Outstanding Dialogue Between Cultures

What began as a private visit laid the foundations for a deep academic partnership: when Prof. Dr. Gesine Lenore Schiewer visited Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz in 2015, inspired by her mother’s biography, she initiated her first exchange with local scholars of German Studies. This personal contact led to a close cooperation between the Chair of Intercultural German Studies at the University of Bayreuth and the Polish university.

“Professor Schiewer has, as our colleagues at UKW put it, undoubtedly made a significant contribution to the development of our German Studies department – especially in the internationalisation of research and academic exchange, in promoting a culture of cooperation and dialogue, and in raising the profile of our university both at home and abroad,” it was stated in the official speech during the award ceremony in Bydgoszcz. The speech particularly emphasised Prof. Schiewer’s strong personal commitment to fostering collaboration between the two universities.

Since the beginning of this collaboration in 2015, the partners have launched several joint research projects, including “Emotional Neighbourhood. German–Polish Dialogue” – a project funded by the German-Polish Science Foundation and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. The project examined how emotions are portrayed and used in the media in Poland and Germany. Although the two countries are geographically close, mutual prejudices still persist. The media play a key role here, as they can influence emotions and shape public perception of particular topics and other nations. The findings were published in 2023 in the volume Emotionen – Medien – Diskurse. Interdisziplinäre Zugänge zur Emotionsforschung (Emotions – Media – Discourses: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Emotion Research), released by Harrassowitz Verlag in Wiesbaden.

In 2022, another institutional partnership in German Studies was initiated by Prof. Schiewer, supported by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). Focusing on “Young Generations and Participation”, this partnership links Kazimierz Wielki University, the Universidad Nacional de Colombia in Bogotá, and the University of Bayreuth. Funded by the Federal Foreign Office, the initiative supports cooperation between departments offering German Studies or German as a Foreign Language and their international partners, thereby strengthening the global and domestic internationalisation of German Studies.