News and Events
Local Schools Visit Germanic Studies
On 6 June 2013 the Department of Germanic Studies opened its doors to students from two local schools for a fun day of language related activities. A student delegation from Wath Comprehensive in Rotherham and Kirk Balk School in Barnsley were welcomed by the event's organiser Dr Caroline Bland. In her opening words she stressed the benefits of language study in general and the great job prospects for people who speak German in particular. During the day the Wath and Kirk Balk students took part in a variety of small group sessions all led by our student ambassadors: 2nd and 4th year students from Germanic Studies who proved excellent poster makers, play wrights, coaches, quiz team leaders and teachers.
One of the highlights of the day involved the visitors writing, practising and performing their own short scene in German on a real-life situation such as visiting the sites in Berlin, going to a football match or having fun at an open-air swimming pool. After lunch the day ended with a team quiz on Germany and Austria with questions on foods, customs, geography and football.
Both Wath and Kirk Balk schools have a strong tradition of teaching German and throughout the day their students had lots of ideas to share and build on about Germany and Austria as important EU states as well as holiday destinations.
Dr Caroline Bland is Senior Lecturer in Germanic Studies and organises regular outreach activities. These events show that studying languages is fun, as well as being a good career choice. Also these public occasions give our own students the opportunity to develop their employability skills and to apply their expertise in a real-life context.
For more information on outreach and inclusion activities in Germanic Studies, please contact Dr Caroline Bland.
German for Business
Together with Germany's Honorary Consul Mark Green and German lawyer Anna Fleisch, Prof Henk de Berg was one of the three judges at the German Business Student of the Year Competition, which took place at the University of Leeds on 30 May 2013. Dr Caroline Bland attended on behalf of the new Sheffield initiative German for Enterprise for which she is a key coordinator.
The competition organised by Wolfgang Keinhorst (Leeds) and Dr Giles Harrington (formerly Leeds, now Sheffield) aims at fostering links between students of German and the German business community. This is similar to Sheffield's new final year module German for Enterprise but our primary focus is on the local business community: how can our final year students use their skills, experience and competencies to advise those Yorkshire businesses that wish to branch out into the German market.
German for Enterprise if offered as a fourth year language module for students of German. Please check our website for more information on our German for Enterprise initiative.
How to Believe: New publication by Dr Peter Thompson
20 May 2013 Peter Thompson has been writing columns for the Guardian on religion and philosophy and Marxism for some years now and in 2011 his series of eight articles on Marx appeared on the Comment is Free pages. Those articles have now been bundled up into a short collection as a Guardian Shorts e-book.
The articles cover the influence of Marx on politics, economics, religion, psychology, modernity and history and unleashed significant debates online, with over 7000 comments from hundreds of different contributors.
Peter Thompson is a Reader in German politics and director of the Centre for Ernst Bloch Studies.
Luxembourg Studies Student Poster Presentation
|
On 8 May 2013, students of Luxembourgish language and culture organized an interactive poster presentation on the theme Mir wëlle bleiwe wat mir sinn?: Language, culture and history in Luxembourg. Issues that they grappled with included the multiple and sometimes contradictory narratives of the history of Luxembourg, the diverse ways in which people engage with Luxembourgish cultural traditions and practices, and the fluctuations in the status and function of Luxembourgish as well as other languages widely used in the Grand Duchy. This event provided students with the opportunity to share their knowledge and understanding of Luxembourg with staff and students alike and it also enabled everyone involved to obtain new insights by means of lively discussion. See also: Luxembourg Studies at Sheffield |
|
Germanic Studies Students win Deutsche Bahn Prize
|
Ben Eve (BA German and Economics) and Louise Snape (BA German with Dutch) are currently on their Year Abroad and the proud winners of the 80 Stunden durch Europa prize organised by the Deutsche Bahn. For the competition they recorded a two minute video of a cycling tour around Münster. Not only did this video prove a winner, it also reflects some of the excitement of the Year Abroad. All students within Germanic Studies at Sheffield spend their third year abroad and the Department supports several options: University Study, Teaching Assistantships or a work placement. |
German for Enterprise
Germanic Studies at Sheffield is currently developing a unique collaboration with local businesses as part of the Final Year Language programme.
Companies in Yorkshire and the Humber with trade connections in Germany or Austria, or those businesses keen to expand into the German market, are invited to work with our students on a collaborative project: German for Enterprise. The content of the assignments is based around the particular business needs of the participating company and the specific skills of our students.
Selected businesses are teaming up with our Year 4 students and the project is supported by the university's language experts as well as University of Sheffield Enterprise, USE. For more information and details of how to get involved, see German for Enterprise.
Postgraduate Colloquium
Postgraduate student from the Department of Germanic Studies and their colleagues in the School of Languages and Cultures will organise the annual postgraduate colloquium on Friday 10th May 2013 at the Humanities Research Institute. The theme for this year’s event will be Shifting Perspectives. We will explore a range of new and alternative viewpoints within the fields of language, society and culture.
This entirely student-led event offers an exciting snapshot of the current research being undertaken in the School of Languages and Cultures. Postgraduate students will present a diverse collection of papers throughout the day. Light refreshments will be served and, in line with good Departmental and School tradition, there will be a colloquium dinner in the evening. Students and staff are warmly invited to attend. You can stay for the entire event or attend on a drop-in basis.
The colloquium is free but registration is required. Please register by 4th May: Shifting Perspectives Registration
The Sauerkraut Cup returns to Sheffield13 April 2013 was the big day: the opportunity for Germanic Studies at Sheffield to bring home the much coveted DAAD Sauerkraut Cup. It is often said that this heavily contested trophy belongs alongside the silverware of Sheffield's German Department and with three wins in the last five years, expectations were running high. Particularly after last year's narrow defeat to Bristol University. For the 10th edition of the football tournament for German Departments, Sheffield fielded three mixed teams. After a long day and some particularly tough matches, Sheffield I were crowned overall tournament winners.
|
|
Early Career Researchers Visit Sheffield
The Centre for Luxembourg Studies is pleased to welcome two Early Career Researchers from the University of Luxembourg in spring 2013: Dr Pit Péporté (History) and Anne Franziskus (Luxembourgish Linguistics & Literature).
In addition to leading seminars on the modules Luxembourgish Language & Culture and The Uses of History, Dr Péporté will give a lecture as part of the Medieval and Ancient Seminar Series (MARS) on The Politics of Historiography in the Lands of the Limburg-Luxembourg Dynasty on Wednesday, 24 April at 5.30 pm in the Humanities Research Institute.
Based on her PhD research on multilingualism in the workplace, Anne Franziskus will give a seminar on “Have You Still Not Learnt Luxembourgish?” Language Norms and Cross-Border Workers in Luxembourg on Wednesday, 8 May at 4 pm in Jessop West G.03. She will also participate in the poster presentation put on by Level 2 and 3 students of Luxembourgish Language & Culture in the Jessop West foyer from 2-3.30 pm on Wednesday, 8 May.
Visiting Scholar: Dr Liesbeth Minnaard 
The Department of Germanic Studies welcomes Dr Liesbeth Minnaard from the Department of Comparative Literature and Film Studies of Leiden University in the Netherlands. Dr Minaard will stay in Sheffield till 31 March 2013 and will contribute to several research activities within the Department of Germanic Studies and the School of Languages and Culture.
On 20 February 2013 Liesbeth will give a paper as part of the workshop A Body of Individuals organised by Migration, Culture and Community Research Cluster. On Wednesday 13 March 2013 at 4 pm Dr Minnaard will give a research paper as part of the Research Seminar Series of Germanic Studies.
During her stay at Sheffield Liesbeth will be working with Dr Henriette Louwerse on a joint publication investigating the ambivalent attitude towards the notion of community as expressed in contemporary Dutch literature.
New Teaching Associate: Dr Giles Harrington
The Department is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr Giles Harrington as Teaching Associate in German. Giles was previously Teaching Fellow in German at the University of Leeds, where he also completed his PhD on German pop literature. Giles Harrington is very active in the area of employability through module and assessment design, helping students to talk about the specialist skills and knowledge they have acquired during their degree.
Dr Harrington will be teaching German language modules at all levels.
Luxembourg Trip 2013
Members of the Luxembourg Society – including Level 2 students and students on Year Abroad– met up in Luxembourg to take part in a series of lively and educational activities from 18-22 March. The trip included a visit to the castle in Vianden, a workshop with University of Luxembourg students, a visit to the Centre national de littérature in Mersch, a walking tour of Luxembourg City and a guided visit of the Bofferding brewery in Bascharage. The weather was chilly but all were in good spirits and the sun managed to break through the clouds. Check out photos from the trip and also the interview with Cameron Davies (French with Luxembourg Studies) about his experiences so far as the first ever Sheffield Erasmus student at the University of Luxembourg.
British Consul General to talk to students
Paul Heardman, alumnus of our Department and currently British Consul-General in Munich, will come to Germanic Studies to talk to students about a career in the civil and diplomatic service. Paul graduated in 1993 with a BA in Germanic Studies and Politics.
Paul Heardman will highlight the opportunities of a career in the EU or the civil/diplomatic service. In particular Paul will explain how we need more Brits working in Brussels, what the opportunities are and how to find them. He will visit the School of Languages and Cultures to raise awareness of these. Paul joined the UK civil service himself in 1995 and has also worked on secondment to the European Commission in Brussels.
His visit will take place on Friday 15 February at 12.00 in Jessop Building SR215. All welcome.
Our January 2013 MA Graduates
Our Research Master students graduate in early January, and this year Germanic Studies fielded three excellent candidates: Richard McClelland, Ellie Roberts and Jenny Watson. They have all moved on to PhD positions: Richard is at King's College London, Jenny is at Swansea University, and Ellie is in our own Department, where she is conducting research on nationalist myth in mid 19th-century German literature and journalism, concentrating on the work of Heinrich Heine.
Here staff and students on graduation day: Prof Henk de Berg, Jennifer Watson, Eloise Roberts, Richard McCLelland, Dr Caroline Bland and Prof Michael Perraudin. Please check our postgraduate webpages for information on postgraduate study in Germanic Studies.
Six authors from the Low Countries visit Sheffield: High Impact Tour
|
The Department of Germanic Studies together with the Centre for Dutch Studies welcomed High Impact, a literary tour of six eminent authors from the Low Countries on 17 January 2012. The event consisted of workshops for students in the afternoon and an evening programme for the general public. One of the authors was Herman Koch, author of the successful novel The Diner. Students of Dutch read and discussed this novel as part of their module Literature and Culture in Dutch and we made a short video impression of their comments. |
|
|
|
 |
| During the High Impact student workshops, fourth year students interviewed best seller author Herman Koch and the Dutch Poet Laureate Ramsey Nasr. The first and second year students discussed various topics with the authors Lieve Joris, Peter Terrin, Chika Unigwe, and the graphic author Judith Vanistendael. For more information and a full report of the Tour, please see the High Impact Tour website. | |
Kleng Länner, Kleng Sproochen: Luxembourg Studies Workshop and Reception
Members of the Centre for Luxmbourg Studies (Kristine Horner, Joanna Kremer, Gerald Newton, Catharina Peersman and Charles West), together with our visiting Luxembourgish Erasmus student Gilles Genot, organised student-centred workshops focused on the history of Luxembourg and on contemporary language use in Luxembourg.
With some 30 participants, the workshops took place on 4 December 2012 and were followed by a festive reception. In this way, students of Luxembourgish Language & Culture had the opportunity to obtain insights from members of the research Centre and in an interactive format.
Research Seminar
Wednesday 28 November 2012, 2.15 - 5.45pm, Humanities Research Institute:
- Dr Ingrid Sharp (Leeds): "Feminist Peace Activism 1915-2010: are we nearly there yet?"
- Dr Imogen Long (Sheffield): "Public Intellectuals: Protest and Power"
Followed by refreshments and a roundtable discussion. For further details see: www.sheffield.ac.uk/genderstudies/diary
Deutscher Verein Wandergruppe
Bei wunderschoenem Wetter wanderte der Deutsche Verein Ende Oktober durch das Hope Valley im Derbyshire Peak District - wir waren 4 Stunden unterwegs (mit Tee-Pause bei Grindleford) und kehrten am Ende in die Scotsman's Pack Kneipe in Hathersage ein. Diesmal ging es bergab, aber demnaechst wollen wir etwas hoeher hinauf!
We had fantastic weather for our first Deutscher Verein hike of the year in October, from Fox House to Hathersage (with tea & chips at Grindleford station!). It was all downhill this time, but the walkers are keen to scale the heights next time ...
Modern German Thought from Kant to Habermas30 October - Professor Henk de Berg is one of the editors of a new annotated reader containing sixteen major philosophical texts by German thinkers. These texts are often studied in English translation but this publication will allow students to study the text in German and engage with their full rhetorical and philosophical complexity. In addition to an introduction to each text, Henk de Berg and Duncan Large have added many notes in English to aid understanding of the texts. All extracts are carefully chosen to introduce the individual thinkers while allowing the reader to pursue broader themes such as the fate of reason or the history of modern selfhood. The philosophers include Immanuel Kant, G. W. F. Hegel, Ludwig Feuerbach, Karl Marx, Arthur Schopenhauer, Friedrich Nietzsche, Sigmund Freud, Martin Heidegger, Walter Benjamin, Georg Lukács, Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno, Jürgen Habermas. |
Robert B. Pippin, University of Chicago |
Prime Minister Juncker of Luxembourg praises connection between Sheffield and Luxembourg
Congratulations to Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker for being awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Sheffield on 16 July 2012. One of the most influential political figures in modern Europe, Mr Juncker is the longest serving democratically elected head of any government in the world and has served twice as President of the European Council. It was a great honour for students and staff in Luxembourg Studies and the School of Languages and Cultures to welcome Mr Juncker to Sheffield. Congratulations also to our 2012 winner of the Luxembourg Embassy Award, Anna Hartley, who received her award directly from the Prime Minister of Luxembourg on this special occasion.
The presence and success of Luxembourg Studies at Sheffield was also picked up by the Guardian Northener blog, which refers to Luxembourg Studies at Sheffield as an example of a fascinating 'speciality niche' that brings 'great prosperity and lively newcomers' to the City and beyond.
Dr Kristine Horner, Senior Lecturer in Luxembourg Studies, is praised for giving the Centre for Luxembourg Studies such a high profile in such a short time. Congratulations to Dr Horner are in order too.
Student Conference: Windows on Dutch Culture
In May 2012 a group of final year students of Dutch within Germanic Studies put together their own conference. The target audience were fellow students of Dutch and anybody interested in Dutch Studies within or outside of the University. Their theme: Windows on Dutch Culture.
Drawing on their own research and experience as language and culture learners, they put together a series of lively presentations on aspects of Dutch culture while at the same time trying to get to grips with the concept of culture itself: What is it? Why does is seem so important? Is it just Rembrandt or does it include football and politics? How do thinkers and researchers define culture and how can we transfer cultural knowledge in a classroom situation?
The students shaped and organised the event themselves and the conference was a prime example of how theory and practical execution can come together. For more information, please check the conference website, and watch the video below to find out how they look back on the experience.
Student Theatre production: Angriffe auf Anne by Martin Crimp
On 28 and 29 March, the German student theatre project the:acts presented their interpretation of Martin Crimp’s experimental play, Angriffe auf Anne, in the Lantern Theatre in Nether Edge. The play was directed by Simone Ramspoth, the DAAD-Sprachassistentin in Germanic Studies; the actors were all Germanic Studies students and members of staff.
The play is divided into seventeen separate scenes each revealing a piece of the life of Anne/Annie/Anuschka. Together with the audience, the actors are trying to find out more about this person. Is she a caring mother, a terrorist, an artist, a globetrotter or even a model of car? Each scene is a short play in its own right, with a beginning, climax and end. The performance is funny, hilarious, shocking, heartbreaking, sad and sometimes devastating. These mood shifts make the play utterly compelling. Several songs add further body to this absorbing piece of art, which, at times, is reminiscent of Brecht’s epic theatre.
For this production the play was performed in four languages: English, German Dutch and Swedish. There were several other additions made by director and actors. 'Gripping, compelling and very professional' was the verdict of the audience. Angriffe auf Anne sold out on both nights.
International Conference: Low Countries, Big Cities
 |
From 3-5 April, the Department of Germanic Studies hosted the 9th Biennial Conference of the Association for Low Countries Studies with the title Low Countries, Big Cities. Cities have played a crucial role in the history of the Low Countries as places of encounter, exchange, protest and revolution. The city is a place of contrast: new trends emerge in a setting infused with history. Over forty national and international speakers gathered to discuss and explore the cities of the Low Countries along and across cultural, linguistic and historical lines. For a full programme please click here. The Conference also celebrate the official launch of the EU-sponsored citybooks Sheffield. The poets Helen Mort, Agnes Lehoczky presented short tasters of their work together with video artist Dominic Green and four undergraduate students Christina Barningham, Victoria Beardwood, Charles MacDonald-Jones and Louise Snape. |
Sheffield Students of Dutch publish a literary translation
Dutch at Sheffield is an active partner in Virtual Dutch, a group of universities that work together to make their curriculum more varied, more interesting and more challenging. The last edition of a joint project was the Translation Project: students from Sheffield, Cambridge, Nottingham and University College London worked together on the translation of a literary text from Dutch into English. The author was Abelkader Benali, one of the citybooks authors who visited Sheffield as a Writer in Residence for two full weeks in November 2011. Together with the professional translator Jonathan Reeder, Abdelkader Benali and students of Dutch at all four institutions translated the text "Warrior on a Horse', which was published as part of the EU-sponsored citybooks project. You can find the full translation and the original text in Dutch here.
Julia Schoch visits Sheffield
The Department of Germanic Studies, in cooperation with the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) is pleased to host a reading by the German author and translator Julia Schoch.
Julia Schoch was born in 1974 in Bad Saarow - a small town in the north eastern part of what was then the GDR. She studied German and French at the universities of Potsdam, Paris and Bukarest and she taught French at Potsdam University. After some early publications in journals and anthologies, Schoch published her first novel in 2001, Der Körper des Salamanders, for which she was awarded several literary prizes. Her most recent publication was published in 2009, Mit der Geschwindigkeit des Sommers.
One critic observed on her earlier work: „In ihren Geschichten glückt es Julia Schoch, jenseits von Sentimentalität und Tiermystik ihren Heldinnen, die so wenige Worte über sich verlieren, Kontur zu verleihen. Dann wird glaubhaft, was sie an den Grenzen, in der Vergangenheit, im Osten suchen".
Julia Schoch will give a public reading on Friday 2 December at 3 pm (Hicks, LT06). All welcome. The reading will be followed by a discussion with the audience.
Abdelkader Benali Writer-in-Residence and Citybook Author
Abdelkader Benali Writer-in-Residence and Citybook Author
Abdelkader Benali moved from Morocco to the Netherlands at the age of four. In 1996 he published his first novel, Bruiloft aan zee (Wedding by the Sea) (1996), which established his reputation as an ambitious new voice in Dutch literature. In the following years Benali continued to make an impact as a literary critic, short story writer, playwright and poet. In 2007 he published Marathonloper, Benali´s (literary) fantasy of his own experiences with, and his deep interest in, long distance running. He received the E. Du Perron Prize in 2009 for his novel De stem van mijn moeder. In 2011 he interviewed famous Dutch writers, such as Ramsey Nasr, Leon de Winter and Connie Palmen for his own tv-series Benali Boekt.
Abdelkader Benali will visit Sheffield from 13 - 25 November 2011. He will be a central figure in the Virtual Dutch Translation Project which involves students from Sheffield, Cambridge, Nottingham and University College London. He will also write a citybook on Sheffield as part of the EU funded citybooks project. Benali will read from and talk about his work in a public seminar on Wednesday 23 November at 4pm (Jessop West SR07). All welcome.
Forum for Germanic Language Studies Conference (FGLS 10)
The Department of Germanic Studies at the University of Sheffield, in cooperation with the Centre for Dutch Studies and the Centre for Luxembourg Studies, is pleased to host the 10th Forum for Germanic Language Studies (FGLS) Conference in January 2012. In addition to papers focused on German, we especially welcome papers dealing with the full range of Germanic languages, for example Dutch, Luxembourgish, Yiddish, Afrikaans, the Scandinavian languages, and others.
Research Seminar Series
Germanic Studies has a full programme of Research Seminars Open to all staff, students and interested outsiders. The full programme for Autumn Semester 2011/2012.
Wut Mut
KultUrWerkStatt is the name of our Departmental Culture/Theatre group in which undergraduates, postgraduates and staff collaborate to plan, rehearse and perform a public performance during the Spring Semester. This year's Wut Mut show was performed on Wednesday 6 April 2011 in the Exhibition Space of Jessop West. A wide variety of theatre texts, poetry, short scenes and a number of (adapted) songs, all chosen and performed by the group, were put on stage. KultUrWerkStatt was inspired and directed by Anika Langmann with the help of Julia Feike.
Sauerkraut Cup 2011
The most exciting event on the Germanic Studies Sporting Calendar is beyond doubt the yearly Sauerkraut Cup. This year the most coveted football prize among German Departments was hosted by Birmingham University. A full coach of active players and even more active supporters represented Sheffield and with success: 2011 will go down in history as the all-Sheffield final. The cup has come home once again.
Workshop Belgian Artist Rebecca Lenaerts
In April 2011 Belgian author and actress Rebecca Lenaerts offered a 3-day artistic workshop to our students of Dutch. English and Dutch fused, movement became text, spoken word became sound. The workshop was offered with the kind support of the Flemish Representation in London and was part of the Sheffield Citybooks Project.
Nora Gomringer German Writer in Residence
The German poet and performance artist Nora Gomringer was our German Writer in Residence from 19 till 26 March 2011. Nora writes and performs poetry, Hörspiele and prose in German and English. She took part in several lectures and seminars throughout the week and helped our students understand contemporary German writing and the German poetry slam scene. She was also involved in a translation project with the students. Nora Gomringer gave a public reading/performance on Wednesday, 23 March.