The signs of change were all around: Students walking around campus wearing face masks, talking to new friends in distanced circles. Socializing tents scattered around campus. Seminars in large rooms with seats spaced out. But the first day of classes also had much that was familiar. Students strolled along pathways with coffee and food-for-later in hand. Groundskeepers zipped past on riding mowers while joggers circled the East Campus loop, albeit giving each other plenty of room. Most importantly, there was… read more about The First Day of Classes Start With Masks, Distancing and Vigorous Classrooms »
Duke Ph.D. candidates Lea Greenberg (German Studies), Bill Sharman (History), and Anna Tybinko (Romance Studies) have received the prestigious Mellon/American Council of Learned Societies Dissertation Completion Fellowship for the 2020-2021 academic year. A total of 64 fellowships were awarded out of more than 1,000 applicants. The fellowship, funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, provides a $35,000 stipend and up to $8,000 in research funds and university fees to advanced graduate students in their final year of… read more about 3 Receive Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Completion Fellowships for 2020-2021 »
With best wishes from the German Studies Department at Duke and the Duke in Berlin Program Corinne Crane, Ph.D. Associate Professor of the Practice of German and Language Program Director Kristen Dolan, Ph.D. Instructor of German Stefani Engelstein, Ph.D. Professor of German and Department Chair Susanne Freytag, M.A. Lecturing Fellow in German and Director, Duke in Berlin Summer Program Kata Gellen, Ph.D. Associate… read more about Congratulations to the Extraordinary Class of 2020 »
DURHAM, N.C. -- Eighteen Duke students and alumni have been awarded Fulbright placements to teach English, study and do research abroad during the 2020-2021 academic year. The Fulbright US Student Program is the U.S. government’s flagship international educational exchange program, offering opportunities in over 140 countries. The Fulbright award is designed to facilitate cultural exchange and increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and those of other countries. The awards are announced on… read more about Eighteen Duke Students And Alumni Awarded Fulbright Scholarships »
We are excited to announce that Dr. Sarah Pourciau joins the faculty at Duke in Spring 2020! Coming to us from the Leibniz-Zentrum für Literatur- und Kulturforschung Berlin, where she worked on the book project “The Broken Medium. An Austrian Modernist Theory of the Event,” Dr. Pourciau has previously held positions at the Technische Universität Berlin, Princeton University, and Stanford University. Her first book, The Writing of Spirit: Soul, System, and the Roots of Language Science (Fordham, 2017), tells a story spanning… read more about Q&A with New Professor Dr. Sarah Pourciau »
November 9 marks the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Most people over 50 remember where they were that day. Yet its meaning is still shrouded in historical fog. For me as a 25-year-old Berliner in 1984, living a stone’s throw away, the Wall seemed immovable, and eternal. Despite the wall-enclosed death strip slicing through the heart of my beloved city, life seemed normal. I had close friends, freely discussed politics in street cafés in Kreuzberg, played Frisbee in the city’s verdant Tiergarten park, and… read more about (Mis)Reading the Berlin Wall — 30 years later »
Prof. Dr. Iwan D’Aprile, literary historian and chair of the professorship “Kulturen der Aufklärung” at the Universität Potsdam, visited us at Duke for a week in late September. He presented his latest book, Fontane. Ein Jahrhundert in Bewegung, talking about his goal of describing Fontane in the context of his cultural-historical background as well as the specific challenges and pleasures of writing in the genre of biography for a general audience. Prof. Dr. D’Aprile was also generous enough to guest lecture in Dr.… read more about Professor Dr. Iwan D'Aprile Visits From Uni Potsdam »
New research from global recruitment site Indeed uncovered that German has overtaken French as the language most sought-after by employers in Britain. According to the study, the number of jobs requiring German language skills rose by more than 10% over the last three years. In comparison, the number of positions requiring French speakers increased by just 1%. Read the full article on CNBC.com. read more about Here Are the Top Foreign Languages that UK Employers Want You to Have »
Dr. Ingeborg Walther is pleased to announce her retirement from a very satisfying and rewarding career teaching German language, literature, and culture in various contexts over the past 40+ years. For the past 25 years, she has felt privileged to serve at Duke University as Professor of the Practice of Germanic Languages and Literature, and Associate Dean of Curriculum and Course Development for Trinity College of Arts & Sciences. Professor Walther also served the German Department at various times as Language Program… read more about Walther Announces Retirement »
As we endure the long wait for Game of Thrones’ winter to return on April 14, we may consider what the show has in common with our other current national obsession — politics. Even fantasy says something about real-world ethics, after all. If we have mixed feelings about the series on this score, that is due to the deep contradiction between its two primary commitments: to inclusivity and quasi-democracy, on the one hand, and to bloodline or lineage, on the other. The problem here is that the logic of blood in the… read more about Is Game of Thrones Racist? »
In late June, during the final week of the Duke-in-Berlin summer program, students, faculty, and local Berliners spilled out onto the sidewalk outside of the gallery tête, an innovative art space in the Prenzlauer Berg district of the city. Inside, a pop-up exhibition by eight undergraduates in a documentary photography course featured prints of their projects from the six-week program. Offered for the first time in summer 2016, the course DOCST 271S — Capturing the City: Documentary Photography in Berlin — pushed students… read more about Duke Undergrads Exhibit Documentary Photographs in Berlin »