Press releases 鈥� 2021
Apr
14
2021
09:00
Deutsche B枚rse Capital Markets Academy uses LiveX trading simulation developed by 51猎奇 Frankfurt 鈥� a stock market simulation unique to Europe
Realistically simulating the stock market
FRANKFURT. Various German and international stock exchanges use it and numerous
top European universities also use it: we are talking about the LiveX stock
market simulation, unique in Europe, which was developed by business
informatics experts at 51猎奇 Frankfurt and which can now also claim
Deutsche B枚rse as user. At the Capital
Markets Academy, Deutsche B枚rse's training provider, participants in the
certificate course "Exchange Trader Cash Market" can now apply their
acquired knowledge directly in the very realistic stock exchange simulation
LiveX.
Unlike
simple stock investing simulation programmes, which allow private clients to
test investing in the stock market with basic features, LiveX simulates professional
trading on European stock exchanges in all their complexity. This includes all
market models on Xetra, the Deutsche B枚rse's fully electronic trading venue,
such as continuous trading with auctions. Furthermore, other trading systems
such as Multilateral Trading Facilities (MTF) or trading in dark pools, in
which the participants' securities orders are not visible, are also simulated
in LiveX. This makes the simulation programme developed by Professor Peter
Gomber and his team unique in Europe 鈥� and is the reason why LiveX is used for
continuing education by top German and international universities as well as by
international stock exchange organizations.
During the
pandemic, the team further developed a cloud-based version of the market and
trading simulation software. Previously dependent on a laboratory environment,
the use of LiveX is now possible 24/7, independent of participants' locations.
Professor
Peter Gomber is proud to have won the Academy as a new licensee: "For many
years, the Capital Markets Academy of Deutsche B枚rse AG has been offering
innovative qualification programmes with a high level of practical relevance
and digital learning formats. The current LiveX Cloud version offers
significantly increased flexibility and innovative application possibilities in
professional education in the field of modern securities trading."
"Our
attendees give us very positive feedback on the LiveX simulations. LiveX is a very
realistic representation of stock exchange trading and is perfectly applicable for
purely digital training in order to understand market structures and trading
processes," emphasizes Ulf Mayer, Head of Capital Markets Academy at
Deutsche B枚rse AG.
More
information on:
Capital Markets Academy:
LiveX at the University of Frankfurt:
Further
information:
Prof. Dr. Peter Gomber
Business Informatics
Professor for e-Finance
51猎奇 Frankfurt
gomber@wiwi.uni-frankfurt.de
Apr
5
2021
17:56
Sociologist Stephan Lessenich becomes director of the IfS and professor in Frankfurt / 鈥淔urther development of the IfS as a place for intellectual exchange鈥澛�
51猎奇 and Institute for Social Research come even closer together
The wait has come to an end: Sociologist Stephan Lessenich, who has been working until now at LMU Munich, has been appointed as professor at 51猎奇 and as director of the prestigious Institute for Social Research (IfS). The newly created cooperative professorship, which is linked with the directorship at the IfS, was made possible through the provision of special funds from the Federal State of Hessen. In this way, the university and the institute are coming closer together.
FRANKFURT. In 2018, Professor Axel Honneth retired as director of the Institute for Social Research, and since then Professor Ferdinand Sutterl眉ty has been temporarily in charge, heading the institute for two and a half years with tremendous dedication. Now there is a new constellation: With funding from the Federal State of Hessen, a professorship for 鈥淪ocial Theory and Social Research" is being set up at 51猎奇 鈥� as a distinct cooperative professorship with the Institute for Social Research. The first incumbent has now been announced: Sociologist Professor Stephan Lessenich, currently at LMU Munich, has accepted the call to Frankfurt and will take up his new post on 1 July.
鈥淚'm very pleased that Stephan Lessenich is coming to Frankfurt as professor and new director of the IfS," says Angela Dorn, Hessen's Minister of Science. 鈥淭he importance of the work conducted by the Institute for Social Research has rarely been as manifest as it is right now. We need it to prevent the division of society. The IfS stands in a philosophical tradition that is not content with merely interpreting the world in different ways, but also wants to change it in the spirit of relentless questioning, constructive criticism and discursive debate. To be able to bolster this important role of the IfS by introducing top-class new management, we've happily raised the state's funding from 2021 onwards from a previous 615,000 to 鈧� 870,000 per year."
鈥淚t's a very pleasing development for 51猎奇 that the institute is now moving even closer to the university through the arrival of Stephan Lessenich. Professor Lessenich has made an international name for himself through his research and will give the university and the IfS even greater visibility worldwide," says Professor Enrico Schleiff, president of 51猎奇. 鈥淪tephan Lessenich is very successful in combining sociological theory building and empirical research. 鈥淚'm convinced that the Frankfurt perspective will play a powerful role in future social debates," says Professor Birgit Bl盲ttel-Mink, dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, commenting on the appointment. Jutta Ebeling, chairperson of the IfS's board of trustees: 鈥淚'm pleased that we're now placing the institute on a new footing and that we were able to recruit such a renowned scholar to head it. We're greatly indebted to Professor Sutterl眉ty, who for two and a half years has steered the institute with great dedication through a difficult period".
鈥淚t's a great honour for me to be asked to head an organisation that can look back on such a long tradition in critical social theory. Above all the sociological perspective is of growing significance in these times of social upheaval and socio-political agenda setting," says future IfS director Professor Stephan Lessenich. 鈥淚'd like to further develop the IfS as a lively place for intellectual exchange. Something else particularly close to my heart is the institute's internationalisation: The future of critical social research is conceivable only from the perspective of the globalised world," says Lessenich, describing his first ideas for the institute. He is greatly looking forward to Frankfurt too: 鈥淭he city stands for a public with an exceptional interest in politics and culture, for a liberal culture of discussion and intellectual openness."
About Stephan Lessenich
Born in Stuttgart in 1965, Lessenich studied political science, sociology and history in Marburg from 1983 to 1989. He earned his doctoral degree in Bremen in 1993 and in 2002 received the venia legendi (authorisation to teach) in sociology at the University of G枚ttingen. His first professorship took him to the University of Jena, where he taught 鈥淐omparative Social and Cultural Analysis" and initiated the Research Group 鈥淧ost-Growth Societies" funded by the German Research Foundation, together with Klaus D枚rre and Hartmut Rosa. In 2014, Lessenich was called to the Chair for Social Developments and Structures at the Department of Sociology of LMU Munich, as successor to Ulrich Beck. From 2013 to 2017, Lessenich was chairperson of the German Sociological Association (GSA), he is co-editor of various scientific journals and book series and, among others, one of the speakers of the board of trustees of the think tank Institut Solidarische Moderne (ISM). He also plays a proactive role in social processes: He is, for example, a member of the scientific advisory board of Attac and in 2017 was co-founder of the 鈥渕ut" party in order 鈥� as he says 鈥� to offer some opposition to the 鈥渟hift in discourse to the right" in the wake of the long summer of migration.
How the new concept developed
In a press release by the Science Council (Wissenschaftsrat) concerning the evaluation of the institute in 2015, the 鈥渃ombination of socio-philosophical theory formation and empirical social research in the tradition of the history of ideas of the 'Frankfurt School'" practised at the IfS was called 鈥渦nique worldwide". Its scientific accomplishments were rated 鈥渧ery good and in some areas even excellent". In addition, as the press release continued, the institute performed essential 鈥渋nterpretative work in the field of contemporary diagnostics" for a broader audience. However, it was also said at the time that 鈥渢he institute's research work often suffers from a lack of opportunities for strategic development". The existence of 鈥渃entral research priorities" was repeatedly under threat, and the institute was excessively dependent on third-party funding. The Science Council recommended a more robust organisational substructure as well as a network of stable partnerships. The press release went on to say that in order to achieve this, among others the office of the director must be endowed with a permanent position financed from institutional funding and cooperation with 51猎奇 expanded and formalised.
In a complex process, a concept for such closer cooperation was developed in discussions with the university's executive board and in close consultation with the Hessian Ministry of Higher Education, Research, Science and the Arts, along with a new model for the management of the IfS. This process was supervised by Jutta Ebeling, former head of department and mayor of Frankfurt and, since 2018, chairperson of the IfS's board of trustees. She had already been instrumental in setting up the Professorship for Holocaust Studies in Frankfurt. Based on the model of this cooperative professorship with the Fritz Bauer Institute, the aim was to create a new professorship in cooperation with the IfS. This will now be hosted by the Institute of Sociology.
In the past, professors from 51猎奇 were appointed as directors of the IfS and performed this task more or less on an honorary basis, without anything about their work at the university changing in the process. With the new model, only 50 per cent of the respective professorship is at 51猎奇, with the other half at the institute.
About the Institute for Social Research
The Institute for Social Research (IfS) at 51猎奇 is closely associated with the names Max Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno, but also Erich Fromm, Herbert Marcuse or Leo L枚wenthal. Founded in 1923 with funds from patrons Hermann and Felix Weil as an institute for academic Marxism, with Max Horkheimer the IfS became the central research centre for critical theory. In the spring of 1933, the institute was closed by the Gestapo because of 鈥渟ubversive activities". Via circuitous routes, it managed to move to Columbia University in New York and continue its work in exile. After the war, the institute's closest circle 鈥� Adorno, Horkheimer and Pollock 鈥� returned to Frankfurt, and in 1951 the IfS was re-established at its present location. Since then, the Federal State of Hessen and the City of Frankfurt have secured its basic budget. In the course of its soon 100-year history, the IfS has left its mark on science and society in many ways. Professor Axel Honneth, the institute's last director, developed in his writings a normatively substantial social theory of recognition.
Images to download:
Caption: Stephan Lessenich appointed as sociology professor at 51猎奇 and as director of the Institute for Social Research (IfS).
(Picture 1: Dirk Bruniecki, Picture 2: private, Picture 3: LMU Munich)
Further information
Professor Stephan Lessenich
stephan.lessenich@posteo.de
Apr
1
2021
12:12
Scientists at 51猎奇 Frankfurt and the Center for European Policies Studies develop a simple formula to estimate the necessary rate of vaccinations聽
The vaccination formula: rapid vaccination could avoid lockdown even with rising infection numbers
Despite rising infection numbers, contact restrictions could be avoided if the vaccination rate were fast enough. Professor Claudius Gros from 51猎奇 Frankfurt and Dr Daniel Gros from the Center for European Policies Studies in Brussels have developed a simple mathematical relation which allows to estimate the rate of vaccination necessary to maintain control of the pandemic without a lockdown and while avoiding overwhelming the health system and a spike in death rates. The study has been vetted and is forthcoming in Covid Economics.
FRANKFURT. As it has from the beginning, the pandemic continues to primarily affect older people. If the entire population of Germany became infected with SARS-CoV-2, statistically 1.5 million of those over 60 would die; among those under 60, the death toll would "only" be 75,000. This is why 鈥� in addition to certain particularly exposed population groups - vaccination strategies often prioritise the elderly with the aim of avoiding overburdening the health system with severe COVID-19 cases and high death rates. After all, vaccinating just a quarter of the population can prevent 95 percent of deaths.
Professor Claudius Gros from the Institute for Theoretical Physics at 51猎奇 Frankfurt and Dr Daniel Gros from the Center for European Policies Studies (CEPS) therefore focused on the older segment of the population when developing their vaccination formula. They show that COVID-19 fatalities are determined by three factors: The infection rate, the dependence of the risk on age, and the structure of the age pyramid. Germany, like almost all European countries, is particularly susceptible to the third wave: the average age of the population is high, the new mutant is highly infectious, but the vaccination rate is only slowly increasing. To keep the effects of the pandemic manageable, extensive contact restrictions are therefore necessary in order to keep infection rates low.
According to the two scientists, a rule of thumb can be used to determine the point at which it is possible to relax: They put the weekly increase in the number of infections in relation to the increase in vaccinations per week. Simplified, the relationship is as follows: If x percent more of the population falls ill per week, an additional x*f/100 percent of the population must be vaccinated in the same period. The factor f, which was f=2 at the beginning of the vaccination campaign, increases when part of the population has already been fully vaccinated. Currently we have f=6. This means that if the infection incidence increases by x=20 percent per week, 20*6/100=1.2% of the population would have to be additionally (fully) vaccinated. This applies to the vaccination doses administered by age. It should be taken into account that two vaccination doses are necessary for complete immunisation.
Dr Daniel Gros explains: "Given the low current vaccination rate, the 7-day incidence per week should not increase by more than 13 to 16 percent to prevent the health system from being overwhelmed. Over the past weeks, however, infection rates have increased by 25 percent, making extensive contact restrictions inevitable, otherwise aggressive mutants are likely to spread."
Prof. Claudius Gros says: "The relation we developed allows for a simple and quick estimate of how quickly we would need to vaccinate to keep the consequences of the pandemic for the health system manageable. Unfortunately, we have failed to incentivise pharmaceutical companies to rapidly scale up production, which is costly and resource-intensive, for example through higher prices for an earlier production of vaccine doses. Therefore, as we predicted in an earlier paper, companies have opted for a slow linear increase in production. From a business point of view, this is cost-effective, but it results in us not having sufficient amounts of vaccine available fast enough."
Publication: Claudius Gros and Daniel Gros, 鈥濰ow fast must vaccination campaigns proceed in order to beat rising Covid-19 infection numbers?鈥� in: Covid Economics (in press),
Further information: Professor Claudius Gros Institute for Theoretical Physics 51猎奇 Frankfurt gros07@itp.uni-frankfurt.de
Editor: Dr. Markus Bernards, Science Editor, PR & Communication Department, Tel: -49 (0) 69 798-12498, Fax: +49 (0) 69 798-763 12531, bernards@em.uni-frankfurt.de
Mar
24
2021
17:16
11 telescopes around the world combined to research the core of a galaxy 55 million light-years away
Astronomers Image Magnetic Fields at the Edge of M87鈥檚 Black Hole
Scientists of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration -
among them astrophysicist Luciano Rezzolla and his team from 51猎奇
Frankfurt - have revealed today a new view of the massive object at the centre
of the M87 galaxy: how it looks in polarised light. This is the first time
astronomers have been able to measure polarisation, a signature of magnetic
fields, this close to the edge of a black hole. The observations are key to
explaining how the M87 galaxy, located 55 million light-years away, is able to
launch energetic jets from its core 鈥� jets, that are about one million light
years large.
FRANKFURT. Luciano Rezzolla, Professor of Theoretical Astrophysics at 51猎奇 Frankfurt, says: 鈥淯nderstanding what powers relativistic jets in galaxies is a long-standing open question in astrophysics. The jets in M87 are enormous and they would cover 10 per cent of our galaxy, for example. The challenging observations from the ETH telescopes, combined with the theoretical simulations carried out in Frankfurt, are now providing essential information on comparatively small length-scales: For the first time we are looking at what the magnetic field looks like that close to the black hole.
鈥淲e are now seeing the next crucial piece
of evidence to understand how magnetic fields behave around black holes, and
how activity in this very compact region of space can drive powerful jets that
extend far beyond the galaxy," says Monika Moscibrodzka, Coordinator of the EHT
Polarimetry Working Group and Assistant Professor at Radboud University in the
Netherlands.
On 10 April 2019, scientists released the
first ever image of a black hole, revealing a bright ring-like structure with a
dark central region 鈥� the black hole's shadow. Since then, the EHT collaboration
has delved deeper into the data on the supermassive object at the heart of the
M87 galaxy collected in 2017. They have discovered that a significant fraction
of the light around the M87 black hole is polarised.
鈥淭his work is a major milestone: the
polarisation of light carries information that allows us to better understand
the physics behind the image we saw in April 2019, which was not possible
before," explains Iv谩n Mart铆-Vidal, also Coordinator of the EHT Polarimetry
Working Group and GenT Distinguished Researcher at the University of Valencia,
Spain. He adds that 鈥渦nveiling this new polarised-light image required years of
work due to the complex techniques involved in obtaining and analysing the
data."
Light becomes polarised when it goes
through certain filters, like the lenses of polarised sunglasses, or when it is
emitted in hot regions of space that are magnetised. In the same way polarised
sunglasses help us see better by reducing reflections and glare from bright
surfaces, astronomers can sharpen their vision of the region around the black
hole by looking at how the light originating from there is polarised.
Specifically, polarisation allows astronomers to map the magnetic field lines
present at the inner edge of the black hole.
鈥淭he newly published polarised images are
key to understanding how the magnetic field allows the black hole to 'eat'
matter and launch powerful jets," says EHT collaboration member Andrew Chael, a
NASA Hubble Fellow at the Princeton Center for Theoretical Science and the
Princeton Gravity Initiative in the US.
The bright jets of energy and matter that
emerge from M87's core and extend at least 5000 light-years from its centre are
one of the galaxy's most mysterious and energetic features. Most matter lying
close to the edge of a black hole falls in. However, some of the surrounding
particles escape moments before capture and are blown far out into space in the
form of jets.
Astronomers have relied on different
models of how matter behaves near the black hole to better understand this
process. But they still don't know exactly how jets larger than the galaxy are
launched from its central region, which is as small in size as the Solar
System, nor how exactly matter falls into the black hole. With the new EHT
image of the black hole and its shadow in polarised light, astronomers managed
for the first time to look into the region just outside the black hole where
this interplay between matter flowing in and being ejected out is happening.
The observations provide new information
about the structure of the magnetic fields just outside the black hole. The
team found that only theoretical models featuring strongly magnetised gas can explain
what they are seeing at the event horizon.
鈥淭he observations suggest that the
magnetic fields at the black hole's edge are strong enough to push back on the
hot gas and help it resist gravity's pull. Only the gas that slips through the
field can spiral inwards to the event horizon," explains Jason Dexter,
Assistant Professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, US, and coordinator
of the EHT Theory Working Group.
To observe the heart of the M87 galaxy,
the collaboration linked eight telescopes around the world, to create a virtual
Earth-sized telescope, the EHT. The impressive resolution obtained with the EHT
is equivalent to that needed to measure the length of a credit card on the
surface of the Moon.
This allowed the team to directly observe
the black hole shadow and the ring of light around it, with the new
polarised-light image clearly showing that the ring is magnetised. The results
are published today in two separate papers in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
by the EHT collaboration. The research involved over 300 researchers from
multiple organisations and universities worldwide.
"The EHT is making rapid
advancements, with technological upgrades being done to the network and new
observatories being added. We expect future EHT observations to reveal more
accurately the magnetic field structure around the black hole and to tell us
more about the physics of the hot gas in this region," concludes EHT
collaboration member Jongho Park, an East Asian Core Observatories Association
Fellow at the Academia Sinica, Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics in
Taipei.
Publications:
The Event Horizon Collaboration, Kazunori
Akiyama et al.: First M87 Event Horizon
Telescope Results VII: polarization of the ring. Astrophysical Journal
Letters, 910, L12 (2021) DOI 10.3847/2041-8213/abe71d (ApJL 910, L12)
The Event Horizon Collaboration: Kazunori
Akiyama et al.: First M87 Event Horizon
Telescope Results VIII: Magnetic Field Structure Near The Event Horizon.
Astrophysical Journal Letters, 910, L13 (2021) DOI 10.3847/2041-8213/abe4de
(ApJL 910, L13)
Pictures
and Videos:
(Image-Download)
A
view of the M87 supermassive black hole in polarised light: The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration, who produced the first
ever image of a black hole released in 2019, has today a new view of the
massive object at the centre of the Messier 87 (M87) galaxy: how it looks in
polarised light. This is the first time astronomers have been able to measure
polarisation, a signature of magnetic fields, this close to the edge of a black
hole. This image shows the polarised view of the black hole in M87. The lines
mark the orientation of polarisation, which is related to the magnetic field
around the shadow of the black hole.
Credit: EHT Collaboration
(Animated GIF - Download)
Observation
and Theory Image: Transition animation showing the observed
polarization image and a best-fit theory image. Credit: S. Issaoun, M.
Mo艣cibrodzka with Polarimetry WG and OWG
(Youtube)
Zoom
into the heart of galaxy M87 鈥� The video starts
with a view on the ALMA telescope which is part of the Event Horizon Telescope,
and zooms into the heart of galaxy M87. In the core, the first image of a black
hole can be seen, the picture was produced in 2019. Then the new image follows
which shows the supermassive object in polarised light. It is the first time
that astronomers could detect polarisation as a signature of magnetic fields so
closely to the event horizon of a black hole. Credit: ESO/L. Cal莽ada, Digitized
Sky Survey 2, ESA/Hubble, RadioAstron, De Gasperin et al., Kim et al., EHT
Collaboration. Music: Niklas Falcke
(Video-Download)
Polarized
Light: Light is an oscillating electromagnetic
wave. If the waves have a preferred direction of oscillation, they are
polarized. In space, moving hot gas, or 'plasma', threaded by a magnetic field
emits polarized light. The polarized
light rays that manage to escape the pull of the black hole travel to a distant
camera. The intensity of the light rays and their direction are what EHT
collaboration observes with the Event Horizon Telescope.
Credit: 漏 EHT Collaboration and Fiks Film
(Youtube)
Black
holes are enveloped in plasma. This plasma has
magnetic fields鈥攁reas where magnetism affects how matter moves鈥攖hreaded
throughout. As the magnetic field grows stronger, it changes shape and the
polarized light EHT collaboration measures exhibits different patterns.
Credit: 漏 EHT Collaboration and
Crazybridge Studios
(Image - Download)
View
of the M87 supermassive black hole and jet in polarised light. This composite image shows three views of the central region of the
Messier 87 (M87) galaxy in polarised light. The galaxy has a supermassive black
hole at its centre and is famous for its jets that extend far beyond the
galaxy. One of the polarised-light images, obtained with the Chile-based
Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), shows part of the jet in
polarised light, with a size of 6000 light years from the centre of the galaxy.
The other polarised light images zoom in closer to the supermassive black hole:
the middle view covers a region about one light year in size and was obtained
with the National Radio Astronomy Observatory's Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA)
in the US. The most zoomed-in view was obtained by linking eight telescopes around
the world to create a virtual Earth-sized telescope, the Event Horizon
Telescope or EHT. This allows astronomers to see very close to the supermassive
black hole, into the region where the jets are launched. The lines mark the
orientation of polarisation, which is related to the magnetic field in the
regions imaged. The ALMA data provides a description of the magnetic field
structure along the jet. Therefore the combined information from the EHT and
ALMA allows astronomers to investigate the role of magnetic fields from the
vicinity of the event horizon (as probed with the EHT on light-day scales) to
far beyond the M87 galaxy along its powerful jets (as probed with ALMA on
scales of thousands of light-years). The values in GHz refer to the frequencies
of light at which the different observations were made. The horizontal lines
show the scale (in light years) of each of the individual images. Credit: EHT
Collaboration; ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), Goddi et al.; VLBA (NRAO), Kravchenko et
al.; J. C. Algaba, I. Mart铆-Vidal
Further
Information:
Prof. Dr. Luciano Rezzolla
Chair of Theoretical Astrophysics
Institute
for Theoretical Physics
51猎奇 Frankfurt
Phone: +49 69 798-47871 / 47879
rezzolla@itp.uni-frankfurt.de
Mar
12
2021
11:42
A research team from the universities of Frankfurt and Mainz shines a light on new global players in Africa and Asia.
How digitalisation changes cultural production around the world
When Korean pop bands such as boy group BTS reach millions of fans worldwide, and when films and music from Nigeria are seen and heard across the globe: What does this mean for the production of culture? And how does it affect our perception of cultural spaces? An interdisciplinary research team that brings together Economics, African Studies, Korean Studies, Sinology, Cultural Anthropology and Film Studies will look for answers to these questions at 51猎奇 Frankfurt and Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz over the next three years. With 鈧� 2.1 million in funding from Germany's Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), CEDITRAA (鈥淐ultural Entrepreneurship and Digital Transformation in Africa and Asia") will study the emergence of what Pakistani writer Fatima Bhutto calls the 鈥渘ew world order of cultural production", which Hollywood and Europe no longer dominate.
FRANKFURT. In the
early 1990s, Kenneth Nnebue, a Nigerian seller of home video equipment, picked
up his VHS camera and changed the course of film history. To boost sales of VHS
recorders, he produced his own film. 鈥淟iving in Bondage" sold around 750,000
copies and spawned numerous imitations. Practically out of nowhere, Nigeria built
up a film industry with global outreach, now popularly known as 鈥淣ollywood",
which today ranks second only to India in terms of annual film output. 鈥淭he
rise of Nigeria and the global success of Korean films, TV dramas and pop music
in the new millennium show that a fundamental shift is taking place in cultural
production and reception across the globe," says Vinzenz Hediger, project
leader and professor of cinema studies at 51猎奇.
Digitalisation is one of the driving
forces behind this transformation and the emergence of the 鈥渘ew world order of
cultural production". The researchers in Frankfurt and Mainz will study how
cultural industries with transregional audiences contribute to the economic
growth and soft power of their regions and countries of origin. They will also
examine the role of regional resources in the creative work of artists in music
and film. 鈥淥ne open question," says economics professor Cornelia Storz, 鈥渋s
whether entrepreneurs in digital industries may, in fact, be more dependent on
local resources than their global reach and outlook might suggest." Particular
attention will be paid to how producers in music and film draw on cultural
heritage to produce innovative formats which resonate with larger, global
contexts.
The CEDITRAA research group will address
these issues through a series of case studies on music and film in Africa and
Asia. Here, the Archiv der Musik Afrikas
(AMA), the Archive for the Music of Africa, at Johannes Gutenberg University
Mainz will play a particularly important role. For the case studies dedicated
to music and copyright issues, the AMA is an invaluable resource 鈥� particularly
for research on 鈥淎frobeats" and other forms of sub-Saharan pop music, which
recombines different gernes in innovative new ways. 鈥淭his music has many fans
in the Global North as well," says Matthias Krings, professor of cultural
anthropology and the popular culture of Africa in Mainz. 鈥淎mong them is
Beyonc茅, who created a sensation with her 2020 album 'Black Is King', not least
because it featured guest appearances by Afrobeats stars such as Burna Boy,
Wizkid, Tiwa Savage and Yemi Alade."
The parts of the project dedicated to Asia
will study the circulation and reception of Korean popular culture in Asia and
Africa and benefit from close collaboration with non-university partners such
as the Korean Film Archive. The case study dedicated to Taiwan will focus on
the Kaohsiung Film Festival and its close ties to the Korean film industry. In
Nigeria, the project will collaborate closely with the Nollywood Studies Centre
at the Pan-Atlantic University in Lagos, a research institute with closes ties
to the film and music industries in Nigeria. The Nigerian part of the project
will include a PhD position at the Pan-Atlantic University.
Funded by Germany's Federal Ministry of
Education and Research, the project will bring together for the first time the
area studies research centres in the Rhine-Main University Alliance in a joint
research initiative 鈥� the Centre for Interdisciplinary African Studies (ZIAF) and the Interdisciplinary Centre for
East Asian Studies (IZO) at 51猎奇 and the Centre for Intercultural
Studies (ZIS) at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz.
The research project enhances the profile
of area studies in the Rhine-Main University Alliance through its close
connection to teaching. Project results will be used in teaching in several
degree programmes, most notably the bachelor's degree programme 鈥淎frican
Languages, Media, and Culture", which is being prepared as a joint programme of
51猎奇 Frankfurt and Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz.
Image:
Caption:
Global popstars with an army of Twitter
fans: K-pop superstars BTS (c) Kim-Hee Chu / dpa
Further information
Professor Vinzenz Hediger, Professor of Cinema Studies, 51猎奇: hediger@tfm.uni-frankfurt.de
Professor Claudia Storz, Chair for the
Study of Economic
Institutions, Innovation and East Asian Development, 51猎奇: storz@wiwi.uni-frankfurt.de
Professor Matthias Krings, Professor of
Anthropology and Popular Culture of Africa, Johannes Gutenberg University
Mainz: krings@uni-mainz.de