DFG Network Work in the Cultural Economy
The DFG Network brings together historians with scholars from neighbouring disciplines to put work in the cultural economy in a historical perspective. The initiative identifies two gaps in existing research: On the one hand, while “creative labour” has attracted considerable attention of social scientists in the past twenty-five years, their research is noticeably presentist. The first aim of the network is to address this presentism by historicising both cultural work and its study. On the other hand, historians have largely neglected work in the cultural sector. Studying work in the contemporary cultural economy since its emergence in the late nineteenth century from diverse angles, the second aim of the network is to establish a field in the historiographical debate that heeds the demands of a new labour history and promises important insights into post-industrial work more generally.
Network activities begin in spring 2023. Five workshops will be held in the next three years to discuss the ethics of cultural work, collective self-organization, copyright issues, the role of the state, processes of transnationalization and overall historical narratives.