Prof. em. Christel Köhle-Hezinger

This is what I want to study: Völkerkunde (Ethnology)! "No, it’s VOLKSKUNDE (Cultural Anthropology)" corrected my German teacher: "It is about one’s own culture, while Völkerkunde (Ethnology) studies foreign cultures, those of others!" His distinction, beating about "otherness", led me to this discipline. I knew about his doctoral thesis concerning the "Dialect of the Nagold-Enz Region" and I found it rather weird; as weird as many other people who have been asked the question "Why do I study this strange subject?" in their motivation essay at the "Introduction Course to Volkskunde" in Jena since 1998. In the answers, a clear top list emerged: you could mostly hear about it in the canteen or in your shared flat: that there’s a small and cute department where you can research your favorite pub, handbag or kitchen utensils! Parents, family and environment often acted as a rock to run aground with your choice: What on earth do you want with this? My parents luckily trusted me. Volkskunde, German Philology, and regional history became my exciting agenda. Then, after the first semester, internships were added to my studies, usually with the result: Totally out of the question! But what did I want? The doctorate was followed by scientific and freelance projects, teaching assignments, exhibitions and publications, projects, lectures, work contracts - 13 good years, which opened up new perspectives and themes. In 1988 the "Homeland" Institute of Tübingen offered me a position ("local and regional research, rural area"), and my curiosity for "research and teaching", as well as work with students, prevailed. An "academic career" was never my goal, yet it still came to be: in 1994 a professor was needed in Marburg; in 1998 came the urge of Jena to create a course in Volkskunde, where I remained until my retirement in 2011 with the feeling (as I said in the title of my farewell lecture): "Luckily in Jena..." I would do both again: go to Jena, study Volkskunde, whatever the name is.