Kerstin Brückweh
Professor of Urban and Spatial History - Prof. Dr. Kerstin Brückweh
Professorship for Historical Urban and Spatial Research
IRS (Erkner)/Wiss.Samml., Bildarchiv (Berlin-Alt-Marzahn, D1_1_5_2-007, photographer: Monika Uelze, around 1985)
IRS (Erkner)/Wiss.Samml., Bildarchiv (Berlin-Alt-Marzahn, D1_1_5_
The research of cities and spaces from a historical perspective is at the centre of this Professorship. Since 2023, the joint appointment has established a link between the European University Viadrina and the Leibniz Institute for Spatial Social Research (IRS) in Erkner, in particular through the management of the research focus "Contemporary History and Archive" at the IRS.
The question of how expert knowledge and everyday actions, systems and lifeworlds, ideas and practices are connected forms the common thread of my research across the various fields and periods of investigation - from my doctoral thesis "Mordlust" on the history of violence in the 20th century in different German contexts to my habilitation "Menschen zählen" ("Counting people") as a history of knowledge in Great Britain in the 19th and 20th centuries to research into the "long history of the 'Wende'" and thus the period before, during and after 1989.
Prof Dr Kerstin Brückweh
- European University Viadrina | Große Scharrnstraße 59 | 15230 Frankfurt (Oder)
- +49 335 5534 2754
- brueckweh@europa-uni.de
- About the person
- ORCID
My research and teaching are characterised by the following features:
1. Long periods of investigation and diversity of methods: One current focus is on (post)socialist societies and their transformation. Methodologically, I am currently particularly interested in the use of mapping in historical research and the development of so-called social data as sources for contemporary history. To this end, I am the spokesperson for a recently founded working group in the Association of German Historians.
2. interdisciplinarity and internationality: Through my six years working in London, I have learnt to appreciate the view of Germany from the outside and always look at German history in context. I currently bring my diverse experience in interdisciplinary research environments to the cultural studies environment at Viadrina and the social sciences environment at the Leibniz Institute in Erkner, always asking what is typically historical in these contexts.3. support in research and teaching: In close collaboration with students, doctoral candidates and postdocs, I enjoy intellectual exchange and the development of my own questions and research topics, which I am able to support within the scope of my expertise. I focus less on quantity and more on quality, both with regard to the research and the career prospects of the "young scientists".
4. science communication and participatory research: I have developed a special interest in participatory approaches through the combination of my internal and external professional activities - this included a dialogue trip through East Germany in 2020, the book on this was translated into Korean in 2024 and the direction of the Studium generale at the Berlin University of Applied Sciences as part of the Professorship for Economic and Social History.
5. research infrastructures and archives: My work on the history of knowledge in the social sciences and the secondary analysis of social data as contemporary historical sources has increasingly raised the question of infrastructures for this research data. This has led to my interest in NFDI4Memory and I am looking forward to developing a revised collection strategy with the team at the IRS in Erkner, whose unique archive on the construction and planning history of the GDR has long since extended beyond the caesura of 1989/90.
