16 researchers from 8 countries collaborate to study islands under the subheadings of island exchanges, island environments, and island perceptions. The academic network is funded by the DFG since February 2021 and coordinated by Historian Laura Dierksmeier and Archaeologist Frerich Schön.

Religious Responses to Water Scarcity

For my second book (Habilitation), I research religious and cultural responses to water scarcity (drought) and excess (flooding) on islands under the jurisdiction of the Spanish Empire, which were – and remain today- challenged by freshwater management. (Laura Dierksmeier, SFB 1070)

This project focuses on Havana as a transimperial hub of refugee migration between approximately 1791 and 1821. It examines how the exile of French colonists from Saint-Domingue and Spanish subjects from Santo Domingo and the Spanish American continent to the Cuban capital and its hinterland shaped local asylum and relief policies and challenged notions of subjecthood and belonging. (Thomas Mareite)

Birds of Paradise

The habilitation project examines the influence of birds of paradise, their behavior and the interest in their feathers on the various relationships in the colonial context of the island of New Guinea and its influences on Euro-American debates on animal welfare. (Sabine Hanke)

Country Houses in Times of Change

Society and its transformations in German regions,18th to 20th centuries (Anne Sophie Overkamp, Daniel Menning, Christoph Schlemmer, Manuela Mann, Kira Keßler)

The dissertation project examines colonial conceptions of belonging and alienness against the background of political refugee movements during the Age of Revolutions. It focuses on the interactions of refugees from revolution with the Jamaican host society in the urban context of the port city of Kingston. (Jannik Keindorf)