From April 30th to 2nd of May, the PhD research group “Friends, Patrons, Clients” (DFG-Graduiertenkolleg 1288 “Freunde, Gönner, Getreue”) of the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg held its closing conference. After nine years the research group, funded by the DFG and supported by the University of Freiburg, officially came to an end in May and thus historians, sociologists, philosophers and anthropologists gathered to reflect on the group’s activities since 2006 as well as discussing the past and future of the study of human relations.

In his opening remarks, the president of the hosting research group, DIETMAR NEUTATZ (Freiburg), highlighted the ease of interdisciplinary communication within the research group, which he defined as tending common grounds and practical discussion across subject lines. Dietmar Neutatz underlined the role of PhD students within the research group and pointed to the main yield of the Graduiertenkolleg as such: dissertations. Consequently, much weight was given to current PhD projects throughout the conference.

The first panel included both historical and philosophical perspectives on “Typologies of Social Ties”. SILKE EDINGER (Freiburg) and LAURA RITTER (Freiburg) gave an insight into their PhD projects, both focusing on micro studies in the 16th and early 20th century, respectively. While Silke Edinger discerned trust as constitutive element of pre-modern governments during the reign of August, Elector of Saxony, Laura Ritter pointed to the importance of family ties within the Russian white émigré community in Berlin. Historian IANNIS CARRAS (Freiburg), former fellow of the Graduiertenkolleg, found an imagined religious past to be the element that held together the community of the Ukrainian Nezhin Brotherhood, which functioned as a platform to solve trade-specific issues.

The two philosophers of this panel, ANDRÉ REICHERT (Freiburg) and KLAUS-DIETER EICHLER (Mainz), focused less on group relations and more on the function of personifications in philosophy itself. André Reichert, post-doc of the research group, proposed a theory of philosophical personification. Based on Gilles Deleuze’s conception of the philosopher, he reflected on the philosopher as friend of the concept and the concept as in need of conceptual personae. While philosophy is seen as the activity of forging concepts, it is through the conceptual personae that new thought is developed and thought and thinking are kept in permanent movement. Keynote speaker Klaus-Dieter Eichler shared his ideas on the question of gaining knowledge of oneself through the other in a shared world, the friend appearing here as the irreplaceable key to the self. His reflections were closely related to the functioning of the conceptual personae introduced by André Reichert: The listeners were invited to re-trace the platonic dialogue between Aristotle and Alkibiades. The asymmetrical relationship between Aristotle and his student shows how the other, similar to oneself, acts as a mirror. Only by seeing oneself in the eyes of the counterpart can the self be fathomed. Thus, even the self-contained is contingent on the friend. Self-improvement, however, is not gained by discovering 'the truth' in the other, but through sincere recognition of the self in the other.

The second section on “Affective Communities” was opened by CHRISTIAN KÜHNER (Freiburg) who spoke about the concept of friendship in early modern Europe as conveyed in courtesy books. In his keynote speech, MARK GREENGRASS (Sheffield), former fellow of the research group, presented his recent findings on physiognomy as a performative practice during the Renaissance period, linking physiognomy with friendship. He described a fashion during the Renaissance to infer a person's character from his appearance, a technique used to determine the reliability but also usefulness of one’s counterpart. The art of reading faces – metoposcopy – was hence laid down in treatises and applied in the choice of friends. Akin to Klaus-Dieter Eichler’s talk, the eye once again emerged as the mirror of the soul, the heart of the physiognomic project.

Mark Greengrass, who also considers portraits of the period, went on to pointing out the limitations of physiognomic practices by describing Michel de Montaigne’s criticism and emphasis on the meaning of personal interaction and emotions.

Coming from very different disciplinary and theoretical backgrounds, some of the talks had little in common except for the overarching focus on affective experiences as a relevant aspect of community building. But in some cases, connections were more obvious, as in the case of three of the research group’s PhD candidates. SARA FRENZEN (Freiburg) described community not as coming out of relationships, but as a relationship in itself based on her research on mixed project groups in conflict areas. In her analysis of a theatre play performed by a youth group in Kosovo, described as a “hero's journey with post-modern traits”, she showed the transformation from affective, pre-conscious movement into the consciousness. Sociologist CHRISTIAN MÜLLER (Freiburg) also worked on the intersection of art and community building, analyzing jazz as a form of practice in which community can be created through affection. Similar to Frenzen's observations, he described a moment in musical improvisation in which a sudden and connecting element as a turning point helped in creating a feeling of community. NICOLA TAMS (Freiburg), who opened the third section on “Politics of Community”, highlighted the importance of artistic elements by arguing in favour of developing a theory of letters and opening philosophy towards its literary aspects.

Doctoral candidate of Sociology KARIN PARIENTI-MAIRE (Freiburg) and social anthropologist CRISTIAN ALVARADO LEYTON (Freiburg) strongly relied on fieldwork in their research on social dynamics in urban community gardens and on victims of forced adoption under the military dictatorship in Argentina, respectively. One of Parienti-Maire's discussion points was about the closeness of urban gardening initiatives to the margins of conservatism, while Alvarado Leyton made a strong case in favor of including kinship into friendship and patronage studies, concluding that practices of strategic essentialism render otherwise powerless individuals stronger.

Both PhD candidate RINGO RÖSENER (Freiburg) and keynote speaker HEIDRUN FRIESE (Chemnitz) integrated the current racist and xenophobic discourse in Germany into their talks and tried to find a way to connect thoughts on the crossing of borders and friendship. While Rösener exemplified how friendship signifies a crossing of borders in itself through Hannah Arendt, where the manageable private sphere is left behind in favor of a shared, unpredictable public space, Friese focused on the concept and practice of hospitality. She portrayed hospitality as a religious, ethically motivated and morally founded duty and highlighted its political connotation, localizing the guest between friend and foe and the distinction between friend and foe at the basis of politics. Much like friendship, Friese described hospitality as a reciprocal engagement rather than a philanthropic gesture. Similar to Klaus-Dieter Eichler, Friese singled out concern with oneself as basis of concern for the other. Friese concluded that the codification of hospitality has reached its pinnacle since the mid-20th century, when seeking asylum became a fundamental right and thus the nation-state took on the responsibility of dealing with the guest.

For the closing panel discussion the different generations and fields of the research group came together for an assessment both of the conference and the research group’s activity over nine years. Interdisciplinarity was discerned as the main goal of the concept of “the Graduiertenkolleg” as such, with methodology acting as a link. It was conceded that though often fruitful, the limits of interdisciplinary work were strongly felt. It was stressed that the PhD research group was not only a lieu for research, but also a space of learning defined by trans-disciplinary exchange. Through the work, accomplished certain fields of study have emerged as particularly seminal, such as gender aspects within the research on friendship and patronage as well as less harmonious aspects of social relations.

Conference Overview

Section 1: Typologies of Social Relationships

Silke Edinger (Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg), “Meinem gnedigsten Herrn mit treuem Fleiß zuvor”. Die Räte am Dresdener How zwischen Nähe und Distanz zum Kurfürsten August von Sachsen
(“Meinem gnedigsten Herrn mit treuem Fleiß zuvor”. The court of Dresden’s councilors between familiarity and distance with August, Elector of Saxony)

Laura Ritter (Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg), Nahbeziehungen in der russischen Emigration anhand des Generals Aleksej von Lampe, 1922-1945
(Social ties in Russian emigration – the example of General Aleksej von Lampe, 1922-1945)

André Reichert (Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg), Freunde im Denken. Zur Rolle von Personifikationen in der Philosophiegeschichte
(Friends in Thought. On the Role of Personifications in the History of Philosophy)
§ I
annis Carras (Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg), Rethinking brotherhood. Merchants and monks in 18th century Ukraine

Keynote: Klaus-Dieter Eichler (Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz), Über das Band der Freundschaft und die Unersetzbarkeit des Freundes
(On the ties of friendship and the irreplaceability of the friend)

Section 2: Affective Communities

Christian Kühner (Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg), Freunde, Schmeichler und Verräter. Freundschaft im Spiegel der europäischen Hofmannstraktatistik der Frühen Neuzeit
(Friends, Flatterers, and Traitors. Friendship in early modern European courtesy books)

Sara Frenzen (Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg), Affekte, Erinnerungen und Verkörperung – Gluten in der “trügerischen Gegenwart” konfligierender Orte
(Affects, Memories and Embodiments – Embers in the Specious Present of Conflictual Spaces)

Christian Müller (Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg), Vergemeinschaftung als Effekt von Kontingenz? Jazzimprovisation zwischen Handlung und Ereignis
(„Sociality as an effect of contingency – Jazz improvisation between action and occurence”)

Keynote: Mark Greengrass (University of Sheffield), The Face of Friendship: The Ethics and Politics of Physiognomy in Renaissance Europe

Kommentar: Ingo Rohrer (Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg)

Section 3: Politics of Communities

Nicola Tams (Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg), Gespensterbrief. Freundschaft und Schrift in Derridas Werk unter Berücksichtigung seiner Korrespondenz
(Spectral letters. Friendship and writing in Derrida’s oeuvre considering his correspondence)

Karin Parienti (Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg), Urbane Gemeinschaftsgärtner: eine Freundschaft am ‘Rande der Politik’?
(Urban community gardens: friendships 'on the shores' of politics?)

Cristian Alvarado Leyton (Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg), Eine Leidensgemeinschaft und die Naturalisierung des Sozialen: die Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo
(A community of suffering and the naturalization of sociality: the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo)

Ringo Rösener (Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg), Dresdens ‘Pegida’, Clint Eastwoods ‘Gran Torino’ und Hannah Arendts ‘Gedanken zu Lessing’ – Überlegungen zur Aktualität des Sinns von Freundschaft
(Reflections on the timeliness of the meaning of friendship – Dresden’s ‘Pegida’, Clint Eastwood’s ‘Gran Torino’ and Hannah Arendt’s ‘Thoughts about Lessing’)

Keynote Heidrun Friese (Technische Universität Chemnitz): Gastfreundschaft. Historisch-politische Semantiken und Ambivalenzen.
(Gastfreundschaft. Historico-political semantics and ambivalence)

Panel Discussion

Moderation: Sabine Dabringhaus (Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg),
Discussants: Wolfgang Reinhard (Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg); Heike Drothbohm (Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg); Wolfgang Eßbach (Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg); Judith Schlehe (Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg); Christian Kühner (Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg),
Entwicklungen in der Nahbeziehungsforschung. Gegenwart und Zukunft eines Forschungsfeldes.