Cultural Landscapes

Regional history is history within small boundaries, but limitless in terms of time and varieties of research questions. Such a methodological diversity and interdisciplinary approach is unique. Regional history has a huge emphasis on social, economic and religious topics. It also includes land tenures or migration problems: the locals and the "outer-world". Different regions like Ohio, Franconia and Tuscany could be compared. Such a project will contribute to a simple idea: "nearby history" is everywhere in the world, in all societies. Examples of topics include the following: different methods in regional history in Europe and US, internship in historical societies, and communities in the suggested areas. Knowledge of foreign languages (German, Italian) can be improved. The focus of this programme is on four to five internships in all three regions. The students should learn how to create a historical theme and implement it in a region. One of the requirements is to convince the authorities and the people of a region. Another emphasis is on digital mapping and creating databases. A class and an internship on this topic are required. We also define the opportunities of regional history for a university by looking for possibilities to work together with different groups outside the normal university relationships. This could create new job opportunities for students (community – local museums – rural, village or city renewal or development), but in any case, the acceptance of the university and its regional history studies by others outside the university should increase.