At bachelor's level, the department provides the disciplinary foundations, core methods and fundamental analytical or creative competencies of Ethnology.
Faculty of History, Art and Culture · 2.3.0
Institute of Culture and Ethnology
The institute investigates cultural meanings, social practices, lifeworlds, and tangible and intangible forms of expression from comparative and ethnographic perspectives.
Institute Profile
The institute investigates cultural meanings, social practices, lifeworlds, and tangible and intangible forms of expression from comparative and ethnographic perspectives.
7 DepartmentsResearch · Teaching · Degree Programmes
Department of Ethnology
Academic Description
The department investigates social orders, lifeworlds, practices and forms of knowledge in diverse societies through reflexive ethnographic research.
Teaching and Research Areas
- Ethnographic field research
- Social organisation and kinship
- Religion, ritual and everyday life
- Political and economic anthropology
Academic Focus Areas
- Reflexive methodology
- Local perspectives and global entanglements
- Ethics of ethnographic research
Interdisciplinary and Transdisciplinary Collaboration
Within Yushin-Ryu Private University, the department collaborates on an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary basis particularly with the fields of History and Historical Studies, Religious Studies, Political Sciences. Joint teaching, research and knowledge-transfer formats connect discipline-specific methods with broader academic and societal questions.
Integration into Degree Programmes
At master's level, the department advances theoretically grounded, methodologically demanding and research-oriented questions in Ethnology.
Within doctoral programmes, the department supervises independent research projects that make an original scholarly contribution to Ethnology.
Department of Cultural Anthropology
Academic Description
The department researches cultural meanings, everyday practices, identities and processes of transformation using ethnographic, historical and comparative methods.
Teaching and Research Areas
- Research on everyday life and lifeworlds
- Identity, belonging and difference
- Migration and mobility
- Anthropology of modern societies
Academic Focus Areas
- Processes of cultural negotiation
- Body, space and practice
- Anthropology of knowledge
Interdisciplinary and Transdisciplinary Collaboration
Within Yushin-Ryu Private University, the department collaborates on an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary basis particularly with the fields of History and Historical Studies, Communication Sciences, Ethics and Philosophy. Joint teaching, research and knowledge-transfer formats connect discipline-specific methods with broader academic and societal questions.
Integration into Degree Programmes
At bachelor's level, the department provides the disciplinary foundations, core methods and fundamental analytical or creative competencies of Cultural Anthropology.
At master's level, the department advances theoretically grounded, methodologically demanding and research-oriented questions in Cultural Anthropology.
Within doctoral programmes, the department supervises independent research projects that make an original scholarly contribution to Cultural Anthropology.
Department of Comparative Cultural Studies
Academic Description
The department compares cultural systems, practices and patterns of interpretation without flattening historical specificity and develops methodologically controlled comparative designs.
Teaching and Research Areas
- Theories and methods of cultural comparison
- Comparative research on institutions and values
- Regional and transregional case studies
- Comparative historical research
Academic Focus Areas
- Comparability and translation
- Asymmetries and power relations
- Transfer and entanglement
Interdisciplinary and Transdisciplinary Collaboration
Within Yushin-Ryu Private University, the department collaborates on an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary basis particularly with the fields of History and Historical Studies, Linguistics, Philosophy of Science and Integral Research. Joint teaching, research and knowledge-transfer formats connect discipline-specific methods with broader academic and societal questions.
Integration into Degree Programmes
At bachelor's level, the department provides the disciplinary foundations, core methods and fundamental analytical or creative competencies of Comparative Cultural Studies.
At master's level, the department advances theoretically grounded, methodologically demanding and research-oriented questions in Comparative Cultural Studies.
Within doctoral programmes, the department supervises independent research projects that make an original scholarly contribution to Comparative Cultural Studies.
Department of Intercultural Studies
Academic Description
The department investigates encounters, communication, conflict and cooperation among culturally diverse actors and develops academically grounded models of mutual understanding.
Teaching and Research Areas
- Intercultural communication
- Migration, diaspora and transnationalism
- Conflict transformation and mediation
- Institutional diversity
Academic Focus Areas
- Perspective-taking and dialogue
- Power-critical interculturality
- Applied research on mutual understanding
Interdisciplinary and Transdisciplinary Collaboration
Within Yushin-Ryu Private University, the department collaborates on an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary basis particularly with the fields of Communication Sciences, Linguistics, Political Sciences. Joint teaching, research and knowledge-transfer formats connect discipline-specific methods with broader academic and societal questions.
Integration into Degree Programmes
At bachelor's level, the department provides the disciplinary foundations, core methods and fundamental analytical or creative competencies of Intercultural Studies.
At master's level, the department advances theoretically grounded, methodologically demanding and research-oriented questions in Intercultural Studies.
Within doctoral programmes, the department supervises independent research projects that make an original scholarly contribution to Intercultural Studies.
Department of Material Culture
Academic Description
The department researches objects, materials, techniques and material worlds as carriers of social relations, cultural meanings and historical orders of knowledge.
Teaching and Research Areas
- Object analysis and material-culture research
- Technological, consumer and everyday culture
- Object biographies and circulation
- Collection, archive and documentation
Academic Focus Areas
- Materiality and meaning
- Production, use and appropriation
- Digital documentation of objects
Interdisciplinary and Transdisciplinary Collaboration
Within Yushin-Ryu Private University, the department collaborates on an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary basis particularly with the fields of History and Historical Studies, Natural Sciences, Computer Science. Joint teaching, research and knowledge-transfer formats connect discipline-specific methods with broader academic and societal questions.
Integration into Degree Programmes
At bachelor's level, the department provides the disciplinary foundations, core methods and fundamental analytical or creative competencies of Material Culture.
At master's level, the department advances theoretically grounded, methodologically demanding and research-oriented questions in Material Culture.
Within doctoral programmes, the department supervises independent research projects that make an original scholarly contribution to Material Culture.
Department of Intangible Cultural Heritage
Academic Description
The department investigates living traditions, knowledge, forms of expression and social practices, including processes of transmission, recognition, transformation and community-based safeguarding.
Teaching and Research Areas
- Oral traditions and performing practices
- Rituals, festivals and craft knowledge
- Documentation and safeguarding
- Cultural policy and community participation
Academic Focus Areas
- Community ownership and cultural rights
- Intergenerational transmission
- Dynamics of living traditions
Interdisciplinary and Transdisciplinary Collaboration
Within Yushin-Ryu Private University, the department collaborates on an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary basis particularly with the fields of Music and Theatre Studies, Law, Educational Sciences. Joint teaching, research and knowledge-transfer formats connect discipline-specific methods with broader academic and societal questions.
Integration into Degree Programmes
At bachelor's level, the department provides the disciplinary foundations, core methods and fundamental analytical or creative competencies of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
At master's level, the department advances theoretically grounded, methodologically demanding and research-oriented questions in Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Within doctoral programmes, the department supervises independent research projects that make an original scholarly contribution to Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Department of Sociology of Culture
Academic Description
The department analyses cultural production, reception, lifestyles, institutions and inequalities through sociological theories and empirical methods.
Teaching and Research Areas
- Sociology of cultural fields
- Taste, lifestyle and social inequality
- Cultural production and creative labour
- Audiences and reception research
Academic Focus Areas
- Culture and social differentiation
- Institutions and professions
- Digital cultural publics
Interdisciplinary and Transdisciplinary Collaboration
Within Yushin-Ryu Private University, the department collaborates on an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary basis particularly with the fields of Business and Economics, Communication Sciences, Political Sciences. Joint teaching, research and knowledge-transfer formats connect discipline-specific methods with broader academic and societal questions.
Integration into Degree Programmes
At bachelor's level, the department provides the disciplinary foundations, core methods and fundamental analytical or creative competencies of Sociology of Culture.
At master's level, the department advances theoretically grounded, methodologically demanding and research-oriented questions in Sociology of Culture.
Within doctoral programmes, the department supervises independent research projects that make an original scholarly contribution to Sociology of Culture.