Scholars in foreign language and literature departments in the United States and around the globe are in the midst of discussions about the very definitions of their fields. It is generally accepted that the humanities is in a state of fluctuating but yet remarkably constant “crisis,” but since the fall of the Berlin Wall at the latest, teachers and researchers in German Studies have turned their attention to the extent to which national identity and national borders should even determine the shape of our departments and fields. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, German departments inside and outside of Germany followed the same nation-state-directed form of organization that governed other foreign language departments; this despite the fact that language is rarely confined within national boundaries. Since the early 1990s, the debate about the relationship between language, culture, and the nation has intensified in general, but arguably especially in German Studies. The field’s history is an interesting subject in its own right: shaped inside and outside of Germany by those who, after 1871, committed intensely to the German national project, and then developed further in part by those who viewed the study of literature, culture, and language as a refuge from the national project (during and after World Wars I and II), German Studies has always grappled with navigating the relationship between geopolitical and linguistic-cultural spaces.
Germany From the Outside brings debates about curricular and institutional issues together with current discussions about the relation between nation, language, and culture. Just as “Germany” has never been one discrete entity, “German culture” and “German language” have never been the property of one ethnic or national group. Conference speakers will present work on perspectives on Germany that emanate, in one way or another, from outside the borders of Germany itself. This will include work on authors who write in German but are not actually German themselves; on how literature produces reflections on the changing nature of the nation-state (e.g., are we all more or less "outsiders"?); or on authors who live in Germany but are in some way "outsiders." Located at the nexus of cultural, political, historiographical, and philosophical discourses, the talks will inform our institutional discussions about next directions for our discipline.
In addition to giving presentations, the speakers will engage in discussion with faculty and students throughout the conference. While the focus is explicitly on Germany and German Studies, the conference’s theme and the broad interests of the speakers speak to our students and colleagues in other disciplines as well. While the complicated history of German-speaking world is unique, the disciplinary and scholarly discussions that this world has produced, and that the conference will continue, should be highly relevant for those in other foreign-language and –literature departments and beyond.
Germany From the Outside is this year's topic for the annual conference of the American Friends of Marbach, a support organization for the German Literature Archive (Deutsches Literaturarchiv) in Marbach, Germany. Every other year, the Friends host a conference in the archive in Marbach itself, centered on archival holdings. On alternating years, the conference is held at the home institution of one of the Board members of the American Friends, who also contributes the topic and structure. In 2019, Board member Laurie Johnson agreed to organize and host the conference at Illinois. The American Friends of Marbach Board holds its annual meeting at the conference; in September 2019, the meeting will take place on Saturday, September 21, after the conference proper concludes.
Germany From the Outside is made possible by the support of: The Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures at the University of Illinois The Max Kade Foundation, New York City The Federal Republic of Germany, through the German Academic Exchange Service The School of Literatures, Cultures, and Linguistics at the University of Illinois The Center for Advanced Study The Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities The Department of English at the University of Illinois The Program in Comparative and World Literature at the University of Illinois The European Union Center at the University of Illinois The Department of History at the University of Illinois The Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory at the University of Illinois The Russian, East European, and Eurasian Center at the University of Illinois The Department of Media and Cinema Studies at the University of Illinois The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Illinois