CENTRE FOR THE HISTORY OF INTERCULTURAL RELATIONS (CHIR)

The Centre for the History of Intercultural Relations is an interdisciplinary research centre at KU Leuven Kulak. The centre explicitly aims to put cultural analyses in general and the study of intercultural relations in particular, in a historical perspective. At this, migration functions as an exemplary field of study.

In order to fully grasp the complexity and the varied manifestations of the construction of intercultural relations, an interdisciplinary approach is imperative. This allows for a breaching and transcending of traditional academic and intellectual divisions, the discovery of new lines of research and establishment of new partnerships, and the creaton of innovative concepts and insights. Thus, one of the main objectives is to provide a rightful and legitimate space for the analysis of the cultural dimensions of identity construction.

Besides the marked interdisciplinary perspective, the CHIR is characterized by its cross-border approach. Embedded in several transregional partnerships and situated in a frontier position at the meeting point of Flanders, Wallonia and the North of France, the research centre largelay deals with the historical study of intercultural relations in border regions, wich are often privileged places of migrant settlement and hence cultural crossroads par excellence.