Film Review: The Swissmakers (Die Schweizermacher)
Posted in conjunction with the course Multicultural Germany in fall semester 2015. Author: Karla Palos The 1978 film Die Schweizermacher (The Swissmakers) is a good cop/bad cop comedy directed by Rolf Lyssy which dramatizes the bureaucratic exchanges between immigration officials and immigrants applying for Swiss citizenship. The film focuses on two officials: Walo Lüönd, who plays […]
Multicultural Germany Course: Week 4 Summary (Sept. 21 & 23)
Who defines identity? Germany’s struggle with inclusivity. This last week in class, we discussed the limits of Germany’s capacity to take in immigrants and what it means to be German. Proponents of reducing the number of foreigners in Germany believe that the “boat” of Germany’s capacity for incorporation of foreigners is “full.” To these native-born […]
The End of Migration As We Knew It
On October 4, 2015, a panel on “Ethnography and the Study of Diversity in Germany” held in Washington, D.C., questioned paradigms of research on transnational migration and diversity, focusing on the impossibility of containing these categories within nation-based frameworks of analysis. As part of a series of five panels on “Ethnography and German Studies,” organized […]
Multicultural Germany Course: Summary of the First Two Weeks
To summarize the first two weeks of the seminar “Multicultural Germany” (fall 2015) it is best to start off with the participants: One third of the class is exchange students, mostly from Germany. Due to this the class can benefit from the insights and background information these students bring to the table. Another bonus is […]
Multicultural Germany Course, Fall Semester 2015
This course addresses questions of mobility and borders in our increasingly connected and disjointed world. We will approach the history of post-World War II Germany through the lens of migration, reading a variety of texts critically and relating them to broader questions of economic and cultural globalization: the long term consequences of “guest worker” recruitment; […]
Müll im Garten Eden (Garbage in the Garden of Eden)
This documentary follows villagers in Turkey’s Black Sea village of Çamburnu as they struggle with the central government’s decision to turn establish a garbage dump in the hills above their community. The film is not currently for sale in the US. Links: IMDB, Official Site, Film-portal Genre(s): Documentary Theme(s): Democracy; Activism; Spatial or Temporal Spaces and Borders;
Film Review: “Born in Absurdistan”
As part of the Multicultural Germany undergraduate seminar at UC Berkeley, students reviewed recent German films relating in various ways to topics of migration, multiculturalism, and contemporary German identity. Tanja Mehlo reviewed the 1999 film “Geboren in Absurdistan” (Born in Absurdistan): Geboren in Absurdistan, a 1999 Austrian drama film directed by Houchang and Tom-Dariusch Allahyari and […]
Multicultural Germany Class: Multilingualism
This post is part of a series in which students reflect on their discussions in the UC Berkeley undergraduate seminar “Multicultural Germany.” This week’s summary is by Treasure Nguyen: During the tenth week of class we delved into language, exploring multilingualism, literature, and debates about the institutionalization of a language in a nation’s constitution. We […]
Multicultural Germany Class: Week 4, Defining “German”
This post is part of a series in which students reflect on their discussions in the UC Berkeley undergraduate seminar “Multicultural Germany.” This week’s summary is by Preethi Kandhalu: The “Multicultural Germany” class started off the week with an interesting presentation from Sara about the German citizenship test one takes during the naturalization process. She highlighted […]