IV

Culture and Ideology

The innovative historiographical pursuits of the nineteenth century led to a profound reorientation of historical research in the twentieth—a process that has continued uninterrupted into the early decades of the third millennium. Among its outcomes is the growing and systematic interest in cultural history—that is, the history of ideas and cultural phenomena. This orientation has, from the very beginning, been a central axis of the IHR’s research activities and today forms the core of its fourth research cluster, “Culture and Ideology”. The relevant research concerns not only the material achievements of a given society (material culture) but also its intellectual manifestations (intangible cultural heritage and ideas), which evolve in parallel and in a continuous, dynamic relationship of cause and effect.

The study of material culture encompasses all kinds of artifacts—sculptures, ceramics, wall paintings, books—and thematic areas such as color and the archaeology of everyday life. Within the broader field of the history of ideas, research extends to the history of science, alchemy, and religion; historiography and literary scholarship; the history of the book and writing systems; and the study of emotions, cultural identities, and interconnections—often approached through modern methodologies such as the theory of cultural transfers. Overall, this research is carried out through a critical synthesis of archaeological and historical approaches, at times enriched by the productive use of tools and methods drawn from the natural sciences.