CSF 2007
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"Women in Georg Forster's environment - gender history 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 series 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 take center stage. This results in a diverse and multi-layered series of topics. First of all, it is 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 this 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 a new examination. The first focus is on Therese Heyne, his wife during his years in Kassel and Göttingen, in Vilnius and finally in revolutionary Mainz. 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 of her, especially in the 19th century. At the same time, it is important to examine Forster's relationship with other women in his circle, for example Meta Forkel or Caroline Böhmer, whereby the respective counter-perspective is also of great interest. Finally, it should be questioned whether and how Forster's image of the social and political role of women and the relationship between the sexes changed against the backdrop of the French Revolution. His attitude and his treatment of women as writers or as activists in the Revolution, as well as emancipation and women's rights in general, are topics that can be expected to open up numerous new perspectives. Lectures
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