Mapping the World

After the opening of International University Bremen (IUB) in fall 2001, the first professors in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences gave their inaugural lectures in the context of a lecture series. Their talks provided insights into their individual research areas and were formulated on a generally understandable level of abstraction.The goal was to open up disciplinary research to an audience from other disciplines or even to the general public. Looking at human social and cultural developments from many different angles the Iectures provided their audiences with new tools for mapping the world, i. e. for locating the individual in his or her social and cultural context.The public lecture series was a great success. In retrospect, it was the starting point for current trans-disciplinary cooperation in teaching and research at IUB and, at the same time, for a dialogue between scientists and the public.This volume aims to conserve and foster the spirit of these inaugural Iectures of 2001/2002.