Related Projects - Transatlantic Perspectives

Related Projects within the BMBF research program “Europa von außen Gesehen”

Transfer and Transformation of Missionaries’ Images of Europe through the Encounter with the Other, 1700-1970: The research group at the Institute for European History in Mainz uses a longitudinal analysis to examine the images of Europe held by missionaries living outside of Europe between 1700 and 1970 with special consideration of fundamental Christian values from the perspective of the missionary movement. Visit
Formationen nahöstlicher Ansichten aus Europa auf Europa: The research group at the University of Bonn is examining the formation of perspectives on Europe in the Near East, in particular the areas that today make up Turkey, Iran, and the Arabic states bordering the Mediterranean Sea. The time frame of the research is from the beginning of the nineteenth century through World War II. Visit
External views on the EU as a Civilian Power –India and China in Comparison: The research group ‘Asian Perceptions of the EU’ aims to understand the gap between the self-perception of the EU as a security actor and the perceptions of the targeted “recipients” in Asia, particularly in India and China. Based on new approaches within the research field of diffusion and transfer in social science and the humanities, the research group analyses these factors in an interdisciplinary working group. The research team is based at the Free University Berlin’s Otto-Suhr-Institute for Political Science. Visit
In Search of Europe: Considering the Possible in Africa and the Middle East: This interdisciplinary research project based at the Zentrum Moderner Orient aims to understand the the ways people in Africa and the Middle East engage the idea of “Europe” as a metonymy of possibilities, both in its affirmative and in its critical forms. The focus of the project is therefore not so much on the representations people make of Europe as it is on the way people are compelled to compare themselves with metropolitan standards. Visit
EuroGaps: Differences between the EU’s foreign policy mission and its external perceptions in sub-Saharan Africa and the Black Sea region: The project investigates the perceptions of the EU and Europe in two regions which have close formal and historical ties with the EU: sub-Saharan Africa and the Black Sea region. A total of four case studies drawn from the two regions are designed to capture the wide range of perceptions of the EU’s role in the world. The project is conducted at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main. Visit
Universality and Acceptance Potential of Social Science Knowledge – On the Circulation of Knowledge between Europe and the Global South: The project at the University of Freiburg reflects critically the relationship between Europe and the Global South as mirrored within and by the social sciences. It focuses on an epistemological question: To which extent can social science knowledge become universal, or in other words, how should we assess the acceptance potential of different social theories beyond their relative context of origin? Visit

Other Projects and Institutions

GHI Digital: This website showcases the many online resources of the German Historical Institute Washington DC. Visit
Discourses on Europe in German, British and US American Media 1914 – 1980: A research project at the Justus-Liebig-University Gießen that examines how images of Europe changed and were transferred, using selected German, British, and American print media. Visit
Immigrant Entrepreneurship: German-American Business Biographies, 1720 to the Present: A new research project of the German Historical Institute Washington DC, which explores the entrepreneurial and economic capacity of immigrants by investigating the German-American example in the United States. Visit
Immigration History Research Center: The Immigration History Research Center at the University of Minnesota promotes interdisciplinary research on international migration, develops archives documenting immigrant and refugee life, especially in the U.S., and makes specialized scholarship accessible to students, teachers, and the public. Visit
Representations of Europe in Comparison: Europe, the Arab World, and Russia, 1850s-1910s and the 1990s: This project compares representations of Europe during two different time periods: from 1880 to roughly 1914 and during the 1990s. A project of the Humboldt University Berlin. Visit
European History Online: European History Online is a transcultural history of Europe. The online, multimedia-based project examines 500 years of European history using refereed articles, images, maps, statistics, and primary sources. The project is coordinated by the Institute for European History (Mainz). Visit
Imagined Europeans: The Scientific Construction of Homo Europaeus: The project attempts to identify the conceptions of “European” that affect public policy, scholarly research, and everyday life. A joint project of the Humboldt University Berlin, Deutsches Museum, and the University of Leipzig. Visit
Gesellschaft für Exilforschung: The Gesellschaft für Exilforschung researches forced migration from German-speaking countries after 1933. (Website in German only.) Visit
RICHIE Network: The RICHIE network aims to foster contacts between young researchers in European history, who are too often isolated within fields of research that are very compartmentalized. It is run by a team of young PhD students and academics from several European countries. Visit
Clio Web Portal European History: The web portal European History publishes material – texts, statistics, images and maps – as well as accounts of and views on the history of Europe and the Europeans from the 18th century until today. It approaches the history of Europe and of “Europeanness” from various perspectives – comparative, transfer and “entangled” history between nationalization and globalization. Visit