"The Humanities have always been pioneers to internationalization"

There is a quick, clear answer to any question about his roots: Abitur in Schweinfurt (Bavaria), then university studies, PhD and a professorship at the Universities of Erlangen, Canterbury, Cambridge and Cologne. But when asked about his cultural identity, Dr. Hans Beck, Professor of Ancient History and recipient of the Anneliese Meier Research Prize 2015 awarded by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, has to stop and think. For ten years now he and his family have been living in Montreal, Canada, since he accepted the offer of a professorship at McGill University there in 2005. Juliane Albrecht spoke to Hans Beck about his life in the different academic worlds, and about the Research Prize designed to advance the internationalization of Humanities and the Social Sciences in Germany - and which occasionally brings him to Münster University. Did you have this longing for faraway places or for a change of scenery and cultures from an early age? - Right from my early days as a student I was lucky enough to be able to combine my studies with fascinating stays abroad, and this continued right through to when I became a professor. When I got the offer from McGill University in Canada, there wasn't really any question of a longing for faraway places. Shortly before, I had been in Washington DC for some time, so crossing the Atlantic wasn't such a big step in my mind. But I have to admit that slipping from one culture into another is still something that fascinates me. In the field of natural sciences everyone accepts that everything has to be done in English and that it has a global dimension. But how do internationalization and the Humanities go together for you?