Europe - Space for Transcultural Existence? is the first volume of the new series, Studies in Euroculture, published by Göttingen University Press. The series derives its name from the Erasmus Mundus Master of Excellence Euroculture: Europe in the Wider World, a two year programme offered by a consortium of eight European universities in collaboration with four partner universities outside Europe. This master highlights regional, national and supranational dimensions of the European democratic development; mobility, migration and inter-, multi- and transculturality. The impact of culture is understood as an element of political and social development within Europe. The articles published here explore the field of Euroculture in its different elements: it includes topics such as cosmopolitanism, cultural memory and traumatic past(s), colonial heritage, democratization and Europeanization as well as the concept of (European) identity in various disciplinary contexts such as law and the social sciences. In which way have Europeanization and Globalization influenced life in Europe more specifically? To what extent have people in Europe turned 'transcultural'? The 'trans' is understood as indicator of an overlapping mix of cultures that does not allow for the construction of sharp differentiations. It is explored in topics such as (im)migration and integration, as well as cultural products and lifestyle. The present economic crisis and debt crisis have led, as side-result, to a public attack on the open, cosmopolitan outlook of Europe. The values of the multicultural and civil society and the idea of a people's Europe have become debatable. This volume offers food for thought and critical reflection.

A History of Architectural Conservation expands knowledge about the conservation of ancient monuments, works of art and historic buildings. It includes the origins of the interest in conservation within the European context, and the development of the concepts from Antiquity and the Renaissance to the present day. Jokilehto illustrates how this development has influenced international collaboration in the protection and conservation of cultural heritage, and how it has formed the principal concepts and approach to conservation and restoration in today's multi-cultural society. This book is based on archival research of original documents and the study of key restoration examples in countries that have influenced the international conservation movement. Accessible and of great interest to students and the general public it includes conservation trends in Europe, the USA, India, Iran and Japan.

The series publishes important new editions of and commentaries on texts from Greco-Roman antiquity, especially annotated editions of texts surviving only in fragments. Due to its programmatically wide range the series provides an essential basis for the study of ancient literature.

Islam in "Liberal" Europe provides the first comprehensive overview of the political and social status of Islam and of Muslim migrants in Europe. Kai Hafez shows that although legal and political systems have made progress toward recognizing Muslims on equal terms and eliminating discriminatory practices that are in contradiction to neutral secularism, “liberal societies” often lag behind. The author argues that Islamophobic murders in Norway and Germany are only the tip of the iceberg of a deep-seated inability of many Europeans to accept cultural globalization when it hits close to home. Although there have always been anti-racist elites and networks in Europe, Hafez contends that the dominant tradition even among seemingly liberal intellectual milieus and their media is Islamophobic. This fact finds expression not only in the growing anti-Islam sentiment among right-wing populists but sometimes also in so-called enlightened forms of contemporary media, public opinion, school curricula, and Christian interfaith dialogues. In addition to offering a critical assessment of positive and negative trends in Islamic-Western relations, Hafez also engages in a theoretical debate revolving around integration, tolerance, multicultural liberalism, and modern liberal democracy. He combines political philosophy and political and social theory with current analysis on communication and the role of both religious and secular institutions in community-building in modern societies. In essence, the author debates the question of whether liberal society in Europe, in order to avoid a growing gap between integrative politics and discriminatory societies, needs a complete renewal not only of political ideologies but also of cultures and institutions.

Die Erdöl-Moderne ist ein lokales Phänomen der Geschichte Kuwaits, aber auch ein globales Ereignis und massgebliche Ursache des Klimawandels. Die Studie untersucht die Rolle von Erdöl in der visuellen Kultur Kuwaits im Kontext von Ideologien wie Modernisierung und politischer Repräsentation. Der Begriff des Irisierenden, eines in Regenbogenfarben schillernden Farbenspiels, dient als analytisch-ästhetisches Konzept, um den umstrittenen Beitrag von Erdöl in der Moderne zu diskutieren: sowohl Wohlstandsversprechen wie auch destruktive Kraft in soziokultureller und ökologischer Hinsicht. Das Buch versammelt eine Fülle historischen Bildmaterials, darunter Luft- und Farbfotografien, Briefmarken, Stadtpläne und Architekturdarstellungen, um unter Berücksichtigung von zeitgenössischer Kunst aus der Golfregion das visuelle Erbe der Erdöl- Moderne kritisch zu hinterfragen.

This volume of diverse contributions revisits the European religious construction of the Indian Other. In their attempt to identify their European Self, missionaries from Germany constructed India as their Other and archived such constructions. Such archival narratives epitomize the conviction of these missionaries in their Christian faith and their belief in the superiority of the European Self. These narratives, however, provide readers (for whose eyes they were not meant originally) with spaces to locate their own past and to identify their own Self. (Series: Studies on Oriental Church History / Studien zur Orientalischen Kirchengeschichte - Vol. 45)