German Studies at Newcastle University
New Issue of German@Newcastle available!
Upcoming Dates:
- Thursday, 4 February 2010, 2-4pm:
North East German Challenge for Year 11 and AS/A-level students. read more... - Thursday, 11 February 2010, A Day with Prof. Franz-Josef Holznagel (Universität Rostock): Film-Workshop 'Danse Macabre': Medieval Elements in Fritz Lang's "Metropolis" and Lecture on Late Medieval Popular Songs. read more...
German Research Programme 2009/2010
PAPERS
German Seminars are part of the SML Research Seminar Series that takes place on Thursdays, 4-5pm, in the Research Beehive (Old Library Building). ALL WELCOME!
Zoe Agiasophiti (SML): 8 October 2009, 4pm: Combining Processing Instruction with coloured Typographical Input Enhancement. A MOGUL Interpretation
Prof. Franz-Josef Holznagel 11 February 2010, 4pm: Circulations and Media Transformations. On the Afterlife of a Popular Song
Dr Bill Niven 11 March 2010, 4pm: Contested Relationships? Representations of the Holocaust and of Flight and Expulsion in German Culture
Dr Friedel Helga Roolfs (Münster University), 13 May 2010, 4pm: Middle Low German
WRITER IN RESIDENCE
25-29 January 2010
Dr. Angelika Overath Creative Writing for Students of German.
Following the successful workshops for 2nd year students of German in April 2008, November 2008 and May 2009, Angelika Overath returns as German Writer in Residence to Newcastle University. She works with the 1st year students, but there is also the chance for the public to meet her at two events on for a creative writing workshop, also in collaboration with the Hatton Gallery.
- Wednesday, 27 January 2010, A Day with Dr. Angelika Overath, the German Writer in Residence (Dada-Workshop and Bi-Lingual Reading). read more... and try one of the brain-teasers for yourself
ERASMUS TEACHING STAFF EXCHANGE
11 February 2010, 9am-1pm
Prof. Franz-Josef Holznagel and Silke Hoklas (Rostock): Workshop on Medieval Elements in Fritz Lang's "Metropolis"
Following the successful workshop on the "Nibelungenlied" for students of German and of film, Prof. Holznagel returns for another workshop on the reception of the Middle Ages in film. ALL WELCOME.
Staff in the German section:
Celebratory Issue of "German@Newcastle"
German Language Teaching at Newcastle has existed since the foundation of the first academic institutions in Newcastle in the 19th century. In 1959, the Chair of German Studies in Newcastle was instituted.
Over the years, more than 90 professors, lecturers and lektors worked in German (and Scandinavian!) Studies.
Chairs of German Studies
1959 Duncan Mennie (inaugural lecture; memories & stories)
1974 Alan Menhennet
1998 Colin Riordan (project on Nature and Environment)
2006 Henrike Lähnemann (inaugural lecture and powerpoint)
Take a look at the full list of lecturers 1959-2000...
and on the documentation of the 50 Years Celebrations
Current Members of Staff
Dr Elizabeth Andersen
Dr Carol Fehringer
Dr Helen Ferstenberg
Prof. Henrike Lähnemann
Dr Teresa Ludden (on leave in 2009/10)
Dr Beate Müller
Franziska Schulz
Ellen Taraba
Andrea Wilczynski
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Undergraduates
New: 4 bursaries on offer for those taking up German in 2009/10
We have a strong reputation for teaching and research in German. You can be sure to receive lots of support - we have eight full-time members of staff, five of whom are native German speakers, and two native Dutch-speaking teaching assistants. Our degrees in German offer a wide range of subjects for study. We specialize in optional modules in the fields of cultural studies, history and politics, linguistics, film studies, as well as medieval and modern German literature . At the same time, we place a great deal of emphasis on our practical language courses, where most components of these are taught by native speakers of German. So you will not only improve your spoken and written German but also learn valuable skills such as translation and liason interpreting.
German can be studied in the following degree programmes:
- German
- German and Business Studies
- German and Politics
- Modern Languages
- Modern Languages and Film Studies
- Modern Languages and Linguistics
- Modern Languages with Accounting
- Modern Languages with Management Studies
In addition, Newcastle is one of only a handful of universities in the UK that offers Dutch as an optional subject, with a beginners' course at Stage 2 and an advanced course at Stage 4. Students who can already speak German find that they can pick up Dutch quite quickly, and some have even gone on to use Dutch in their careers. Dutch may be studied as an option in the programmes listed for German above.
Also see our German@Newcastle newsletter.
For more information on option choices and possible pathways through your degree, click here
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Postgraduates
New: Funding opportunities for German Studies on offer for those taking up an MA with focus on German or an MLitt or PhD in German Studies in 2010/11
All staff are happy to supervise postgraduates in their areas of expertise.
Our research interests lie in the following areas:
LINGUISTICS
Newcastle University has the advantage of one of the largest linguistics community in the United Kingdom and beyond. An uncommonly broad range of linguistic expertise is represented in the School. As a group, we cover most of the major subfields of linguistics. Applications are especially welcome in the research area of Carol Fehringer.
- Dr Carol Fehringer: Theoretical morphology, with particular emphasis on German, Dutch and English; also phonology, specifically metrical phonology, and its application in standard Dutch and in Low German dialects
MEDIEVAL STUDIES
The German section can claim a special focus on medieval studies, and research projects that would fit into the shared interests of Elizabeth Andersen and Henrike Lähnemann are especially welcome. Our current collaboration focuses on "sacred voices": late medieval Northern German mysticism and mystical traditions from Mechthild von Magdeburg through to 15th century convents like Medingen and their manuscript tradition. Another focus is on didactic literature. Applications are also welcome in one of the specialisms of each of us.
- Dr Elizabeth Andersen: German medieval literature with particular interests in the intertextuality and narrative structures of Arthurian romance, the articulation of voices and identity in women's mystical and visionary writing and the influence of the hagiographical on secular subjects in vernacular writing
- Prof. Henrike Lähnemann: medieval to early modern German literature, especially manuscript transmission and visual culture, as well as comparative medieval literature; also paleography and the history of language (Gothic, Old-Saxon, Old High German, Middle High German)
MODERN GERMAN LITERATURE
Research in modern German literature is embedded in cross-School literature studies with shared interests in contemporary issues rangig from philosophy and theory to topics like the child figure. Teresa Ludden and Beate Müller are happy to supervise work in the following areas.
- Dr Teresa Ludden: literature and philosophy; contemporary German literature; cultural and critical theory and European philosophers, especially Adorno, Benjamin, contemporary French philosophy, Sigrid Weigel, Adriana Cavarero; and women's writing
- Dr Beate Müller: censorship; GDR literature; Holocaust narratives; contemporary German literature; classical modernism (esp. Kafka, Thomas Mann); postmodernism; literary theory (esp. intertextuality)
For German undergraduate and postgraduate students doing DaF (German as a Foreign Language) we offer the opportunity of work placements within the School of Modern Languages.
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Outreach Projects
New: Documentation of German Funding Opportunities - slides from the presentation that Dr Andreas Hoeschen, Director of the DAAD London, gave on 11 June during his visit to the School of Modern Languages.
German Studies has been fortunate to be the provider for German Extension Courses in the Northeast region with the support of the School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences and funded by the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA).
This year sees also a special focus on German in the Routes into Languages-Programme. Dr Elizabeth Andersen is the Director of the North East Consortium.
Archives
50 Years of German Studies
2008-09
2007-08
2006-07
2005-06
2004-05
2003-04
2002-03
2001-02
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