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International projects

The first Otto Dix exhibit in the US

Otto Dix, one of the most famous German artists of the 20^th century is currently on display for the first time in the US. The exhibit was organised by Prof. Dr. Olaf Peters from the Institute for European Art History and Archaeology at the MLU (photo in front of the Dix painting “Der Heilige Christopherus”).  “It is fascinating to plan and set up an exhibit. It is completely different to giving a lecture,” says the art historian. Around 150 of Dix’s works will be on display at the Neue Galerie in New York until 30 August. Then the exhibit will move to the Museum of Fine Arts in Montreal. (Photo: private) Janine Bornemann

Go to www.uni-halle.de/webcode SH-884 for more on the project

Ethnology in and around Africa

Last year, Dr. Carsten Wergin studied the ethnography of the young tourist industry on the island of Rodrigues in the Indian Ocean as part of his field work project at the MLU’s graduate school “Society und Culture in Motion”. The photo on the far left shows fishermen hauling in a cage that is left at the bottom of the lagoon to catch fish and crab.  (Photo: Carsten Wergin). Dr. Andrea Behrends and Prof. Dr. Richard Rottenburg from the Seminar for Ethnology are currently coordinating a research project in Chad, Ethiopia, Liberia, Sierra Leone, South Africa and Sudan. When international mediators attempt to solve conflicts in Africa their recommendations do not always have the desired effects.  For the first time, African researchers are studying this problem on-site with support from the MLU and the Volkswagen Foundation. An article about this project will appear in the October edition of the Unimagazin. The photo shows Professor Rottenburg with project participants during a tea break at a workshop in Khartoum. (Photo: Andrea Behrends) Corinna Bertz

Go to www.uni-halle.de/webcode SH-900 for an extensive travel report from Rodrigues Island

Exchange with China

In the week following Whitsun, Shanghai was the destination of a delegation from Saxony-Anhalt which included Prof. Dr. Bernd Six, Vice-Rector for Strategic Development at the MLU. Six (in a photo on a school campus in Shanghai) visited two universities in the Chinese metropolis and the World Expo 2010 among other things. “There is a great deal of interest in an exchange with the MLU,” he reported. There are already several connections, for example the Chinese-European Research Training Group “BEF China” (see “50 Hectares of Diversity” in the 2/2010 edition of the Unimagazin.) “We should make more of an effort in terms of exchange programmes with China – both on a student as well as a faculty level,” says Six. Currently around 100 Chinese students are enrolled at the MLU. (Photo: Ulrich Klieber) Carsten Heckmann

In search of hamsters all the way to the Chechen border

Visitors from far away countries are rare in the Russian Republic of Dagestan due to the risk of terror activity in the North Caucasus. Dr. Peter Fritzsche (photo) from the Institute of Biology at the MLU, along with his research colleagues from Kiel and Moscow, were therefore all the more heartily welcomed. In June they studied the rare Ciscaucasian hamster, a relative of the golden hamster, in its natural habitat. “The animal has been found to be very endangered,” reports Peter Fritzsche. “Therefore we are now preparing to put its name on the country’s red list and to categorise it as a worldwide endangered species.” (Photo: Syliva Hoffmann) Corinna Bertz

Go to www.uni-halle.de/webcode SH-898 for more on this project

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