hu wissen (pdf) - Exzellenzinitiative - Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

en Witt. And her neighbour Lucia Davenport adds: »The fi ve-minute
break during each lecture helps you clear your head. No one
can listen attentively to 90 minutes nonstop. We are – and remain
– fans of his lectures.«
Christian Kassung has quite a lot of fans among the students
in the meantime thanks to his creative teaching and his use of
state-of-the-art media – all of which earned him the Humboldt
Teaching Excellence Award in 2010. Kassung – Professor of the
Technology of Culture and History of Knowledge at the Humboldt-
Universität’s Institute for Cultural Studies – says that there is
nothing special about good teaching: »If you want critical, intelligent
students, you really have to work especially hard on the
introductory lectures. This is where the foundations are laid. Only
if we give the students the right tools can they specialize later,« he
says. He believes that theories and methods, as forms of established
self-refl ection, should be part of it. »It’s prejudice to say that
someone who is a good lecturer is going to be a bad scientist; the
two are mutually dependent. A� er all, science begins at the point
where we observe, question and explain our own thoughts – and
that’s exactly what also happens in the introductory lecture.«
A� er studying physics and German language and literature,
Kassung himself was awarded his PhD at the University of Colog-
Niemand schlä� ,
baut Papierfl ieger oder
spielt mit dem Handy
No one is dozing off ,
building paper airplanes or
fi ddling with their mobiles
ne in 1999 for a dissertation on Robert Musil’s novel »The Man
Without Qualities«. He qualifi ed as a Professor for Cultural Studies
at Humboldt-Universität in 2007 with a thesis on the knowledge
history of the pendulum. He currently advises the University’s
Presiding Committee on research-based teaching and the promotion
of young talent in the Excellence Initiative.
What will he do with his prize money of €10,000? In the autumn
of 2011, when the Institute for Cultural Studies moves into
the Pergamonpalais, Kassung – together with students – wants to
put on the fi rst exhibition on the theme of Synchronization in the
building’s atrium. Not only the exhibition itself, but also discussions,
a website and podcasts – designed by students – will aim to
illustrate which areas of culture are powered (or specifi cally disturbed)
by synchronization, e.g. calendars, biorhythms, traffi c or
the modern media.
»Studying is a technique based on constant repetition,« says
Kassung and encourages all students to be more relaxed about it.
»You then refl ect on yourself. A� er all, science is nothing more
than watching yourself think.«
WIR SIND HUMBOLDT / WE ARE HUMBOLDT
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