GRK 406:  The Staging of the Body

• Subject Area: Linguistics
• Term: from 1997 to 2006
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 272193

The research group of Ph.D. students and post-docs has been by the DFG since October 1997. Its primary objective is the analysis of the staging of the body throughout various epochs of European and extra-European cultures. In contrast to recent research that has considered the body foremost as a material surface into which cultural norms and values are inscribed, the work of the research group highlights autonomous dynamics of bodily processes. Taking into account that the body is both actor and product whenever it is presented, the research group analyses the significance of the body for all forms of cultural praxis and emphasises the permanent modifications of cultural and artistic creation. Thus, cultural history can be understood as the history of staging the body.Stagings of the body are crucial to cultural developments in as far as they visualise dominant social schemes of perception and interpretation. For instance, they highlight the relations between reality and fiction, nature and culture, naturalness and artificiality, and masculinity and femininity. Furthermore, they reflect and modify these schemes. From this point of view, the research group focuses on four areas of research: (1) Concepts of stagings of the body. (2) Mediums of stagings of the body. (3) The body as material, actor and symbolic medium in different forms of stagings. (4) The function of the body in the creation of self and the development of identity.The staging of the body asks for an interdisciplinary perspective. Therefore, the research group unites Ph.D. students and post-docs working in various fields such as literature (Latin and Greek philology, English literature, comparative literature, medieval literature, new German literature, romance philology), history of art, musicology, theatre studies, historical anthropology, ethnology, and sociology. There is no historical restriction of topics for the research group intends to remain sensitive to the changes within the concept of the body and its function. Yet, the homogeneity of the various pieces of work is guaranteed by the common focus on corporeality and the concept of bodily presentation.

• DFG Programme: Research Training Groups
• Applicant Institution: Freie Universität Berlin
• Spokesperson: Professorin Dr. Erika Fischer-Lichte
• Participating Researchers: Professor Dr. Werner Busch; Professor Dr. Gunter Gebauer; Professor Dr. Hermann Haarmann; Professor Dr. Rolf-Peter Janz; Professorin Dr. Ingrid Kasten; Professorin Dr. Gertrud Koch; Professorin Dr. Sybille Krämer; Professor Dr. Joachim Küpper; Professor Dr. Jürgen Maehder; Professor Dr. Gert Mattenklott (†); Professor Dr. Manfred Pfister; Professor Dr. Helmar Schramm (†); Professor Dr. Christoph Wulf