Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Identität In Schwarz Und Weiß: Die Übersetzung Der Afro-Deutschen Identität In Den Werken Von May Ayim, Mia Ver Pault

Senior Theses and Projects

Many parts of our being are attached to how we identify and with whom we identify. Theoretically, how we identify is based largely on one’s own choices, but such freedom is not always the case. Unfortunately, identity is often imposed upon one by the surrounding racial and ethnic majority. Like many non-white people in a white environment, this was the case for the German poet and activist, May Ayim. May Ayim (1960-1996) was born to a white German mother and a black Ghanian father. Although Ayim spoke German, grew up in Germany, and was fully acculturated into German society, she …

On The Loss Of One Of Audio Documentary's Most Committed Advocates: Remembering Leslie Rosin, Sven Preger

RadioDoc Review

At that moment, I think Leslie was not only really happy, but even proud. It is Tuesday evening, 18 May 2021, and we are sitting together on a table in front of the stage in a studio at the German broadcaster, WDR. Not in front of the table, not next to the table, but on the table. Our legs are dangling and we let them dangle. Because we are really exhausted. The whole team is. We have just finished the last live event on stage and we’ve actually made it. Four days of the International Feature Conference in Cologne. Sven …

The “Henry Rifle” On The German Stage: Karl May’S Depiction Of The American West As “Dark And Bloody Grounds”, Elisabeth Hostetter

College of Performing Arts Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Health Politics, Covid-19, And The Vaccine: A Comparison Of How Germany And The U.S. Cultivated Public Trust During The Covid-19 Pandemic., Kai Gundlach

CMC Senior Theses

Public trust is important during an ongoing crisis as it determines people’s compliance with government mandates and laws. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Germany and the U.S. operated with different levels of public trust and people placed their trust in different public institutions. My thesis examines how political tactics such as fear, use of science, and expert pronouncements impacted public trust and the COVID-19 response in both countries.

Brian Britt. Religion Around Walter Benjamin. The Pennsylvania State Up, 2022., Doris Mcgonagill

Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature

Review of Brian Britt. Religion Around Walter Benjamin. The Pennsylvania State UP, 2022. xvii + 233 pp.

Towards A Queer Weimar Cinema: Spaces, Narratives, And Influences, Elizabeth M. Lynch Sullivan

Senior Projects Spring 2023

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Arts of Bard College.

Zerschlagen: German Unification And Divided Identity, Harrison Quinn

Honors Theses

The Unification of East and West Germany ended one of the Cold War’s longest divides, but only on paper. After decades under a unified German state, former East Germans face lower standards of living, economic opportunities, and access to national utilities compared to their Western counterparts. This inequality stems from the bifurcated German identity, which remains largely unaddressed amid German state ambitions for a central role in international institutions. The failure to properly acknowledge East German identity and the suppression thereof demonstrates the failure of Unification to unite the German nation. Political ambitions outweighed a true reconciliation of German nationhood, …

Germans-Jewish Culture And Modern Multiculturalism In Germany (Intersession 2021), Robert D. Tobin

Syllabi

"This class studies the expression of cultural identity in central European literature. How many people come to think of themselves or others as "Germans", "Jews", "Turks", "Foreigners", "Immigrants"? While the Holocaust is obviously central to the German-Jewish relationship, it is not the only focus of this course -- we will read literary reflections of the emancipation of the Jews, of German-Jewish assimilation and symbiosis, of the rise of anti-Semitism and Zionism, as well as attempts to remember the past. And while the long history of the relationship between Jews and non-Jews in Germany will be a major component of our …

Bundesgartenschau Mannheim (1975): Sustainable Urban Development Through A Horticultural Festival, Aubrey Sofia Bader

Haslam Scholars Projects

The purpose of this research was to analyze the success of the 1975 Mannheim Bundesgartenschau (BUGA-MA), a highly visible and popular BUGA then and now, in achieving sustainable development. A BUGA is a German Federal Horticulture Show, but it is not simply a one-time exhibition; it is a full-time commitment to sustainable development in German cities and regions. BUGAs are complex undertakings, involving national and regional players, and they are fine-tuned to the sustainable needs of their respective location and culture. This presentation will outline the key tenets of sustainability addressed by BUGAs and analyze the degree of their success …

Zu Viel Zukunft!, Grace Brecht

Student Research Submissions

Punk rock developed in the 1970s and local scenes developed throughout Europe and the United States. East Germany was no exception. Despite — and because of — the brutal state-sponsored violence against and repression of anyone who did not conform to the government’s ideals, punk flourished in the Deutsche Demokratische Republik. Although the initial exposure to punk came via English punk bands on West German radio, the Eastern punks had little interest in the West and were largely anti-capitalist. Instead, they focused their attention on their own country and on the vast social reform needed there. The punks channeled their …

The Trabant And The Mercedes: A Psychological Analysis Into The Disjunction Of German Reunification, Faith Morris

Senior Theses

Ostalgie, a combination of the German words Ost (east) and Nostalgie (nostalgia), is the psychological phenomenon that describes former East Germans’ longing for a return to aspects of life from the period of communist rule. This paper explores the phenomenon of Ostalgie in reunified Germany in relation to psychological constructs of nostalgia and collective identity.

Ostalgie is essentially both a means and an end. This paper seeks to prove Ostalgie is a means of creating identity, formulated by the interplay of nostalgia and certain social conditions that combined with and aided the failure of democratic capitalism for former East …

Origins Of Religion: A Comparison Between The United States And Germany, Dawson Adams, Alexander Lorenz

University of South Carolina Upstate Student Research Journal

This research paper discusses the origins of religion in the nations of the United States and the Federal Republic of Germany. For the United States, the first religions were those of the European settlers. They brought with them Christianity, both Catholicism and Protestantism, as well as Judaism. Then, as immigration ramped up in the 19th and 20th centuries, many more religions arrived to America, such as Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, as well as many more Christian followers. These immigrants came mostly from China, Africa, the Middle East, and southern and eastern Europe. As for Germany, a significantly older nation than the …

Gustav Mahler The Protomodernist, Austin M. Doub

Musical Offerings

Steeped in a cultivated European tradition and burdened by several personal tragedies, Gustav Mahler undeniably shaped the course of classical music leading into the twentieth century. Holding fast to late Romantic stylistic conventions including complex rhythmic concepts, emotional and expansive melodies, and a strict adherence to form allowed the forward-thinking composer to seamlessly introduce modern elements into his symphonies. Through Mahler’s commanding symphonic output, the composer successfully maintained strong Austro-German stylistic principles while propelling the genre forward. In these symphonic writings, modern techniques of tonal decentralization, chromaticism, quotation, and paraphrasing are met with cohesive and compelling narratives to create balanced …

The Continued Legacy Of German Naturalness Contextualized Within A Fraught History And Issues Of Inclusion, Eleanor Grosse

Scripps Senior Theses

Contemplating the place of remembrance and history within German environmentalism has driven the idea of this thesis and its research. My central aim is to capture at least a slice of how Germans today perceive nature, environmentalism, and themselves within the context of a cultural history that contains both a national socialist and an environmental narrative. These two narratives have, during periods of German history, intersected. While I originally thought the influence of national socialist environmental thought would still penetrate Germans’ perception of nature, my findings revealed instead that German perceptions of environmentalism and ideas of nature are rooted in …

The Case Of The Forgotten Kriminalromane: Rediscovering Otto Soyka’S “Metaphysical Detective Stories”, Julia Karolle-Berg

2020 Faculty Bibliography

No abstract provided.

Nationalism And Education: A Case Study Of Germany And Japan, Sarah Vrtiska

Honors Theses

In this piece I ask the question: How has education contributed to the formation or prevention of nationalism in Germany and Japan? In examining this, after defining the standard conceptions of nationalism, I apply these definitions to pre-war and post-war Germany and Japan. Ultimately, I conclude that the goals of education, concepts of national identity that are taught, history curricula, and control of education all historically have the potential to contribute to the rise of nationalism within a country. Based on these fields, I find that although there are similar nationalist trends in both countries during the pre-war period, in …

Jennifer Evans, Paul Betts, And Stefan-Ludwig Hoffmann, Eds. The Ethics Of Seeing: Photography And Twentieth-Century German History. Berghahn Books, 2018., Richard Bodek

Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature

Review of Jennifer Evans, Paul Betts, and Stefan-Ludwig Hoffmann, eds. The Ethics of Seeing: Photography and Twentieth-Century German History. Berghahn Books, 2018. xii + 293 pp.

L'Évolution De La Présence Et La Reconnaissance Des Afro-Allemand(E)S En Allemagne, De La Colonisation Jusqu’À Nos Jours, Oumou-Hani Zakaria

Honors Theses

The history of the presence of Afro-Germans in Germany is a complex path that goes back thousands of years ago. Nevertheless, the fight to be recognized as real Germans was only taken serious in 1980, with the arrival of Audre Lorde, an American writer, feminist, womanist, librarian, and civil rights activist, to Germany. Audre Lorde initiated the Afro-German movement with Afro-German women including May Ayim, Dagmar Schultz, Katharina Oguntoye, Ika Hügel-Marshall, and many others. Before her arrival, Afro-Germans were alienated from society and were only referred to as “war babies,” “occupation babies,” and many other racist names. So this movement …

Kiez Kieken: Observations Of Berlin, Vol. 2, Spring 2018, Maria Ebner, Paula Begonja, Evan Biancardi, Elodie Huston, Mckenna Lahr, Sophie Lee, Mackenzie Norton, Ann Pekata, Catherine Rabus, Timothy Uy

Modern Languages and Literatures Student Publications

With this journal Kiez kieken: Observations of Berlin the students’ articles of the course Berlin Tales: Germany’s Kiez and Metropolis taught by Prof. Maria Ebner are being published to open up classroom discourse to a broader academic community. Topics have been chosen individually by each student and involved first-hand fieldwork research in Berlin, Germany, between March 21^st and March 28^th of 2018 as well as continuous individual research throughout the course of the semester.

Slumming With Cindy: Class, Precarity, And Performance In Cindy Aus Marzahn’S Trash Comedy, Kathrin M. Bower

Languages, Literatures, and Cultures Faculty Publications

The restructuring of unemployment and welfare benefits under Hartz IV hit former East Germans already suffering economically since unification particularly hard, forcing many into a condition of precarity for which the governing ideology held them responsible. Frustrated in her search for suitable work, Ilka Bessin adapted the self-management model advocated by the reforms to transform her story of marginalization and failure into a comedy success as Ossi trash princess Cindy aus Marzahn. Cultivated by commercial television, Bessin’s Cindy was a product, purveyor, and critic of Germany’s neoliberal economic policies, illustrating the fraught, collusive relationship between politics and popular culture.

Sebald Beham And The Augsburg Printer Niclas Vom Sand: New Documents On Printing And Frankfurt Before 1550, Alison Stewart

School of Art, Art History, and Design: Faculty Publications and Creative Activity

This essay makes known two unpublished documents from the last years of the life of Sebald Beham (1500 Nuremberg–1550 Frankfurt) and uses them as a means to explore Beham’s relationship to printing, the town of Frankfurt, and the Augsburg printer Niclas vom Sand, who remains an unwritten part of the history of the period. The essay is organized as an autobiographical retrospective by an older man forced in prior decades to move from Nuremberg and seek employment and a new life elsewhere. The end of the essay evaluates the documents and aspects of them.

“Ewig ‘Schön’”: Politics And Poetics In The Work And Correspondence Of Sarah Kirsch And Helga Novak, Sophia J. Logan

Senior Projects Fall 2018

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Languages and Literature of Bard College.

An Artist As Soldier: Seeking Refuge In Love And Art, Barbara S. Heisler

Gettysburg College Faculty Books

At the center of this book are the World War II letters (Feldpostbriefe) of a German artist and art teacher to his wife. While Bernhard Epple’s letters to his wife, Gudrun, address many of the topics usually found in war letters (food, lodging conditions, the weather, problems with the mail service, requests for favors from home), they are unusual in two respects. Each letter is lovingly decorated with a drawing and the letters make few references to the war itself. In addition to many personal communications and expressions of love for his wife and children, Epple writes about …

Hard Times; Hard Duties; Hard Hearts; The Volksgemeinschaft As An Indicator Of Identity Shift, Kaitlin Hampshire

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

How can one nation define an ideal community? The Reich’s Propaganda Ministry of Nazi Germany knew. No cultivation of community, or Volksgemeinschaft in the case of Nazi Germany, is complete without the use of propaganda. Nazi propaganda posters played several different roles in the formation of the community, such as maintaining the military, as well as labor forces not in the military, perpetuating anti-Soviet and anti-Jew feelings, creating the Führer myth, and gaining the support of Germany’s youth. All of the messages displayed in the posters identified the values of the members of the ‘National Community’ or Volksgemeinschaft.

Propaganda posters …

Identifying Elements Of Kinder- Und Jugendliteratur, Clara G. Hendrickson, Joshua D. Pearson, Brice J. Montgomery, Natalie M. Lien, Marcella B. Moorman, Anna T. Kaster, Elizabeth J. Carraher, Annis N. Shaver

The Research and Scholarship Symposium (2013-2019)

Kinder- und Jugendliteratur, children’s literature written for the purpose of teaching or entertaining young people, has been present in German literature since the Middle Ages. This genre has changed as German literature progressed, reflecting the developments of each era, including such periods as the Romantic, the Biedermeier, Realism, Modernism and Postmodernism. As such, we examined individual works of German Kinder- und Jugendliteratur for the purpose of identifying distinctive features which situate them within children’s literature as well as in the respective historical genre. The works examined were Nußknacker und Mausekönig (1816) by E. T. A. Hoffmann, Emil und die Detektive …

Juristische Und Epische Verfremdung. Fritz Bauers Kritik Am Frankfurter Auschwitz-Prozess (1963–1965) Und Peter Weiss’ Dramatische Prozessbearbeitung Die Ermittlung. Oratorium In 11 Gesängen (1965), Kerstin Steitz

World Languages and Cultures Faculty Publications

Beginning with the influences of Schiller's humanist ideals on Hessian Attorney General Fritz Bauer's expectations of the Frankfurt Auschwitz trial as legal working through of the past, this article compares the Holocaust narrative created by the West German criminal trial to Peter Weiss's reworking of the transcripts Die Ermittlung. Oratorium in 11 Gesangen. The article aims to show that literature is able to convey and commemorate aspects of the Holocaust that German criminal law misrepresents and omits.

Learning To Live With The Other Germany In The Post-Wall Federal Republic, Kathrin M. Bower

Languages, Literatures, and Cultures Faculty Publications

After forty years of separation, neither the West Germans nor the East Germans were prepared for the impact of reunification. But had the peoples of the two countries developed separate cultural identities to such an extent that the dissolution of the border represented merely the illusion of a return to sociocultural community? Since the collapse of the East German state in 1989 and the subsequent suturing of divided Germany in 1990, scores of books and articles have been published on the economic and political conditions that led inexorably, or less so, to the demise of the GDR, as well as …

Mauricio Kagel And His Multifaceted Lieder-Oper, Aus Deutschland, Petra Elek

Senior Projects Spring 2016

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Languages and Literature of Bard College.

Bedecke Deinen Himmel, Zeus! Goethe And The Quest For Individual Sovereignty, Anthony D. Magestro

Journal of Undergraduate Research at Minnesota State University, Mankato

This project examines Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Die Leiden des jungen Werther (The Sorrows of Young Werther, 1774) and his early poetry and their influence on the German literary movement of Sturm und Drang (Storm and Stress, 1770-1785). As a reaction to the rise of rationalism, Goethe’s texts embody the value of raw, subjective emotion versus logical, objective understanding of the preceding Enlightenment period. Through his literature, Goethe challenges the status quo of absolute rule of church and state as well as humanity’s relationship with God: are we bound to the laws of the Almighty’s design or are …

„I Am God“ Und „Femen Akbar“: Die Beziehung Der Aktivistischen Frauenrechtsbewegung Femen Zu Christentum Und Islam, Lisa Breddermann

Masters Theses

Feminist movements that arose in the early 2000s have triggered renewed discussions in academia and in the media about the validity and the future of feminism in the 21^st century. One important protest group in the context of post – and popfeminism is the group FEMEN, a feminist protest group that originated in Ukraine. Research has already begun to discuss FEMEN’s protest forms and their ideologies, and their bare-breasted calls for the demolition of patriarchy. So far, researchers mostly concentrated on the question if FEMEN are feminists and if FEMEN’s naked protest is effectively reaching their goal to liberate …