Since 2017, the Ibero-Amerikanisches Institut (IAI) has been participating in the Maria Sibylla Merian Centre Conviviality-Inequality in Latin America (MECILA (external link, opens in a new window)) alongside Freie Universität Berlin, the Universität zu Köln, and partners in Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico, where it is responsible for the subproject “Mecila: Medialities of Conviviality and Information Infrastructure”.
The collaborative project, headquartered in São Paulo (Brazil), is funded by the Bundesministerium für Forschung, Technologie und Raumfahrt (BMFTR (external link, opens in a new window)). Following the preliminary phase (2017–2020) and the main phase (2020–2026), which ends on March 31, 2026, the final phase of MECILA, running from April 1, 2026, to March 31, 2029, has now been approved by the BMFTR.
International Research Networks as Shared Learning Spaces and Innovation Labs
Conducting research together offers opportunities to shift perspectives and builds strong networks. The international centres for advanced studies in the humanities and social sciences MECILA focuses on coexistence in diverse and unequal societies.
The IAI subproject “Medialities of Conviviality and Information Infrastructure” analyses through the lens of inequality-difference processes of co-production, circulation and appropiation of knowledge, imaginaries and representations. This includes movements of persons, ideas, values and objects. The digital transformation is shaping the medialities of conviviality in new and unprecedented ways, reducing inequalities but also producing new inequalities. The role of new media will also be of interest for this Research Area.
Connecting Information Infrastructures
The IAI, home to one of the world’s largest research libraries on Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain, and Portugal, coordinates, among other things, the interconnection of information infrastructures, which plays a key role in the preservation and dissemination of knowledge. In this context, the Electronic Reading Room is being further expanded. The project plays a key role in the ongoing internationalization of the IAI’s library.
Knowledge Circulation and International Exchange
The MECILA Annual Meeting and Young Researcher Forum , Thematic Workshops and a planned symposium on collection institutions serve to facilitate discussion and raise the profile of research findings within academic communities. The Lecture Series Diversity/Medialities organized by the IAI and MECILA, also invites a broader audience to engage with voices from academia, culture, and society in Latin America.
A Shift in Perspective and Strong Networks
All participating institutions are involved in the management and coordination of MECILA as a transnational research network. Until the end of March 2026, Christoph Müller, Deputy Library Director at the IAI, will remain at MECILA’s headquarters in the São Paulo Hub as German Director in residence. The institutions participating in MECILA are the Freie Universität Berlin (external link, opens in a new window) (General Coordination), the IAI, the Universität zu Köln (external link, opens in a new window), the Universidade de São Paulo (external link, opens in a new window) (Brasilien), the Centro Brasileiro de Análise e Planejamento (external link, opens in a new window) (São Paulo, Brasilien), the Instituto de Investigaciones en Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales (external link, opens in a new window) (CONICET (external link, opens in a new window) / Universidad Nacional de La Plata (external link, opens in a new window), Argentinien) and El Colegio de México (external link, opens in a new window) (Mexiko-Stadt).
Learning from One Another
As a long-term initiative focused on contributing to collaborative solutions for global challenges, MECILA also has a wide-ranging impact on the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz (external link, opens in a new window) (SPK, Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation), of which the IAI is a part.
