49th Annual WiG Conference

The online conference organizing team is happy to announce that registration for this year’s ONLINE conference (October 24-26) is now open.

Registration is a two-step process. Please use this link to register and pay any fees through Wild Apricot (you can also renew your membership there if it has lapsed). 

Prefer to copy/paste? Please use: https://womeningerman.wildapricot.org/event-5779493  

Once you are done, you will receive a confirmation email that includes a link to register for our online platform (Symposium by Forager One). This second step makes sure that you will get access to the platform, all the files and zoom links.

Note that we have five tiers for registration. Each paying tier will have two subcategories, one category for people with funding (full price) and one category for people who don’t receive institutional funding (discounted price). Please choose the category that best fits your needs.

 

For this year’s conference you can look forward to:

  • our guests: the award-winning Rahel M’Bon and Pamela Ohene-Nyako to discuss Blackness in Switzerland

  • panels on “Monsters, Monstrous Bodies, and Identity Formation” and “Magical Things, Haunted Objects II: The Clock Strikes Back! Gender and Object-Oriented Ontology in German Women’s Literature up to 1918” 

  • a discussion about “Why feminist? Why German Studies? Why now?”

  • a pedagogy workshop called “’Who Am I to Do This?’ Designing Anti-Racist, Project-Based Instruction”

  • poster presentations, and

  • community events, including an improv workshop.

Here’s the link to the online program.

You can access the conference accessibility guidelines here

We are excited to see you all in a few weeks!

The 2024 WiG Annual Conference Organizing Team (Cynthia, Jamele, Nicole, and Petra)

You can email the organizers with questions at: conference@womeningerman.org.

Head over to the WiggieWegWeiser to learn a little about WiG conference culture and read the WiG Community Agreement.

Panels at the 2024 WiG Conference

The sessions for the 2024 conference are currently seeking proposals. Submissions for the panels are due by February 1, 2024 to their respective organizers. Accepted panelists will be notified by March 1. 

All presentations must accord with the WiG Mission Statement:

The Coalition of Women in German (WiG) provides a democratic forum for all people interested in feminist approaches to German literature and culture or in the intersection of gender with other categories of analysis such as sexuality, class, race, and ethnicity. Through its annual conference, panels at national professional meetings, and through the publication of the Feminist German Studies, the organization promotes feminist scholarship of outstanding quality. Women in German is committed to making school and college curricula inclusive and seeks to create bridges, cross boundaries, nurture aspiration, and challenge assumptions while exercising critical self-awareness. Women in German is dedicated to eradicating discrimination in the classroom and in the teaching profession at all levels.

We are planning for an in-person conference in Portland, Oregon for 2023. We will revisit this discussion at our spring leadership meeting and will notify the membership at that point as to whether any changes are necessary and forthcoming. Membership to the Coalition of Women in German will be required to present on this panel but is not required to submit an abstract.

 

Thursday Night Session: TBA

 

Praxis/Pedagogy/Professional Session: ’Who Am I to Do This?’ Designing Anti-Racist, Project-Based Instruction

As in most foreign language (FL) instructional spaces, workshops and initiatives devoted to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in DaF/German studies tend to underscore the importance of increasing representation and diversifying the canon. More recently, discourse and practices have expanded to include the decolonization of DaF/German studies, which seeks to dismantle systemic oppression and dominant-culture narratives about race. As a result, we find ourselves striving towards anti-racist pedagogical practices—which includes teaching anti-racism. And while many want to do this, they hesitate in the face of a variety of challenges, from adequate support, to job stability, to positionality.  

This workshop (75 minutes) intends to meet the needs of instructors who wish to engage anti-racist pedagogy in their German courses and need initial support in developing content and lesson plans. The workshop will first demonstrate how to combine anti-racist pedagogy with project-based instruction via a DaF project implemented at Bauhaus-Universität Weimar in 2023 (15 minutes). Workshop participants will then receive support while brainstorming and developing plans for their own project that centers anti-racism (60 minutes). Participants will receive instruction, templates, tips, and feedback in small groups led by facilitators.  

The workshop is seeking facilitators for brainstorming, project design, and feedback in groups of 4-5. Facilitators will meet before the conference to learn about the online conference platform Symposium, review the structure of the workshop and materials, and make suggestions for revisions. Ideally, facilitators will have some experience in project-based instruction and/or teaching anti-racism in DaF/German Studies courses and be comfortable with facilitating group work online. 

In 300-400 words, please briefly introduce yourself and your (research) interests in anti-racism and/or DEI and project-based instruction in DaF/German Studies. Then describe a project you created and implemented for classroom instruction. Ideally, the project you describe has some DEI facet. The project you describe does not have to be your most successful project, rather, the one you learned the most from. Please send your introduction and project description to h.jernigan@stanford.edu by 1 February 2024. 

 

Pre-20th Century Panel: Magical Things, Haunted Objects II: The Clock Strikes Back! Gender and Object-Oriented Ontology in German Women’s Literature up to 1918

“Nur was uns anschaut sehen wir…”–Franz Hessel, “Spazieren in Berlin”

In Annette von Droste Hülshoff’s Die Judenbuche, the eponymous tree stands as a silent witness to human violence and weakness. In Theodor Storm’s “Marthe und Ihre Uhr,” a woman finds comfort in her relationship with a clock, and soon finds the clock preferable to human company. 

Such odd moments between things and people call for a rethinking of our assumed anthropomorphic hierarchy: Do objects only have meaning when a human sees them or interacts with them, or do they hold meaning before and after human time? Can humans sense the independent nature of objects, and does this extra-human presence make the object uncanny? What are some ways that humans can define themselves anew in relation to different types of objects? 

Building upon our successful Pre-20th Century panel from 2017, we continue to investigate the presence of uncanny objects in century German literature and art up to 1918, focusing on works by German-speaking women or on other works that place objects into gender dynamics. We invite papers that will provide a gendered reading of recent developments in what José Brenner calls “Mensch-Object Beziehungen” or other concepts from Object-Oriented Ontology (OOO), speculative realism and new materialism.

We are especially interested in approaching these questions as they appear in pre- and early 20th century texts. Objects that carry magical connotations or odd connections to a literary character can be found in Medieval and Early Modern texts by women, such as sexualized pots and pans in the dramas of Roswith von Gandersheim or the Hungarian Crown in the writings of Helene Kottanerin. These strange objects emerge with a vengeance in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, from Benedicta Nauberts ur-Gothic works to the Kunstmärchen of the Romantic period. As can be seen in the above citations from Droste and Storm, these strange objects even occur in Realist and Naturalist texts, where connections to objects exert power on human characters. We are happy to consider texts from the long nineteenth century, up through the first two decades of the twentieth century. We are also curious how these images of the past are reconstituted in the present and in imaginations of the future. 

Questions to consider as a part of this panel:

  • How is gender constructed in relation to odd, uncanny or even haunted objects?
  • How are characters or ideas controlled by objects, and do these objects display any sort of agency? Do haunted objects challenge our understanding of subjectivity?
  • What role might race, spiritualism, sexuality or religion play in the object/human interaction? 
  • What are the socio-political, psychological and narratological implications of objects that take on a life of their own? 
  • What affects do these objects evoke? How do these human responses help/hurt our understanding of the objects?
  • How do these objects use and/or challenge anthropomorphism? What kind of relationships do they establish with other non-human beings?

This panel will have an experimental/creative element so that we can better adapt to an online conference. Details of the format will be communicated to participants at a later date. 

Please submit a 500-word abstract and a short 100-word bio to Rob McFarland (robmc@byu.edu) and Cynthia Shin (cynshin@iu.edu) by February 1, 2024.  

 

Open Session I: Monsters, Monstrous Bodies, and Identity Formation 

From vampires to Frankenstein’s monster to queer-coded Disney villains, “monsters” have long been associated with social and physical deviance, the grotesque, and as embodiments of deeply-rooted human fears. Philologically, the word “monster” has its roots in monstrare (to show, to display) and monere (to warn). In Monster Theory (1996), Jeffrey Cohen theorized that monsters emerge in moments of crisis, desire, or intercultural conflict. The presence of female monsters—already “othered” as woman and doubly “othered” as monster—in 19th century literature call into question the Enlightenment’s universal claim to human reason and agency. A vengeful, irrational, seductive female monster can be read as a warning against women’s emancipation in its every facet, from citizen rights (self-determination, education, employment) and freedom from discriminatory sex-guardianship to economic and even political emancipation.

This panel seeks to interrogate the role of “monsters” in German-language literary and cultural products from all time periods. Do the fearsome, female-coded figures lurking among the more well-known (male-authored) texts play similar roles in works by female and genderqueer artists and authors? How does the mechanism of villainy function as a marker of monstrous identity? How do queer-coded and/or racialized monsters reinforce or challenge traditional readings of monsters as female/feminine? While many of these texts suggest that there is something universally frightening about the female monster, which corresponds to culturally-codified anxiety regarding gender roles and sexuality, others depict more nuanced, positive, and empowered “monsters.”

This panel welcomes submissions that consider the relationship between “monsters,” broadly conceived, and identity via a feminist and/or intersectional lens. Topics may include (but are not limited to): 

  • Othered bodies and the grotesque
  • Queer/queered/queering bodies; trans monsters/monstrosity
  • Racialized bodies 
  • Monsters as embodiments of ethno-nationalist fears
  • Familiar monster figures re-imagined; intertextual monsters
  • Intersections of monsters and sexuality, gender, and race
  • Pedagogical approaches (how to engage with literary monsters in the German language or culture classroom)

We welcome proposals for non-traditional presentation styles, creative approaches, and works in progress. The organizers will meet with accepted panelists to discuss possible formats for this virtual panel, including opportunities for pre-circulated writing, shorter papers, and audience interaction in break-out rooms.

Please submit abstracts of 250–300 words to Nat Modlin (ncmodlin@uchicago.edu), Rebecca Steele (rsteele4@uwyo.edu), and Melissa Sheedy (melissa.sheedy@wisc.edu) by February 1st, 2024.

Open Session II: TBA

 

Guest-related panel

More information coming soon.

 

Poster Session

The poster session allows scholars to employ audiovisual forms to initiate conversations about intersectional feminist issues in their research, teaching, and activism. Submissions have taken the form of traditional posters, PowerPoint presentations, short films, websites, dioramas, installations, interactive experiences, etc. “Posters” can address a variety of topics, such as pedagogy, literature, film, cultural studies, history, and politics. Be creative, discover a new approach to your work, and gain valuable feedback in real time. To ensure that your information is available to members throughout the conference, all presentations must be accompanied by a simple explanatory handout.

Please submit an abstract of 300-400 words describing the project’s content, thesis, and form (a description of the layout, design, and materials/technology) and a short biography to to both Allie Stewart and Wendy Timmons (stewarta@up.edu and wendy.ce.timmons@gmail.com) Presenters must provide their own materials, equipment, and technology (including computers, headphones, extension cords, etc.); please consider these logistics for your proposal. Membership to the Coalition of Women in German will be required to present in this session but is not required to submit an abstract. Deadline for proposal submissions is February 1, 2024.

WiG-Sponsored Panels at other Conferences, 2024–25

 

AATG/ACTFL 2024

The German Volkshochschule, Technology, and DEI

2019 marked the official 100th anniversary of the German Volkshochschule. Since 2019, the widespread accessibility of advancing technology has returned traditional VHS priorities of transnational and intercultural impulses to the local setting. Rather than viewing technological developments as disadvantageous and even counter-productive to internationalization and diversity efforts, however, this panel explores the utility of technology, specifically course-sharing platforms, to facilitate traditional VHS principles of cross-cultural understanding and accessible, inclusive education. This panel seeks to illuminate the current landscape of the VHS system in areas of DEI and technology, and even those two factors in combination. Possible topics can include but are not limited to: 

  • technology in the service of DEI, particularly with regard to Integrationskurse and language courses for migrants
  • experiences with or proposed collaborative programming concerning trans-Atlantic course-sharing or language partnerships
  • the history of the VHS and how the country-wide system has adapted to cultural and political changes over the course of the century
  • characterizations of the VHS system beyond the common “community college” classification

Please send abstracts between (250-300 words) to Lynn M. Kutch at kutch@kutztown.edu by February 15, 2024.

 

German Studies Association 2024

Beyond the Field: Gender, Sports, and Society

 

We invite scholars and researchers to contribute to a diverse and dynamic panel on topics including, but not limited to:

  • What are women’s sports? Exploring the definition, scope, and evolution of women’s sports in German-speaking areas and beyond.
  • Sports and/as activism: How sports serve as a platform for activism, especially in terms of  gender equality, social justice, and political engagement.
  • Anti-trans legislation and sentiments: What are the challenges and controversies surrounding anti-trans legislation in the context of sports?
  • Representations of athletes in media: How are women, men, trans, non-binary, queer, straight etc. athletes portrayed? What are the effects of these representations on public perception and athlete identity? 
  • History of women and non-binary people’s participation in athletics.
  • Impact of global events on women’s sports: How are events like the COVID-19 pandemic or political changes affecting women’s sports, especially in German-speaking areas?
  • Legacy of iconic athletes: What are the achievements and legacies of iconic athletes from German-speaking areas and what are their impacts on sports history and society?
  • We encourage submissions from a variety of disciplines and perspectives, including history, cultural studies, gender studies, media studies, and sports studies. Scholars at all stages of their careers are encouraged to submit proposals. We are looking forward to a stimulating and insightful panel discussion at the 2024 GSA!

Submission Guidelines: 

Abstracts should be no more than 250 words. Please include a brief bio with your submission. Submissions should be sent to Claire E. Scott (claire.scott.1@vanderbilt.edu) and Titi Kou-Herrema (koutiany@msu.edu) by February 15, 2024.

Modern Language Association Convention 2025

TBA

 

WiG Annual Conference: History

2023 Conference: Nov. 3-5, 2023, at Portland State University, Portland, Oregon

2022 Conference: Nov. 10-13, 2022, at Portland State University, Portland, Oregon

2021 Conference: Nov. 4-6, 2021, held as a virtual meeting

2020 Conference: Oct. 15-18, 2020, at The Sewanee Inn, Sewanee, Tennessee

2019 Conference: Oct. 17-20, 2019, at The Sewanee Inn, Sewanee, Tennessee

2018 Conference: Oct. 18-21, 2018, at The Sewanee Inn, Sewanee, Tennessee

2017 Conference: Oct. 26-29, 2017, at the Banff Centre, Banff, Alberta

2016 Conference: Oct. 13-16, 2016, at the Banff Centre, Banff, Alberta

2015 Conference: Oct. 22-25, 2015, at the Banff Centre, Banff, Alberta

2014 Conference: Oct. 23-26, 2014, at Shawnee Inn and Golf Resort, Shawnee on Delaware, PA

2013 Conference: Oct. 24-27, 2013, at Shawnee Inn and Golf Resort, Shawnee on Delaware, PA

2012 Conference: Oct. 25-28, 2012, at Shawnee Inn and Golf Resort, Shawnee on Delaware, PA

2011 Conference: Oct. 20-23, 2011, at Yarrow Golf and Conference Center, Augusta, MI

2010 Conference: Oct. 21-24, 2010, at Yarrow Golf and Conference Center, Augusta, MI

2009 Conference: Oct. 22-25, 2009, at Brook Lodge, Augusta, MI

2008 Conference: Oct. 23-26, 2008, at Snowbird Resort, Snowbird, UT

2007 Conference: Oct. 18-21, 2007, at Snowbird Resort, Snowbird, UT

2006 Conference: Oct. 19-22, 2006, at Snowbird Resort, Snowbird, UT

2005 Conference: Oct. 16-19, 2003, at General Butler State Resort Park, Carrollton, KY

2004 Conference: Oct. 16-19, 2003, at General Butler State Resort Park, Carrollton, KY

2003 Conference: Oct. 16-19, 2003, at General Butler State Resort Park, Carrollton, KY

2002 Conference: Oct. 17-20, 2002, at Rio Rico Resort, Rio Rico, AZ

2001 Conference: Oct. 18-21, 2001, at Rio Rico Resort, Rio Rico, AZ

2000 Conference: Oct. 19-22, 2000, at Rio Rico Resort, Rio Rico, AZ

1999 Conference: Oct. 28-31, 1999, at Monte Toyon Retreat, Aptos, CA

1998 Conference: Oct. 29-Nov. 1, 1998, at Monte Toyon Retreat, Aptos, CA

1997 Conference: Oct. 30-Nov. 1, 1997, at Monte Toyon Retreat, Aptos, CA

1996 Conference: Oct. 31-Nov. 3, 1996, in St. Augustine, FL

1995 Conference: Oct. 19-22, 1995, in St. Augustine, FL

1994 Conference: St. Augustine, FL

1991-1993 Conferences: Great Barrington, MA

1988-1990 Conferences: St. Croix, MN

1985-1987 Conferences: Portland, OR

1982-1984 Conferences: Thompson’s Island, Boston Harbor, MA

1979-1981 Conferences: Racine, WI

1976-1978 Conferences: Miami University, Oxford, OH

WiG 2022 Thursday Night Session: 

Speakers: 

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WiG 2022 Praxis/ Pedagogy Panel: “’Teaching Interdisciplinarity”

Panel Organizers: Claire E. Scott (Vanderbilt University, German Studies) and Eliza Ablovatski (Kenyon College, History)

Presenter: Gabi Maier

Presentation: ““Exploring an Interdisciplinary Teaching Approach Between German Studies and Architecture”

In her presentation, Gabi shared her experiences with a course called “Digital Vienna” that she taught with a colleague in Architecture. She described the collaboration between two different disciplines and the challenges of interdisciplinary teaching, the requirements of the class (e.g. the creation of 3D models of historical buildings for a digital map of Vienna) and their pedagogical approach (among others, project based learning). Her presentation also entailed an assessment of the course and made suggestions regarding improvements for another iteration.

Presenter: Simone Pfleger (University of Alberta)

Presentation: ““Beyond (Queer) Theories: Cross-Cultural Dialogue and Community Service Learning through Transatlantic Exchange,””

Simone reflected on the pedagogical considerations and teaching experiences that emerged from a co-taught, remote, combined undergraduate- and graduate-student course on Queer Theory. The collaboration was between Bielefeld University and the University of Alberta. The virtual environment and need for connecting exclusively online brought about by COVID-19 facilitated a new and exciting transatlantic collaboration, which allowed for the creation of a course that pursued a twofold objective: foster cross-cultural dialogue and exchange among the students from the two partner universities; and provide students with practical experiences through project-based work with Edmonton community partners (such as Edmonton 2Spirit Society, Institute for Sexual Minority Studies and Services, and Sexual Assault Voices of Edmonton) that could be completed in an online setting. While the former enabled students to discuss theoretical readings so that they were able to develop an understanding of how normative ideas around identities and bodies have impacted the construction of social hierarchies and shaped an unequal distribution of power in different geographical, socio-cultural, and historical contexts, the latter encouraged students to develop new skills when translating theory to practice and applying queering as methodology in an investigative project with a community partner. This form of engagement and exchange ensured that all participants were exposed to a variety of approaches and ideas that expanded their understanding of how to engage with scholarship and activism beyond their own academic training and disciplinary confines.  

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WiG 2022 Pre-Twentieth Century Session: “Cultural Transfer, Inbound and/or Outbound: Bonding across Borders”

Session Organizers: Anne Wooten (University of Texas/Austin), Denise Della Rossa (Notre Dame University), Carol Strauss Sotiropoulos (Northern Michigan University)

Anne Wooten provided a rich introduction, inviting attendees to ponder the theoretical underpinnings of cultural transfer, as first articulated and defined by Michel Espagne. Alerting attendees to the diversity and range of the four papers, Wooten drew on areas of commonality, e.g., the power structures between differently gendered and racialized characters; and salient contemporary theoretical approaches to reappraising both neglected, undervalued works by women and two of the most widely read 18 th -c. epistolary novels.

 

Presenters: Monika Nenon

Presentation: “’Productive Reception. Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Julie, ou La Nouvelle Héloїse and Sophie von La Roche’s Geschichte des Fräuleins von Sternheim”

Monika takes a fresh look at Rousseau’s and La Roche’s most popular novels. Nenon draws on Robert Darnton’s theoretical concepts of the epistolary novel to compare the two works’ form and content in order to better comprehend the emotional impact they wielded on readerships across cultural zones. Nenon then looks to recent works in the field of Media Studies, in particular theories set forth by Robert Vellusig and Gisbert Ter-Nedden, to apply the Kinoeffekt to epistolary novels.

 

Presenter: Linda K. Hughes

Presentation: “Ottilie von Goethe as Mediator of Anglo-German Cultural Exchange”

Linda presents Ottilie von Goethe, Goethe’s daughter-in-law, as a key mediator of cultural exchange between German women writers and the Anglophone world, and between British women writers and Germany. After meeting cultural, literary, art, and proto-feminist critic Anna Jameson in 1833, Ottilie von Goethe became Jameson’s German social and literary guide, enabling Jameson to devote a section on German women writers in her Visits and Sketches at Home and Abroad (1834). Soon translated into German, Jameson’s work reversed the “outbound” cultural transfer to “inbound.” Ottilie von Goethe introduced Jameson to the works
and proto-feminist projects of Rahel (Levin) Varnhagen and Bettina von Arnim; further, she was instrumental in determining which of Princess Amalie of Saxony’s plays Jameson should translate. Those/most of us not familiar with both Ottilie von Goethe and Anna Jameson will not forget the duo as a prime example of cultural transfer, both inbound and outbound.

 

Presenter: Julie Koehler

Presentation:“Female Heroism and Mentorship in Retellings of Madame d’Aulnoy’s “The Bee and the Orange Tree’” 

Julie discusses three German women writers’ retellings of d’Aulnoy’s 1697 “L'Orangier et l'Abeille,” retellings that appeared in the three most important early 19 th -c. fairy-tale collections. Like the original, in each variant of the story a young and helpless girl finds herself in a strange place inhabited by monstrous ogres. Needing to save the prince she loves and herself from being devoured, she uses a magic wand to transform him into a tree and herself into a bee. Several plot and character distinctions from the original in these examples of inbound cultural transfer invite questions about intent and audience. Significantly German women storytellers reduce the romantic plot, and expand instead on examples of women’s cleverness, knowledge, and magic to create situations in which women—caring mothers, fierce protectors, powerful fairies, and clever princesses—care for, mentor, and rescue each other. 

 

Presenter: Sarah Vandegrift Eldridge

Presentation: “Disciplinary Transfers: Following Black Feminist Thought to the German Robinsonade”

Sarah’s paper draws on Toni Morrison’s insights into representations of Black and indigenous characters in American literature to elucidate ways 18 th -c. female
Robinsonaden allowed German writers to explore the construction of white selves and their relationship to religion, race, and gender. Turning to Morrison’s discussion of “the interdepending working of power, race, and sexuality in a white woman’s battle for coherence,” Eldridge’s paper discusses three female Robinsanden, to argue that this applies to the encounters of female European protagonists with non-white Indigenous figures and populations. As previous
scholarship on the female Robinsonaden explored only gender, Eldridge’s paper contributes significantly to Robinsonaden studies by exposing the ways racial and religious differences inflect gender identities and the construction of white female subjectivity.

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WiG 2022 Panel: 

 

Panel Organizers 

Presenter: 

 

Presentation: 

 

 

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WiG 2022 Community Hour: 

 

 

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