CANCELLED: Afropessimism at the End of the World

Speaker(s):  Cecilio M. Cooper, Patrice D. Douglass, Joy A James, David Marriott, Jared Sexton, Frank B. Wilderson III, Jaye Austin Williams, Mlondolozi Zondi A one-day symposium celebrating the 10thanniversary of Red, White, and Black: Cinema and the Structure of US Antagonisms by Frank... more

CANCELLED: Filmabend - Lore

In compliance with Duke University's directive on public meetings, we are unfortunately canceling this event. For more information, please go to this website: https://coronavirus.duke.edu/**

NCGS: BILL SHARMAN - PhD Candidate, Duke University, Department of History

Third-World Refugees, Rights, and West Germany in the 1970s and 80s During the 1970s and 80s, tens of thousands of refugees from Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia began seeking asylum in West Germany each year. While scholars have examined how the West German media, state, and society... more

TEN DAYS IN RUSSIA - Dr. Jonathan Paine Supernumerary Fellow of Wolfson College, Oxford

“How does Writing for Money Affect what is Written?” Dr. Paine’s talk draws on the main themes of his book, Selling the Story: Transaction and Narrative Value in Balzac, Dostoevsky, and Zola, published by Harvard University Press in 2019. Combining close readings of works by Balzac and Dostoevsky... more

Feminist Theory Workshop

The Program in Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies at Duke University hosts an annual Feminist Theory Workshop—a two-day event featuring keynote lectures and working seminars. The workshops are held in March at Duke University. The Feminist Theory Workshop (FTW), which began in 2007, are... more

Kaffeestunde!

Join the German Club this semester (Spring 2020) for Kaffeestunde every Monday at 5:00 pm in German Department Lounge

Works in Progress Forum - Lea Greenberg - CDG

*response for this talk with be given by Professor Ruth von Bernuth (UNC)

Wittgenstein Workshop

This workshop is intended for beginners as well as for seasoned Wittgenstein readers. Three philosophers and a literary critic will each read and comment on a brief passage from Philosophical investigations which has been important to their own work.

Filmabend - Charite at War

Black German director and journalist, Jana Pareigisat - "Afro Deutschland"

There will be a screening of a  documentary "Afro Deutschland"  by  Black German director and journalist, Jana Pareigisat at the Hayti Heritage Center in Durham, 804 Old Fayetteville St, Durham, NC 27701 at 6 PM on Wednesday 2/26. There will be a  Q&A  lead by Professor  Priscilla Layne after ... more

Guest Lecturer Talk: Jocelyn Holland - California Institute of Technology

In the Beginning Were the Words: Technological Speaking and Thinking Before a Philosophy of Technology To scholars of Idealism and Romanticism, the years leading up to 1800 are known as a time of bold system-building and poetic experimentation. In this talk, I focus on a less-explored aspect of the... more

Works In Progress Forum - Kata Gellen - Duke

"Shtetl Modern: The Literary Imagination of Jewish Futures c. 1935"

Works in Progress Forum - Christoph Schmitz - CDG

Guest Lecturer Professor Amir Eshel, Stanford University

Seminar:   Reading: Hannah Arendt, “Thinking and Moral Considerations: A Lecture”  12:00-2:00pm FHI Conference Room [C107, Bay 4, Smith Warehouse Lunch provided. Pre-registration is required. Space is limited. Please contact kata.gellen@duke.edu to register and receive the reading. Lecture: “... more

Guest Lecture Professor Joseph Vogl: The Ascendancy of Finance

A rich and engaging talk with Professor Joseph Vogl, German philosopher who has written on literature, culture and media. He is Professor of Modern German Literature, Literary, Media and Cultural Studies at the Humboldt University of Berlin Response given by Professor Giovanni Zanalda, Director,... more

Works In Progress Forum - John Gill

"Signature of the Crisis: Friedrich Schlegel's Religionspolitik" more details forthcoming!

Works In Progress Forum - Dr. Ruth von Bernuth:

" Luther in Yiddish" more details forthcoming!

Guest Lecturer: Catriona MacLeod

Material Cuts: Scherenschnitte, Collage, and the Romantic Fragment Catriona MacLeod with a response by Peter Nisbet Romantic authors and visual artists cut, glue, stain, and recycle paper in a century that has come to be known as "das papierne Zeitalter." They generate paper cuts, collages, and ink... more

Religious Knowledge Before 1750

A series of events with visiting faculty  from Tübingen including Dr. Jörg  Robert  & Dr. Astrid Dröse The lecture in German by Professor Jörg Robert is taking place on Thursday October 11 at 7:30 in Toy Lounge, and is entitled: „Abgrund der Freiheit – Mythos der Vernunft. Kant interpretiert... more

Musical Performance with Sandra Cotton & Catherine Hamner

Romantic HighsSongs of Love & Loss by Strauss, Wolf, and Marx

Modernism's Disconnections Symposium

Modernism's Disconnections  

Eckhart Goebel lecture - "Being There for Others': Hegel's Grace"

"The Sciences and the Humanities"

This talk will be organized by Rob Mitchell's Center for Interdisciplinary Studies and Cultural Theory and co-sponsored by Duke German *more  information forthcoming *Time subject to change

Workshop: "Revisiting Gender and German Cinema"

This workshop is for faculty, graduate students and select undergraduates; designed to familiarize students with current issues in German cinema and gender studies

“Data Capital: Hayek, Cybernetics, and German Idealism"

Dr. Weatherby is author of Transplanting the Metaphysical Organ: German Romanticism between Leibniz and Marx (Fordham UP, 2016). This talk is part of his current research project on relationships between German Idealism and cybernetics. This talk is sponsored by Duke’s Center for Interdisciplinary... more

Works in Progress Forum

Speaker: Christina Weiler - " Johann Gottfried Herder and Metaphors of Environmental Empathy"

When Words Fail: Images of Germany at the End of WWII

This talk will focus on the destruction of Germany by the Allies, seen in heretofore unpublished photographs taken in 1945-6. The talk will pose the question, among others, of how the gaze is constructed to view these photos of disaster, and of the enemy, seventy years later. Francoise Meltzer,... more

Theory Reading Group - Agamben on Method - "The Fire and the Tale"

"Mysterium Burocraticum" & "Parable and Kingdom" (from: The Fire and the Tale (2017) Access to the readings is available online (password = Agamben) via Hightail.    The GSLL Theory Reading Group is an informal, relaxed setting for reading and discussing theoretical texts of utility for the... more

Between Utopia and Reality

Academic lecture and film discussion with Gregor Thuswaldner    

Theory Reading Group - Agamben on Method - "Theory of Signatures"

The GSLL Theory Group will meet three times this semester to discuss the work of Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben. Well known throughout the humanities for his 1995 book on power and bare life entitled Homo sacer, the reading group will instead engage Agamben’s more recent essays on literary... more

Duke German Humanities & Migration Series

Guest Lecturer:  Vittorio Hösle, Paul Kimball Professor of Arts and Lecturers - Notre Dame The Ethiics of Migration: Moral principles, natural law, and politics in dealing with refugees Vittorio Hösle  

Theory Reading Group - Arendt on Totalitarianism - Chapter 13 - “Ideology and Terror”

The Reading Group will consider over the course of four meetings only chapters ten through fourteen from the third and final section entitled “Totalitarianism.” (Those interested are welcome to read sections one [“Antisemitism"] and two [“Imperialism"] prior to the first meeting.) Access to the ... more

In the Zone: Mini-Workshop

From the ancient Greek zṓnē for girdle or belt, “zone“ advanced over the course of the twentieth century in both English and German to become a ubiquitous signifier for geographic, socio-political, and scientific spaces. What, however, is an aesthetic zone? Is it synonymous with the text? What... more

Duke German Humanities & Migration Series

Till Dembeck - Université du Luxembourg Topic: "Literature as Linguistic Migration" MULTILINGUALISM AS MIGRATION All languages have “immigration laws” and regulate how foreign words, phrases, or structures may be used. But how does literature relate to these laws and what can it teach us about... more

Immanence and Transcendence Association for Adorno Studies 2017 Conference

Adorno Conference  

Works in Progress Forum

Speaker: Thomas Pfau: " The Image as Eschaton: Visuality and Narrative in Thomas Mann"

Theory Reading Group - Arendt on Totalitarianism - Chapter 11 - "The Totalitarian Movement""

The Reading Group will consider over the course of four meetings only chapters ten through fourteen from the third and final section entitled “Totalitarianism.” (Those interested are welcome to read sections one [“Antisemitism"] and two [“Imperialism"] prior to the first meeting.) Access to the ... more

Besotted with Brahms: Sandra Cotton, mezzo-soprano & Catherine Hamner, piano

Songs and pieces for solo piano including capriccios, intermezzos, and rhapsodies. The concert is followed by a reception in the East Duke parlors that will include a discussion/Q&A with the artists. Sandra Cotton is a member of the music faculty at Duke University, where she teaches studio... more

Abschlussfest Fall 2016

Romanticism Reading Group

To foster the research community of local faculty and graduate students interested in Romanticism in British and German literatures (as well, potentially, as Romantic movements in other national literatures), Stefani Engelstein (German) and Rob Mitchell (English) are organizing a Romanticism... more

German Campus Week

German Campus Week November 14-18 The Four-day Program for German Campus Week:    Monday, November 14th at 5:30 PM, Fed Ex Building Rm 1009 A Conversation with Afro-German Playwright Olivia Wenzel with clips from her plays "Corn in Germany and Other Galaxies" and "We are the Universe"   Tuesday... more

"Homestory Deutschland"

  "Homestory Deutschland," A photo exhibit about Black German history. The photos will be displayed in the Fed Ex Global Center, Rm 3200.

Duke German Humanities & Migration Series

Moritz Schuller: "Germany and the Refugees." In 2015, Germany took in over one million refugees. How has this changed the social and political landscape of Germany and of Europe? Moritz Schuller is a political editor for the Berlin newspaper Der Tagesspiegel Moritz Schuller      

Works in Progress Forum

Speaker: Claire Scott: "Childless Mother: Constructing and Deconstructing Tropes of Pornography and Melodrama in Elfriede Jelinek's Lust"  

Theory Reading Group - Fall 2016: Blumenberg

The Theory Reading Group will reconvene next month, this time on the other side of the Rhine in order to consider three works by philosopher Hans Blumenberg. Perhaps best known for his philosophical treatise on the metaphor (Paradigms for a Metaphorology) from 1960, Blumenberg later expanded his... more

Works in Progress Forum

Speaker: Matt Hambro - "Maxilillian's Ehrenpforte as Graphic Narrative"    

Anthropocene and the Humanities. An Open Conversation

This event will be opened by our guest speaker Elizabeth Povinelli, Franz Boas Professor of Anthropology and Gender Studies at Columbia University. After her talk, local scholars from UNC and Duke will respond to her thoughts. Guest Speaker: Elizabeth Povinelli (Franz Boas Professor of Anthropology... more

Abschlussfest Spring 2016

Reconsidering Antisemitism: Past and Present

The Carolina Center for Jewish Studies is taking a leadership role in bringing together international scholars, students, and the general public to explore antisemistism’s dark past and concerning present. There is an undeniable resurgence of antisemitism in many parts of the world (including North... more

Talk: Critical Speaker Series Presents Jack Halberstam

Jack Halberstam is Professor of American Studies and Ethnicity, Gender Studies and Comparative Literature at the University of Southern California. Halberstam is the author of five books, including: Skin Shows: Gothic Horror and the Technology of Monsters (1995), Female Masculinity (1998), In A... more

Risky Understanding -- An International Interdisciplinary Workshop

Funded by UNC Global and the Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Germany, and hosted at UNC-Chapel Hill by the Departments of Communications and German and Slavic, this weeklong workshop explores the theme of “risky understanding” as it applies to both the aesthetic dimension and everyday... more

"The Future is Unknown: Redefining Blackness in Afro-German Poetry" by Dr. Priscilla Layne

We would like to invite you to join us for the second talk of the Spring semester! Dr. Priscilla Layne, assistant professor of German, will speak on "The Future is Unknown: Redefining Blackness in Afro-German Poetry"on Monday, March 28, 3:00 PM in Donovan Lounge.

Reimagining the German Canon: German Classics in Contemporary Transcultural Theater

The 2010 play Verrücktes Blut (Crazy Blood), written and directed by Nurkan Erpulat and Jens Hillje, tells the story of a high school teacher who wants to instill in her students—most of them with Migrationshintergrund — Friedrich Schiller’s humanist values of freedom and self-determination by... more

Hanns Eisler Today

This two day academic conference is devoted to the rich musical heritage of Hanns Eisler, one of the most interesting figures in the first half of the 20th century, composer of the first twelve-tone-film score and of the national anthem of the GDR. Speakers include Andrea Bohlman, Knud Breyer, Joy... more

On Aggression: Psychoanalysis as Moral Politics in Post-Nazi Germany

The North Carolina German Studies Seminar Series invites you to attend Dagmar Herzog (Graduate Center, City University of New York) On Aggression: Psychoanalysis as Moral Politics in Post-Nazi Germany Sunday, 28 February 2016 5:00-7:00 pm Room 569, Hamilton Hall, UNC Campus The heyday of... more

Questions of Mise en Scène

Presenter: Professor Inga Pollmann, UNC-Chapel Hill. The Parlors are located on the first floor of the East Duke Building, 1304 Campus Drive, Durham, NC 27708

Melodrama second Symposium: "Melodrama in the age of realism"

On February 20, the second part of a two-part symposium on melodrama takes place at the Garage in Smith's Warehouse. Organized by the Center for Philosophy, Arts, and Literature (PAL) at Duke University, the symposium will engage with questions of melodrama and realism in different contexts.... more

2016 CISSCT Symposium: "Francis Bacon and the Problem of Method"

The goal of our spring 2016 symposium is to discuss how the Baconian method (broadly conceived) has provoked and inspired methodological debate, both in past centuries and in the present, about the nature and goals of "science." The symposium features three speakers drawn from the history of... more

Overcoming the Fin-de-Siecle: Musil’s Claim for Literary Experience in Die Verwirrungen des Zöglings Törleß

Presenter: graduate student Tres Lambert. The Parlors are located on the first floor of the East Duke Building, 1304 Campus Drive, Durham, NC 27708

25 Years of German Unity: Becoming Afro-German

Video installation by Karina Griffity, and talk by Dr. Priscilla Layne. This event is part of the Triangle German Campus Weeks celebration of 25 Years of German Unity. Made possible by the generous support of the German Embassy, Washington.