Regensburg Prize for Outstanding Master’s Theses in Area Studies 2020 - awarded
We are delighted to announce the winners of the inaugural Regensburg Prize for Outstanding Master’s Theses in Area Studies at Universität Regensburg, which is awarded in collaboration with CITAS Regensburg - Center for International and Transnational Area Studies.
Regensburg Prize for Outstanding Master’s Theses in Area Studies 2020 - awarded
The Center for International and Transnational Area Studies (CITAS) at the University of Regensburg and the Leibniz ScienceCampus Europe and America in the Modern World announced the winners of the inaugural prize for outstanding master’s theses in area studies at UR. The award is part of efforts to strengthen this field in Regensburg.
Jana Stöxen, a graduate of the East-West Studies MA programme, received first prize and 400 EUR prize money in recognition of her master’s thesis: “Transformation im Treppenhaus? Soziales Gefüge im semi-öffentlichen Raum eines Bukarester Plattenbaus zwischen materiellem und ideellem Erbe des rumänischen Sozialismus“ (Transformation in the Stairwell? Social practices in the semi-public space of a Bucharest high-rise estate. Between the material and ideal legacy of Romanian socialism). In her case study she explored life in the estate in the Bereceni district of the Romanian capital to explore the extent to which socialism and its ideals of solidarity had survived into the post-communist period. She spent two months living in the estate, conducting interviews with the inhabitants, as well as with experts and architects. She offered a clear image of the transformations that had affected the building and its inhabitants who had adapted to new conditions, even as a trend to individualism and alienation became evident. She was supervised by Ger Duijzings (Social anthropology) and Günther Hirschfelder (Comparative cultural studies).
Two equal prizes of 200 EUR went to the Romance studies scholar Daniela Weinbach for her study „Kulturübergreifend erfolgreich? Ein interkultureller Filmvergleich zwischen dem deutschen Premake Fack ju Göhte und dem mexikanischen Remake No manches Frida“ (Cross-culturally successful? An intercultural comparative film study of the German premake Fack ju Göhte and the Mexican remake No manches Frida) and the graduate of the elite MA programme in East European Studies Melanie Hussinger for her Master’s study “Ein Name, ein Leben, ein Zeichen. Historisches Gedenken im zivilgesellschaftlichen Projekt Poslednij Adres“ (One Name, One Life, One Symbol. Historical memory in the civil society project Poslednij Adres). Hussinger explored the role of cultural memory in remembering the victims of Stalinism in Russia. Weinbach is currently a PhD student at the Leibniz ScienceCampus in Regensburg.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the prize was awarded online during the CITAS and ScienceCampus lecture series. The prize will be awarded each year and a new call for applicants will follow in summer 2021.
L to R: Jana Stöxen, Daniela Weinbach and Melanie Hussinger. All photos from private archives.
