Schnittstellen von Kultur- und Lebenswissenschaften
"What a body can do?” This question posed by Ben Spatz (2015) not only inspired the reactivation of the research group "Interfaces of the Study of Culture and Life Sciences" in January 2025 but continues to guide its focus. Building on an earlier phase of the group dedicated to the Medical Humanities, we now pursue questions of embodiment, in exploring how knowledge and culture are created in and through bodies.
Our research follows an embodied perspective on culture, which approaches the relationship between culture, life, and corporeality through two interrelated trajectories. First, culture is embodied: it emerges and acts through bodily practices, affects, and perceptions, and is materially situated. Second, embodiment is cultural: the ways bodies are experienced, disciplined, and understood are themselves culturally shaped and historically contingent. From this perspective, we understand embodiment as a process in which questions of cultural studies and life sciences meet, as an interface where the living becomes cultural and the cultural becomes alive.
At the same time, we approach embodiment not only as an object of research but also as a method that intertwines theory and practice. Guided by the wish to make research itself a bodily and shared experience, we create a space for exchange and collaborative exploration. We meet in an open, present atmosphere, share food, combine movement and conversation, and cultivate a living space where joy and research come together.
Questions we are exploring include:
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What does it mean to do research through and with bodies?
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How can embodied epistemology be approached and applied differently?
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Whose bodies are made visible or invisible in processes of knowledge production?
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How can artistic or performative practices serve as methods of embodied inquiry?
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How do technological and algorithmic environments shape or extend embodied experience and knowledge?
Upcoming Events: Workshop and Keynote with Dr Ben Spatz
We are very happy to welcome Ben Spatz to Giessen on April 27–28, 2026 for the following events:
- On April 27: Walking Seminar: "Doing Research on and with Bodies"
- On April 28: (4-6 PM): Keynote lecture: "Notes for Planetary Bodies: Black Studies and Critical Whiteness Praxis in Europe"
News: Special Issue on Embodiment (Guest Editors from the Group)
Members of the research group are guest editing a special issue on “Embodiment” in On_Culture, focusing on how bodies emerge through cultural, social, and biological processes.
The call for abstracts is available here: CfA_21_final.pdf
Aktuelle Mitglieder
- Alexandra Stuhlmann (Sprecherin)
- Siyu Li
- Stefan Wahlen
- Isabella David
- Burcu Bacanak Sahin
- Frederik Peper
- Sophie Wagner
- Luis Guillermo Zazueta Beltrán