Description
Book SynopsisWeighs the value of Germanophone culture, and its study, in an age of globalization, transnationalism, and academic change. The study of German-language culture has been rapidly diversifying to express the vibrant multiplicity of what it is now possible to research, and teach, under the rubric of "German Studies." Responding to these developments, German in the World explores what happens when the geographic, linguistic, and temporal boundaries that have traditionally been used to define German-language culture are questioned, and are placed alongside more global perspectives. Chapters consider the transformation of the German-language cultural canon through its engagement with the world, trace the value of German Studies as an interdisciplinary subject practiced across different global locations, and investigate the impact of both on the work of organizations and practitioners entirely beyond the academy. In questioning where German-language culture can be found across these different "worlds," German in the World thus uncovers the continued value of German Studies as a field of critical cultural discourse within a globalized public sphere, placing that culture at the heart of debates on Transnational and World Literature. Ultimately, the contributions to this innovative volume demonstrate how attempts to locate German Studies in its wider geographic and social contexts result not in a discipline undone, but in a discipline reinvigorated and transformed.
Trade ReviewThe volume advocates for an expansion of German studies beyond its traditional roots in German literary studies, embracing the transnational turn, decolonization, diasporic literatures, migration, exile, cultural transfer, and hybridity. * THE YEAR'S WORK IN MODERN LANGUAGE STUDIES *
This interesting volume of essays seeks to address a crisis that has been unfolding in German studies, indeed in modern language studies generally, for at least four decades. . . . Hodkinson and Schofield bring together some responses to the challenges German studies face . . . reflect[ing] the current concerns about diversity and widening inclusivity, de-colonizing the curriculum, de-centring the field and liberation from the straightjacket of the canon. . . . De-centering, de-colonizing, seeking to remedy social and other forms of exclusion through scholarship and teaching are admirable aims. . . . The questions Hodkinson and Schofield have raised are certain to be debated for some time. -- Joachim Whaley * JOURNAL OF EUROPEAN STUDIES *
Table of ContentsGerman in Its Worlds - James R. Hodkinson and Benedict Schofield Part I: The World in German Culture Introduction to Part I: The World in German Culture - James R. Hodkinson and Benedict Schofield Goethe's World - John K. Noyes Embodying and Distributing World Literature: Goethe's Novelle in the Context of the 1820s - Ben Morgan Weltdeutschtum: On the Notion of a German World Community from Schiller to Thomas Mann - Tobias Boes Nineteenth-Century German Travelers to Wales: Text, Translation, and the Manipulation of Identity - Carol Tully "Weltliteratur aus der Uckermark": Regionalism and Transnationalism in Sasa Stanisic's Vor dem Fest - Frauke Matthes Postcolonial Studies in International German Studies-Postcolonial Concerns in Contemporary German Literature - Dirk Göttsche Part II: German in World Locales Introduction to Part II: German in World Locales - James R. Hodkinson and Benedict Schofield German in a South African Context: From Colony to Decolonization - Carlotta von Maltzan From German Studies to Environmental Studies (and Back Again): A Journey across Continents and Disciplines - Kate Rigby A Philo-Selfie Approach to German-Indian Studies - Sai Bhatawadekar Part III: German Worlds Beyond the Academy Introduction to Part III: German Worlds Beyond the Academy - James R. Hodkinson and Benedict Schofield Towards a Socially Engaged Academy: Islam in German History and Its Relevance for Non-Academic Publics - James R. Hodkinson Theatre Without Borders? Tracing the Transnational Value of German Theatre beyond Germany: A UK Case Study - Benedict Schofield Tuning in to German: The BBC German Service and the British Occupation - Emily Oliver Reterritorializing German Pop: Kraftwerk's Industrielle Volksmusik as a Transnational Phenomenon - Uwe Schütte
