The contribution is aimed at surveying the history of French Cultural Studies, subdiscipline within German Romanistik (‚Romance Studies‘). Its goal is to demonstrate in which extent the interests both in research and in teaching have been conditioned – according to the given prevailing historical and social conditions – by the requirements of imparting orientation knowledge on the one hand, scientific paradigm shifts on the other, but also by the calculated instrumentalization in favour of public respectively ideological changes. The following seven phases are specifically discussed: (1) The formation of Romanistik, (2) the dichotomy between French Realienkunde (‚Realia Studies‘) and the critically questioning Kulturkunde (‚Cultural Studies‘), (3) the long lasting dominance of the Wesenskunde (knowledge of the specific frenchmens’ nature and its cultural manifestations), (4) the brutal strenghtening of the antagonisticdisparaging sort of Wesenskunde during the Nazi period, (5) a modern accentuation of Realienkunde, (6) the strong tendency to explore French culture beyond historical, sociological and political interests of knowledge, (7) finally, the epochal paradigm shift in ‚Cultural Studies‘.
