“Austrian Galicia and its Multicultural Heritage”

Doctoral Program at the Faculties for Philological and Cultural Studies, for Historical and Cultural Studies and - subject to further financial support by the Austrian Science Fund - for Social Sciences at the University of Vienna

(11/2006 - 10/2009)
(11/2009 - 10/2012)
(11/2012 - 10/2015)
(11/2015 - 10/2018)

The doctoral program (DP) concerns the interdependent cultures, literatures, languages, religions, economies, and ethnic and social groups in the Austrian crownland Galicia and Lodomeria, from its incorporation into the Habsburg Empire in 1772 until 1918, and the multicultural heritage of Austrian Galicia in Poland, Ukraine and Austria as well as in the emigration until the present time.

Over the last two decades Austrian Galicia has become a favorite object of public interest and new research in Austria (especially in Vienna) and in other countries. Most research, however, has been done in the isolated frameworks of diverse disciplines. As a result, the multiculturality of the region has not been sufficiently taken into account in the national historiographies as well as in Slavic, German, and Judaic studies. The DP adopts a multidisciplinary approach, combining the methods of literature, linguistics, and history, and applying integrative theories of cultural sciences. This transdisciplinarity will provide new insights for the individual disciplines as well as for a more comprehensive and multilingual view of the historical region.

The disciplines participating in the DP are German literature (Annegret Pelz, Johann Sonnleitner), History (Christoph Augustynowicz, Andrea Komlosy and, instead of Andreas Kappeler, Kerstin S. Jobst und Philipp Ther), Jewish studies (Gerhard Langer replaces Klaus Samuel Davidowicz), Political Science (Dieter Segert) and Slavic studies (Stefan Simonek, Alois Woldan). The coherence of the DP lies not only in the relatively small and clearly delineated historical space (Galicia) and in its transdisciplinarity, but also in the methodological approaches of cultural studies (e.g. mental mapping, lieux de mémoire, gender studies, discourse analysis, microhistory, "border studies", migration studies, language history). The cooperation between the scholars and collegiates of various disciplines will have synergetic effects and will strengthen the existing research capabilities of Vienna University. The excellent archival and library conditions make Vienna the ideal place for the DP. The inclusion of scholars (to be invited for lectures and regular work-shops) and of collegiates from Poland and Ukraine will enlarge the existing cooperation with both countries. The DP, located in the former imperial metropole, will have also the political task of mediating between the old and new members of the European Union and with Ukraine.

The educational curriculum of the DP will support the multidiscplinary, multilingual and methodologically multidimensional aspects. It aims to advance the knowledge, the theoretical capabilities and intercultural competences of the collegiates, and to further scholarly communication between the collegiates and scholars from Vienna University and abroad, in order to create a framework for an effective supervision of the dissertations by several specialists. During the first two semesters, introductory lecture courses and seminars, language courses and a scholarly excursion will provide the bases for individual research on dissertation topics. During the following two years each student will do a semester of research in a scientific institution outside of Vienna, mainly at the universities of Kraków or L'viv. The main forums of interaction between the students and the professors will be the regular doctoral seminars and two international workshops (with the active participation of the collegiates).