The concept and practices of inheritance and heritage are full of contradictions. Run by HU Berlin, FU Berlin, the University of Leipzig, Aarhus University, the Leibniz Centre for Literary and Cultural Research in Berlin, and the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies in Cologne, this Einstein Circle aims to generate a better understanding of current heritage/inheritance problems. It includes debates on the transfer of private assets, social inequality, and cultural transfer in a globalized, postcolonial world (“world heritage”). From the perspective of law and philosophy, sociology and ethnology, history, and cultural and literary studies, the circle will reflect on liminality as a key word, particularly the temporal dimensions of heritage, and examine the permanence of property. There are plans for workshops, series of public talks, and events.
