Projects
A large number of projects are carried out at the Gotha collection and research centre. These range from collection-related and source-based cataloguing, preservation and research projects to digitisation and digital humanities projects. The collections are thus made usable for science and the public. The individual institutions work closely with various national and international co-operation partners. Explore a selection of current projects.
- Current
- Transcultural Studies / Gotha Perthes Collection
Transcontinental Co-Productions
If the connection between the European exploration of Africa and colonialism seems unequivocal in retrospect, it may be surprising that in the 1860s, African travelers, scholars, and politicians…
- Current
- Transcultural Studies / Gotha Perthes Collection
The Socialist Scale
The history of the Justus Perthes Gotha publishing house was particularly shaped by various upheavals and the tensions of political system rivalries, especially in the 20th century. The location of…
- Current
- Transcultural Studies / Gotha Perthes Collection
Researching Swahili
Africanist linguistics is closely connected to missionary and colonial claims to authority over the political upheavals of the 19th and 20th centuries. In my work, I therefore inquire into the…
- Current
- Transcultural Studies / Gotha Perthes Collection
Bruno Hassenstein's Cartography of Japan
The project examines the influence of cartography on German-language Japanology in the late 19th century. So far, the historical development of German-language Japanology has been interpreted with a…
- Current
- Transcultural Studies / Gotha Perthes Collection
The Scientific Age in the Province
With the first assembly of the Society of German Naturalists and Physicians in 1822, according to Werner von Siemens (1886), a 'scientific age' began, in which the natural sciences opened up to…
- Current
- Transcultural Studies / Gotha Perthes Collection
Trading Animals / Animals that act
Living elephants, giraffes, ostriches, and camels, baboons, and donkeys unknown in Europe – the list of animals traded globally in the 19th century was extensive. Besides the numerous animals, various…
- Current
- Transcultural Studies / Gotha Perthes Collection
Bifurcated Cartographies
Bifurcated cartographies (BC) seeks to shed light into this process from a map-making cross continental reading. It examines the representation of Guatemala, and Central America, from a foreign and a…
- Current
- Transcultural Studies / Gotha Perthes Collection
The Rubondo-Experiment
The examination of the often neglected ecological dimension of decolonization contributes to a better understanding of the impacts of historical transformations on the natural environment.…
- Current
- Transcultural Studies / Gotha Perthes Collection
Cooperation Project "Cultural Techniques of Collecting
Collecting is undoubtedly one of the oldest cultural techniques, and it constitutes a fundamental practice in various forms in contemporary cultures as well. What is collected ranges between the poles…
- Current
- Transcultural Studies / Gotha Perthes Collection
Geography and Politics between North Africa and Europe
The research project focuses on journeys from Europe to Northeast Africa before colonial land appropriation. It examines natural-scientific-geographical and political spatial knowledge based on…
- Current
- Transcultural Studies / Gotha Perthes Collection
Collecting Knowledge in the Province
The project aims to analyze, through objects, places, institutions such as publishing houses, associations, societies, or universities, as well as individuals and other actors, how collections…
- Transcultural Studies / Gotha Perthes Collection
War Maps
Based on the transmitted collection of maps and the geographical writings of the publisher, this study aims to examine the evolution of cartography under the conditions of war, as well as the…
- Transcultural Studies / Gotha Perthes Collection
German East, Polish West
With the Treaty of Versailles and the establishment of Poland, the eastern border of Germany underwent significant changes. Politicians and scholars from both the Second Polish Republic and the…
- Transcultural Studies / Gotha Perthes Collection
Plants, Maps, Amuletts
The Middle East has been a focal point of colonial projects and theological research since the 19th century. What conceptions regarding environment, space, and cultural history underpinned the…
- Gotha Research Library
- Transcultural Studies / Gotha Perthes Collection
Cartographic Sources and Territorial Transformations in the Horn of Africa since the Late 18th Century (ETHIOMAP)
The research project comprises two partner projects being carried out simultaneously in France (funded by French National Research Agency) and Germany (funded by German Research Foundation). The…