The Leibniz Prize is awarded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and is considered the most important research funding prize in Germany. In addition to Prof. Dr. Anita Traninger, nine other scientists were awarded the prize. The award winners can use the funds for their research according to their own ideas and without bureaucratic hurdles for a period of seven years.

The DFG comments on its funding decision: "Anita Traninger is being awarded the Leibniz Prize for her internationally recognized studies in early modern Romance studies. These combine philology, rhetoric, history of science and history of media in an innovative way to open up the dynamics of cultural and knowledge transfer in a new perspective. In particular, her understanding of rhetoric as a historically variable ensemble of media-bound practices is groundbreaking in light of the traditional but still widespread notion of rhetoric as a rigid set of rules. Against a background of profound knowledge of historical texts and contexts, Traninger consistently challenges the seemingly fixed epochal boundaries of antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the early modern period. In her work, teleological models of history are replaced by networks and overlaps; in short, she makes the complexity of historical action in and with language concretely tangible. Traninger is one of the key international figures in Romance Studies in a global context, who has succeeded in repositioning the field in an interdisciplinary way."

To read the full announcement in German language, click here.