Organized by the Research Society Modernity/Postmodernity at the University of Graz (FOMOP), the Department of Sociology of the University of Zadar, and the Consortium of the International Joint Master’s Programme in Cultural Sociology, the workshop “Modernity and Postmodernity in Central and Southeastern Europe. Interdisciplinary Reflections of Current Topics, Theories and Methods” took place at the University of Zadar from May 1 to May 4, 2019.
More than 50 researchers and students from universities and research institutions in Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, the Czech Republic, and Germany exchanged their expertise in an interdisciplinary setting.
Following opening addresses of Slaven Zjalić, Vice Rector for Inter-Institutional cooperation and Technology Transfer of the Univsersity of Zadar, Monika Stromberger, President of FOMOP, and the Consortium of the International Joint Master’s Programme in Cultural Sociology (Katharina Scherke (University of Graz), Mirko Petrić (University of Zadar), and Csaba Szaló (Masaryk University, Brno)), participants’ presentations addressed the topic of modernity/postmodernity from Humanities’ and social sciences’ perspectives. As Manfred Prisching (University of Graz) noted during his concluding remarks, contributions ranged from concrete analyses of cultural phenomena to macro-sociological explanatory models of modernity and postmodernity. In this context, it became evident that in the future more “middle-range” theories are needed to connect micro- and macro-perspectives, as Prisching stated. Additionally, Christian Fleck (University of Graz) remarked in his conclusion that there is a need for more concise definitions and careful applications of the theoretical concept of modernity.
The workshop was followed by a meeting of the Consortium of the Joint International Master’s Programme in Cultural Sociology during which lecturers, students, and alumni exchanged their experiences and discussed future developments of the program.
Text: Barbara Ratzenböck
Foto: Elisabeth Stadler