This research theme embraces six areas:
Roots
Developing research projects which make an important contribution to contemporary discussion about European relations with the Mediterranean and Near Eastern worlds and their culture. This research area explores cultural interchanges between the ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern worlds and the influence of the central encounter between east and west. Its time-period stretches from Pharaonic Egypt to early Islam and spans the research interests of the Centre for Mediterranean and Near Eastern Studies and of the School of Religions & Theology, incorporating the Dublin Centre for the Study of the Platonic Tradition.
Imagining Europe
The central contribution of the aesthetic imagination to the construction and reflection of European identities and to the shaping of Cultural Memory in Europe is explored in research projects undertaken by the Modern Languages Departments, a number of which are networked with national and international research consortia.
Communications and Networks
Incorporates three programmes:
- The Translation and Comparative Literatures Programme brings together researchers from seven departments in College and is a Trinity-based research network linked to a project on translation and bilingualism.
- The study of the Book and Graphic Communication seeks to explore contemporary print culture, its origins in the history of the book and its expansion into the increasingly iconic culture of today.
- Networks of knowledge in Europe since 1800, is based in the Department of Germanic Studies and aims to establish the concept of networks of knowledge as a research paradigm which investigates structure and representations of knowledge across culture, epochs, and discursive fields
- B-NicE: A central aim of this project is to develop formal computational models of intercultural negotiation which can ultimately be used as learning tools for raising awareness of culture-specific behaviours.
Memory and History
Spans two programmes:
- Post-War Periods in 20th century Europe examines in a comparative and transnational manner how European countries have come to terms with the upheaval of war and built peace in the transitional phase following major conflicts. This project is the major activity of a consortium of eleven history departments and research institutes across Europe, EURHISTXX, which promotes a European approach to the history of 20th century Europe. It has received interim funding from the CNRS (national research board) in France.
- The First World War: A Transnational Approach to the Destruction and Construction of Europe 1911-1925, incorporates four projects examining blockade, forced labour, occupation and international law
Empires, Colonisation, Migration and Exile
One of the key aspects of this programme is to elucidate, through our unique library resources and the expertise of our staff, Ireland's place and role in processes of imperialism, colonialism, and globalization and to compare Ireland's experiences of empire with those of other European nations.
Religion, Values, and Liberal Society
Spans four closely related projects:
- Religion and Political Liberalism is designed to examine points of tension and opportunities for accommodation between religions on the one hand and various visions of liberal society on the other, with special reference to the contemporary European context.
- Islam in Europe: Religious, Cultural, and Legal Implications is designed to examine similar topics but with special reference both to the presence of Muslim communities in Europe and to its legal implications.
- Human Rights and Values, Universal and Particular: part of this project is concerned with the controversy over the nature of a common European heritage of values
- Health Policy Formation in a Christian Culture with Religious Minorities aims to reflect on the problem of formulating social policy in European countries (e.g. Ireland), which continue to be shaped by their Christian heritage while incorporating other religious minorities