The Section of Contemporary History

The Section of Contemporary History was established in 1984 at the Institute of History. Our research core areas range from global contemporary history to the history of war, migration and gender. Since August 2020, the Chair of Contemporary History with a focus on Global Contemporary History has been held by Christiane Berth (at the Institute of History, Attemsgasse 8/II). Furthermore, based on the partnership with the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Research on Consequences of War, a Chair of Contemporary European History with a focus on conflict and migration research was established in 2019, held by Barbara Stelzl-Marx (at the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute, Liebiggasse 9).

The Section of Contemporary History researches global, regional and local processes of change in society, business, science and politics. In our research, we focus on the period from the late 19th century to the early 21st century. Our extensive research networks stretch from Graz to various European countries to Russia, West Africa, China, Japan, Latin America, Canada and the USA.
For our research, we primarily use methodology from cultural and social history as well as the history of technology, but also take inspiration from other disciplines. This helps us to appropriately evaluate the diverse sources of contemporary history such as digital images, films, radio programmes or interviews with contemporary witnesses.

Information on our current projects and publications can be found in the menu under “Research".