Germanic and Slavic Studies Diefenbaker Lecture Series

[Grit Liebscher]

The Department of Germanic and Slavic Studies announces its Diefenbaker Lecture Series with five exciting talks in March and April, spanning from medieval badges to romantic cinema. These lectures are being held in conjunction with the search for the next holder of the Diefenbaker Memorial Chair in German Literary Studies.  Please see the first two lectures below and go here to see the others: https://uwaterloo.ca/germanic-slavic-studies/events/literary-studies-21st-century



2014 Diefenbaker Lecture Series: Literary Studies in the 21st Century

The Department of Germanic and Slavic Studies is home of the Diefenbaker Memorial Chair in German Literary Studies. In March and April five leading scholars will explore how literary studies can fulfill the expectations of an academic discipline and connect with a wider audience.
Lecture No. 1 - Thursday, 6 March 2014, 7pm - HH 1102

ANN MARIE RASMUSSEN<http://german.duke.edu/people?subpage=profile&Gurl=/aas/German&Uil=annmarie.rasmussen> | DUKE UNIVERSITY

WHY DO MEDIEVAL BADGES MATTER?

Medieval badges are small, cheap, mass-produced, lead-alloy objects meant to be worn, were sold throughout the high and late Middle Ages, and produced between the late twelfth century and the Reformation. Closer study reveals that medieval badges are not merely souvenirs, visual representations, or signs. Rather, they imagine the relationships between self and world in unexpected ways and they are best understood as an early form of media. I will offer thoughts about the impact of modern technologies and approaches on medieval studies and about the connection between the historical past and the present moment.

Lecture No. 2 - Thursday, 13 March 2014, 7pm - HH 1102

GABY PAILER<http://ies.ubc.ca/gaby-pailer> | UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA

THE (MELO-)DRAMA OF THE 'FAIR JEWESS': RE-FRAMING SIR WALTER SCOTT'S IVANHOE (1819) IN FANNY LEWALD'S JENNY (1843)

Literary Studies deal with the long meanders of intellectual (world) history and inquire why mechanisms of political, social and cultural injustice are still reiterated in the 21st century. Walter Benjamin's 'Angel of History,' who sees rubble piling up sky-high where an historicist view would build a progressive plot, reminds us to envisage remnants of the past and notions of the future without essentializing. Focusing on Jewish heroines torn between jousting crusaders in two 19th century novels, I'll show how Lewald re-frames Scott's medieval melodramatic plot of race, gender and nation-building as a modern quest for Jewish and women's emancipation in pre-national Germany.




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Full details on all the lectures is available at https://uwaterloo.ca/germanic-slavic-studies/events/literary-studies-21st-century
For more information contact Prof. Grit Liebscher (gliebscher at uwaterloo.ca<mailto:gliebscher at uwaterloo.ca> / 519.888.4567, x35695)





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