{"id":3593,"date":"2025-06-05T14:22:38","date_gmt":"2025-06-05T14:22:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mdw.ac.at\/internationalblog\/?p=3593"},"modified":"2025-06-10T13:39:08","modified_gmt":"2025-06-10T13:39:08","slug":"an-impetus-for-learning-beyond-ones-own-research-topic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mdw.ac.at\/internationalblog\/2025\/06\/05\/an-impetus-for-learning-beyond-ones-own-research-topic\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cAn Impetus for Learning Beyond One\u2019s Own Research Topic\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A PhD short-term mobility<\/a> took the three mdw students Caroline Gansterer-Heider, Constantin Luger, and Abigail Wagner to Cape Town, South Africa, for a week in March 2025. Their teacher Evelyn Annu\u00df, Professor for Gender Studies, initiated the research trip. She and mdw teachers Isabel Frey and Philipp Hohmann held classes at the University of Cape Town<\/a>, which were also attended by the doctoral students from the mdw, and engaged in intensive exchange with students from the Centre for Theatre, Dance & Performance Studies <\/a>there. In addition to university events, the days in Cape Town were filled with a cultural programme that helped the mdw students understand the past and present of South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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mdw\u00b4s delegation: Evelyn Annu\u00df, Philipp Hohmann, Abigail Wagner, Isabel Frey, Caroline Gansterer-Heider, and Constantin Luger (from left to right)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Mbongeni Mtshali (University of Cape Town) and mdw faculty<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBefore you travel to South Africa, you know the basics of the country\u2019s history of colonisation, slavery, and apartheid, of course,\u201d says Constantin Luger. \u201cBut when you\u2019re actually there, the turbulent history of the country and the city becomes very immediate.\u201d A must for the students was a visit to the District Six Museum<\/a>, which shows the history of Cape Town\u2019s District Six, an area where people of various cultural, social, and ethnic backgrounds lived at one time. At the end of the 1960s, most of the neighbourhood\u2019s inhabitants were forcibly removed and it was declared a whites-only residential area. The students also visited the former prison on Robben Island. During apartheid, it was used primarily to imprison political prisoners. Nelson Mandela spent eighteen years of his imprisonment there, prior to being elected South Africa\u2019s first Black president in 1994. The former prison was opened to visitors in 1997.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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For the students, participating in this trip first and foremost served to widen their horizons. \u201cFor me, it was an impetus for learning beyond one\u2019s own research topic,\u201d says Abigail Wagner, who researches in the area of historical musicology. Constantin Luger studies in the Department of Cultural Management and Gender Studies<\/a>. His research subject is the late Austrian pop singer Falco as a fictional character. \u201cIn general, I am committed to taking away as much as possible from my studies,\u201d explains Constantin. \u201cMy conversations with students at the University of Cape Town gave me many new ideas, including ideas about artistic research.\u201d Caroline Gansterer-Heider conducts artistic-scholarly research in the area of bias in cinematographic technology. \u201cThis trip and deeper insights into the research being conducted at the University of Cape Town and at the new International Research Center \u2013 Gender and Performativity<\/a> at the mdw were very enlightening for me and caused me to reflect on my own white, Eurocentric perspective of my research topic,\u201d remarks Caroline. \u201cThe history of inequality, oppression, and resistance\u2014including in the form of the visual arts and above all in performance\u2014is incredibly impressive. No theory in a book can compare to being right there and witnessing the traces of this history.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nearly 30,000 students study at the University of Cape Town in numerous disciplines, including business, law, the humanities, and engineering. The university is spread over various locations in the city. The Centre for Theatre, Dance & Performance Studies is located in the suburb known as The Gardens, a tourist area with many hotels and restaurants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cExploring the city, you notice how it is divided into separated spaces,\u201d says Abigail. Social inequalities according to the area are also evident in the access to urban infrastructure, for example when scheduled power outages usually effect neighbourhoods outside the wealthy areas and those frequented by tourists. \u201cNext to townships surrounded by walls and barbed wire, you find the villas and wine estates of the wealthy class, which are also spatially demarcated,\u201d says Constantin. \u201cThis is grotesque. It takes a while to process these impressions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mdw students were very enthusiastic about their open exchange with the teachers and students in Cape Town and plan to maintain these connections. Colleagues from the University of Cape Town will come to Vienna for the opening of the mdw\u2019s International Research Center \u2013 Gender and Performativity (ICGP)<\/a> from 12 to 14 June 2025.<\/strong> Constantin and Caroline could imagine doing another mobility to South Africa, particularly in view of the connections they have made in the field of artistic research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All three would recommend a PhD short-term mobility to other doctoral students. \u201cThe PhD curriculum is strongly focused on presenting one\u2019s own research topic. A mobility like this one is a good opportunity to learn again to explore other topics as well,\u201d says Abigail. Constantin adds, \u201cFor the interdisciplinary aspect, mobilities are very valuable. At the intersection of art and research, it is important in general to be exposed to new input.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Impressions of Cape Town:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Credits: Caroline Gansterer-Heider\/Constantin Luger<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Text: Isabella Gaisbauer<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A PhD short-term mobility took the three mdw students Caroline Gansterer-Heider, Constantin Luger, and Abigail Wagner to Cape Town, South Africa, for a week in March 2025. Their teacher Evelyn Annu\u00df, Professor for Gender Studies, initiated the research trip. She and mdw teachers Isabel Frey and Philipp Hohmann held classes at the University of Cape 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