Dr. Irina Erman presents at ATSEEL Conference in San Fransisco

This week, CofC Russian Studies Program director and Assistant Professor of Russian Dr. Irina Erman is presenting at the annual conference of the Association for Slavic, East European & Eurasian Studies (ASEEES). Her paper, “Communal Vampirism in Alexander Bogdanov’s Red Star,” analyzes the phenomenon of communal vampirism in Alexander Bogdanov’s utopian science fiction novel Red Star (1908) and is being presented on a panel on “Cosmic Dreams and Communal Nightmares: Russian Sci-Fi and Horror.”

Dr. Nancy Nenno publishes article on “Teaching the African Diaspora in German-Speaking Europe”

Congratulations to Professor of German Dr. Nancy Nenno, whose new article just appeared in print in the fall 2019 special issue “Teaching German in a Global Context” of the premiere German pedagogy journal Die Unterrichtspraxis/Teaching German. The article, entitled “Terms of Engagement: Teaching the African Diaspora in German-Speaking Europe,” explores her popular course on Black Germans and Austrians and makes the case for Black German Studies as a particularly fruitful arena for improving students’ intercultural competence.

Link to the article

“Germany 1989: What does it mean to us today?” with Ambassador John Kornblum

On November 11th at 6pm in Arnold Hall (96 Wentworth Street), Ambassador John Kornblum will commemorate the 30-year anniversary of the opening of the Berlin Wall on November 9th, 1989, with a public lecture. One of the leading experts on the transatlantic relationship, John Kornblum was Ambassador to Germany from 1997-2001, had a 35-year career in the foreign service, and played a defining role in many of the events leading up to the end of the cold war. The event is sponsored by the LCWA World Colloquium Series, the German Embassy’s Wunderbar Together 2019 Campus Weeks, and the First Year Experience Program at the College of Charleston.

CofC German Faculty attend Annual German Studies Association in Portland, Oregon

This weekend, three CofC German Faculty, Dr. Nancy Nenno, Dr. Sarah Koellner, and Dr. Cara Tovey, are attending the annual German Studies conference in Portland Oregon from Oct 4th-6th.

Dr. Nenno is attending as a co-chair for the Black Diaspora Studies Network and will be the commentator for a panel entitled “Imagining and Performing Black Radical Politics: African and European Intersections in Germany.”

Dr. Koellner is presenting a paper entitled “Alles Klar, Herr Kommissar? Counter-Surveillance as a Performative Practice in Ulrich Peltzer’s Teil der Lösung” and moderating the panel “Cities under Siege”

Dr. Tovey is presenting a paper on “Hofmannsthal’s Language of the Body” on the Body Studies Network Panel.

Dr. Tovey and Dr. Nenno

Dr. Nenno and Dr. Koellner

CofC’s Dr. Sarah Koellner participates in Notre Dame’s “Literaturbetrieb” Seminar in Berlin

Since June 16th, Dr. Koellner has the opportunity to discuss the contemporary artistic landscape in Germany with key players from the “Literaturbetrieb” as a fellow of the Notre Dame Berlin Seminar. Part of the incredible experience were seminars with the Georg-Büchner-Preis winner Therézia Mora, Suhrkamp’s chief editor Thomas Sparr and film director Volker Schlöndorff (just to name a few). During a short trip to the Literaturinstitut in Leipzig, she was able to meet with one of our students, Denicee Becker, who is participating at the same time in the seminar “Mit Deutsch in die Zukunft” organized by the American Association of Teachers of German.

Dr. Sarah Koellner and Educationa and German major Denicee Becker ’20 in Leipzig

Dr. Nancy Nenno presents on black Austrians and recent Cinema at Austrian Studies Association annualconference

On April 12th, CofC Professor of German Dr. Nancy Nenno presented a paper entitled “Hearing Voices: Black Austrians and Recent Cinema“ at a research panel on “Migration-Integration in Contemporary Austrian Cinema and Culture.” Now back in Charleston, Dr. Nenno will be introducing black German filmmaker and author Mo Asumang for two events related to her documentary film The Aryans and her book Mo and the Aryans: Alone among racists and neonazis on April 15th and 16th!

Jonathan Dickey ’21 (German and International Business) receives scholarship from Charleston Women in International Trade

Congratulations to Jonathan Dickey (German and International Business, Honors College), who received a scholarship from Charleston Women in International Trade at the CWIT soiree on April 9th! As part of the application, Jonathan submitted an essay on how the new tariffs on China affecting US Trade and the global market in general. In May, Jonathan will be embarking on three months in Germany as part of the CofC Cultural Vistas Internship in Germany program.

Jonathan Dickey and CWIT Awards Chair Taylor Jackson of Kuehne + Nagel

Professor Della Lana, Senior Instructor of German, together with Jonathan Dickey at the soiree

German director and author Mo Asumang visits CofC: April 15th and 16th

On April 15th, and 16th, the German documentary filmmaker, author, and television personality Mo Asumang will be visiting campus to present and discuss her work.

Monday, April 15th, 6:30pm, Burke High School Auditorium, 224 President Street: Mo Asumang’s 2014 film The Aryans: Screening and Q&A with the director.

On Monday night, Mo Asumang will be giving a screening of her 2014 film The Aryans at Burke High School Auditorium at 6:30pm.. The film conducts a daring and timely journalistic experiment: Asumang, as a German woman of color, seeks out and engages neo-nazis and white nationalists in Germany and the US in face-to-face conversation. For more, see this BBC Interview with her about her award-winning film. Following the screening, Asumang will hold a discussion and Q&A session with the audience. Admission is free! Here is a link to the Facebook page for the event. Please use the North Campus entrance on 499 Sumter, parking at the Burke Football Parking Lot.

April 16th, 6pm, Arnold Hall on 96 Wentworth Street. “Confronting Racism Face-to-Face: a reading and conversation with Mo Asumang.”

The very next evening at the College, Asumang will be giving a reading and leading a discussion on her book about the film, Mo and the Aryans: Alone among Neo-Nazis and Racists. This event will be held at 6:00pm in Arnold Hall on 96 Wentworth Street. Here is the link for that event on Facebook.

Both events are being sponsored by the School of Languages, Cultures, and World Affairs, the German and Russian Studies Program, the Avery Institute, the African American Studies Program, the African Studies Program, the Carolina Lowcountry & Atlantic World Program, the Zucker/Goldberg Center for Holocaust Studies, The First Year Experience Program, the Sustainability Literacy Institute, and the Department of History.

Dr. Sarah Koellner presents at the annual conference of the Northeastern Modern Language Association

Dr. Sarah Koellner, Visiting Assistant Professor of German at CofC, recently presented at the Northeastern Modern Language Association (NeMLA) conference in Washington D.C., on a panel on “Teaching Romanticism to Today’s Undergraduates” with Astrid Weigert (Georgetown U), Susan Norland (George Washington University) and Walter Byongsok Chon (Ithaca College).

Dr. Koellner’s paper was entitled “The Gaze, Love, and Data: Reloading Romanticist Love in E.T.A. Hoffmann’s The Sandman & The Chatbot Replika.”