BA in Cultural Research at Bremen University
The Bachelor’s Program in Cultural Research at Bremen University offers students an interesting and stimulating course thanks to its strong orientation in Anthropology, and Media and Communication Studies. The teaching addresses a broad spectrum of socially relevant issues in today’s increasingly interdependent world. By focusing on cultural modes of thought, action and materialities, students have the opportunity to study complex life processes and explore how individuals experience and shape these. Interlinkages between regional and global, historical and contemporary aspects, or between humans and the environment, and science and society, are all key areas of focus.
Media and Visual Anthropology at Bremen University
In Media Anthropology and Visual Anthropology, we focus on the media’s central role in shaping cultural and social processes in contemporary life. Research and teaching in these areas are geared to analyzing developments at both global and local levels. The Department has two main areas of focus:
One is the theoretical and empirical treatment of the mediatization, visualization and digitalization of culture and society. These questions are approached from ethnographic and anthropological perspectives and include issues such as media use, media networks and hegemonic representations/forms of media counter-strategies, to name but a few. In practice, this can embrace diverse subjects such as digital archives and memorial culture; media in the context of forced migration; Digital Storytelling; or studio photography in Cameroon.
The second area covers current methodological developments in the area of Visual Anthropology and how different audiovisual and digital technologies are used in cultural research. The Department is one of the leading institutes in the field of Sensorial Ethnography, Visual Discourse Analysis and Collaborative Film Research.
Main Focus Area: Ethnographic Film
Ethnographic Film is the main focus area of research and teaching. The Department has editing rooms and professional equipment, allowing students and teachers to produce audiovisual output independently and ensure professional training in the required methods and techniques. An increasing number of the Department’s students choose to produce their BA or MA thesis in the form of a film or another audiovisual piece. Student productions are screened before a broad public side-by-side with the latest international film offerings during the Department’s annual Ethnographic Film Festival.
Departmental Website University of Bremen