The online magazine of the University of Bern

Uni Bern Magazin: Thema Intercultural knowledge

World Literature, Religion, Identities

Intercultural knowledge

In a globalized world, understanding one's own and other cultures is essential. The University of Bern makes valuable contributions with its interdisciplinary research in history, psychology, philosophy, theology, gender studies, linguistics, and other cultural studies.

Current

Studies and career choice

"A career is a dynamic process that can be shaped".

A university education alone is rarely a ticket to a successful career start: You also require a flexible career plan, career skills, proactivity and a willingness to constantly learn new things, says Andreas Hirschi, Professor of Occupational and Organizational Psychology.

Archaeology

A Grisly Tableau of Riding Corpses

An international research team led by Bern uncovered a Siberian burial mound, suggesting the origins of a horse-riding culture. Archaeology Magazine named the project one of the “Top 10 Archaeological Discoveries 2024”.

Places at the University of Bern

Ancient treasures in industrial charm

Hidden in the Länggasse district, two stories below a university building, is the University of Bern’s Collection of Classical Antiquities – a place with over 200 plaster casts of statues from ancient times that invites you travel back into the past.

Einstein Lectures

A refreshingly human theory of human nature

To kick off this year's Einstein Lectures at the University of Bern, philosopher Susan Wolf addressed no lesser question than that about the essence of human nature. And she presented surprisingly simple, genuinely “human” answers.

Postcolonial history

Bern travelers sought their salvation in Africa – with fatal consequences

In his PhD thesis, Tevodai Mambai investigates how and why well-known Bern travelers such as René Gardi and Charlotte von Graffenried painted a derogatory and at the same time idealizing picture of his people – and finds long-lost sacred Mafa artifacts in Swiss museums.

Biased teachers

Media release

A study reveals biases in the grading of 14 000 ninth-graders in Germany: Gender, weight, ethnic origin and the socio-economic status of parents play a significant role in the allocation of grades.

People

Teaching scientific thinking

Patricia Purtschert: How political would you like it to be?

How do professors manage to keep the discourse in their courses open and unbiased? And what experiences do they have outside the lecture halls with attempts at political appropriation? A gender researcher expresses her own opinion.

Teaching scientific thinking

Julia Richers: How political would you like it to be?

How do professors manage to keep the discourse in their courses open and unbiased? And what experiences do they have outside the lecture halls with attempts at political appropriation? A historian expresses her own opinion.

Outstanding young researcher

“Young Scholars” prize for Catherine Gibson

This year, the Walter Benjamin Kolleg honors Catherine Gibson from the University of Tartu, Estonia, as an excellent young scholar who is able to communicate her findings on Eastern European history, among other things, to a broad public.

Walter Benjamin Kolleg

A question for Claus Beisbart

Does science have to shake things up?

A pointed response from a philosophy of science perspective.

Literature

Determine the path – make the choice

So you’re off. On a hike in Vaud. This is where thoughts and conversations about literature meander: decisions in literary texts. Soon the hike becomes an allegory of literature. Because here as there, people act by deciding to leave, sometimes confiding in one another.

University and studies

Better decisions in sports and traffic

Christian Vater is one of eight researchers at the University of Bern to receive a coveted Starting Grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation. He will use it to investigate the role of peripheral vision in complex decisions.

Social anthropology

“Not conforming to the norm is also an act of self-love”

Social anthropologist Serena Owusua Dankwa studied the life stories of women in Ghana who love women. To do so, she left Western notions of sexual identity and the LGBTQ scene behind.
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