Forwarded from wigs-forum (apologies for cross-posting).
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From: Alissa Shethar <[log in to unmask]>
Call for Papers
Cultural Difference and the Problem of Language in Germany
Date: October 13th and 14th, 2000
Location: Berlin, Staatsbibliothek, Unter den Linden
Sponsored by the Leibniz Society
Currently the desire for social integration and the search for
common ground between people of different backgrounds and
biographies is becoming ever more urgent in Germany. While
politicians speak of large scale processes of 'growing together,'
cultural assimilation, or achieving cultural pluralism, others warn of
increasing fragmentation and the incommensurability of cultures.
Cultural difference, however it is constructed or perceived, is almost
always bound up with language--language as a marker of difference
or even language as the problem itself--and this is especially true in
Germany, where language has long functioned as a relatively
unproblematic symbol of a homogenous national culture. Yet this
apparently seamless relationship has been publicly troubled by the
events of the last ten years as Germans have recognized 'ethnic
Germans' who speak no German; bilingual and bicultural young
citizens; native speakers who are having trouble assimilating; third
generation 'co-citizens' who cannot vote, and the rise of a multi-
lingual, supranational European identity.
In this colloquium we hope to continue to explore the relationship of
cultural difference and language in Germany, both through empirical
sociolinguistic analysis of how difference is reflected and
constructed in language, and in theoretical explorations of language
and culture in the German historical context. We welcome both
traditional sociolinguistic studies as well as more cultural studies
'takes' on the role of language in cultural representation, and
especially papers dealing with any of the following:
* Cultural cross-fertilization and linguistic creativity in Germany
* 'Minority languages,' group-specific, and regional varieties in
Germany and how they are perceived and represented in media or
popular culture
* Cultural (and linguistic) hegemony, linguistic assimilation or
resistance. The re-valuation or reinvention of German among
immigrants, native others, Europeans.
* Do eastern Germans still speak a 'restricted' variety of German, as
some believe? Does a "Sprachmauer" exist? Is there such a thing
as German-German code-switching?
* Theoretical reflections on the role of High German in the
construction of a unified German identity
300 word abstracts are welcome until June 30, 2000. For more information,
contact Alissa Shethar (Berkeley) at [log in to unmask] or
Wolfdietrich Hartung (Berlin) at [log in to unmask]
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