The Faculty of History is proud to announce that Professor Peter Frankopan has been awarded the Calliope Prize for Practical Migration Research 2019.
Professor Frankopan was unanimously chosen by the five-member panel. The jury said, “Frankopan’s research on global history, embodied in his work ‘Silk Roads’, breaks with the Eurocentric perspective and explores new perspectives on historical and current world events. He uses a language that is easy to understand, which makes scientific results accessible to non-academic readers and helps to better understand the complexity of the world. In his work, Frankopan shows that the success of vibrant societies in history was often based on tolerance, inclusivity and openness.”
The German Emigration Center director, Simone Eick said “Frankopan’s approach fits in perfectly with the research and exhibition practice of the German Emigration Center. We often ask ourselves, what knowledge should a migration museum impart in a global world? How can we promote an open dialogue about social coexistence in our immigration society”. The German Emigration Center is situated at a historic site: with more than 7.2 million emigrants between 1830 and 1974, Bremerhaven was the largest emigration harbour in mainland Europe. The migration museum presents 300 years of German and European migration history and was awarded with the European Museum of the Year Award (EMYA) as the best museum in Europe in 2007.
Professor Frankopan responded to the announcement saying:
I am delighted to be chosen as the winner of the Calliope Prize. I have always been interested in how language helps facilitate exchange, as well as overcoming boundaries. So as well as being honoured by the recognition for my past work, I am excited by the prospect of gathering empirical data and evidence not only about how to measure the openness of societies, but see if and how the conclusions might have practical applications in the future.
The Calliope Prize for Practical Migration Research, one of Germany’s highest endowed award in the humanities, is awarded by the German Emigration Center Foundation and the German Emigration Center for research whose results help cultural and educational institutions communicate migration on a long term and global basis. At the same time, the ultimate goal is to promote cooperation between universities and museums and make research results accessible to a broad public. The prize money has been endowed by Dr. Joachim Ditzen-Blanke, late publisher of the Bremerhaven newspaper “Nordsee-Zeitung.”
