NeMLA 2023

 

Type: 

Call for Papers

Subject Fields: 

German History / Studies, Holocaust, Genocide, and Memory Studies

 

NeMLA 2022 is scheduled for Niagara Falls, New York from March 23-26, 2023. Panel descriptions are now available at https://www.buffalo.edu/nemla/convention.html and abstracts are due by September 30. You do NOT need to be a member of NeMLA in order to submit an abstract but you do need to create a profile.

This year’s board sponsored panels are listed below and detailed panel descriptions can be found at the end of this post. You can find descriptions for all other German panels at the link above.

• Dauerglotzen (Season II): Streaming German TV and Film in German Studies
• The Holocaust in German Literature and Film Today
• Contemporary Swiss Studies
• 21^st Century German and American Exchange

We are sponsoring a series of three roundtables focused on the health and future of language programs in the North American university system. They are as follows:

• Growing and Maintaining a Program (World Languages Panel 1)

The focus of this panel is on student-centered strategies that are designed to grow enrollment and to grow majors/minors.

• Sustainable International/Intercultural Experiences (World Languages Panel 2)

The focus of this roundtable is on sustaining and maintaining international/intercultural experiences.

• Claiming a Seat at the Table (World Languages Panel 3)

The focus of this panel is on administrative-centered strategies that are designed to shift language/cultural literacy from the periphery towards the center of campus values.

 

Please upload your abstract directly to the NeMLA website (NeMLA membership NOT required to submit abstracts)

https://cfplist.com/nemla/Home/CFP

Abstracts must be submitted by September 30, 2022

Best

Charles Vannette

University of New Hampshire

NeMLA Area Coordinator of German

 

 

 

Dauerglotzen (Season II): Streaming German TV and Film in German Studies

Following up on the very interesting panels at NeMLA 2022, Dauerglotzen (Season II) seeks to continue discussions of German television and German Studies. The growth of media streaming sites have granted German films and, in particular, television shows far greater access to international audiences than they have previously enjoyed. Historical dramas like Babylon Berlin and the Deutschland 83-series offer dramatized re-evaluations of tumultuous pasts that are received differently at home and abroad. German dystopia appears in Tribes of Europa and again in Barbaren – tales set two millennia apart that seem somehow to overlap. And crime documentaries investigate the troubled underbelly of the very recent past.

Thanks to sites like Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu, we’re able to enjoy German TV of an incredibly high production value for the first time. But is it only about good storytelling and glossy exteriors? How do we read the exportation of politically engaged shows? Is history being reified by Babelsberg, or are these genuine discussions? What is the reception of these shows at home and abroad? How, if at all, do these shows shape the image of Germans abroad? How do we incorporate these shows into our teaching and into our lessons? And what is up with Dark?

This panel invites discussions of recent German television. In particular, it is interested in shows that are available to stream internationally, and how – if at all – this new media is helping to shape German Studies abroad. The primary sites of interest are Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, and DW but other international outlets and shows are welcome.

 

The Holocaust in German Literature and Film Today

Central to the German experience, and thus central to our German curricula, are the crimes of the Shoah. The large commemorations in Germany, planned for Spring 2020, were muted by the Covid virus and although President Steinmeier’s speech in front of the Neue Wache was moving, much of the needed discussion has become lost in the tumult of the pandemic.

This panel seeks papers that discuss the Holocaust and its representation in contemporary German literature and film. As the Holocaust is a foundational stone in modern German identity, its representation in German literature and film amounts to a discussion of German-ness itself. How have these discussions been impacted by recent events like the rise of right-wing extremism, migration and refugees, instability in the EU, a new generation of filmmakers and authors, and the aging of the generation that perpetrated the crimes? And how have we incorporated this new generation of representation into our curricula?

Please upload your abstract directly to the NeMLA website (NeMLA membership NOT required to submit abstracts)

 

Contemporary Swiss Studies

Swiss authors (dramatists, poets, and writers of book) have struggled to ‘break through’ and gain readership on the scale of their Austrian and German cousins. Frisch and Dürrenmatt are of course exceptions. Robert Walser, too, is becoming increasingly important to international readers. But these names aside, Swiss literature is underrepresented.

This panel invites papers that present readings of contemporary Swiss literature, theater, film and cultural studies. In an effort to be broad and welcoming, the panel does not target a particular topic or approach beyond Switzerland itself. How do contemporary artists conceive of, or represent Switzerland or what it means to be Swiss? How do they engage their cultural history? In what ways do the voices of Keller, Frisch, Dürrenmatt, and Walser reverberate in contemporary prose? How are issues of migration, climate change, the global economy, and “Europe” discussed from a particularly Swiss perspective? Conversely, how does a Swiss perspective formulate or inform contemporary art?

Please upload your abstract directly to the NeMLA website (NeMLA membership NOT required to submit abstracts)

 

21st Century German and American Exchange

What is the contemporary relationship between German-speaking nations of Europe and the United States? What cultural exchange exists? Which institutions are central to this exchange? What ideology or issues inform the exchange between these two regions and how has this changed in recent years. Conversely, what images of each region permeate the cultural production of the other?

This panel invites papers that address and attempt to update discussions of cultural and intellectual exchange between the United States and German-speaking nations. It is interested in (but not limited to) individual artists or movements, works or art or thought, and institutional support for exchange. The relationship between the US and Europe has changed dramatically over recent years and this panel investigates the impact that these changes in relationship have had on cultural and intellectual production and cross-pollination.

Please upload your abstract directly to the NeMLA website (NeMLA membership NOT required to submit abstracts)

 

World Languages Panel 1: Growing and Maintaining a Program

World language programs in North America are under extreme pressure and our programs have suffered terrible cuts over the past decade. The impact of Covid will likely exacerbate these trends. Please join us at NeMLA 2023 (Niagara Falls) for a series of roundtables that discuss the current state of our field and what can be done about it. Co-organized by the German, French, and Italian caucuses, we invite participants from these and other less-commonly taught languages to participate in a roundtable discussion of Growing and Maintaining a program in world languages. The focus of this panel is on student-centered strategies that are designed to grow enrollment and to grow majors/minors. What strategies does your program use? What has proven successful? Which dogma needs revisiting or revising? Potential topics might include (but are not limited to):

· Student recruitment strategies

· Student retention tools

· Extra-curricular home runs!

· Working with feeder high schools or community college students

· Job placement after graduation

· Working with alumni

· Creating meaningful community relationships

· Regional opportunities

· External support sources (governmental or other)

· Please note that international experiences and strategies addressing college/university administration are the foci of roundtables II and III, respectively.

 

World Languages Panel 2: Sustainable International/Intercultural Experiences

World language programs in North America are under extreme pressure and our programs have suffered terrible cuts over the past decade. The impact of Covid will likely exacerbate these trends. Please join us at NeMLA 2023 (Niagara Falls) for a series of roundtables that discuss the current state of our field and what can be done about it. Co-organized by the German, French, and Italian caucuses, we invite participants from these and other less-commonly taught languages to participate in a roundtable discussion of establishing Sustainable International/Intercultural Experiences. What strategies does your program use? What has proven successful? Which dogma needs revisiting or revising? Potential topics might include (but are not limited to):

· Cost mitigation strategies (scholarships, homestays, low-cost language schools)

· The semester vs. the summer vs. J-Term

· Creative outsourcing projects

· International internships/research projects

· Study abroad without lengthening the student’s time to graduation

· Funding sources

· Cooperative programs and faculty sharing strategies

· Virtual abroad

· Please note strategies to recruit students, as well as strategies that underscore our value on campus are the foci of panels I and III, respectively.

 

World Languages Panel 3: Claiming a Seat at the Table

World language programs in North America are under extreme pressure and our programs have suffered terrible cuts over the past decade. The impact of Covid will likely exacerbate these trends. Please join us at NeMLA 2023 (Niagara Falls) for a series of roundtables that discuss the current state of our field and what can be done about it. Co-organized by the German, French, and Italian caucuses, we invite participants from these and other less-commonly taught languages to participate in a roundtable discussion of Claiming a Seat at the Table. This focus of this panel is on administrative-centered strategies that are designed to shift language/cultural literacy from the periphery towards the center of campus values. How have you successfully lobbied your college or university for the value of language and cultural literacy? How do you market your programs? How have you become integral to other departments? What has proven successful? Which dogma needs revisiting or revising? Potential topics might include (but are not limited to):

· Cooperative majors and dual programs

· Utilizing and capitalizing on general education programs

· Innovative degree structures

· Integrating languages into other degrees (international affairs, international business, engineering, hospitality management, etc.)

· Making the case for language and culture learning

· Arguing against the over-appreciation of over-enrollment

· Underscoring value to students, parents, and the Dean

· Building relationships with programs across campus

· Embedding our values into the college or university structure

· Please note that strategies to recruit students, and strategies addressing international experiences are the foci of roundtables I and II, respectively.

• Read more or reply