Multicultural Germany Course: Week 5 Summary (Sept. 28 & 30)
This last week in class, we discussed the idea of German collective memory and screened the film Almanya – Welcome to Germany. The week’s discussions started with how the term “melting pot” was used to describe US culture in the early 1900s. The picture found on the Wikipedia page for the term (The Melting Pot) […]
Film Reviews: “Auf der anderen Seite” (The Edge of Heaven)
As part of their work in the Multicultural Germany undergraduate seminar at UC Berkeley, students in the course have reviewed recent German films relating in various ways to topics of migration, multiculturalism, and contemporary German identity. Ying Ruan and Ann Huang both reviewed Fatih Akin’s 2007 film “Auf der anderen Seite” (The Edge of Heaven). Review by Ying Ruan: The movie follows […]
“Auf der anderen Seite” Review by Traci Fitzharris
Auf der anderen Seite revolves around death; in fact, the movie is separated into chapters titled “Yeter’s Death,” “Lotte’s Death,” and “The Edge of Heaven.” The final chapter, lasting only the last half hour of the movie, is the only segment that does not involve the death or near-death experience of a main character.
“Auf der anderen Seite” Review by Ying Ruan
Auf der anderen Seite is a German-Turkish drama directed by Faith Akin in 2007. The movie follows stories of six people from either Germany or Turkey, presenting political and social issues faced by elder and younger generations of Turkish, Turkish-German and German people. The various backgrounds of characters lead to a sophisticated situation depicting Turkish […]
“Auf der anderen Seite” Review by Ann Huang
In his drama Auf der anderen Seite, released in 2007, Fatih Akin depicts the fatefully interwoven lives of six individuals: two mothers, two daughters, and a father and his son. Each filial pair, distinct in its respective place on the identity spectrum between German-German and Turkish-Turk, begins the narrative with parallel paths. The eventual convergence […]
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: Multiple Tongues
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 Jenelle Mathews: This week in class was a continuation of last week’s topic, Multiple Tongues – Multilingualism, Literature and Translation. As with previous weeks, our readings included articles from […]
Multicultural Germany Class: Week 2, Socialist Friends – Part 2
This post is part of a series in which students reflect on their discussions in the UC Berkeley undergraduate seminar “Multicultural Germany.” This week two students have written summaries of the past week’s sessions. This is the second post, written by Julia Schroeder: Just last week a Coca-Cola Super Bowl advertisement ignited an ongoing online […]
Multicultural Germany Class: Week 2, Socialist Friends – Part 1
This post is part of a series in which students reflect on their discussions in the UC Berkeley undergraduate seminar “Multicultural Germany.” This week two students have written summaries of the past week’s sessions. The first is by Brittany Scott: The first discussion of the week began with an intriguing presentation by fellow classmate Jenelle, who gave […]
Featured Article — Welfare State Integration of Immigrants: The German Case
Student News Report by Judith Sijstermans: This month the Institute of European Studies at Berkeley is featuring an article on the integration of immigrants in Germany. The article is written by Friedrich Heckmann from the University of Bamberg. He addresses the question: Why does Germany have integration policies?