Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Ingo Kolboom (French Studies and Francophonie)

Inquiries will be forwarded via e-mail:

Courses 1994-2012
Theses
Publications (as of November 2024)

Further information on his person and his work to date can be found at: www.kolboomskulturkontor.de.

NEWS

Second honorary doctorate for the Dresden Romance philologist Ingo Kolboom

Ingo Kolboom, Professor of History, Politics and Culture of the French-speaking World with a focus on France and Canada at the Institute of Romance Studies at TU Dresden from 1994-2012, was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Canadian University of Moncton in 2022.

The award recognizes Ingo Kolboom's achievements in researching and communicating the history and culture of the French-speaking "Acadian" minority in the Atlantic provinces of Canada outside Québec and, as the citation states, for "the exceptional quality" of his contribution to his "profession and society". This is the second honorary doctorate that Professor Kolboom has received from a Canadian university (Montréal in 2004).

A Romance philologist, historian and political scientist, Kolboom was the Franco-German Program Director at the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) for more than ten years and a visiting professor of German and French politics and history at the University of Montréal in Québec. During his time in Dresden, Kolboom founded the Center for Interdisciplinary Franco-Canadian and Franco-American Research/Québec-Saxon(CIFRAQS), from which today's Center France | Francophonie (CFF) at the TUD emerged.

The appointment of Ingo Kolboom as an honorary doctor was announced by the Academic Senate of the University of Moncton in November 2021. The official presentation of the insignia took place in Moncton in May 2022.

Short vita

Professional background

1968-1975: Studied History, Romance Studies, Politics and German Studies at the Universities of Saarbrücken, Paris III (Sorbonne Nouvelle) and West Berlin (FU and TU). Degrees Licence ès Lettres, state examination for the higher teaching profession (history, French), doctorate (Dr. phil.) (history)
1975-1984: Research assistant and freelance lecturer in French regional studies and politics at the TU Berlin, FU Berlin and University of Hamburg
1983-1994: Research Advisor/Senior Research Fellow at the Research Institute of the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) in Bonn, where he was founding director of the French Department and head of the Permanent Discussion Group on Franco-German Relations
1986: Visiting scholar, University of Harvard, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard German Workshop on American Politics
1992/93: Visiting Professor at the Institute of History of the Université de Montréal (Canada/Québec)
1994 to March 2012: Professor of French Studies and Francophonie at the Institute of Romance Studies at TU Dresden, founding director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Franco-Canadian and Franco-American Research / Québec-Saxony(CIFRAQS)
1999-2012 Associate Professor at the Institute of History of the Université de Montréal
Since 2012 Associate researcher at the Chaire de recherche du Canada en études québécoises et canadiennes (CRÉQC), Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)

Awards

1988: Prix Strasbourg/Strasbourg Prize (University of Strasbourg/FVS Foundation)
1990: Prix France-Allemagne (French Senate)
1992: Knight in the Ordre National du Mérite (French Republic)
1995: Franco-German Journalism Prize
2000: Prix franco-allemand du 22 janvier
2004: Honorary doctorate from the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÀM)
2004: Officer in the Ordre des Palmes Académiques (French Republic)
2005: Knight in the Ordre National du Québec (Government of Québec)
2008: Prix Marguerite-Maillet (Association of French-Canadian and Acadian Literary Scholars)
2009: Officer in the Ordre National du Mérite (French Republic)
2010: Ordre des francophones d'Amérique (Superior Council for the French Language, Québec)
2012: Cross of Merit 1st Class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany

Other functions including

since 1984 Member of the Board of Directors of the Franco-German Studies Committee (CERFA), Institute français des relations internationales (IFRI), Paris
since 1990 Co-editor of the "France Yearbook" of the Franco-German Institute, Ludwigsburg
1995-2009 Member of the Franco-German Cultural Council
since 2000 Editor of the CIFRAQS series (Franco-American Studies) published by Synchron Publishers, Heidelberg
1999-2004 President of the International Association for Québec Studies (AIÉQ), Québec City
since 2006 President of the Saxon-Breton Society e.V., Dresden
since 2010 Member of the Franco-German Academy for International Relations, Bordeaux

Profile and core research areas

The Chair of French Studies and Francophonie (French-speaking world), originally only advertised as a Chair of French Studies, was first filled on March 30, 1994 and is responsible for teaching and research in the field of national and cultural studies of French-speaking countries and regions. These studies are not only related to the present, but also include the historical development of francophone cultural areas. This is also an indispensable prerequisite for contemporary, self-applied regional and cultural studies. This is - with a few exceptions - an outstanding definition in German Romance Studies in this breadth in the field of regional studies/sciences. The first holder of the Chair since March 30, 1994 is Prof. Dr. Ingo Kolboom, until then Research Director and Head of the "France/German-French Relations" Unit at the Research Institute of the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP), Bonn, and a member of the German-French Cultural Council since 1995.

The field of "French Studies" is not only concerned with France as an isolated subject of research and teaching (history, society, politics, culture and economics). France's formative role in European history and the present as well as in the international community of French-speaking countries (Francophonie) and in international politics should also be taken into account. In addition, the special neighborly relationship between France and Germany and its importance for shaping European politics and identity(ies) will be emphasized. The location of Dresden suggests an additional consideration of Saxon-French relations in the past and present as well as the Central and Eastern European perspective.

In addition to these dimensions, this Chair pays particular attention to the entire French-speaking world (Francophonie), i.e. the colonial heritage of France and Belgium in the world. The focus is on the Francophonie as a structured community of French-speaking or partially French-speaking countries and regions, their cultural and political strategies. The development of a French-speaking commonwealth as a sub-system of international relations is new and has only received attention in research and political observation in recent years. Dresden Romance Studies sees itself here as an interface between several disciplines that pay too little attention to this phenomenon due to language barriers and cultural walls as well as a one-sided focus on the English-speaking world and research. In addition to the European Francophonie, the overseas territories of France and francophone North and Black Africa, the main regional focus is on francophone North America with its political and linguistic center in Canada and Québec.

The additional focus on French-Canadian studies is not only due to the intrinsic value of the North American Francophonie since the 17th/18th century as part of the "New Romania" (and should thus also relativize the image of North America determined by the Anglophonie). It is also intended to take account of the special significance of Quebec in the France/Europe-America connection and thus recall the Francophonie in North America as part of French and European history. In terms of interregional relations, a special relationship between the French-speaking province of Quebec and the francophile Free State of Saxony is also to be cultivated. Therefore, together with two colleagues at the Institute of Romance Studies (Prof. Dr. Maria Lieber, Linguistics, and Prof. Dr. Edward Reichel, Literary Studies), the "Centre for Interdisciplinary French-Canadian Research/Quebec-Saxony"(CIFRAQS) was founded in July 1994.