The new semester also marks the start of our new supplementary study programme: Interdisciplinary Medieval and Early Modern Studies with a focus on Digital Humanities.
The supplementary course and the specialisation provide students with scientifically sound and application-oriented knowledge of interdisciplinary medieval and early modern research and introduce them to the approaches of Digital Humanities. The subject area covers medieval and early modern history, culture, art, literature and language as well as their fascination and unbroken history of impact up to the present day (be it in the form of art treasures, literary works, forms of thought, historical materials or in the form of architectural monuments such as castles). Digital approaches and the use of data, tools and best practices from the Digital Humanities are part of the supplement study programme. They offer a contemporary education that can be fruitfully applied professionally in university and non-university research, in archives, libraries and museums.
SUBJECT AREA, EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES AND APPLICATION-ORIENTED COMPETENCES
The subject area is the history, culture, religion, philosophy, languages, literatures and arts of the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period. Theoretically and methodically, processes of intercultural transfer, interliterary, interlinguistic and linguistic-historical phenomena (e.g. between Latin and the vernacular languages, in the development of vernacular literatures), media and material conditions of medieval and early modern art and cultural production (e.g. interactions between text and image, manuscripts), and the history of the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period are analysed. Interactions between text and image, manuscripts as multimedia artefacts, media-historical ‘revolutions’ such as the transition from manuscript to print, the phenomenality, functionality and semiotics of works of art (from paintings and sculptures to castles and cathedrals), but also socio-political and socio-cultural practices and forms of interaction (e.g. rituals, rituality) are at the centre of attention. Methodologically and theoretically, comparative, inter- and transdisciplinary approaches will be utilised; a particular focus will be on approaches from the Digital Humanities.
Introductory courses on history and culture, Digital Humanities, specific working methods in the historical, philological and artistic disciplines of medieval and early modern studies (source studies and source criticism, manuscript studies, iconography) as well as languages and language levels in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period provide the basis for a competent, academically orientated approach.
The supplementary study programme and the specialisation provide students with skills, including current working techniques from the Digital Humanities, which they can use professionally in university and non-university research institutions, archives, libraries and museums as well as in other sectors of cultural mediation (e.g. publishing and media) and apply in a future-proof manner.
You can find the current range of courses for the supplementary study programme “Interdisciplinary Studies in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period with a Focus on Digital Humanities” here.
You can find more information about the supplementary study programme as well as the requirements and certifications here.
