Metten, Thomas2019-03-132019-03-132016https://mediarep.org/handle/doc/4332The article focuses on the founding narratives of Kulturwissenschaft/en in Germany (studies of culture) that have been addressed in the last decades. According to these narratives, Kulturwissenschaft/en are either described as the result of a fundamental crisis of the humanities or as the result of a radical transformation of the lifeworld since the 19th century. These narratives, however, have not lead to an epistemological foundation of German Kulturwissenschaft/en. Against this background, the article outlines in which ways Kulturwissenschaft as a discipline can be understood as an academic reflexion based on experiences of otherness and difference. Therefore, it will be argued that an epistemology of Kulturwissenschaft may provide a broader framework reflecting the complex and conflictual relation of academic research and culture as well as media as essential conditions of cultural knowledge.deuCreative Commons Attribution Non Commercial No Derivatives 3.0 Genericcrisis in the humanitiestransformation of lifeworldsGerman studies of cultureepistemology of studies of culturemedia criticismKriseGeisteswissenschaftdeutsche KulturwissenschaftenEpistemologieMedienkritikKultur30610.25969/mediarep/358410.1515/kwg-2016-00022451-1765