Dr. Hanna Engelmeier
Alfried Krupp Junior Fellow
(October 2021 - March 2022)
- Studied cultural studies and philosophy in Münster and Berlin, received her doctorate in 2014 from the Humboldt University in Berlin with a thesis on German anthropology in the early days of Darwin's reception
- Research assistant in media studies at the universities of Weimar and Bochum and in literary studies in Frankfurt am Main
- currently research assistant at the cultural studies institute in Essen
Fellow project: "Obsolescence. Aesthetics and media history of obsolescence, wear and tear, and becoming superfluous.“
Obsolescence is the central term for discourses and forms of becoming obsolete, superfluous, and worn out in capitalistically organized industrial societies. While the lifespan of people has been considerably extended by scientific knowledge and technical innovations, the life of things has at the same time seemingly been shortened further and further. This tension has stimulated research on obsolescence since the 1960s.
In my time at the Alfried Krupp Wissenschaftskolleg in Greifswald, I would like to highlight the discussion of objects of all kinds that are no longer functional or useful as a central, contemporary debate on obsolescence. However, the focus will not be on the obsolescence of this or that product, object, or phenomenon, but on the question of what need the discussion of obsolescence fulfills in theoretical and historical terms. For this purpose, amental-historical “Denkbild” is offered, in which the confrontation with transience, end and, above all, the strategies offered against it are condensed. The project's structure will also make it possible to observe processes of obsolescence in immaterial objects and phenomena such as style or text genres.