Research Programs Imagined Europeans: Scientific Construction of the Homo Europaeus
The project Imagined Europeans: Scientific Construction of the Homo Europaeus addresses the question how Europeans devised Europe and who devised the Europeans. Since when does the Homo Europaeus - as an ideal type, as an average person, as a general representative - populate the minds of those who consider themselves to be the inhabitants of a constructed Europe? Which cultural techniques are employed to assemble the physical and psychological substance of the European, his appearance and his character?
This German research project aspires to identify the conceptions of the European that are commonly held in everyday life, in industrial research and in governmental policy-making. The focus is on those concepts that are formulated and employed by scientific research communities, because generally held concepts not only influence scientific research but are re-formulated in the process. Subsequently, these re-formulated concepts are applied as proven facts in further areas of research, in engineering, in matters of education and public health.
The project is executed by researchers of the Humboldt-University in Berlin, Department of Modern History and Department of European Ethnology, the University of Leipzig, Center for Higher Education, and the Deutsches Museum, Research Institute. The German Federal Ministry of Research and Education (Bundesministerium für Bildung and Forschung) is sponsoring the project.
Stichting Historie der Techniek -- Revised: 14-04-2010 Chamber of Commerce Eindhoven 41155291.