Past Events
Germany on Campus 2023
The Department of Germanic & Slavic Studies is partnering with the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany as well as the Environmental Studies Program to present an exciting series of events this Fall. Please join us!
Other sponsors of these events: The Departments of French & Italian, Political Science, Sociology, History, Anthropology, Philosophy/The Murphy Institute, and the Center for Scholars.
Poster Exhibition: Bertol Brecht's PAPER WAR: Exile in America 1941-1947
Monday, October 23, 2023, 4:00 PM
Newcomb Hall, 3rd Floor
Please join the Department of Germanic & Slavic Studies for our presentation of the ground-breaking exhibit "Bertol Brecht's PAPER WAR: Exile in America 1941-1947", opening on October 23, 2023 on the 3rd floor of Newcomb Hall at 4:00pm. Refreshments will be served, and the exhibit will remain on display through the end of the semester.
This year marks the 125th birthday of the influential German poet, playwright, and theatrical reformer Bertol Brecht. Brecht is known for his leanings to the political left, and social and sociopolitical issues were a central element of his work. When the Nazis came to power, he had to flee Germany, eventually making his way to the US. As a suspected communist, he came under FBI surveillance and was interrogated by the House Committee on Un-American Activities in 1947. Brecht remains one of the most staged modern dramatists of modern times and continues to hold enormous appeal to those advocating and working for social change.
Designed by curator and artist Grischa Meyer, the exhibition looks through Brecht’s glasses with contemporary eyes, reflecting on his views on the American way of life during the time of Roosevelt, Truman, and McCarthy, combining his writings and the newspaper clippings he used for inspiration.
The exhibit is presented in partnership with the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung Foundation with funding from the German Foreign Office, the Goethe Institut, and the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany.
Film Screening: Baal
Wednesday, October 25, 2023, 6:00 pm
Newcomb Hall Room 405
Pizza and drinks served
For the final film in our Germany on Campus series, we are proud to present Baal (1970), a film lost for nearly half a century and only recently restored for viewing. Director Volker Schlöndorff transported Bertolt Brecht’s 1918 debut play to contemporary West Germany for this vicious experiment in adaptation. Oozing with brutish charisma, Rainer Werner Fassbinder embodies the eponymous anarchist poet, who feels that bourgeois society has rejected him and sets off on a schnapps-soaked rampage. Hewing faithfully to Brecht’s text, Schlöndorff juxtaposes the theatricality of the prose with bare-bones, handheld 16 mm camera work, which gives immediacy to this savage story of rebellion. Featuring a supporting cast drawn from Fassbinder’s troupe of theater actors that also includes Margarethe von Trotta, Baal demonstrates the uncompromising vision of its director, a trailblazer of the New German Cinema.
This screening is presented in partnership with the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany. Pizza and drinks will be served.
Film Screening: Vor der Morgenröte (Stefan Zweig: Farewell to Europe)
Wednesday, October 18th, 2023, 6:00 pm
Newcomb Hall Room 405
Please join the Germanic & Slavic Studies Department and the German Club for the screening of the third film in the Germany on Campus event series!
Director Maria Schrader’s “Stefan Zweig: Farewell to Europe” is an elegiac look at literary exile. Zweig, a Viennese Jewish writer who saw the writing on the wall when Hitler ascended to power, fled his homeland in 1934 to London, Bath, New York and ultimately Petrópolis, a mountain town 40-odd miles north of Rio de Janeiro. A celebrated novelist, he espoused peaceful ideals that were increasingly at odds with reality; the world benefited from his presence, but he struggled to find his place in it. Schrader and actor Josef Hader honor that alienation while also spotlighting moments of bliss throughout Zweig’s later years.
This screening is presented in partnership with the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, as part of the Germany on Campus event series.
Global Café: Germanic & Slavic Studies
Tuesday, October 17, 2023 2:00-4:00pm
LBC: Mezzanine Level
Dive into the World of Germanic and Slavic Studies at Global Café! Join us for a captivating afternoon as we explore the rich tapestry of cultures in Germanic and Slavic Studies. Discover the fascinating culture, languages, and traditions that make this region unique. Test your knowledge with fun trivia games, get the scoop on exciting study abroad opportunities, and enjoy board games that transport you to these vibrant cultures, plus exclusive insights into upcoming Ukraine events. We hope to see you there!
Film Screening: Die fetten Jahre sind vorbei (The Edukators)
Wednesday, October 11th, 2023, 6:00 pm
Newcomb Hall Room 405
Please join the Germanic & Slavic Studies Department and the German Club for the screening of the second film in the Germany on Campus event series! Directed by Hans Weingartner and based on his own experiences as a political activist, The Edukators (2004) stars Daniel Brühl, Stipe Erceg, and Julia Jentsch as three young, anti-capitalist Berlin activists involved in a love triangle whose activities as “edukators” land them in more trouble than they can handle.
This screening is presented in partnership with the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, as part of the Germany on Campus event series.
Germany's Energy Transition in Times of War and Climate Crisis: Pipelines, LNG Terminals, and Fridays for Future
Monday, September 25th, 2023, 5:00 pm
Rogers Chapel
The Department of Germanic & Slavic Studies and the Environmental Studies Program, in partnership with the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, is pleased to present Professor Sabine von Mering of Brandeis University for her lecture on the history of the Energiewende at 5:00 pm in Rogers Chapel, followed by a catered reception.
Germany is widely praised for shouldering the start-up cost to the energy transition to renewables, and has been long seen as a climate leader in Europe. In her talk, Prof. von Mering will provide a critical assessment of this image by providing three different perspectives:
- A brief overview of the history of the Energiewende and its successes from the 1980s to present;
- A closer look at climate action and activism in Germany, from the anti-coal activists of Ende Gelände, to the youth movement Fridays for Future, to the civil disobedience actions of Letzte Generation;
- A discussion of the challenges posed by the Russian war against Ukraine and how it connects to climate fights in the US, especially to the swift expansion of LNG terminals.
Sabine von Mering, Ph.D., is Professor of German and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Brandeis University. A member of the core faculty in the Environmental Studies Program, she also serves as Director of the Center for German and European Studies (CGES). She is the 2022 recipient of the Volkmar and Margret Sander Prize which honors “individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the cultural, political, and academic relationship between the German-speaking world and the United States.” She is currently a 2023 Public Voices Fellow on the Climate Crisis with The OpEd Project, in partnership with the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. Professor von Mering is a local affiliate with the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies at Harvard University and a climate activist with 350 Mass.
Film Screening: NOW - A film for Climate Justice
Thursday, September 21st, 2023, 6:00 pm
Newcomb Hall Room 308
Please join the Germanic & Slavic Studies Department and the Environmental Studies Program for the first of our Fall film series! NOW, directed by cult photographer Jim Rakete in his film debut, is a documentary that shows how young activists from around the globe such as Felix Finkbeiner (Plant for the Planet), Luisa Neubauer, Greta Thunberg (Fridays for Future) and Vic Barrett (Youth v. Gov) are currently challenging the status quo and pushing for social and political change. NOW focuses on these young protagonists and the question of what it feels like to be an activist, and what is at stake for them.
This screening is in partnership with the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, as part of the Germany on Campus event series. Pizza and beverages will be served.
Germany and the U.S. are Wunderbar Together! – Campus Weeks Activities on the Tulane campus (Oct. - Nov. 2019)
Sponsored by the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, the 2019 Campus Weeks “Wunderbar Together”, the Department of Germanic & Slavic Studies, in October and November 2019, will host a number of activities around the topic of 30th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall, and the Bauhaus Movement.
Additional sponsors: Center for Scholars, Spanish and Portuguese Department, Anthropology Department, and History Department.
Events:
Tuesday, October 15, 2019
Woldenberg Art Center
Stone Auditorium 5:30 PM
Reception to follow in Room 204
Friday, October 18, 2019
"Totally East- Life in East Germany" Poster Exhibition
Newcomb Hall 3rd Floor
Opening reception 5:00 PM
Exhibition will be open to the public until November 22, 2019
Film Screenings:
Thursday, October 24, 2019
Newcomb Hall 4th floor
Room 403 6:30 -8:30
Friday November 1, 2019
Newcomb Hall 4th floor
Room 403 6:30 -8:30
Friday November 22, 2019
Newcomb Hall 4th floor
Room 403 6:30 -8:30
Tuesday, November 19, 2019
Lecture and Poster Exhibition
5:00 PM Lecture by Brigitta Malm
Followed by reception
Exhibition will be open to the public until December 2, 2019
Meeting with Russian Ambassador
Professor William Brumfield showing students in his RUSS-4810 course the Faberge-style Easter egg presented during his meeting with Ambassador Antonov at the Russian Embassy. For more on the meeting, view Facebook link:
https://www.facebook.com/487645188112543/posts/1003756913168032?sfns=mo
Ambassador Anatoly Antonov (left) with Professor Brumfield's book Architecture at the End of the Earth (April 19, 2019)
WATER LOGICS
International Conference
Lidia Zhigunova, Professor of Practice in the Department of Germanic & Slavic Studies, presented a paper ‘The Children of Whose Turbaned Seas’: The Black Sea in the Historical Memory of the Circassians at the Water Logics International Conference (April 11-12, Tulane University).
Talk at the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies
Lidia Zhigunova, professor of practice in the Department of Germanic & Slavic Studies, gave a talk on gender issues and nationalist movements in the North Caucasus at the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies (GFSIS, Rondeli Foundation) in Tbilisi (Georgia). The GFSIS is a leading research and policy-making institution in the heart of the Caucasus. By bringing together experts working on the same region and in multiple disciplines, the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies serves as a forum for scholars who are conducting field research related to political, social, and economic processes in Georgia, as well as in the Caucasus at large. The Foundation aims to bring awareness to the strategic issues facing the Caucasus in the 21st century and creates a stimulating and hospitable environment for regional cooperation and inter-ethnic dialogue.
Practicing Russian through Cultural Activities
Written by Emily Wilkerson
Wednesday, October 24, 2018
Students from the School of Liberal Arts Elementary Russian, Intermediate Russian, and Exploring Russian Tulane Interdisciplinary Experience Seminar (TIDES) classes recently spent an afternoon at the New Orleans Russian Community Center painting matryoshka dolls, listening to Russian music, and sampling traditional foods.
Lidia Zhigunova, professor of practice in the Department of Germanic and Slavic Studies, led the trip to the Russian Community Center and remarked, “this was an excellent opportunity for the students to engage with the Russian community and interact with each other outside the classroom, while practicing Russian language and learning about the country’s culture.”
Prior to the class trip to the community center, Zhigunova led a lesson on matryoshka dolls, focusing on the cultural history of the doll as well as Russian vocabulary related to the body, clothing, colors, and instructions. She described the event as project-based learning, where students are able to apply what they’ve covered in class to real-life scenarios, and has seen a higher retention rate in vocabulary from this type of learning experience.
During the event, students worked alongside community members to paint matryoshka dolls. After painting the dolls, they tasted borsch, a traditional Russian/Eastern European soup; vatrushki, sweet buns filled with cottage cheese; and pirozhnoe ‘kartoshka,’ a popular sweet cake that looks like a potato. While the center just opened earlier this year, Zhigunova looks forward to her students participating in their future programming.
“Integrating Immigrants” -- Campus Weeks Activities on the Tulane campus (Oct.- Nov. 2018)
In October/November 2018 the Dept. of Germanic & Slavic Studies hosted a number of activities around the topic of “Integrating Immigrants” into German society. Sponsored by the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, the 2018 Campus Weeks “Shaping Germany” activities sought to shed light on the country’s migration policy via
- an exhibition on “Integrating Immigrants” (with 30 posters displayed on the 3rd floor of Newcomb Hall from Oct. 3-31);
- a film series under the aegis of the Tulane German Club, including screenings of Auf der anderen Seite (2007, by Fatih Akin); Café Waldluft (2015, by Matthias Koßmehl, and Tal der Ahnungslosen (2003) by African-German film maker Branwan Okpako);
- a guest lecture on Oct. 26 by Prof. Jaimey Fisher (UC-Davis) on “Spatializing the ‘Accent’: Immigration, Fatih Akin’s Head On (2004), and German National Cinema” followed by a screening of the movie and a reception. We were privileged to have the Honorary Consul of Louisiana, Susanne Veters Cooper as well as Minister Counselor Arvid Enders of the Germany Embassy join us at the event. The lecture was preceded by Tulane History professor Marline Otte’s introductory remarks on the background of immigration to Germany.
Photographs from the Oct. 3, 2018 opening of the exhibit “Integrating Immigrants,” which, appropriately, was also the Day of German Unity:
Oct. 26 lecture event by Prof. Jaimey Fisher:
Prof. Brancaforte Receives Prestigious ACLS Fellowship
Our very own Prof. Brancaforte has been awarded a prestigious fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies, "the preeminent representative organization for humanities and social-sciences scholarship in the U.S." The ACLS awards fellowships for up to one academic year of research.
Prof. Brancaforte will be examining images in the 16th-century accounts of European explorers as part of a team with co-investigators at Florida State University and The Ohio State University.
To read more about this award, please read the article in Tulane News.
CELT Undergraduate Research (April 16, 2018)
Meg Roppolo (grad. 2018) presented a poster at the CELT 7th Annual Student Research Poster Session. Her poster was titled "Travels to the Land of Silk and Fire: Encounters Between Britain and Azerbaijan (1516-1918)." Congratulations on all of your great work, Meg!
"Luther Day" at Tulane University (October 2, 2017)
On October 2, 2017, the Tulane University German program was privileged to host Prof. Dr. Michael Haspel, Director of the Evangelische Akademie Thüringen and Extraordinary Professor for Systematic Theology and Social Ethics at the Friedrich-Schiller-Universität, Jena to help commemorate the 500th anniversary of the start of the Protestant Reformation.
Professor Haspel, who was also sponsored by the German Consulate in Houston, visited a junior/senior seminar on "Das Kriegserlebnis" (GERM 4800/6800) to discuss the role of Luther in the Peasant Wars in sixteenth-century Germany. He then helped inaugurate two exhibits at the Tulane University Howard-Tilton Library that provided background information about Luther and the Reformation. Students from the German program organized one of these exhibits in Special Collections that showcased rare books that relate to Luther and his legacy. They ranged from a Latin Bible published in Nürnberg in 1480 to a German Bible published in New Orleans in 1883 for the large German-speaking Lutheran population of the city.
Following the opening of the exhibits, Prof. Haspel gave a thought-provoking lecture titled
"Here I Stand, I Can Do No Other, So Help Me God."
From Martin Luther to Martin Luther King, Jr.
that explored how Martin Luther King, Jr. used insights of Martin Luther and the Reformation for his motivation in his struggle for freedom, justice, and equality.
The audience included German majors and minors, honors students, students in the Tulane German Club, members of the Tulane community, as well as of the general public. Overall it was a very successful "Luther day!"
Tulane University GERM 4800/6800 seminar on “Das Kriegserlebnis” at the inauguration of the exhibit on Luther and the Reformation at Howard-Tilton Memorial Library with guest speaker Prof. Michael Haspel (wearing a tie), and Prof. Elio Brancaforte (Chair of German/Slavic).
German Symposium, April 28, 2015
Each year, the German Symposium showcases undergraduate research on German Studies topics. For the 2015 Symposium, Jalin Carter presented a paper entitled “Claustrophobia and Paranoia in Edgar G. Ulmer’s Detour”; his research on the Austrian exile director was developed for Prof. Heins’ course “From Weimar Cinema to Film Noir.” Brennah Murphy presented a paper entitled “Motivations of German Travel Writing in the 16th and 17th Centuries,” research that she completed for Prof. Brancaforte’s seminar “Reisen ins Fremde.” Alana Gibson’s presentation, “The Films of Fatih Akin: Gender, Music, and the German-Turkish Identity,” was based on a paper for Prof. Heins’ seminar “Migration und deutsche Kultur.” All of the presentations were excellent and well received. Kudos to all three presenters, and congratulations to Ms. Murphy and Ms. Gibson, who will be graduating in May!
Distinguished Lecturer Gives Talk
Doctor, Professor and Head of the Imre Kertsz Collegium for the Study of History of Central Europe, University of Jena
Recently, the Germanic and Slavic Studies Department hosted Dr. Joachim Von Puttkamer
The topic was "Poland in 1989: Crisis and Transition".
(March 4, 2013)
German Lecturer Dietmar Felber Coaches Actress Kerry Washington for Django Unchained
Getting the call to tutor a famous actress in a blockbuster film is not high on the list of typical things a Tulane faculty member may be asked to do. But that is exactly what happened to German & Slavic Studies visiting lecturer Dietmar Felber.
For more on Dietmar Felber's experience, read the article in our news section.
For an interview with Reese Osta, a German Studies major who saw the film and heard Kerry Washington speak here at Tulane, read the interview.
Russian Poetry Reading
In conjunction with the ASEEES conference in New Orleans (November 15, 2012), we held and undergraduate panel discussion on Russian literature on campus and had a poetry reading by Polina Barskova. Polina Barskova, born in 1976, is widely regarded as one of the most important Russian poets of her generation. Her first book of poems was published when she was still a teenager, and she has released seven volumes since. Last year, Barskova's latest collection was short-listed for the prestigious Andrei Bely Prize. She recently published an English-language collection, The Zoo in Winter (Melville House, 2011), translated by Boris Dralyuk and David Stromberg. Barskova read her works in Russian and in English translation, with a warm conversation about Russian literature in general and how to translate poetry.
Stay tuned for updates from the faculty and from the German Club about upcoming events for AY 2012-13. For a sample of what will be in store, please click the link below!
Student Awards
Congratulations Are in Order!
Congratulations to German major Reese Osta, former co-president of the Tulane German Club, proud owner of an original “Trabi,” and now the recipient of a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship Grant to Germany for the 2014-2015 academic year!
Congratulations!
Congratulations to David Ewens, recipient of a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship Grant to Halle, Germany for the 2013-2014 academic year! Read the article in our news section.
David Ewens, in front of the Marktkirche am Marktplatz in Halle's Altstadt
Letter From the Field: Peace Corps in Costa Rica
Professor Brancaforte,
Season's greetings from Costa Rica! I hope this e-mail finds you well, and that the fall semester and winter break have treated you well!
I just wanted to write you to keep in touch, see how things are going with you and let you know about where life has taken me since graduation. I graduated in May, and only about two months later I left the good old USA for Costa Rica to begin my adventure in the Peace Corps! I started my service with three months of training in San José (the capital), which consisted of a lot of Spanish lessons and learning how to work in social work / youth development. Then at the beginning of October I was officially sworn in (at the US embassy, no less!) as a Peace Corps Volunteer. Read about the experience in our news section.
David Duesing (2013)
Former German Minor Gets Teaching Fellowship in Germany
"I have been on my Fulbright in Germany for just over three months now, and thus far, it has been a whirlwind of an experience. I was placed as an English Teaching Assistant at a Gymnasium in the city of Wüzburg. Wüzburg is one of Germany's oldest university cities and is also the heart of the Franconian wine growing region. This has provided a one-of-a-kind backdrop for my time in the classroom where I am sharing American culture with eager German students. Ironically, their outside perspective is helping me learn as much about my own country as about Germany itself. Outside the classroom, my time here is proving to be incredibly personally rewarding. The Fulbright scholarship is allowing me to pursue my own ambitions in a limitless, priceless way my first year after graduating from Tulane. I appreciated the openness and flexibility of the German and Slavic program in helping me spend a semester abroad in Berlin. Professor Brancaforte helped me to transfer my credits to fulfill a German minor and fostered my interest in and passion for German language and culture. I am confident that I will come out of the program in June with lessons and experiences that resonate with me as I move forward to the next stage of my life. I am grateful for Tulane and for the late Senator Fulbright for making all of this possible." - Jeffery McInnis (May 2013)
2011-12 DAAD Ambassador: Lance Waters ~ Congratulations!
It is our department's great pleasure to congratulate Lance Waters, a senior pursuing a double major in German Studies and political science, for his selection as a 2011 DAAD Young Ambassador.
click here for the Lance Waters' Interview 
"My experience as a student in Berlin was marked by accessible professors, a broad academic curriculum, modern facilities, and contact with students from around the world." ~ Lance Waters, German Concentrator at Tulane.
Professional Faculty Activities
Professor and Departmental Chair Elio Brancaforte has recently been featured in an article in the Times Picayune from October 23, 2011.
'Once Upon a Time' and 'Grimm' bring fairy-tale characters to prime time. The article discusses the new ABC TV series "Once Upon a Time" and the new NBC TV series "Grimm" which both showed their Pilot episodes late October. This shifting trend of interest towards fairy tale lore in pop culture led Times Picayune writer Dave Walker to obtain a comment from Professor Brancaforte, who does much academic work on fairy tales and folklore. He recently hosted a talk given by Harvard Professor Maria Tatar, a world famous fairy tale specialist, which was open to the Tulane community. Professor Brancaforte also regularly teaches the course "Grimm Reckonings".
Tulane's Elio Brancaforte studies fairy-tale references in popular culture
This online article has questions and answers with Professor Brancaforte regarding the previous article. It asks for his expert opinions of the upcoming TV series "Grimm" and "Once Upon a Time", which are based off fairy tales and folklore, along with several other questions about his studies and work.
"I know that my (future) students will be watching, so I will watch so that I know what the series are all about…I'll be interested to see what approach the series will take to the "classic" tales, and how they will adapt them and try to make them relevant for a modern audience."
For past Faculty Activities, see our Professional Faculty Activities page