Rike Richstein, M.A.
PhD Project
funded by the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes (German National Academic Foundation)
National Identity Politics and Political Education. Structures and Contents of the Federal Agency for Civic Education 1952-1998 (working title)
The project examines long lines of national identity politics in Germany using the example of the Federal Agency for Civic Education (until 1963 Federal Agency for Home Affairs). The Federal Agency for Civic Education has always been located at a special interface in the discourse of self-assurance in the Federal Republic of Germany: on the one hand, it is a state institution, subordinate to the Ministry of the Interior and, according to a decree of this very ministry, has been tasked by the government to strengthen identification and bond with the German state, its form of government and its institutions. On the other hand, it works independently, is monitored by a committee of members of the German Federal Parliament and an academic advisory board, and cooperates with many non-governmental organisations, such as associations for political education. Since its foundation in 1952, it has accompanied various phases of the discussions on German identities and taken a stand on them. In order to approach the participation of the Federal Agency in a national identity policy, my project first takes a praxeological approach to illuminate the structures and decision-making processes of the institution. Various phases of political influence by the Ministry of the Interior are of particular interest here. In a second step, the project examines the content of the Federal Agency's own publications and, on the basis of individual case studies, takes a look at the offers for identification, narratives they were conveyed with and practices of content communication that were used to do so.
Research Interests
- Politics of History, History of Political Education
- German History since 1945
- Identity Narratives
- Praxeology
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Academic Career
- since October 2021
Doctoral Study Programme in History, Universität Konstanz
- April 2018 to September 2021
Master’s Programme in History, Focus on 19th - 21st Century History, University of Konstanz and University of Tübingen, Final Grade 1.0
- October 2014 to September 2017
Bachelor’s Programme in History with Administrative Sciences as a Minor Subject, University of Konstanz, Final Grade 1.1
Scholarships and Awards
- since October 2022
PhD Scholarship granted by the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes (German National Academic Foundation)
- April 2019 to March 2020
Deutschlandstipendium Scholarship University of Tübingen
- 2017
Award of VEUK e.V. for the Best Degree in History (BA)
- April 2017 to September 2017
Deutschlandstipendium Scholarship University of Konstanz
Publications
With Constanze von Wrangel: Tagungsbericht. Identitätskonstruktionen für das Ruhrgebiet seit den 1970er-Jahren, in: H-Soz-Kult, 11.01.2023, link.
Erwin Glonnegger, in: Fred L. Sepaintner (Hg.): Baden-Württembergische Biographien, Stuttgart 2019, p. 170-172.