The influence of the topographical turn is reflected in a number of research initiatives in the department. Our projects address a variety of issues that cover regional, national and postcolonial identities in Britain and the English-speaking world. Here, the focus rests on the representation of landscapes and cityscapes which are endowed with cultural meanings that construct, maintain and circulate myths and histories of national and regional cultures. Individual research activities explore institutional phenomena such as the prison (Wächter), the utopian/dystopian (de)construction of liminal spaces like the shore (Singer), nostalgic reappropriation in political and cultural spaces (Wirth), the 17th-century ritual of the Lord Mayor Show in London (Ehland), the (de)construction and mutual dependency of home and colonial spaces in 19th-century fiction or the spatial dimension in the work of contemporary British photographers (Tönnies).
Members of the department are engaged in a number of initiatives in the field of the study of cultural spaces: the international book series Spatial Practices (Brill Publishing) is edited by members of the department who also maintain close contact with research groups such as the Critical Topography Group in Canada and the US.