Education Strategies of the New Right
The Volkswagen Foundation is funding a new project at the University of Mannheim that will analyze the educational programs of the New Right in Germany and the Nouvelle Droite in France on a comparative basis for the first time.
Press release from 11 February 2025
Print version (PDF in German)
The one-year project is headed by Professor Dr. Cornelia Ruhe and Professor Dr. Thomas Wortmann. Ruhe holds the chair of Romance Literary and Media Studies and Wortmann is Professor of Modern German Literature and Qualitative Media Analysis. The Volkswagen Foundation provides funding in the amount of 300,000 euros.
In addition to their public rhetoric, neo-right-wing movements in Germany and France are specifically focusing on educational programs to make their political positions socially acceptable. These alternative educational offers are aimed at both children and adults and include, for example, child-friendly reading recommendations, media offers for parents and privately funded summer schools for future leaders. The researchers assume that, in this way, an ideologically driven form of 'education' rooted in right-wing extremist ideas is being promoted.
The research project, which is based at the School of Humanities at the University of Mannheim, is the first to systematically examine these educational programs and analyze their cross-border interdependencies. The project is designed as a pilot study that could be extended to other national and international contexts. It is part of the School of Humanities' interdisciplinary research focus “Democratic Societies in the Transformation Process”, which focuses on populism and extremism, among other things.
With its funding line “Open Up – New Research Spaces for the Humanities and Cultural Studies”, the Volkswagen Foundation is supporting international research projects, which not only offer new perspectives on already known research subjects but also investigate new research spaces and topics, in the current call for proposals. For more information on the new funding line of the foundation, please see here.
Contact:
Professor Cornelia Ruhe
Chair of Romance Literary and Media Studies
University of Mannheim
Phone: (+49-621-) 181-2264
E-mail: ruheuni-mannheim.de
Professor Dr. Thomas Wortmann
Chair of Modern German Literature and Qualitative Media Analysis
University of Mannheim
Phone: +49 621 181-3045
E-mail: wortmannuni-mannheim.de
Yvonne Kaul
Research Communication
University of Mannheim
Tel: +49 621 181-1266
E-mail: kauluni-mannheim.de