The research project “Network spaces of cultural education” (NETKUBI) is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. It investigates how young people create spaces and arrangements of cultural education through their connected digital and local cultural practices, forms of expression and modes of appropriation. The project aims to research processes of cultural education in adolescence as well as appropriation practices, in which local and digital practices are often closely intertwined.

The investigation follows a multi-perspective research approach and takes place in three cities (Dortmund, Halle, Hamburg) with contrasting social structures. In order to focus on the mechanisms of social inequality, the empirical research in each city focuses on two districts that differ in terms of social location and cultural opportunities. The first step will be to map out non-formal programs and institutions of cultural education located within these districts in order to get access to the field. However, central to the project are young people’s own informal cultural practices, forms of expression and modes of appropriation which will be surveyed and analyzed in both local and digital spaces.

The project follows an ethnographic approach. The study will include participatory observation in local spaces, group discussions with youth groups, and an online ethnography of digital practices and expressions. Dialogical transfer and dissemination formats will supplement and frame the empirical approaches.

Project coordination:

Prof. Dr. Holger Schoneville (University of Duisburg-Essen),
Prof. Dr. Werner Thole (TU Dortmund University)
Prof. Dr. Cathleen Grunert, Dr. Katja Ludwig, and Dr. Janine Stoeck (Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg)

Research associates:

Ninja Bandow (Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg)
Anne Pesch (TU Dortmund University)
Clara Will (University of Duisburg-Essen)

Assistants:

Marcel Jedwilayties (TU Dortmund University)
Sabrina Lindwor and Lydia Razak (Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg)
Josefine Teicke (University of Duisburg-Essen)

Duration: January 01, 2024 to December 31, 2026

funded by: