Die zweite Heimat (Leaving Home)
With actors Hermann Simon, Clarissa Lichtblau The movie consist of 13 separate episodes each handling a period between 1960 and 1970. The length of these periods varies from one day to some years. It tells the story of a group of people in Munich (mostly music and film students). Every episode focuses on a different […]
Poetry Without A Face
Full Story Here Since the age of 12, Hissa Hilal has been writing poetry, although secretly in the years of her childhood. A Saudi Arabian woman, she is not allowed to sit in public without her husband or another family-related male, is prohibited from driving, and must cover her entire body and face with the […]
Muhabbet, R’nBesk Singer
Link to Website Here “R’nBesk” music, a new mix of arabesk music, R’nB and hip hop was first created and brought to the world of German-Turkish music by singer Muhabbet. His music video, found by clicking on his photo on the website linked above is titled “Ich Will Nicht Gehen” (I don’t want to go”). […]
Step Into German
Link to Website Here This website is designed as a sort of multicultural exchange for English speakers for Germany and the cultural and social representations of music. The sight touts its intentions with “Explore music made in Germany!” and “Find out why German rocks!” on the front page. A map with cities in Germany is […]
Fake Cheese and Schnapps: Training the Unemployed
Full Story Here The city of Hamburg is now training long-term unemployed residents how to work in a super-market environment training for a job in the real world. As found in Der Spiegel, April 2, 2010, the article does not specify what the citizenship status is of the individuals taking part in the program, nor […]
Burhan Qurbani’s “Shahada”
What is Islam? What does it mean to be a good Muslim? Link to Video Here The 2:04-minute trailer to the film “Shahada,” release date as of yet unknown, opens with two very evocative questions relevant to much of the multi-cultural world today. This German film, featured at the 60th Berlin International Film Festival, was […]
Jakob Arjouni’s “and still DRINK MORE!”
The protagonist of Jakob Arjouni’s fictional detective story and still DRINK MORE! is German-Turkish private detective Kemel Kayankaya. The story-line, although relatively simple, follows Kayankaya and his search, bottle by bottle of consumed Vodka and Schnapps, and pack by pack of cigarettes, to find the missing “fifth person” of a crime scene in and around […]
Adults Only, Please.
In a nation with a very low birth rate, and many incentives given by the government to reproduce as many German babies as possible, one cafe in Germany stands alone, fighting against the ever-pervading sound of a child’s scream. As reported in Der Spiegel, March 5th, 2010, Cafe Niesen in Prenzlauer Berg, Berlin has established […]
Racial and Ethnic Diversity in Secondary and Postsecondary German Textbooks
This article by David Ilett, on the visual and informational content of diversity and ethnicity in German textbooks, is a very thorough and comprehensive analysis of the topic. Although relatively fundamental, the article does highlight the issues related to educating on a topic surrounded by such ‘political correctness,’ as cultural diversity. In focusing on an […]
The Best of (German) Turk Hip-Hop Top 10
Link to Video Here A compilation of Turkish German hip/hop rap songs, the video “the Best of (German) Turk Hip-Hop Top 10” displays a very stimulating presentation, from its title to the lyrics of the songs. Before the music even begins, the title of the video clip bears evidence of the national emphasis placed by […]