Projects of the Institute

International Projects

2013-2015 - Volkswagen Foundation Project "Jewish Identity in Georgia at the Dawn of Globalization"

2013-2014 - AUF and Bucharest University project "Mechanisms of Identity Formation and its Variations: "Alien" and "Autochtonous" in the Francophone societies of sub-Sahara, North Africa and Eastern Europe"

2012 - "International Alert" Research Project "Myths & Conflict in the South Caucasus"

2011 - Heinrich Boll Foundation Project "National and World History in the South Caucasus countries and Turkey"

2008-2010 – CEU-HESP Project "Comparative History"

2010 – Project of Francophone Universities Agency and University of Bucharest "Cultural Transformations in the Period of Transition"

2009 – DAAD project "Role of Educational Sector and Civil Society Activists in Avoiding Conflicts and Mediation in South Caucasus"

2009 – Project of Georg Eckert Institute for International Textbook Research "Wars of Memory?" Relations of School Textbooks and Conflicts in Central Asia, South Caucasus and Moldova in Post-Soviet Period"

2008 – Project of Association of International Relations (Prague) and International Visegrad Foundation "Attitude Towards History in Eastern Europe – Experience for South Caucasus"

Other Projects

2013-2014 - Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation Project "Identity Narratives in Georgia at the Beginning of the 20th Century: Origins of the Multiethnic Georgian Nation"

"Individual, Society, Culture"

The interdisciplinary seminar "Individual, Society, Culture" is organized on a regular basis since the spring, 1999. Students and scholars representing various academic disciplines, like cultural studies, history, psychology, philology, philosophy, sociology, oriental studies, political science, linguistics, neuroscience, etc. take part in the periodical meetings of the seminar.

The aim of the seminar is to discuss and highlight the results of ongoing scientific practices in different scientific areas, to coordinate the learning and research processes, to overcome the existing interdisciplinary barriers, to put emphasis on the perspectives and prospective of interdisciplinary research.

The following issues were discussed during the meetings in the framework of the seminar:

• The Problem of the Caucasian unity;
• The problem of contacts of civilizations and the question of cultural-historical development of the Caucasus;
• Integration of Georgia into the Western cultural space – the desire or reality?
• Tradition and innovation: the Georgian culture;
• Interest groups in Georgia;
• Bakhtin's carnival and its postmodern interpretation;
• The roots of the Western culture as the cause of its universality;
• Counterculture: the underlying cause of protest of the king Lasha-George and his group;
• Religion as a factor in the Caucasian conflicts;
• The Clash of Civilizations or the Dialogue of Cultures?
• Perception of time in the 11th century Georgian historical narratives;
• On the problem of the Georgians’ self-identification (11th century);
• The West in the Georgians’ perception;
• The role of cultural factors in reorganization of functional asymmetry of the cerebral hemispheres;
• Nationalism and globalization: an attempt of system approach;
• Culture shock: its origins and ways to avoid it (On the examples of British and Georgian table feasts);
• The question of religious and cultural identity of Caucasian peoples;
• Types of time manipulation according to medieval Georgian historical texts;
• The factor of conflicting identities in ethnic conflicts and in the processes of their solution; The factor of nationalism in contemporary conflicts of the Caucasus;
• Managing cultural processes according to the Georgian hagiographic texts (5-11th centuries);
• The problem of studying and teaching history of culture;
• Age and sex naming specificities in Georgian population;
• From subculture to counterculture - organized crime in contemporary Georgia;
• Cultural critique of soviet system: quasi-culture;
• The factor of conflicting identities in ethnic conflicts and in the process of their settlement: general overview (Abkhazian case);
• Intergenerational contradiction among Fathers and Sons seen through the prism of cultural orientation (60-70's of 19th century);
• The Role of Printed Capitalism and Printed Media in the Formation of National Identity (Georgia in the 60-70s of the 20th century);
• Intercultural Dialogue as an Instrument of Preventive Diplomacy;
• Austenmania: The Phenomenon of Jane Austen in Pop-Culture;

Students Scientific Conference "Culture, History, Politics"

Annual