UNI NOVA – Research Magazine of the University of Basel

• 
  Research

  Kitsch speaks straight to the soul.

  Text: Christoph Dieffenbacher / Superficial, saccharine and sentimental — people are usually being disparaging when they describe a piece of music as “kitsch.” This hackneyed term has been in use for some 150 years and is the subject of research by a Basel musicologist, who has made some surprising discoveries.

• 
  Research

  Therapy straight from the chicken coop and the pigpen.

  Text: Yvonne Vahlensieck / At a Basel-based clinic for rehabilitation, sheep, chickens and other animals help patients return to normal life. The clinic also conducts practical research on animal-assisted therapy. Our visit to the animal experts of this cutting-edge field.

• 
  Research

  Emotions as key to the Middle East conflict.

  Text: Stephanie Kirchmayr / Many consider the conflict between Israel and Palestine as intractable. Political scientist and social psychologist Oliver Fink investigates the role of emotions such as humiliation and empathy in this seemingly irreconcilable struggle. To undertake his project, Fink lived and worked in Jerusalem for three years.

• 
  Alumni

  A historian in the age of the data deluge.

  Interview: Bettina Volz-Tobler / Historian Franziska Bühler of the Swiss Federal Statistical Office is responsible for coordinating the exchange of population data between the Swiss residents’ registers and Federal Statistical Office. Bühler serves as Section Head of sedex and Register Development, and she and her team play a key role in Switzerland’s federal data management.

• 
  Alumni

  On being human in Africa.

  Text: Divine Fuh / Divine Fuh completed his doctorate at the University of Basel from 2005 until 2009 at the Institute of Social Anthropology and Center for African Studies. Today, he is director of the Institute for Humanities in Africa (HUMA) at the University of Cape Town.

• 
  Column

  Science meets the culinary arts.

  Text: Michael Podvinec / My book: Molecular biologist Michael Podvinec recommends two favorite books from his cookbook collection.

• 
  Dossier

  From male provider to marriage for all.

  Text: Christoph Dieffenbacher / What exactly constitutes a family is mostly determined by society – with genetics and reproductive medicine also playing an increasingly prominent role. The legal system is hard pressed to keep up, and laws have to be regularly revised.

• 
  Dossier

  Role models in conflict situations.

  Text: Pascale Hofmeier / Arguments and disputes are a part of everyday family life. They only really become a problem if they are chronically destructive – as Dr. Letizia Gauck and her colleagues observe on a daily basis at the Center for Developmental and Personality Psychology.

• 
  Dossier

  Loving fathers and education at home.

  Text: Eva Mell / Two historians are studying the role of knowledge transmission and emotions in Basel families of the eighteenth century. Research has long overlooked the fact that the Enlightenment was focused not only on reason, but also on emotions.