The second CURE Summer School will take place from 21 to 25 September 2026, at Villa Vigoni, the German-Italian Centre for European Dialogue in Menaggio, Italy. The annual summer school is organised by the Käte Hamburger Centre for Cultural Practices of Reparation (CURE) and the Leibniz Center for Literary and Cultural Research (ZfL Berlin). In cooperation with THALIM (UMR, Sorbonne Nouvelle/CNRS), the Catholic University of Portugal, the University of Triest, and other partners, this year’s summer school will focus on the theme “Beyond Division”. Twenty doctoral candidates will receive full funding for travel and accommodation.
WHEN
21 – 25 SEPTEMBER 2026
WHERE
VILLA VIGONI – GERMAN-ITALIAN CENTRE FOR EUROPEAN DIALOGUE | 22017 MENAGGIO, LAGO DI COMO, ITALY
SUBMISSION DEADLINE
25 FEBRUARY 2025
PROGRAMME
The ever-deepening division within and between societies is one of the most pressing problems of our time, because it damages the ways in which people live together, connect with one another, and fashion their own selves. It creates bloc thinking – a split into opposing camps where neither communication nor a stance in the space between these oppositions appears possible. As a wedge driving radical separation, division traps collectives and communities in fixed patterns of thought that resist opening or change. And while divisions may respond to unhealed wounds, they continue to inflict wounds of their own. Othering – the use of isolation, exclusion, or projection to transform the other into something alien – both enables and results from such processes of division. These processes then impede the potential for development, ambiguity, and openness to the future that make it possible to live together.
What constants can we trace in processes of division across various eras and cultural spaces? And in what ways are present-day dynamics distinct? How can the rift created by division be bridged? Are there modes of thinking, speaking, and acting that can prevent or repair division – especially given that both conscious and unconscious patterns of division continue? Many contemporary thinkers are taking up these questions. Cynthia Fleury, for instance, reflects in Ci-gît l’amer: Guérir du ressentiment (Here lies bitterness: healing from resentment) on how ressentiment overlays individual processes of trauma-induced (dis)association with collective social and political division – and how such regressive tendencies might be overcome. This problem is also the focus of many works in contemporary literature and art, especially those dealing with war, colonialism, and violence. They also take us back to the dynamics that lead to irreconcilable camps: How do certain techniques of conversation and communication – such as lying, or algorithms that control information – contribute to societal division, and whom does this benefit?
Together with the participants of our summer school, we want to think beyond division and examine what cultural practices can offer to resist processes of dehumanization, the erasure of interpretive plurality, and the reduction of complexity. We are interested in practices that aim to work through and dissolve existing divisions, and in those that seek – preventively – to stop division from arising in the first place. In doing so, we want to focus particularly on strategies of narration and putting-into-relation that try out new constellations – in literature, visual art, film, and music, as well as theatre or religious rituals: How can a voice position itself beyond irreconcilable camps and articulate an experience of the in-between – or of going beyond – that seems impossible within division? What aesthetic methods – such as montage, translation, or polyphony – can open paths for understanding and experiencing the origins, functions, and effects of division? What strategies of addressing and shifting perspective can open a space for action that points beyond division?
KEYNOTE
Véronique Tadjo
(Author and literary scholar, London/Abidjan)
FORMAT
• 20 PhD candidates will participate, each receiving funding for travel and accommodation at Villa Vigoni (arrival on 21 September, departure on 25 September).
• The program will feature keynote addresses, group discussions, and short presentations by the PhD candidates.
• A reader containing essential materials will be sent to successful applicants by the end of July at the latest, and PhD candidates are expected to come prepared with the readings.
• Discussion will be in multiple languages, with English as the main language of exchange. Proficiency in German, Italian, and/or French are encouraged, as presentations may be given in these languages.
ELIGIBILITY
Applicants must be working on a PhD project at the time of the application deadline.
HOW TO APPLY
• The online application form will be opened on 7 January 2026.
• Applications must be submitted via the online application form by 25 February 2026.
• Please submit a CV, and a cover letter of no more than 2 pages outlining why you would like to participate, why the topic sparks your interest, and what you hope to contribute to the event.
• The notification of acceptance or rejection will be sent out by late April 2026.
QUESTIONS AND SUPPORT
The summer school is led by Prof. Dr. Christiane Solte-Gresser, Dr. Hannah Steurer, and Dr. Laura Vordermayer. If you have questions about the application process, please contact hannah.steurer@khk.uni-saarland.de.
ORGANISING INSTITUTIONS
The CURE Summer School is a joint initiative of the Käte Hamburger Centre for Cultural Practices of Reparation (CURE) and the Leibniz Center for Literary and Cultural Research (ZfL Berlin), held in collaboration with THALIM (UMR, Sorbonne Nouvelle/CNRS), the Catholic University of Portugal, the University of Triest, and other partners.
ORGANISED BY
IN COOPERATION WITH
