Associated PhD project

The dissertation project examines the transformation of the humanities after the peaceful revolution of 1989/90 in East Germany, focusing on Potsdam as a university city.
Starting from the 1980s well beyond the German reunification, the longue durée of political changes in the East-German higher education system will be told.
The focus lies on the socio-political developments in the GDR during the 1980s which led to the gradual erosion of the socialist academic system. The change in institutional structures as well as of personnel in the humanities during the transformation phase will be given special consideration. In addition, from the transition of the 1980s to the 1990s, continuities and disruptions of research and teaching content are analysed. Moreover, the question will be raised to which extent the transformation processes at University of Potsdam differed from those at other East German universities.