The second CURE Summer School took place from 21 to 25 September 2026 at Villa Vigoni (German-Italian Centre for European Dialogue) in Menaggio, focusing this year on the theme “Beyond Division”. The summer school was jointly organised by the Käte Hamburger Centre for Cultural Practices of Reparation (CURE) and the Leibniz Centre for Literary and Cultural Research (ZfL Berlin), in cooperation with the Catholic University of Portugal (Lisbon), the University of Trieste, the University of Naples Federico II, and THALIM (Sorbonne Nouvelle/CNRS, Paris). Christiane Solte-Gresser, Hannah Steurer, and Laura Vordermayer developed the concept for the summer school and directed it on behalf of the centre.
Through intensive intellectual exchange, twenty doctoral students and nine other scholars from around the world explored how cultural practices can counter processes of dehumanisation, the elimination of ambiguity, and reductive simplification – and how this might enable ways of thinking and acting beyond division.
In addition to the foundational texts collected in a reader, discussions centred in particular on presentations by the doctoral students, who offered compelling examples of cultural practices “Beyond Division”: Colum McCann’s novel Apeirogon, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Damien Jalet’s dance performance Babel (words), Denis Villeneuve’s film adaptation of Wajdi Mouawad’s Incendies, Michel Butor and Bernhard Larson’s combination of text and photography Die ganze Stadt Berlin, and Bertolt Brecht’s Kriegsfibel. One of the highlights of the summer school was the participation of writer Véronique Tadjo. Through readings from her works L’Ombre d’Imana and Je remercie la nuit, an introductory talk followed by a discussion, and numerous informal conversations, she engaged with participants on the ethics of writing against polarisation.
The discussions themselves were also characterised by a willingness to think beyond division – by an openness to other perspectives and a readiness to engage in disagreement that was both rigorous and fair. The event will leave its mark not only on the research of those who took part but also on the contacts and networks forged during their time together. It also demonstrated the importance of opportunities for interdisciplinary and international exchange, particularly in the face of division and polarisation.
You can find further information about the CURE Summer School here.
