Thematic Research Network Authenticity in culture, community and science
TRN of Field of Focus 3 | funded as part of the Excellence Strategy of the federal and state governments | Duration: 09/2025–12/2026
In times of artificial intelligence, cultural appropriation and medically and technologically assisted self-optimisation, the question arises: what is actually still ‘real’? It is not only since modern times that human interpretations, actions and representations have been characterised by the search for credibility, authenticity and sincerity. Authenticity is often at the centre of a sometimes contentious negotiation process that determines cultural, social and scientific orders. In the cultural sphere, debates often focus on the connection between ‘authenticity and creativity’, in the communal sphere on ‘authenticity and identity’ and in the scientific sphere on ‘authenticity and factuality’.
The Thematic Research Network aims to stimulate new research on this topic and understands authenticity as interdisciplinary in its significance in global comparative, historical and modern dimensions.
