Albrecht Classen: Why German Studies Today?
The first guest commentary in our Mission Possible series of hot takes on the purpose of German Studies comes courtesy of Dr. Albrecht Classen, Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of German Studies at the University of Arizona. His response to the question, “Why study German today?”, is an elegant reflection on the […]
Acts of Border Crossing in G. W. Pabst’s Comradeship (Kameradschaft, 1931)
On October 8, 2020, Yiddishkayt, an organization dedicated to the presentation and broadcasting of the legacy of Jewish culture, held a panel discussion on German film director Georg Wilhelm Pabst’s 1931 classic, Comradeship (Kameradschaft), as part of the organization’s LAYKA Lens film discussion series. Boris Dralyuk (Executive Editor, Los Angeles Review of Books) moderated the conversation […]
Mission Possible: Why German Studies Today?
Building on existing synergies in the Department of German at the University of California, Berkeley discussed at a recent workshop, the Multicultural Germany Project (MGP) invites you to submit brief takes responding to the question “Mission Possible: Why German Studies Today?” These short and spiffy takes on your stakes in the field of approx. 600 words length can […]
Workshop on Archival Resistance and the Purpose of German Studies
What might the purpose of German studies be in the face of global gloom and doom? On September 26, 2020, the Multicultural Germany Project (MGP) addressed this question in a workshop organized by Kumars Salehi, Michael Sandberg, Jonas Teupert, and Deniz Göktürk in conversation with Annika Orich (Assistant Professor of German at Georgia Tech, alumna of the […]
Das Comeback der Promis ist ganz Pop
The following post was adapted from schook, a blog by students in the Fall 2019 seminar “German Pop Culture” at UC Berkeley. In this piece, Lianette Alnaber analyzes the motif of the hip-hop comeback in the first video in three years by Afghan-German rapper SSIO. SSIO, ein deutscher Rapper afghanischer Abstammung, hat am 26. September und […]
Apache 207 und seine goldenen Nike-Rollschuhe
The following post was adapted from schook, a blog by students in the Fall 2019 seminar “German Pop Culture” at UC Berkeley. In this piece, Lianette Alnaber examines the significance of consumer branding in constructing the persona of Turkish-German rapper Apache 207. Apache 207, ein deutscher Rapper und Sänger mit türkischen Wurzeln, ist in den letzten […]
Hip-Hop: Afroamerikanisch und Global
The following post was adapted from schook, a blog by students in the Fall 2019 seminar “German Pop Culture” at UC Berkeley. In this piece, Ray Savord examines the aesthetic and political development and impact of hip-hop since its inception, noting how the worldwide influence of black American culture has brought out new sounds in […]
Rapper sein, der neue Pop-Trend?
The following post was adapted from schook, a blog by students in the Fall 2019 seminar “German Pop Culture” at UC Berkeley. In this piece, Kian Jansepar unpacks the thematic complexities of German rap as the scene negotiates its relationship to gangster imagery alongside its growing popularity. Vor einem Jahr, wurde die beliebte TV Serie […]
Transit
With actors Frank Rogowski and Paul Beer. Premier German auteur Christian Petzold’s adaptation of the 1942 Anna Seghers’s novel follows Georg (Rogowski), a young Jewish man who flees the Nazis to France with the identity and papers of a dead author, only to meet and fall in love a woman searching for her missing husband […]
Zuhaus unter Fremden
With actors Herbert Grönemeyer, Aysun Bademsoy and Meray Ülgen. In this early made-for-TV engagement with migration and multiculturalism, a young Turkish-German woman, Ayshe (Bademsoy), meets and falls in love with Bernd (Grönemeyer), but is at odds with her father (Ülgen) over not just her love for a German man but over her preference for Germany […]