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The UNESCO document entitled "Our Creative Diversity" defines "culture" as "the total and distinctive way of life of a people or society". In this sense, we use the term "cultural sciences" to designate those scientific disciplines which deal with or ought to deal with culture in this broad context.
In particular, the fundamental changes during the past decades, as well
as the definition of "culture" as contained in the UNESCO document, and
the direction of current research raise questions as to the future of these
multifarious cultural sciences. Their areas and forms of research, as well
as their tenets, public character and the professional fields of those
to be educated are under discussion. Up to now, "mass universities" have
been established in response to the new requirements and aspirations of
various sectors. New subjects were created. Interdisciplinary approaches
as a possible form of aggregating knowledge (however, by no means yet transdisciplinary
approaches) were rather propagated than put into scientific practice. For
many, the term "interculturalism" gained significance. Regrettably, it
proved unsuitable for defining the path towards the assessment and analysis
of more intense and complex processes of internationalization. The new
technologies are so far being used merely as a more convenient writing
tool or "electronic memo box", and sometimes even just as office decoration.
The development of new communication structures which, on a qualitative
level, imposes new requirements on research due to its unprecedented quantitative
scope, has been raised as an issue. But for the most part, it has only
been decoratively integrated into research and teaching. The partial change
in the function of the cultural sciences (i.e. the extensive release from
the ideological struggle between nations or even confederations of states)
has not yet resulted in a fundamental upgrading of self-determination in
connection with scientific work programs. The changes in the professional
fields of cultural scientists being educated at universities, which also
include new facilities for administration, documentation, analysis, education
and presentation, are often regarded as contradictory to the traditional
form of scientific practice. Outdated forms of delimitation, as well as
hierarchies hostile to scientific structures and their exercise of power,
contribute to an enormous slowdown of the scientific research process.
2. Societal Reactions
It is therefore not surprising that the actual and possible societal
role of the cultural sciences has been divergently assessed on an international
level during the last years and decades. In this phase of change, budgets
for cultural sciences (but also for the arts) have been curtailed due to
contradictory developments and the determination of differing objectives,
while UNESCO documents such as "Our Creative Diversity" demonstrate that
art, culture and cultural sciences can and must play a crucial part in
shaping and developing the international community especially in our present
world.
3.The Dynamics of international Change
The cultural sciences must formulate their new societal role themselves
with the inclusion of their divergencies. It is necessary to incorporate
the many individual perspectives and stimulation for the understanding
of individual works of art and specific developments in cultural processes.
These older procedurs must, however, be supplemented by the development
of large-scale international structures of research and data gathering.
International forums, dynamic research and data systems and accessible
self-administered funding structures are necessary. They are a prerequisite
for the compilation and analysis of complex large-scale data fields, thus
enabling swifter acquisition of new findings and offering science new opportunities
through the integration of the latest research results. The forms of presentation
used in education and in public ought to be more related to modern communications
and orientation systems. This also entails an upgrading of the development
of new methods, as well as the training for the utilization of data within
changing and newly emerging systems.
4. Research Approaches
In the last decades, manifold approaches have been created to develop
a wide range of scientific tools, which are expected to allow access to
complex subjects of research as well as the extension of fields of documentation.
Furthermore, fields of research have been clearly defined and differentiated
from one another due to the available materials and the limitations imposed
by old structures. The shaping of new professional fields was also made
possible new societal requirements, such as discovering the importance
of culture as an essential economic factor. This entails a new qualitative
broadening of professional fields within the constantly changing cultural
process, as well as changes in the field of communication. Canonized structures
are being called into question again and again. The constitutive complexity
of artistic and cultural processes can become the subject of compilations,
appraisals, analyses and presentations relying on large-scale data fields.
In this context, the latest technologies should be considered.
5. Research Organization
In order to effectively promote the above conceptual projects, the "Research
Institute for Austrian and International Literature and Cultural Studies"
(Vienna), among others, was founded. It sees itself as an international
forum for scientists, university teachers and members of scientific academies,
and intends to be a platform for new forms of data gathering and documentation
activities, as well as the development of new and old type research facilities.
6. Research Tasks
Modern research and teaching are often characterized by old hierarchies, narrow definitions of the boundaries of professorial and academic competence, and in some regions by nationalistic administrative structures. As a consequence, the research on "internationalization" is often restricted to one single language, i.e. one single sphere of influence. Therefore, research into the history of science and the humanities, the development of scientific communications and logistics on a new basis would be of fundamental significance.
Examples of such conceptually related projects of the Institute include:
6.1. A biographical bibliography of scholars in the field of cultural science the Hapsburg monarchy: Reconstruction of the academic traditions destroyed and obliterated by the Nazi occupation and Stalinist dictatorship, where professorships were sometimes not established as "propagandistic institutions" of "national cultures".
6.2. A history of Austrian literature which would also exemplify the change in a literary development process, in the course of which a variety of languages have become carrier elements of literary communication. In this process communications structures undergo fundamental transformations; terms and boundaries are subject to change.
6.3. Research projects concerning the relation between cultural sciences and information systems. They imply the necessity of the compilation, reconstruction and preservation of valuable cultural resources in libraries, archives and museums, as well as their accessibility. This also includes assessment and reconstruction appropriate to the requirements of research.
6.4. European and UNESCO cultural science projects.
7. Scientific Policy
Universities, academies of science, new research and documentation facilities must be furnished with the financial means required for their establishment, reorganization and new activities. Subjects of research are changing, and there are new forms of documentation and the options for new analysis and scientific presentation of data. In these areas, the greatest possible efficiency must be achieved, as a matter of fundamental significance to international co-existence. This requires not only a thorough rethinking of funding policies, but also a reorganization of research facilities and the presentation of the results to the public. The integration of social institutions into this process is therefore indispensable. Simultaneously, new professional opportunities must be conceived. An increase in the UNESCO budget, as well as the modification of the approaches towards subsidization of cultural research in the European Union are necessary. Without sufficient funds also supplied by the countries and communities concerned, there is the imminent danger of a de-culturalization with all its destructive consequences in every social and inter-governmental area.
8. Suggested action
The undersigned therefore call upon international organizations, governments, communal administrations, scientific foundations, etc. to provide appropriate funds, in order to permit the reorganization of the cultural sciences in the view of new requirements and social needs.
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