn. Was ihn bedroht und was wir für ihn tun k?nnen. (Community. What endangers it and what we can do for it)
Research from the field of sociology
- Professor Claudia Diehl investigates, among other things, processes of drawing ethnic boundaries, such as xenophobia and discrimination: Website of the Chair for Microsociology
- Article in the newspaper Südkurier with Professor Claudia Diehl from 9 June 2020: Der Fluch der Vorurteile: Warum jeder von uns ab und an einen rassistischen Gedanken hat (The curse of prejudices: Why all of us have racists thoughts from time to time)
- Report on the work of Professor Claudia Diehl (Sociology) and Professor Daniel Thym (Law) for the Expert Council of German Foundations on Integration and Migration (SVR): There is no such thing as “‘one’ Africa”.
- Study comparing discrimination in the rental housing markets of different countries published by sociologists from Konstanz and Munich with the participation of Professor Thomas Hinz (professor of empirical social research with a focus on survey research): Closed doors
Research on the topic of social cohesion
- Apart from the legal shift in the concept of belonging against the background of migration and integration, researchers at the Konstanz branch of the Research Institute Social Cohesion especially investigate cultural “narratives” that create a collective identity and determine the positioning of individuals and groups in that society.
- The Cultural Studies Research Centre (ZKF) currently draws together Konstanz’s cultural inquiry research on phenomena of social integration and disintegration. In the future, it will increasingly focus its efforts on migration and mobility research.
Research from the field of British Studies and American Studies
An overview of current research in the field of African American studies is available on the British Studies and American Studies website.