Qualitative Literary and Media Interaction Research

(Inter-)action-theoretical Foundation

The objects of literature and culture studies, "the works", are understood as personal acts of self-expression in which individuals articulate themselves vis-à-vis "others" and the societal whole. The "works" are thus (inter-) actional phenomena, which means that they are of an intentional, communicative, and also – of course – of a mental nature and aim at being "comprehended" by "others".

By the same token, these "works" are understood in context of the intentional acts of reading and subjective text-comprehension, in the wake of which the texts are mentally and socially appropriated by individuals and groups. 'Appropriating' means that the reading is integrated into the biographical experience of the reader and becomes an integral part of her/his life history. At the same time the texts are interlaced with contemporary societal discourses and narration patterns – which constitute them as “works” to begin with.

Hence, the object matter of the scholarly endeavour to “comprehend” the “works” is: intentional verbal acts of aesthetic communication – be it on the level of expression or reading, in other words the object matter is: aesthetic interactions in which people attempt to “comprehend” and “confront someone other than oneself”. This entails the necessity to put the humanities on an (inter-)action theoretical foundation and provide it with the appropriate methods so that they may both surpass text-theoretical concepts of literature and media and conduct methodologically solid research in qualitative-empirical culture studies.
[Dissertation (2008a/b), Against the Concept of Cultural Trauma (2008n), with Wulf Kansteiner: Remembering Violence (2008o)]