Partnerships and Collaborations

Ph.D. Net: The Knowledge of Literature

Princeton’s German Department is a founding member of the international Ph.D. Net established at the Humboldt-Universität, Berlin with the support of the German Academic Exchange Service and the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung.

The Ph.D. Net “The Knowledge of Literature” is a binational (German / American) doctoral program and part of the Humboldt Graduate School. Since 2008, the network has offered graduate students from the Humboldt and from a select group of American doctoral programs a common research and work environment as well as the possibility of a thematically-centered teaching and advising program. The network includes the Departments of German at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Princeton University, Harvard University, Cornell University, Yale University, New York University, and the University of California, Berkeley.

The focus on the relationship between knowledge and literature responds to recent methodological considerations in literary studies and establishes the basis for the doctoral exchange. Graduate students in the PhD-Net study for one or two semesters at a partner university and are co-advised by faculty members at the Humboldt and the home university.

For further information, please consult the Institut für deutsche Literatur at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.

Thematic Network: Literature – Knowledge – Media

The thematic network “Literature – Knowledge – Media” is a binational exchange and research program funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), and launched in the summer semester 2015. The framework of the interdisciplinary project is made up of a joint research program examining constellations of literature, knowledge, and media.

Coordinated by the Humboldt-Universität, the network aims to establish close cooperations on both a professional and thematic level between German and American partner institutions of literary and cultural studies, the history of science, art history, and media studies. Besides Humboldt University and Princeton University, participating in the network are Cornell University, Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, New York University, Princeton University, the University of California/Berkeley, and Yale University. With the Zentrum für Literatur- und Kulturforschung (Berlin) and the Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte (Berlin) two further non-university research institutes complete the network.

The research cooperation involves regular events, workshops, conferences, and a joint summer school. In addition, a range of exchange programs and mobility schemes allows for a constant exchange of scholars at all levels in the participating institutions and disciplines.

For further information, please consult the Literature – Knowledge – Media web site.

Since the summer of 2011, Princeton’s German Department has organized an international summer school for media studies in cooperation with Bauhaus Universität Weimar (Internationales Kolleg für Kulturtechnikforschung und Medienphilosophie, IKKM). The annual week-long program takes place in early summer, alternating between Princeton and Weimar.

The IKKM is an institute of the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar. It is funded by the German Ministry of Education and Research’s Käte Hamburger Program. The IKKM works on the basis of invited fellows and a permanent academic staff. The field of research is centered around the question how the relation between humans and things can and maybe must be approached in an age of highly technicised media societies. The Free State of Thuringia is supporting the IKKM’s Junior Fellow and Research Fellow Programs from the state fund ProExzellenz.

For more information about please visit:

Princeton-Weimar Summer School for Media Studies

IKKM Weimar

The German Department strives to offer its students and faculty a rich intellectual atmosphere. Besides its extensive lecture program, the Department also regularly hosts writers and artists for stays of a few days to a few weeks during which they hold workshops, teach intensive seminars, and share their work. Guests have included:

• Andrea Breth
• Hans Magnus Enzensberger
• Durs Grünbein
• Alexander Kluge
• Monika Maron
• Peter Schneider
• Renata Stih & Frieder Schnock
• Rosemarie Trockel
• Martin Walser