Humanities

Humanities subjects investigate the way humans give meaning to the world. Their objects of study are the languages, social evolution, cultural production and cognitive achievements of humankind. Research in the humanities often focuses on cultural heritage, holding that investigation of the past is a precondition for coping with the present and thinking about the future, while maintaining a critical distance from ideological prejudice.

Within the faculty, humanities subjects focus on several areas of particular relevance today. One focus is social, linguistic and cultural diversity as demonstrated by individuals, evidenced by historical processes and/or represented in literature, the arts and the media. Many scholars in our faculty pay particular attention to the relevance of the media to cultural and social evolution. We investigate the way learning processes are influenced by multilingual and intercultural contexts as well as by new media, and reflect on the meaning of knowledge in knowledge-based societies.

Scholarship in the humanities is highly self-reflective and based on sound methods such as source criticism, historical reasoning, conceptual analysis and interpretation, but at the same time open to social and other sciences as well as to the application of modern technology. The humanities are therefore particularly appropriate for critical analysis of (hidden) power relations and the effects of social and cultural practices. They make their own contribution to assessments of ways society can deal with challenges such as the influence of artificial intelligence or the causes and effects of migration.

Related Institutes

Institute of History

Institute for Luxembourg Studies

Institute for Multilingualism

Institute for Philosophy

Institute of English Studies

Institute of German Studies

Institute of Romance Studies, Arts & Media

Latest projects

Humanities

The Ends of the Humanities

An international network and conference for the scholarly analysis of technological change

Humanities

Discover Science Comic LUX:plorations Vol. 2

LUX:plorations, an award-nominated science comic, published its second volume last month. At the FHSE, three doctoral students were involved in creating this fantastic new update. “:In LUX:plorations, scientists and researchers join forces with Luxembourgish comic artists in order to turn their research topics into short comics » tells Nicole Paschek.

Humanities

FEMPOW – Female power. The ruling practices of royal consorts descending from the House of Luxembourg (1292-1442)

The Regesta Imperii are a monument of scholarship that goes back to 1829. More than 100 volumes of medieval documents relating to the emperors of the Holy Roman Empire have been published (since 2001 also online). But these were all about male rulers.

Humanities

Cemeteries in Luxembourg: a public space like no other

If Luxembourg is known for its diverse and multicultural population, this has not been evident at cemeteries until recently. In a conference that took place in Luxembourg city on the 28th October, Prof. Dr. Sonja Kmec discussed the growing number of new funerary rituals in the country and how they are being accommodated with stakeholders and an interested audience.

Humanities

Water and Sea in Word and Image

Organised by the University of Luxembourg, the 12th International IAWIS/AIERTI Conference (12-16 July 2021) took place online and gathered more than two hundred participants from five continents.

Humanities

Food Policy council survey. Call for participants!

We would appreciate your contribution by taking the survey online. Your opinion will help shape the foundation of the Food Policy Council of Luxembourg.

- The deadline has been extended to 30th September 2021 -

Humanities

Collaboration with parents and multiliteracy in early childhood education

the COMPARE project from the University of Luxembourg aims to develop multiliteracy practices and establish partnerships between parents and educators through a professional development.

Humanities

Exploring linguistic landscapes around the globe

Language in the public sphere offers a great potential for surveying the sociocultural diversity and linguistic dynamics of modern societies. The Lingscape project of the department of Humanities aims to document and analyze public signage together with interested participants using a mobile research application

Humanities

Self and Society in the Corona Crisis

The corona crisis has put a spotlight on the importance of science in modern societies. But not only medicine and the ‘hard’ sciences, also the humanities and social sciences are called for: which kinds of political rationality determine action in the global crisis? How does ‘Corona’ influence our understanding of borders, migration and international relations? How can we learn from the past? What are the challenges we face in organizing everyday life, teaching and research, art and culture, or in dealing with ourselves? And can digital technologies help us to compensate for the negative effects of the crisis?

Humanities

Using grammatical reflection to get a grasp on syntactic orthographic markers

Although the Latin script focusses on phonological representation, many orthographic forms
in French and German refer to syntactic, grammatical structures. These syntactic markers are not represented in phonology. Therefore, learners must acquire knowledge about these silent syntactic structures in order to spell correctly.
GRASP, a research project of the Institute for Research on Multilingualism from the University of Luxembourg investigates how explicit teaching of grammatical reflection enhances the spelling skills of grade 4 pupils in relation to orthographic syntactic markers that are not orally expressed.

Humanities

COVID-KIDS : how the pandemic affects children and adolescents?

Schools in Luxembourg are soon to reopen; some students have already been back now. Yet many questions remain. A central argument for reopening schools is that home schooling may increase educational inequalities and that children and teens can no longer cope with social isolation. These issues are now being explored in a study launched by researchers at the University of Luxembourg.

Humanities

Sustainable Food Practices

The food systems in developed countries is far from being sustainable nor fair and Luxembourg is no exception. The “Sustainable Food Practices” research project of the University of Luxembourg wants to promote sustainable practices within the national Foodscape.

Humanities

Developing multilingual pedagogies in Early Childhood

A successful professional development track helped professionals implement multilingual education in early childhood in Luxembourg. MuLiPEC, a research project from the University of Luxembourg, enabled 46 teachers and educators to better understand multilingualism and language learning, and move from monolingual to multilingual practices.

Humanities

An app to promote narration, language development and multilingualism in schools

in 2013, facing the lack of specific or systematic programmes to further the development of multiple languages in Luxembourg, researchers of the University of Luxembourg turned to the Ministry of Education. Together, the institutions decided to address the need for the development of innovative didactic methods to manage and capitalize on the diversity and heterogeneity in Luxembourgish schools.

Humanities

Schnëssen – Crowdsourcing variation and change in spoken Luxembourgish

Luxembourgish is a young and growing language with a high amount of sociolinguistic variation that is currently undergoing a process of standardisation. The aim of the Schnëssen project is to survey this variation using crowdsourced data from a mobile research application.

Humanities

The Europe of the Luxembourg Dynasty. Governance, Delegation and Participation between Region and Empire

From 1308 to 1437, the House of Luxembourg ruled over a vast collection of diverse and scattered territories in the Empire. The LUXDYNAST research project aims to provide the first global assessment of the administration of this composite monarchy, the so-called Europe of the Luxembourg dynasty.

Humanities

Reading and Writing Literary Texts in the Age of Digital Humanities

The omnipresence of the image in our society distances us from reading and all its benefits. Thirteen partners in the LEA! group are relying on digital technology to encourage young people to return to reading and discover the cultural references that are essential to education and development.