In June 2008, researchers at the Universities of Göttingen and Hamburg began an interdisciplinary project on cultural property supported by funds from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. The research team is composed of scholars in cultural anthropology/european ethnology, economics, ethnology, commercial and international law. These six linked projects are devoted to the question of how cultural property is constituted, focusing on actors, discourses, contexts and rules.

The contributions in this bulletin are designed to give an overview of the research project, provide reports from the first phase of fieldwork as well as allow for an insight into the interdisciplinary workings of the research group.

The project webpage informs in detail about the plan of research. The project blog offers space for ongoing thoughts and exchange as well as for input from interested members of the community of cultural property and cultural property rights researchers.

Homepage: http://www.uni-goettingen.de/en/86656.html
Blog: http://www.cultural-property.org

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Contributions
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Regina Bendix, Institute for Cultural Anthropology/European Ethnology, Georg-August-University Göttingen
The Göttingen Research Group on Cultural Property
URL: http://www.cultural-property.org/2009/the-gottingen-research-group-on-cultural-property

Kilian Bizer, Chair of Economic Policy and SME Research, Georg-August-University Göttingen
Why WIPO? – Minimal Moves and Sudden Changes in the Making of Cultural Property Rights
URL: http://www.cultural-property.org/2009/why-wipo

Lena Sinn, Institute for International Law and European Law, Georg-August-University Göttingen
The WIPO Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC – GRTKF)
URL: http://www.cultural-property.org/2009/wipo_igc_on_ip_and_grtkf

Stefan Groth, Institute for Cultural Anthropology/European Ethnology, Georg-August-University Göttingen
WIPO’s IGC on GRTKF – An Anthropological Perspective
URL: http://www.cultural-property.org/2009/anthropological-perspective

Matthias Lankau, Chair of Economic Policy and SME Research, Georg-August-University Göttingen
The WIPO Field Research from the Economic Perspective
URL: http://www.cultural-property.org/2009/wipo-field-research-from-the-economic-perspective

Arnika Peselmann, Institute for Cultural Anthropology/European Ethnology, Georg-August-University Göttingen
Disciplinary Methods and Interdisciplinary Collaboration. Or: What is a "participant observation"? And who faces a "regulatory choice problem"?
URL: http://www.cultural-property.org/2009/disciplinary-methods-and-interdisciplinary-collaboration

Johannes Müske, Institute for Cultural Anthropology/European Ethnology, University of Hamburg
Focus: Interdisciplinarity in Research Groups
URL: http://www.cultural-property.org/2009/focus-interdisciplinarity-in-research-groups