Master Class “Multilingual Turns: New Perspectives on Cross-Cultural Communication”

The DAAD-Network “Zones of Cultural Contact and Conflict in Eastern Europe” in cooperation with the GCSC’s Research Area 5 (Media and Multiliteracy Studies) will host a joint symposium on the theme of multilingualism.

The symposium will take place at the GCSC (International Graduate Centre for the Study of Culture) at Justus-Liebig-University Giessen from 16^th to 18^th May 2016. There will be places for six researchers to present their research, alongside six international scholars who will be visiting from the DAAD-Network.

We would like to invite contributions for brief (10-15 minute) presentations in response to the topic of the symposium. Contributions are welcome from researchers working across the social sciences and humanities on the theme of multilingualism, and applicants are welcome to interpret this theme from a variety of perspectives (e.g. didactic, linguistic, cultural, socio-political, historical, literary, etc.).

The short presentations will form the basis of a day-long roundtable discussion, with expert feedback provided by Principal Investigators from Justus-Liebig-University Giessen. This discussion will also serve as a preparation for the Keynote Lecture to be held that evening at the GCSC by Prof. Claire Kramsch, Professor of German and Education at UC Berkeley and an international expert on multilingualism.