Maria Sibylla Merian Centres

Whether in India, Mexico, Brazil, Ghana or Tunisia, the "Maria Sibylla Merian Centres for Advanced Studies" facilitate research in the humanities and social sciences in long-term, transnational working contexts.

Worldmap Tunis, Tunesien Merian Centre for Advanced Studies in the Maghreb (MECAM) Tunis, Tunesien – www.uni-marburg.de/de/cnms/forschung/mecam Dehli, Indien M.S. Merian-R. Tagore Centre Dehli, Indien – micasmp.hypotheses.org/ Accra, Ghana Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa (MIASA) Accra, Ghana – www.ug.edu.gh/mias-africa/ Dr. Uchenna Efobi, Covenant University, Nigeria, MIASA-Fellow (02/2020–05/2020) „The interdisciplinary composition of selected fellows is an outstanding factor in MIASA’s research engagement. Such makes discussing a research idea more engaging, considering the diversity of perspectives that we get as feedback. My research has benefited from this framework as it spells out those actionable policy suggestions regarding household labor engagement from foreign land investment in Nigeria. The lasting impression of MIASA is that research must aim at addressing real-life issues.“ Guadalajara, Mexiko Merian Centre Coping with Crises Guadalajara, Mexiko – www.calas.lat Dr. Anne Huffschmid, Frei Universität Berlin, CALAS-Fellow (11/2019-06/2020) „In meinen Forschungsbereichen Erinnerungskulturen und Gewalt- verarbeitung gibt es viel in und aus Lateinamerika zu lernen: etwa zur dort entwickelten Menschenrechtsforensik oder wie Gewalt- betroffene in die Krisenbewältigung eingebunden werden müssen. Derartige Wissensprozesse werden vor allem durch konkrete Zusammenarbeit befördert. Eben dies ermöglicht das neuartige Tandem-Format des CALAS-Centers, bei dem ich mit einem Kollegen in Mexiko zu Gewalt- und Erinnerungslandschaften forschen konnte.“ Sao Paulo, Brasilien Merian Centre, Convivialty-Inequality Sao Paulo, Brasilien – www.mecila.net Dr. Juliana Moreira Streva, Freie Universität Berlin, Mecila-Fellow (08/2020-02/2021) „Mecila has provided me not only with the financial conditions to develop further my interdisciplinary research but also offered me a stimulating environment to collaborate with other scholars. Its focus on conviviality and inequality brings together a wide range of interrelated investigations, while making room for questioning and rethinking Eurocentric epistemologies.“ Dr. Gregory Fernando Pappas, Texas A&M University, Mecila-Fellow (08/2020-02/2021) „As a philosopher I am interested how we should try to address our current serious problems of injustice. How inequalities are today perpetuated in everyday interactions in the Americas is an important empirical resource for my project. This is something that the Merian Centre is uniquely positioned to provide. The Centre has given me the unique opportunity to present and receive great questions and suggestions about my project by internationally recognized scholars in the humanities and social sciences. The facilitation of an outreach activity is an excellent opportunity to share the results of our research with the public at large.“

Merian Centres in Brasilien, Ghana, Indien, Mexiko, Tunesien

Via the centres named after the naturalist and artist Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1714), the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) promotes the internationalisation of the humanities and social sciences. With a duration of up to twelve years, they lay the foundation for close cooperation in and with the respective regions and the promotion of young academics. In the international research centres, which are established in regions and partner countries which are important in terms of academic study and academic policy in Asia, Latin America and Africa, academics from Germany, the host country and, in some cases, other countries in the region, investigate a topic of their own choosing, such as sustainable governance or social inequality. For details see the overview of Merian Centres at bmbf.de (German-language).

International research centres

The international research centres open up new, intercultural perspectives and help to better understand social developments and to develop approaches for the solution of social challenges.

Überblick

The five currently operating Merian Centres

M.S. Merian-R. Tagore Centre, Delhi, India
M.S. Merian-R. Tagore International Centre for Advanced Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences: Metamorphoses of the Political
www.micasmp.hypotheses.org


Merian Centre, Guadalajara, Mexico
Merian Sibylla Merian Centre for Advanced Latin American Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences (CALAS): Coping with Crises: Transdisciplinary Perspectives from Latin America
http://www.calas.lat


Merian Centre, São Paulo, Brazil
Maria Sibylla Merian Centre Conviviality-Inequality in Latin America  (Mecila)
http://mecila.net/
 

Merian Centre, Accra, Ghana
Maria Sibylla Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences Africa (MIASA): Sustainable Governance. Environment, Democracy and Conflict Management
https://www.ug.edu.gh/mias-africa/node/1
 

Merian Centre, Tunis, Tunesien
Merian Centre for Advanced Studies in the Maghreb (MECAM): Imagining Futures – Dealing with Disparity
MECAM – Merian Centre For Advanced Studies in the Maghreb

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