‘Metacomparativism in the Context of Humanities: Interdisciplinary Approach’

On December 5-6, 2013, an international conference on a new and little-explored problem of modern humanist knowledge – metacomparativism – took place at the HSE Nizhny Novgorod.

On December 5-6, 2013, an international conference on a new and little-explored problem of modern humanist knowledge – metacomparativism – took place at the HSE Nizhny Novgorod.

About 50 guests from Russia and Europe participated in the conference entitled ‘Metacomparativism in the Context of the Humanities: An Interdisciplinary Approach’, including Michaela Bürger-Koftis, Associate Professor at the University of Genoa (Italy), Alois Woldan, Professor of Slavic Literature at the University of Vienna (Austria), Olga Gruber, Associate Professor at the University of Linz (Austria), as well as Prof. Alexey Zherebin, President of the Russian Union of Germanists (RGPU), Alexander Belobratov, Director of the Austrian Library in St. Petersburg (SPbSU), and Prof. Marina Nikola (MPGU).

Professor Frederick White gave a fascinating speech. Professor White from Utah, USA, is teaching at the HSE Nizhny Novgorod in 2013/2014 academic year. He is reading lectures on the theory and history of literature, American culture and intercultural communication.

Irina Negrebetskaya, Director of the Department of Foreign Economic and Interregional Relations of Nizhny Novgorod Region, and Elena Mishina, Chairman of the Committee of Foreign Economic and Interregional Relations of Nizhny Novgorod Administration, were among the participants. Their participation demonstrates the importance of academic exchange for the development of the city and the region.

According to Elena Mishina, the HSE today is one of the acknowledged centres of international educational and research links, and such events promote closer professional and personal ties between academics from different countries, making their work ever more fruitful and successful.

Metacomparativism is an interdisciplinary research approach, which allows researchers to work at the intersection of political, historical, and arts disciplines, promoting interpenetration of the areas of study. According to Valery Zusman, Dean of the HSE Nizhny Novgorod Faculty of Humanities, the cultural and educational aspects of comparativism will become an important part of education in the near future for many professions (political scientists, managers, etc). Comparativism is fast turning from a strictly specialized tool for philologists into a key science of the future.

The conference ‘Metacomparativism in the Context of Humanities: Interdisciplinary Approach’ is part of the Austrian Cultural Season, which, in addition to Nizhny Novgorod, includes 17 other Russian cities. The Faculty of Humanities would like to thank the Austrian Cultural Forum in Moscow, The Nizhny Novgorod Region Government and Nizhny Novgorod Administration for their help in organizing the conference.