Whose home is it?

On 15 March 2018, Denkzeitraum launched its cycle "Who owns the homeland? Perspectives on homelands in Europe and in international contexts" with an event in the main building of the University of Graz.

Bettina Habsburg-Lothringen (Head of the Department of Cultural History at the Universalmuseum Joanneum) and Helmut Konrad (Professor Emeritus of Contemporary History) discussed the question of who owns the homeland from the perspective of a museum construction of history, which is also the memory of Styria.

For the first time, a symposium was chosen as part of the Denkzeitraum. The symposium was held in the exhibition rooms of Camera Austria, made possible by Reinhard Braun, publisher and artistic director of Camera Austria, and supported by editor-in-chief Christina Töpfer and exhibition manager Angelika Maierhofer.

Barbara Reiter, Claudia Beiser, Petra Wlasak, Sybille Dienesch, Roman Klug and an interested audience discussed the forms and value of neighbourliness at the Grätzeltreff Geidorf.

As part of the Christmas party of the Denkzeitraum, the Department of Practical Philosophy and the students of the PELP Master's programme, the discussion event "Gute(s) Leben denken" took place on 22 November, at which employees of the Institute of Philosophy presented topics on which they are currently working.

The 2018 Denkzeitraum concluded with a lecture followed by a discussion with the philosopher Andreas Føllesdal (University of Oslo).

Volunteers and refugees met twice at Einkehr for a writing workshop under the guidance of Bettina Halder as part of the storytelling café. Bettina Halder, a German scholar, art therapist and academic and professional writing trainer, skilfully awakened our creativity through writing exercises.

With this workshop led by Anna Starschowitz, Denkzeitraum 2018 expanded the scope of the search for self-understanding among the people of Graz. Against the backdrop of international migration, the participants set out together in a creative way in search of their own understanding of the concepts of home and flight.

The philosophical café is ideal for philosophising together, as it is a place to come together and offers an appropriate and protected space to share and debate opinions, thoughts and experiences with others. As part of the thinking period, a café on the topic of happiness took place in the Grätzeltreff (Geidorf) and two cafés on the topic of human rights in the Büro der Nachbarschaften (Lend).