Research at the Chair of Modern and Contemporary History is broad in scope and covers the entire period from the mid-18th century to the early 21st century. A major focus is on the “long 19th century” and the processes of transformation during the transition to modernity. The individual studies and projects conducted by Chair Angela Schwarz and her team can be grouped into a total of seven major research areas. These are primarily approached through cultural-historical perspectives, thereby expanding upon earlier research on similar topics. The seven overarching research areas at the Chair are:

1. Media Representation and Popularization of History
2. Communication and popularization of the natural sciences and technology
3. Practices, discourses, and bodies of knowledge concerning the sensory
4. National Socialism in its own time and in postwar societies
5. (Historical) tourism as a cultural-historical phenomenon
6. The history of the city and conceptions of urban life since the beginning of industrialization
7. Regions in History: Concepts and Realities in North Rhine-Westphalia

For each field, there are several specific research projects being conducted by members of the department. Their objectives and content are presented in more detail on the websites of the individual research fields. In addition to the research fields, the work at the Chair of Modern and Contemporary History is strongly shaped by its focus on popularization, which spans two research fields alone and provides the chair’s team with opportunities for intensive interdisciplinary collaboration in various contexts, including the Collaborative Research Center 1472 “Transformations of the Popular” and the Center for Popular Cultures at the University of Siegen.