GCSC/GGK-Newsletter 2/08 (english)

Editorial

Dear members of GGK and GCSC, Dear partners and friends of the graduate centre,

After a highly eventful academic year at the graduate centre, we are delighted to inform you about some highlights over the past months and give you an outlook on future events: from new research cooperations and the launch of the Cultural Management Consortium via international conferences and master classes with renowned scholars such as Moritz Baßler, Theo D’Haen, Jan-Dirk Müller and Bo Petterson, to career fairs and summer schools – please join us in travelling with GGK/GCSC from Hesse to Wisconsin, from Giessen to Boston, from GGK/GCSC to University College London to get some insight into the diverse programme offered to PhD students, postdocs, and researchers at the graduate centre. Find out more about the presentation of the GCSC at the MIT in Cambridge (Massachusetts), read about the award that brought one of our scholars to Brazil, and have a look at the recently launched European PhD-Network to catch a glimpse of some of the multifaceted activities, which contribute to the dynamic and stimulating atmosphere at GGK/GCSC. Whether you would like to find out who were the first members to be awarded their PhD-degree or whether you have missed the ‘Summer Potluck’ and the launch of the International Club, we offer you firsthand accounts below!

If you would like to keep up-to-date about ongoing events at the graduate centre, please visit our newly designed websites where you will find all important information on present activities as well as the curriculum for the coming semester, which will be online soon.
http://cultdoc.uni-giessen.de
http://gcsc.uni-giessen.de

Last but not least, we would like to take this opportunity to thank all members, partners, and friends for their input, suggestions, and their effort over the past year, which put the centre on the road to success and made it a place for dynamic exchange of ideas and inspiring discussions. It has been our greatest pleasure to work with you and we are very much looking forward to the next academic year! First of all, however, we hope that you will enjoy browsing our latest newsletter and wish you a splendid and relaxing summer break!

Ansgar Nünning	Martin Zierold
Director of Graduate Studies	Executive Board Manager

Research Perspectives between Hesse and Wisconsin: The “Language – Literature – Migration” Workshop

Professors and PhD students from the University of Giessen and University of Wisconsin are planning a joint research project concerning the cultural roots and identity of German-Americans in Wisconsin. Thus linguist Garry Davis and German Studies specialists Ruth Schwertfeger and Jenny L. Watson travelled to Milwaukee in mid-January to meet with their Giessen counterparts and map out and discuss the research topics. In Milwaukee, German immigrant traditions – among them many from Hesse – dating back to the 19th and 20th centuries are still alive. The analysis of numerous untouched sources, which lay in archives in Wisconsin and Hesse, could provide important findings regarding Americans with German immigration background. Within the framework of the planned workshops “Language – Literature – Migration”, research projects from German and English Language and Literature Studies were presented which dealt with language change, cultural exchange and identity. The topics ranged from language use to so-called Internet Ethno-Forums concerning the link between dialect and identity, to literary self-concepts of the Romantic Age and to German- Modern Turkish Literature. Interested PhD students can still get involved with the research project. The contacts are Prof. Gerhard Kurz as well as doctorate students Christiane Nowak and Thorsten Brato.

Christiane Novak

© Foto: Christiane Novak

The GCSC Congratulates First Graduates

André Hahn and Cameroon’s Perpetua Kininla Lola Nkamanyang are the first GCSC doctorates after having successfully completed their doctoral theses. André Hahn wrote his dissertation on “Presentation and Critique of National Myths in American Drama” under the tutelage of Prof. Herbert Grabes and defended his thesis in November of last year. For Ms Nkamanyang’s disputation, her co-adviser, Prof. O.M. Njikam Savage, arrived in March from Cameroon. Supervised by Prof. Ansgar Nünning, Ms Nkamanyang was also the first in her International PhD programme “Literature and Cultural Studies” to receive her doctorate within two years. Her dissertation dealt with the English Studies topic “Forms and Functions of Narration and Focalization in Poetry Analysis: A Study of Some Selected Poems of Lord Byron”. Shortly after her dissertation defence, Ms Nkamanyang returned to Cameroon to her husband and two children, where she will resume her teaching position at the University of Douala. We congratulate Ms Nkamayang and Mr Hahn and wish them the best for their future.

katja Urbatsch

GCSC represented at MIT European Career Fair

For the first time, the GCSC was present at this years’ MIT European Career Fair, which the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) hosted in cooperation with the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. Over 4,000 graduates and junior researchers attended the fair, which took place under the motto “Research in Germany: Land of Ideas”, in order to inform themselves of career opportunities after graduation. There they had the opportunity to speak to a range of representatives, including German businesses, leading scientific organizations, and funding institutions such as the German Rectors’ Conference, the German Research Foundation, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation as well as chosen German Universities and Graduate Schools, all of which offer excellent research and career opportunities.

For the GCSC, represented in Boston by the manager Dr. Martin Zierold and research coordinator Dr. Sibylle Baumbach, the fair offered a wonderful opportunity to inform interested Bachelor and Master’s graduates as well as PhD candidates and post-doctorates – many Harvard students – about research framework and current announcements for grants and fellowships. Furthermore, they used the Career Fair to call the graduates’ attention to the multifarious and attractive research programmes at Justus Liebig University. In light of the many inquiries at the GCSC stand and the various individual conversations which took place with interested candidates in the days following the fair, the podium discussion question “Is European research competitive?” seemed to answer itself.

Heavy attendance was also experienced at the German Research Foundation-lead panel discussion concerning excellence-based initiatives, for which about 200 junior researchers gathered in the Marriott Hotel to gain perspective on the German research landscapes and career opportunities. Together with representatives of other excellence-based initiatives, Dr. Martin Zierold presented Cultural Studies research topics as well as the excellent conditions for junior researchers at the GCSC.

Sibylle Baumbach and Martin Zierold

© Foto: Sibylle Baumbach

Career Perspective ‘Museum’: PhD Students Found Museum Culture Team

The Museum Culture Team, consisting of PhD students and post-graduate candidates from the Graduate Centre and representing all participating institutes, have been engaging themselves in the project since January of this year. The Team was founded with a networking goal: to strengthen the partnership ties which bind the GCSC and various other networks such as the Graduate Centre and museums like the Communications Museum or The Museum for Applied Arts, both in Frankfurt. The Team is to serve as a platform for any GGK/GCSC member interested in the concrete workings of museum and exhibition work. Furthermore, the more than 20 member group plans to regularly experience exhibition events and Cultural Studies perspectives. One of the first excursions lead museum enthusiasts to the Wiesbaden Museum in March, which was nominated “Museum of the Year 2007” by the German section of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA). There the participants had the opportunity to talk with the Director, Dr. Volker Rattemeyer, about his museum concepts.

The third pillar of the Team concentrates on a programme for career orientation concerning academic work in museums, exhibitions and archives. The members organized its first event with this focus at the end of May, which received sound resonance. With Prof. Michael Fehr, who was secured for the topic “Introduction to Problems and Fields of Museum and Exhibition Work”, a fruitful four-hour discussion took place. The designated museum expert and Managing Director of the Berlin Institute for Art in Context for the Berlin University of the Arts brought to attention the central problems of museum work. Among these, the current principle duties and fields of work in art and art history museums, with special consideration for the academic scope of functions and the economic fundamentals of museum work. Futhermore, Fehr highlighted the collection as the primary operating unit of the museum as well as a creative potential to be included in the development of museum presentation and exhibition events. In this context socio-economic and cognitive-theoretical approaches to collection development were also broached. Moreover, he posed current problems and questions of museum and exhibition entities between event culture and their educational role.

Whoever feels drawn to these topics or other projects spearheaded by the Museum Culture Team is warmly invited to join. All the basic information regarding the MCT and upcoming events can be found on the GCSC homepage:http://gcsc.uni-giessen.de/wps/pgn/home/GCSC_eng/museum_culture/

Lutz Hengst

© Foto: Museum für Kommunikation, Frankfurt

The Mapping of Literary Settings – GCSC Organizes Conference on „Space and Movement in Literature“

From falling down, progressing away and trains of thought in literary texts, to ha-has and anterooms in Jean Paul’s works, to literatures that put themselves in motion – exciting, multi-dimensional and innovative perspectives on “Setting and Movement in Literature” opened up the homonymous conference for presenters and visitors, which took place from 29th to 30th May in the GCSC. Conceptualized and organized by Dr. Wolfgang Hallet and Dr. Birgit Neumann, keynote speakers Dr. Ottmar Ette (Potsdam), Dr. Doris Bachmann-Medick (Göttingen) and Dr. Michael Frank (Konstanz) gathered together with Professors and (post)doctorates from Cultural and Literary Studies for the conference, jointly organized by both the GCSC and IPP.

The goal of the conference was to systematically map literary settings and to dynamically oppose long-standing static concepts of models of space, which assume the cultural contruction of space and bounderies. The presentations of Prof. Dr. Ottmar Ette, Dr. Doris Bachmann-Medick and Dr. Michael Frank not only honored this goal, but highlighted exhilerating and current fields of research through dynamic, context-oriented, culture theory-oriented and groundbreaking concepts of space. With explanations about bounderies and end spaces in lyrical poetry, for instance, and spaces of memory in Virginia Woolf to the absolute deadlock in theatrical performances, the (post)doctorates presentations attested to how multifarious and productive GCSC work is concerning space.

Traces of a deadlock in the concluding discussions were not a question, quite the contrary, experts and doctorates alike benefited from the open and inspiring discussion atmosphere. The locale was also moved for the visitors of the open conference, thus many interested visitors used the opportunity to listen to individual presentations and have a one-on-one discussion with one keynote speaker or the other. When, at the end of two very productive days, the satisfied participants put themselves in motion to go home, there was just one more question in the room: When’s the follow-up conference? Concrete plans for this do not yet exist, but all the participants and especially those who could not attend the conference, can already look forward to the anthology, in which the academic gains from the conference will be made available to a broad audience.

Stefanie Bock

What Values does the Media Convey?

GCSC Plans Event on “Values in Literature and the Media and their Cultural Function.”

In what form is the ideology of values brought to light through various forms of media? And do strategies concerning the conscious or unconscious absorption of influence make a difference? These and other questions concerning the conveyance of values through literature and other aesthetic media forms were the focus of the two day conference “Values in Literature and the Media and their Cultural Function” hosted on the 4th and 5th of June by the GCSC in Giessen. Immediately at the beginning of the conference Prof. Herbert Grabes, who conceptualized the conference together with Prof. Ansgar Nünning, summarized the special potential of functionality of literature and other arts: the defence mechanisms that the modern human builds against intuitive moralizing strategies, are overridden with the absorption of literature, film or other arts. The aesthetic experience enjoys distance, in which ethical potential of effectuality can be set free.

Prof. Lothar Bredella was the first to speak as a presenter and did so concretely concerning the term empathy, which always resonates as an ethical guiding principle regarding aesthetic experience, from which it also arises. Literature allows the reader to put him or herself in the position of another person and to perceive and feel with foreign senses. The presentation “Speak, Dead, Speak! Lessons from Hades on Values, Virtues, and Vices” was less about compassion with fictional figures and more about the update of post-death value perception. In this work, Dr. Sibylle Baumbach dedicated herself to the literary form of the deathly dialogue and showed to what extent this form of dialogue seems to be fitting to critically argue moral concepts and to refer back to its historiography on the grounds of its multiperspectivity.

While most presentations of the participating Professors, Post-doctorates, and PhD candidates tackled the question of literary or digital fiction, Dr. Sonja Altnöder and Dr. Martin Zierold’s presentation widened the perspective on the practice of Information Media and concretely on the discursive process of scandalizing. Among other questions posed, they asked about the development mechanism of media scandals and its induced disclosures and, as the case may be, the modification of moral demarcation of society.

Kirsten Pohl dedicated herself as well to current research topics in a presentation about stimulation through conflict of conscious in computer games as did Uwe Meyer, who presented on Harry Potter’s consumer habits. In all, the conference painted an all-encompassing picture of various media representational forms and orchestration of value perspectives. The contributions will be published in a future volume of the GCSC Series.

Kirsten Pohl und Mirjam Bitter

© Foto: Katharina Luh

PhD candidates discuss Interdisciplinarity the Humanities - International Hermes Summer School in London

What can Literary Studies contribute to the negotiations between literature, culture, media and the individual scientific disciplines? How did debates concerning interdisciplinary research in modern times develop? And in what relation does Comparative Literary Studies stand to other forms of Comparative Science, including Comparative History, Comparative Anthropology as well as Cultural Studies? Over 30 international PhD students undertook these questions at this years’ Hermes Summer School, held from the 15th to the 20th of June at the University College London. Six PhD candidates from the Graduate Centre presented their dissertations under the title “Comparative Literature: Models for Interdisciplinarity in the Humanities?” and held discussions with colleagues and internationally renowned researchers from the six partner universities and two associated American universities.

Within the framework of Hermes’ Literary Science network, the Graduate Centre is working in cooperation with the universities and research facilities of the University College London, Dutch Literary Studies graduate schools, the University of Åarhus, the University of Leuven, the University of Lissabon, the University of Santiago de Compostela as well as Stanford University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, all of which alternatively arrange for the Summer School for PhD candidates. The topics of the one-week Summer School ranged from Literary Theory and Genre to Adaptations and Recontextualizing to Cultural Architecture. Giessen’s doctorates Ksenia Robbe, Nagihan Haliloglu, Jelena Kovacevic, Denis Simon, Uwe Mayer and Katja Urbatsch put their contributions up for discussion regarding South African and Turkish Literature, Magic Realism, Oscar Wilde, as well as Mythography and New Economic Criticism. Aside from productive constructive criticism and new international contacts, the participants also gained illuminating perspectives in the diverse academic cultures of various nations.

Renowned academics, such as Sarah Kay, Professor of French Literature at Princeton University, allowed insight into their current research projects within the framework of the one-day symposium. In his provocative presentation, Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht of Stanford University expounded his thoughts on the future of Literary Studies disciplines, which lead to stimulating discussion about the current state of Literary Studies. Gumbrecht held the view that only those research presentations which have gone far beyond the limits of one’s own department – such as into Natural or Engineering Sciences – have earned the title “Interdisciplinary”. For him it seemed natural for Literary Studies analyses to embrace other branches of the Humanities, such as historical or philosophical perspectives.

A warm thanks goes to the hosts of this years’ Summer School for their wonderful organization. Under the leadership of Prof. Tim Matthews, PhD candidates Delphine Grass, Miriam Heywood, Gesche Ipsen and Dragana Obradovic organized this enriching conference with engaging volunteerism. The Londoners not only proved to be wonderful hosts in respects to the Summer School, but also as neutral hosts for the European Cup: the local pubs invited the doctorates to evening football matches under the motto “Watch football, England can’t lose!”.

Katja Urbatsch

Fortune favours the bold

The GCSC Career Convention Provided Information about Opportunities in Career Entry after a Cultural Studies Postdoctorate

At the commencement of this years’ career convention, Director of Giessen’s Graduate Centre Ansgar Nünning observed that it wasn’t competence, but rather “awareness of competence” that Humanities and Social Science postdoctorates were lacking. To become more aware of their special abilities, around 100 participants gathered in the foyer of Giessen’s Sparkasse on Saturday, some deliberately coming from Kassel, Mainz or even Jena. GGK/GCSC Managing Director Dr. Martin Zierold assumes that the International Graduate Centre for the Study of Culture (GCSC), sponsored by excellence-based initiatives, contributed to the fact that the GGK’s retrospective graduate convention, a tradition for years, was noticed this time by those beyond the realms of Giessen. Under the motto “Postdoctorate with Perspective”, past PhD students as well as experts from various professional backgrounds provided current PhD candidates details and above all realistic advice about their experience with career entry.

Prof. Marion Gymnich, who was promoted to Professor in Giessen and who’s now employed at the Friedrich-Wilhelms University in Bonn, provided miscellaneous information concerning career brackets at the University. First and foremost, a good dissertation is needed, as well as further publications, that cover one’s respective department in it’s entire spectrum, including a good deal of presentation and teaching experience. Questions concerning didactical concepts are gaining in importance regarding so-called “auditions”. Dr. Annette Julius, Director of Programmes in the North for the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), underlined the fact that apart from a doctorate, further competencies are needed, such as personnel management, financial responsibility or experience working with committees. In order to become active in the consultation or academic politics sector, it’s important first to have been a part of the academic establishment yourself. Nicola Herweg presented the Literary Archive of Marbach and professional perspectives there. The staff member of the Marbacher Handwriting Department is just about to receive her doctorate title from Giessen’s IPP and found her current position directly through research for her doctoral thesis.

“The atmosphere in Germany is better than you think, and as someone with a Humanities background, you have better chances than you think”, said Dr. Erwin Otto. The Managing Director of the Academic Publishing House Trier (WVT) admits that he landed his current position through pure coincidence. The self-proclaimed career changer actually wanted to become an athlete, above all no apprenticeships for editors or publishers existed. After his postgraduate work, working as a staff member at the University of Bochum, he and two other colleagues founded the newspaper “English Studies and English Teaching”, which today is published by Winter Publishing House, in order to better accommodate their own contributions and cumulatively habilitate. Through this practical work, in addition to his actual job, he qualified himself for his current job. According to Otto, today erudition and communicative competencies must be acquired in addition to academic achievements, since an editor is involved with project management.

The concluding podium discussion was moderated by Dr. Marina Vollstedt, who for a short time has been managing the internship department at the University of the Federal Armed Forces in Hamburg and before that worked as a personnel manager for Axel Springer Publishers in Berlin. Because career paths for scholars of Cultural Studies aren’t clear cut, the participants of the podium discussion suggested to have a goal but to stay flexible just the same. Praxis as well as experience abroad play a more definitive role than receiving a diploma in record time. It’s also important to acquire skills apart from postgraduate work and to network, for example at a career convention such as this one and especially to do complete things with heart and dedication. “I’ve always seen it as a coincidence, but I think that in today’s world you need a little luck, but fortune always favours the bold”; this is how Dr. Annette Julius summarized her experience. And Prof. Gymnich added, that the GGK/GCSC as and image factor and as a provision of qualification, “at any rate provide you with good chances of success.”

Mirjam Bitter

© Bild: Katharina Luh

Forum for international PhD Candidates Inaugurated with a “Summer Potluck Party”

Fitting to the summer weather, international PhD students from the Graduate Centre opened the new “Forum for international GCSC & GGD/IPP students” on July 2nd with a “Summer Potluck Party”. Not only international but also German PhD candidates gathered in the colourful party room in the GCSC building, all of whom were interested in the aspects of internationalized postgraduate work. Accompanied by international specialties and music, the international doctoral candidates presented the new forum as well as the natures of their home countries, which included Poland and Italy.

The Forum for International PhD Students is aimed at taking up discussions, findings and suggestions for successful symposiums concerning international Humanities Studies such as “International – In Touch with Tomorrow” or “Lost or found in Translation?” and to pursue them on a periodic and continuous basis. The forum is to provide a platform for international postgraduates from the three postgraduate programmes found at the Graduate Centre, through which they can exchange their own experiences and ideas and take on an active role concerning the internationalization of the Graduate Centre. Furthermore, the forum aims to advocate more communication among the international candidates themselves, between the candidates and the Graduate Centre as well as other external institutions such as the DAAD network or the Department of International Students of the University of Giessen.

Iris Heiligendorf, staff member of this department as well as Managing Directors of the GCSC and IPP Dr. Martin Zierold and Dr. Sonja Altnöder, greeted these initiatives and expressed their support for the forum. Further events are planned to follow the successful opening, such as workshops, master classes, lectures on the topic ‘Internationalization’, as well as leisure time activities. Regular roundtables starting in October are being planned by the members of the forum in order to welcome the international PhD candidates of the upcoming class.

IThose who are interested can contact Ksenia Robbe (Ksenia.Robbe@gcsc.uni-giessen.de) and Eleonora Ravizza (Eleonora.Ravizza@anglistik.uni-giessen.de) wenden.

Eleonora Ravizza

© Foto: Katharina Luh

From Courtly Compromises to Nina Hagen – A Look Back at Our Master Classes

IIn one series of summer semester master classes, PhD candidates of the Graduate Centre conversed with well-known national and international academics. Instructors such as Prof. Jan-Dirk Müller, Prof. Theo D’Haen, Prof. Bo Pettersson and Prof. Moritz Baßler provided up and coming junior researchers insight into central topics, theories and methods concerning Cultural Studies.

The 15th and 16th of May were hosts to the most prominent representative of German Medieval Studies at the Graduate Centre, Jan-Dirk Müller of Munich. If Medieval Studies were always a discipline with strong cultural alignments, then Müllers work, which in no way limited itself to the scope of Medieval German Literature (dissertation on “Wieland’s Late Novels”, habilitation on “Memory – Literature and Courtly Society in the Time of Maximilian I.”), accelerated these efforts. His visit to the GCSC took place within the framework of “Textual Studies as Cultural Studies”. The lecture “Heroes and Saints. On the difficult process of fusing two cultures” emphatically showed by means of two versions of The Legend of Christophorus that the image of a unified christian Middle Ages, though often propagated, is a phantasm par excellence. Under the keywords “saintly heroes” and “heroic saints” Müller depicted, how the texts of two cultures, namely the courtly, worldly and the Christian, were fused by assimilation and hybridization in which the legend’s plot is recoded from the impact of heroic narration tradition to an adventurous journey.

In the concluding discussion Müller was able to clarify his theses through a few tightly focused follow-up questions. The master class had, by the participant’s request, Müller’s newest book “Courtly Compromises: Eight Chapters on Courtly Epic”. At the centre of the first part of the master class was the theoretical chapter of the book, in which Müller shows how new narrative patterns are generated out of narrative cores that are anchored to cultural imagination and which attach themselves to individual problem constellations with conflict potential. These new narrative patterns run through different solution paradigms and dismiss possible alternatives. It was an extremely positive experience for the participants to be able to converse at length with a luminary like Müller, especially since the discussion took place, thanks to Müller’s friendly and personable personality, in a focused yet relaxed atmosphere.

For his master class on June 2^nd, Theo D’Haen travelled from Belgium to Giessen. Theo D’Haen has been a professor for American Literature since 2002 at the University of Leiden and partner of the GCSC through the Hermes network. As an expert on the topics Modernism, Postmodernism, Postcolonialism and Popular Culture, D’Haen offered a master class on the newest developments in Postcolonial Literary Theory. After a short introductory lecture on “New Approaches in Postcolonialism”, in which he concisely presented the most important representatives and theoretical approaches, D’Haen dedicated himself to the individual dissertations of the course participants. The conversation about the projects and prepared questions developed into a lively discussion in which the future of Postcolonial Literature and the so-called Tiger States’ relationship to Europe was collectively discussed. On the whole, Prof. D’Haen inspired the participants not only with his specialist know-how, but also with his open, likable nature with which he turned a master class into an entertaining event in which all participants were able to constructively contribute.

Bo Pettersson, Professor for American Literature and currently Managing Director of the English Department at the University of Helsinki, briefed by means of a theoretical introduction on the topic “Narrative and Metaphor: What Critical Practice Can Teach Us”. Based first and foremost on the theorist Paul Ricoeurs and new cognitive approaches of the Literature Studies, he showed the commonalities between metaphors and narratives and how they are represented by, among others, Mark Turner and Jørgen Dines Johansen. His meaningful concept made it possible to follow even complicated explanations from the scope of Cognitive Science as well as the contexts. Bo Pettersson thoroughly and competently answered the pre-screened questions, arranged the participants’ projects with regard to their relation to the study of metaphors and enriched them with new ideas. All participants felt enriched in many ways after these three intense, yet seemingly quick hours.

In order to explain his “Considerations on Text/Context Analysis”, Prof. Moritz Baßler of the University of Münster, chose “Nina Hagens Punk Covers” for his July 4th master class as just one example from his ongoing research projects. As Professor for Modern German Literature and expert of “New Historicism”, his last publication was “The Function of Cultural Poetry and the Archive. A Literary Studies based Text/Context Theory”. By means of Nina Hagen’s first western-release album, “Nina Hagen Band” (1978), Baßler showed the delicate relationship between interpretation and context analysis and presented his methods of text-based Literary and Cultural Studies. According to Baßler, it is necessary that cultural archives accumulate diverse forms of texts of a certain period, to examine them side by side and look for equivocal relationships. By doing so, Nina Hagen’s cover song “TV Glotzer” can be analyzed in comparison to the original song from the Tubes, “White Punks on Dope” along with diverse recorded German textual discourse of the 70’s. Regarding their own dissertations, the participants asked discerning questions concerning the basic problem of how relevant and representative contexts gleaned from the spectrum of the archive could be made. In addition, they debated collectively with Moritz Baßler the potential as well as the limits of this method. Prof. Baßler inspired the PhD candidates not only with his dedication but also his avid interest for the current dissertation projects.

Christoph Schanze, Jutta Weingarten, Ursula Arning, Katja Urbatsch

First volume of the new GCSC series published: "Narrative and Identity"

The first volume of the new GCSC series, “Giessen Contributions to the Study of Culture” available from wvt Publishers under the title Narrative and Identity – Theoretical Approaches and Critical Analyses, came out in June. The editors thus provided the first draft for a series, for which many more project have already been planned in order to document and profile their research profile. At the same time, the GCSC series, which is being published by the Executive Board, is open for various formats, from conference documentations to dissertations to a GCSC yearbook as well as academic mediums for a broad audience. The content of the series is defined by GCSC research profile and areas.

The first volume, which dedicates itself to the complex relationship between narration and identity, already assesses the key topics in Literary and Cultural Studies: the interest in the individual, cultural and media dimensions has grown immensely in the last few years, which has been shown through publications concerning a range of topics and the inflationary use of the terms ‘narration’ and ‘identity’ in various contexts and compositions. The question of how exactly to grasp the relationship between experience, life or the identity of a narrator and their narrative construction, theoretically as well as conceptually, can’t be perceived as answered.

This is the point at which the GCSC series starts and follows the two-fold question of how the complexity of ‘identity’ and ‘narrative’ correlate to on another in such a close relationship and how identity and narrative research can enrich each other. On the one hand, the analysis of a narrative processes that create meaning, especially literature characterization, opens up new comprehension possibilities for various questions that pose themselves in numerous cultural spheres regarding the complexity of ‘identity’. On the other hand, narrative research will in turn be enriched when it gives its own objectives new perspective in reference to the problematic of human identity.

This plurality is also reflected in the structure of the volume: the contributions of the first section, “Selves and Stories” draw nearer to the interfaces of narration and identity through different theoretical approaches and bring varied conceptualizations into discussion. In contrast to this, the contributions of the second section “Stories of the Self”, concentrate on the critical arguments with individual literary texts in which the meaning of the narration not only highlights processes for the shaping of identity but also depicts the respective problematic and limits thereof. Although the contributions mostly concentrate on the 20th century literature, a growing awareness for (inter)cultural differences is reflected, which accentuates how narrative forms and identity constructions are integrated in historical and cultural transformations.

René; Dietrich, Birgit Neumann, Martin Zierold

Dr. Marcel Vejmelka Awarded with Prize from Brazilian Foreign Ministry

For his outstanding essay, “An Archaeology of Rio de Janeiro. Excavations in the Novel Escavando O Suberrâneo do Morro do Castelo by Lima Barreto” (Uma arqueologia do Rio. Escavando O Suberrâneo do Morro do Castelo de Lima Barreto) Dr. Marcel Vejmelka received the award from the Brazilian Foreign Ministry for bringing international attention to Brazilian literature. One of five award recipients for the essay contest highlighting Brazilian author Lima Barreto, Mr. Vejmelka was honoured on April 24th by Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim before the members of The Academy for Language and Poetry in Rio de Janeiro. Moreover, Mr. Vejmelka read his essay for the students of the Diplomats’ Academy of the Foreign Ministry and opened it up to discussion. All award-winning essays will be published in book form. Marcel Vejmelka was promoted to professor at the Free University of Berlin with his work on “João Guimarães Rosas 'Grande sertão: veredas and Thomas Mann’s ‘Doctor Faustus’ in intercultural comparison” and has been working at the GCSC since last January under a postdoctoral grant.

Katja Urbatsch

DAAD Approves European PhD Network for Literary and Cultural Studies

To be able to offer international PhD candidates cross-boarder, binational doctoral studies and to allure highly qualified international junior researchers for academic careers and cooperation in Germany: this is the goal of the “European PhD Network for Literary and Cultural Studies” at Giessen’s Graduate Centre. The new network is evolving within the programme “Binational PhD Network” (PhD Net) sponsored by the Ministry for Education and Research and the German Academic Exchange (DAAD). Together with the Finnish Graduate School for Literary Studies in Helsinki and the Literary Studies PhD programmes at the Universities of Stockholm, Bergamo and Lisbon, the Giessen Graduate Centre is initiating a European network in the area of Literary Studies for PhD programmes, through which a three-year binational doctoral programme for international PhD candidates would be made possible. Within the scope of the PhD Net, 12 doctoral students will be given opportunities ranging from a binational doctoral programme with international tutelage and research offers to cotutelle methods.

Starting in October, four German and both two male and two female candidates from partner institutions will, to begin with, make the network lively by participating in an orientation week in Giessen. The departmental profile of the programme is focussed on four cornerstones of Literary Studies’ research, on which are based the dissertation projects and planned events such as workshops, master classes and conferences. “Literary and Cultural Studies Theories, Models, Methods and Terminology”, “Genre Theory and Narrative, Drama and Lyric Theory”, “Literary and Cultural Historiography”, as well as “Comparative and Interdisciplinary Objectives” are just some of the topics of focus that will be worked on within the framework of the PhD Net. Taking part in a European doctoral programme will be fourteen Professors of Literary Studies from the University of Giessen from the areas of English, German, Romantic and Slavic Language and Literature as well as Comparative Literary Studies, Applied Theatre Studies. They will be working in cooperation with Literary and Cultural Studies experts from partnering Universities of Stockholm, Bergamo, and Lisbon, as well as the Finnish Graduate School. The specialists’ spectrum ranges therefore from the above mentioned disciplines concerning “European-American Literature” to “Comparative Modern Culture”.

The network will profit from the experience from Giessen’s successful International PhD Programme (IPP) “Literary and Cultural Studies”, which since the phase-out of its DAAD grant in July of 2007, is being fully supported by Justus Liebig University. The assistance of the PhD Net is to create a structural and sustainable basis for a European PhD programme, which would support the transfer of knowledge between the Giessen Graduate Centre Cultural Studies programme and the established cooperation partners as well as make possible the admission of international academics to German institutes of higher learning. Based on integrating offers developed by the IPP, the goal for Giessen is to establish, with the cooperation partners, a curriculum with a global structure, junior research groups, and an internationally oriented career service. This would allow candidates excellent education and research possibilities as well as professional support for future career entry. Within the framework of concerted PhD programmes, planned are regularly scheduled presentations in PhD colloquia, joint doctoral symposia and conferences taking place alternatively at participating universities. Candidates within the PhD Net will also not only have the opportunity to successfully complete their dissertation projects within the framework of a three-year cotutelle programme, but in this time they can also develop an international academic network and profile while positioning themselves in the German university environment.


Sibylle Baumbach and Katja Urbatsch