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Promotion of a deep understanding of the different areas and levels where water is important, as well as the ways in which it can be scientifically explored and artistically imagined.

Discussion of research questions and approaches related to the topic together with experts from different disciplines.

Acquisition of additional qualifications for the degree program; opening up interdisciplinary, problem-oriented perspectives.

Since the beginning of the 21st century, theoretical approaches and studies have increasingly emerged from cultural, literary, and linguistic perspectives, as well as from ethnological and historical perspectives, with a specific focus on the oceans and their central importance for human existence and history, as well as on the relationship between humans and water in general. Notable examples include the Blue Humanities, Blue Ecocriticism, or the Hydrohumanities. In recent years, the scientific focus has broadened to increasingly include lakes, rivers, and the different states of water, whether liquid, solid, or gaseous.

These diverse states and the omnipresent manifestations of water, which naturally also shape weather phenomena—think of ice, steam, fog, snow, and rain, etc. – should be the focus in order to explore the question of how and with what implications aquatic phenomena and land or ‘waterscapes’ are imagined and conceived linguistically, literarily, but also in visual and auditory media. With regard to the presence of water in the atmosphere and airspace, the water cycle and, in times of global warming and climate change, extreme climatic phenomena and their challenges for ecosystems and life in all its forms are coming to the fore. This raises questions about how the various aquatic phenomena are imagined and discursively constructed in different media and forms of expression from a historical perspective, in the present day, and as future scenarios.

The lecture series program can be viewed at: 
https://fileshare.uibk.ac.at/d/a4594b6479bd4509b589/

The lecture series will take the form of weekly lectures (45 to max. 60 minutes), each followed by an opportunity to ask questions and engage in in-depth discussion. 

In the final exam (June 23), questions on selected lectures must be answered in writing. In addition, a short written reflection assignment must be submitted. 

Details about the exam will be announced in due time.

This lecture series is organized and sponsored by the FSP “Cultural Encounters - Cultural Conflicts.”