CSF 2007
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"Women in Georg Forster's environment - gender-historical research approaches". Georg Forster Colloquium on June 22/23, 2007. Research has so far paid little attention to the significance of women in Georg Forster's life, thought, and literary and scientific work. Yet this perspective promises a number of new insights into important areas of his life and work: on the one hand, his personal and intellectual development, and on the other, his public roles in science and in the French Revolution. Questions of political and social emancipation, communication, and scientific discourse come into focus. A diverse and multilayered set of issues emerges. For example, it is first necessary to clarify how Forster describes and analyzes the social position of women and gender relations in other cultures in Journey Around the World, and how he relates these to the situation in Europe. More generally, this raises the question of what role women play in Forster's cultural anthropology. The significance of women in Forster's environment for his further personal, scientific, and political development also deserves new consideration. First of all, Therese Heyne, his wife during the years in Kassel and Göttingen, in Vilnius and finally in revolutionary Mainz, comes into focus. This raises questions about her role in Forster's circles of friends and acquaintances and his intellectual networks, but also about the reasons for the often very negative characterizations that she received, especially in the 19th century. At the same time, it is important to examine Forster's relationship to other women in his circle, for example to Meta Forkel or to Caroline Böhmer, whereby the respective counter-perspectives are of great interest. Finally, it should be questioned whether and how Forster's image of the social and political role of women and of the relationship between the sexes changed against the background of the French Revolution. His attitude towards and treatment of women as writers or as activists in the Revolution, as well as towards emancipation and women's rights in general, are thematic complexes that promise numerous new perspectives. Lectures
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