An International Approach and an International Community of Scholars

The IGK sees itself as making a contribution to the much-discussed restatement of German scholarship’s international potential. This internationalization requires more than just the brains of a single scholar; rather, a milieu and a site must be created in which not only joint research is facilitated but a kind of interpersonal exchange that is not under any direct pressure to be of a “productive” nature. The IGK is just such a site, a place where scholars from around the world foregather to work, inspire each other, and be intellectually creative.  

The IGK is mindful of not only attracting Fellows and post-docs from the North Atlantic area but it above all makes a concerted attempt to invite scholars from divers regions of the world as a means of transcending the eurocentric perspective. Of particular interest are exponents of so-called smaller disciplines as well as those in the humanities – but care is also taken to include scholars from the areas of law and social science. It is in this way that a learning community can emerge which brings together diverse traditions of knowledge and a variety of methodological approaches as well as highly specific cultural perspectives in a productive debate on a central social theme.   

Furthermore, the IGK cultivates close relationships and fosters cooperative exchanges with national, European and other institutional partners – i.e. with the Wissenschaftszentrum für Sozialforschung Berlin (Social Science Research Center Berlin); the International Institute of Social History, in Amsterdam; the Institut d’Etudes Avancées de Nantes (Institute for Advance Studies in Nantes); Le Conseil pour le développement de la recherche en sciences sociales en Afrique (Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa [CODESRIA]) in Dakar, Senegal; Point Sud – Centre de Recherche sur le Savoir Local (Point Sud – Center for Research on Local Knowledge) in Bamako, Mali; and the Organization of Indian Labor History, Calcutta.  

In addition, the IGK does its best to enlist former Fellows for further work, whether it be in an advisory capacity or for short stays, and it is in this way, despite the regular turnover in guests at the IGK, that a research tradition and community of scholars can be developed which is dedicated to the theme of Work.