Internationale Kulturwissenschaften
International Cultural Studies
Etudes culturelles internationales

RESOLUTION (draft)

German 

French 

The participants at the Conference ‚International Cultural Studies‘ that was held from 15th to 19th of September, 1999 at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, resolved:

1. More than ever before, cultural processes determine social developments. Underestimating or abusing this trend will lead to irritations, conflicts, or even violence. Thus culture has to become a central element in socio-political activities and in science and research planning.

2. Of prime importance is to build a ‚Culture of Peace‘ that is not just the absence of war but as an active culture that focuses on what cultures have in common in order to promote peace.

3. In this context, Cultural Studies may become the productive force of the 21st century, provided that essential regional and transnational conditions and frameworks are established and that international structural inequalities are reduced. But this requires to overcome disciplinary and national boundaries and the separation of natural sciences and cultural studies on a transdisciplinary level, by focusing research on the processes of human life with all its complexities without losing the necessary conceptual distinctions of objects of investigation.

4. The conference participants intend to participate in appropriate ways in the UNESCO programme ‚Culture of Peace‘ that will be a priority in the year 2000. They ask UNESCO to focus even more on cultural aspects in her own activities and to improve the basic conditions of cultural studies research on a qualitative level. More room should be given to cultural studies, in particular at international UNESCO conferences and UNESCO projects, and budgets for cultural studies should be increased.

Paris, 18th of September, 1999                  



Internationale Kulturwissenschaften
International Cultural Studies
Etudes culturelles internationales

© INST 1999

Institut zur Erforschung und Förderung österreichischer und internationaler Literaturprozesse

 Research Institute for Austrian and International Literature and Cultural Studies

 Institut de recherche de littérature et civilisation autrichiennes et internationales