About the Institute

German and European Studies in the U.S.
Changing World, Shifting Narratives

Recent historic developments – the creation of the European Union, the end of the Cold War, and events since 9/11 – have transformed Europe and Germany and their relation to the U.S. Our NEH Summer Institute will examine how these changes have challenged the unique transatlantic cultural connections of past decades, as well as the asymmetrical historical narratives that have been presumed by disciplines closely associated with German studies in the U.S.

Participants, faculty and guest speakers will include German and U.S. scholars at varied stages in their careers. We will reflect as a group on the intellectual history of German studies in the U.S., assess its current transnational dynamics, and ask how differing contemporary experience and disciplinary narratives equip German and U.S. scholars for creative, informed and relevant study of Europe. The program will be conducted in English.

One week will be devoted to each of four areas, exploring how discourse in each discipline relates to the National Socialist past, Cold War divisions, German reunification after 1989, and the post-9/11 present. The four topic areas are:

•  Transatlantic Agendas in Contemporary History and a “New European Historiography”
•  Film and History / Film as history / Film History
•  Issues in Feminism and German Studies
•  A Multicultural Germany in a Globalizing World? The Case of Black Germans

Keynote Speakers: Konrad Jarausch, University of North Carolina / ZZF Potsdam; Katie Trumpener, Yale University; Patricia Herminghouse, University of Rochester; Tina Campt, Duke University.

Resident Faculty: Sky Arndt-Briggs, Barton Byg, and Sara Lennox – University of Massachusetts Amherst; Patricia Herminghouse, University of Rochester; Thomas Lindenberger, Center for Contemporary Historical Research Potsdam (ZZF).

Guest Scholars: from the UMass / ZZF exchange in German cultural history 2001-2005, and from the research project “Black Europe: The Forgotten History of a Continent” (University of Mainz / UMass Amherst).

Participants: Twenty-five U.S. college and university teachers are supported for participation in the seminar by an NEH stipend.

For more information, contact:

Dr. Barton Byg, institute director
Germanic Languages and Literatures
Herter Hall
University of Massachusetts
161 Presidents Dr.
Amherst, MA 01003-9312

Tel. (413) 545-6671
Fax (413) 545-6995
E-Mail: nehinst@german.umass.edu