“Risk” FLiK Module
The first FLiK module on the topic of “Risk” took place in the winter semester 2015/16. Students and teachers from four faculties worked together to explore the relationships between risk perception, risk communication and risk management. Lectures on the topic of “risk communication and risk narratives” were expanded upon in the summer semester 2016 with the interdisciplinary “environmental and nutritional risks” and “economic and migration risks” project seminars.
After its initial success, the “Risks” FLiK module ran again during the winter semester 2016/17 and summer semester 2017.
Risks in a Globalised World:
Climate Change, Migration and Flight, Financial Crises and Food Security
The content of the “Risk” FLiK Module takes the form of risk terminology and risk handling strategies within different disciplines. The module looks at the boundary between related phenomena (e.g. hazards) as well as the interpretation of “risky” constellations and the resulting problems related to these along with reasons for communication from cultural, media, environmental, natural and scientific perspectives.
The module teaches methods and specialist skills for taking a research-oriented and interdisciplinary approach to risk research. The critical and reflective application of specific knowledge from students’ own areas of study and familiarisation with methodical and theoretical approaches from other fields are encouraged. Different conceptualisations for risk assessments and the requirements for successful risk communication form as much a central part of the module as the analysis of historical and current risk narratives.
Project Seminar I: “Environmental and Nutritional Risks”
Environmental and nutritional risks are among the most heavily discussed risks, both historically and in the present day. For risk communication to be successful, risk governance within the public realm, adequate inclusion of various stakeholders and groups of stakeholders, as well as knowledge about fundamental codings and narratives (e.g. well-being/asceticism, health/control, the power of nature/”profane apocalypse”) each play a key role.
How risks are communicated, perceived and handled is analysed using current examples in the context of climate change and nutrition/food security. Experiences with communicating scientific findings are linked with methods from the sociological, media and literary/cultural sciences for researching risk perception and communication.
For further information please check the timetable.
Project Seminar II: “Economic and Migration Risks”
Just as much as in politics, businesses are faced with having to make decisions that are associated with a certain degree of risk. This seminar looks at risk communication within businesses (e.g. in relation to risk management systems and risk assessments) and interprets this using appropriate linguistic models and analytical methods.
The seminar also focuses on issues relating to how economic risks are portrayed in the media and the narratives used. This will demonstrate how fact and fiction are continually interwoven with one another in the discussion around risks. This seminar aims to link the approaches used in the economic, linguistic, media and cultural sciences.
This allows us to look at flight and other forms of cross-border migration as a personal and societal risk, but also to look at these things as an opportunity to tackle high-risk living conditions and societal crises. Situations where high-risk decisions must be made may precede migration. Political decisions on migration issues are also based on risk models and narratives, as can currently be heard in the discussion on dangerous or threatening persons. The seminar looks at the link between migration and risk from a range of different perspectives, including (opposing) individual narratives and narratives within the origin and destination societies.
For further information please check the timetable.
Organisational Information:
- Management: Prof. Marina Münkler
- Attendance at the lectures is not a requirement to participate in the seminars. The project seminars are offered as block sessions.
- Options for credit transfer and recognition can be found in the credit transfer matrix) (updated: 15.03.2017).