Der Rat der Götter (The Council of the Gods)
Der Rat der Götter (Council of the Gods) is a film set in East Germany during World War II and is based on the testimonies from the Nuremberg Trials. The film attempts to reveal the secret plotting of war with under-the-table deals between American capitalist and German oil companies that play an opportunists role in […]
Market citizenship : experiments in democracy and globalization
In her book Market Citizenship Experiments in Democracy and Globalization Amanda Root first explores the question, “What is citizenship?” The answer, which she derives from an ancient Athenian view on citizenship, is the active participation of a private person in the public sphere, more specifically, the polis or city-state. Root looks to the Athenian model […]
Jerichow
Directed by Christian Petzold, Jerichow (2008) is a dark yet intriguing portrayal of a young German soldier’s struggle to cope with life after his mother’s death. At the beginning of the film, the young soldier Thomas (Benno Furmann) is unemployed and out of cash. He then obtains a seasonal job through the unemployment agency as […]
Liberalität ist anstengend
In the April 3, 2010 issue of Der Spiegel there was an article interviewing Bundesverfassungsrichter Di Fabio about the increasing controversy about freedom of religion within Germany concerning the Muslim communities. He claims that the modern concerns about religion, and the increasing involvement of the more secular communities within this debate, stem from the prominence […]
The German Way Expat Blog
The German Way Expat Blog is a website with entries written by four Americans living in Germany and raising families. Some topics addressed include the raising of multilingual children and the integration or non-integration of expat communities, though the website also covers a wide variety of topics ranging from politics to history. This blog is […]
Multicultural misunderstandings: Impressions from a Canadian debate and a few lessons for Germany
In his article entitled “Multicultural Misunderstands: Impressions from a Canadian debate and a few lessons from Germany”, Lars von Törne addresses how much of the Western World has started to believe the misconception that multiculturalism is a failed concept and why such a view is incorrect. To start, Törne focuses on the extent of the […]
A Handfull of Stars
Rafik Schami’s young adult novel A Hand Full of Stars details three years of a young Syrian boy’s life as he attempts to come into his own during the turbulent decades that ensued after Syrian independence in 1946. The book shows the difficulties of life under an unstable government, whose leadership was constantly changing due […]
Plantation Memories. Episodes of everyday racism
In Grada Kilomba’s Plantation Memories: Episodes of Everyday Racism, the Black male subject has been further complicated by the persistent cultivation of the Black female subject, who, in the case of Kilomba is also directly engaged in the process of knowledge production, like so many of her female counterparts. Kilomba writes, “ this study seeks […]
Homesickness
Homesickness by Ingo Cesaro they gather in waiting rooms and on train platforms like migratory birds in autumn loudly gesticulating as the great journey were about to begin they embrace when the long distance express leaves the station without them and weep their way back into cold reality
Brothers Keepers’ Song “Triple Rois”
The song “Triple Rois” (Drei Koenige/Three Kings) contains the voices of three distinct cultures speaking from three distinct vantage points, yet all sharing the same message. This song speaks mainly to the disenfranchisement and alienation felt by those who do not feel that they fit into the dominant cultural paradigm of their country of residence. […]