The journal À propos aims to disseminate research in the social sciences and humanities carried out by Franco-German research institutions. The Centre interdisciplinaire d’études et de recherche sur l’Allemagne (CIERA), the Centre Marc Bloch (CMB), the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD France), the Fondation Maison des sciences de l’homme (FMSH), the Institut franco-allemand de sciences historiques et sociales (IFRA-SHS) and the Maison interuniversitaire des sciences de l’homme – Alsace (MISHA) at the University of Strasbourg have joined forces to create this interdisciplinary Franco-German journal. Its aim is to put into perspective and debate important and current themes in the humanities and social sciences in France and Germany, without limiting itself to “French” and “German” or even French- and German-speaking subjects. Based on the practice of interdisciplinary research in SSH in these two countries, the journal aims to analyse our European societies not only in terms of their complexity and their historical and contemporary differences (political, economic, legal, or cultural), but also in terms of mutual transnational influences and their interweaving with global dynamics.
In each issue, a Franco-German perspective is ensured both with regard to the authors from the two linguistic areas and scientific cultures and by the references to the scientific debates in the two countries in each article. This Franco-German approach ensures that research perspectives are broadened through recourse to other literature and through different constellations that provide a salutary shift in perspective away from purely national debates.
The plurality of perspectives represented by the journal is also guaranteed by the plurality of disciplines. The interdisciplinary perspective brings together political science, sociology, history, art history, geography, and anthropology, as well as law and economics, philosophy, and literary studies. In this way, we give priority for publication to dossiers and articles that deal with issues in an interdisciplinary way and engage with current scientific debates in France and Germany.
Finally, À propos intends to serve as a laboratory for new formats of scientific communication in order to promote an open multilingual journal model. While it uses English or full translations of articles, which have already been tried and tested in the field of scientific publication, the journal is also seeking to define and deploy an innovative linguistic strategy through its “syntheses”, which summarise each article in the journal in the other language. À propos aims to be a multilingual journal, accessible to readership without full mastery of French and German.