Draft:Leibniz-Center for Literary and Cultural Research



The Leibniz Center for Literary and Cultural Research (Leibniz-Zentrum für Literatur- und Kulturforschung, ZfL) is a humanities institute for literary studies in interdisciplinary contexts. Its research draws from a cultural studies framework.

History
The ZfL developed out of the Zentralinstitut für Literaturgeschichte (Central Institute for Literary History) at the Academy of Sciences of the GDR. The institute existed between 1969 and 1991. In 1996, following a four-year preparation period, the ZfL was founded as part of the Max Planck Society’s “Fördergesellschaft Wissenschaftliche Neuvorhaben” (Society for the Promotion of New Scientific Projects). Together with the Leibniz-Zentrum Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft (ZAS) and the Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient (ZMO), the ZfL constitutes the Centers for Advanced Studies in the Humanities (Geisteswissenschaftliche Zentren Berlin, GWZ).

Its founding director was the literary scholar Eberhard Lämmert. From 1999 to July 2015, it was headed by literary and cultural studies scholar Sigrid Weigel. Since August 2015, its director is literary scholar Eva Geulen.

From 1996 to 2007, the GWZ were funded by the State of Berlin and the German Research Foundation. In addition, third-party funding was obtained from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the Volkswagen Foundation, the Fritz Thyssen Foundation, the German Federal Cultural Foundation, the Capital Cultural Fund, the Stiftung Preußische Seehandlung, the German Aerospace Center and others. Between 2008 and 2019, following a successful evaluation by the German Science and Humanities Council, the ZfL was primarily funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). This was supplemented by funding from the State of Berlin as well as by additional grants from other institutions. In 2019, the ZfL was admitted to the Leibniz Association. It is jointly funded from federal and state sources.

Between 2006 and 2023, the ZfL was based in the Mossehaus in Berlin-Mitte. Since July 2023, it is based at Pariser Straße 1 in the Wilmersdorf district of Berlin.

Research
Since the end of 2015, the ZfL’s research has been divided into three permanent program areas (History of Theory, World Literature, and Knowledge of Life). The main subject of research in all program areas is literature, which also opens up access to other fields and forms of knowledge. According to the ZfL’s self-description, the research interest is particularly focused on the search for and development of alternative descriptions of modernity, its history, and its self-image. The “integration of perspectives from historiography of religion, as well as questions and methods from the field of visual studies” also helped to shape its profile.

Interdisciplinarity
The researchers at the ZfL come from various philologies (Comparative Literature, German Studies, Romance Studies, Slavic Studies, American Studies), cultural studies, art, music and theater studies, religious studies, history, history of science, and philosophy.

Cooperations
The ZfL maintains intensive cooperative relationships with institutions in Germany and abroad. In addition to Berlin-based universities and research institutes, these include the Institute of Philosophy at the University of Valencia, Columbia University, Cornell University, Princeton University, University of California, Berkeley, and Ilia State University. The ZfL also works with cultural institutions such as the Literaturhaus Berlin, the Schwules Museum, and the Museum of Communication Berlin. The ZfL is part of the BR50 network that brings together non-university institutes and centers in Berlin and its surroundings.

Guest scholars and honorary members
Domestic and foreign academics whose research is related to ZfL research topics are invited as guest scholars and fellows for short-term research stays. The exchange with some renowned scholars has developed into such an intensive collaboration that the ZfL has made them honorary members. Honorary members are the humanities scholar and theorist of postcolonial studies Homi K. Bhabha (Harvard University), the art historian and philosopher Georges Didi-Huberman (Paris), the historian of science Rivka Feldhay (Tel Aviv), the historian Carlo Ginzburg (Pisa), the psychoanalyst, literary theorist and writer Julia Kristeva (Paris), the image scholar William J. T. Mitchell (Chicago), the philosopher Michail Ryklin (Moscow), the German scholar and human rights activist Irina Scherbakowa (Moscow), and the philosopher Giga Zedania (Tbilisi). Until their deaths, art historian Hans Belting and German scholar Stéphane Mosès were honorary members of the ZfL.

Publications
For the publication of research findings, the ZfL currently publishes the series Literatur- und Kulturforschung with Wallstein Verlag (since 2022) and Literaturforschung with Kulturverlag Kadmos. These are made available on the publication server of the University Library Frankfurt am Main either directly or after a two-year period in open access. Numerous research results are also published by other publishers (such as Suhrkamp, de Gruyter, August, Matthes & Seitz Berlin). Additionally, research results are published in open access in the online publication series Interjekte and in the e-journal Forum Internationale Begriffsgeschichte (FIB).

Library
The library of the ZfL is a special public library for interdisciplinary literary and cultural research that primarily supports the work of the ZfL’s researchers. In addition to literary and cultural studies, the collection particularly focuses on philosophy, media studies, religious history, visual studies, conceptual history, and increasingly on the life sciences. The library holds around 52,000 volumes (as of 2023). 111 journals and other periodicals are obtained by subscription.