The Institute for Medieval and Early Modern Material Culture explores the diversity of human lifestyles and communication on the basis of ‘realia’. In cultural studies, the term ‘realia’ does not only comprise material objects such as works of art, tools, buildings, etc. but also the (immaterial) ideas, concepts, practices, evaluations and communicative acts in which they are embedded. In their entirety they make up what is called human reality, or rather: realities.
IMAREAL aims to enhance cultural theories and methods while engaging in object-oriented projects which are part of comprehensive research perspectives. Guided by these shared research interests, the Institute makes various types of sources accessible in databases and analyses them as evidence of past ‘realia’ by applying recent methods and tools from the field of Digital Humanities.
