CIVIS PhD Students in Social Science and humanities are invited to apply to the blended intensive programme “Language and identity in an intercultural perspective”, which will take place from 20 October 2022 to 7 July 2023 within CIVIS.
The programme has two parts: a series of online lectures and a physical mobility. The virtual part will be running from 20 October 2022 to 15 June 2023, will be offered via Zoom and consists of 24 units, and 12 sessions (2h/week). The physical mobility part will take place from 3 to 7 July 2023 at the University of Tübingen.
When reflecting upon identity, we must bear in mind at least two levels on which we can analyse this concept: on one hand, the level of personal identity, on the other hand, the one of collective identity. But, under both of these perspectives, identity can be put itself into question as a concept. In the philosophical tradition, identity stands for stability, sameness and unity as opposed to changing and multiplicity. But is the concept of identity understood in these terms suitable for expressing our social being, or should we rather replace it with a notion that takes into account multiple allegiances and diversity, like for example the notion of “belonging” (appartenance)? On a personal level, one can belong to several groups or “social identities”, while on the collective level, we may ask the question of what insures the cohesion of a community, and what defines its belonging.
The program aims at providing PhD students with the opportunity to discuss topics related to their own dissertation projects with fellow students as well as faculty from different departments and even different subjects. This should help PhD-students to (1) gain a better overview of their area of research and (2) to network in an internationally appealing environment. Since at most universities there is not that many faculty-people in the field of the course’s topic the international exchange will foster the student’s dissertation projects.
In addition, we intend to connect participants with the alumni of two earlier editions of a blended CIVIS course we pursued in 2020/21 and 2021/22. Since we intend to continue the program in the years to come this will establish an alumni-network of more than one-hundred PhD-students amongst CIVIS universities within the next few years.
Participants should pursue their PhD at one of CIVIS member universities and their dissertation projects should be related to the topic of the class. Also, participants need to have language proficiency in English at C1-level and, since, the class is interdisciplinary with a focus on philosophy, sociology, anthropology, and psychology; students should come from one of these or related disciplines/ subjects. Master’s students may be accepted exceptionally.
Interested students should fill in the online application form by 30 September 2022. Students should include their research project outlines and their level of English.
More details regarding the application process, programme, ECTS and assessment are available here.
This CIVIS course is a Blended Intensive Programme (BIP): a new format of Erasmus+ mobility which combines online teaching with a short trip to another campus to learn alongside students and professors across Europe. Click here to learn more about CIVIS BIPs. The catalogue of these CIVIS courses can be accessed here.
More information about CIVIS – A European Civic University is available here.
