WOMeN IN GERMAN - Coalition of Women in German

Transcription

WOMeN IN GERMAN - Coalition of Women in German
•
WOMeN IN GERMAN
".~------
NO\l€MB€R
1985
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.... _-
The Coalition of Women in German, an allied orqanization of the
~LA,
invites students, teachers and all others interested in Feminism and
German studies to subscribe to the newsletter. See the last page of
this issue for rates.
.
Women in German Steering Committee:
Sandra Frieden, University of Houston (1983-86)
Fundraising Coordinator
Contact Person for Film
Edith l'Jaldstein, M.I.T.
(1983-8fi)
Co-Editor (with Barianne Burckhard, Universitv of Illinois),
Women in German Yearbook,I
Dinah Dodds, Lewis & Clark College (1984-87)
Sydna Weiss, Hamilton College (1984-87)
Syllabus Project Coordinator
Jan Emerson, Reed Colleqe (1985-88)
Conference Coordinator, 1986
Charlotte Armster, Gettysburg College (1985-88)
Fundraising
Treasurer: Jeanette Clausen, IU/PU- Fort Wayne
Tenure Review Contact Person: r1ar ianne Burckhard, U. III inois
rl!embership: Helen Cafferty, Bowdoin College and
Vibeke Petersen, New York University
Textbook Review: Heidi Owr.e:o ,University of Ifllashinqton-Seattle
Political Action Person: Jeannine Blackwell, University of KentuckyLexington
The Women in German Newsletter is published in March
I
JI..uqust, and
November of each year. Send newsletter items to:
Women in German
~erman Department/Herter Hall
University of Massachusetts
Amherst, MA 01003
Newsletter contact person in the FRG:
Karin Obermeier
Biihlerstr. 7
6900 Heide Ibe.!:".9,
PR.C~
Barton Byg, Susan Cocalis, Joan Keck Camphell, Susanne ford, Sara Lennox,
Bettina McGimsey, Leslie Morris, Karin Obermeier, Katharina von Ankum
Editorial Staff
WOM€N IN GERMAN
Number 38
November 1985
EDITORIALS
At the WIG conference this year we celebrated ten years of
Women in German. Veterans of the Initial Struggle, advocates
of the New Directions, and the members of the New Generation
all convened in Portland, Oregon to re-collect episodes marking
the stages of our evolution as a group, to re-member erstwhile
expatriates (ex-matriates), and to co-memorate our various and
shared personal and professional needs as Women in German at
different points in our careers. It seemed that many of the
veteran members of the group returned this year with a renewed
commitment to the organization. There was an almost tangible
post-tenure-burnout, post-administrative-blahs energy in
Portland that contributed to the formation of new bonds between
the different "generations" of WIG members present. It was
particularly gratifying for me, as an older WIG member, to meet
newer members from the West Coast who appear full of that
energy and commitment to change that marked the inception of
Women in German in 1975.A recurrent theme of the conference
was, in Sara Lennox's words, "the sixties speak to the eighties"
-- and vice versa. Lest the seventies be forgotten, they too
were represented in force, providing the continuum/continuity,
the sustaining life-force that saw WIG through some difficult
times of transition and that created an atmosphere of shared
purpose at the conference. Our meeting place was named
the "Renewal Center" and it was that for many of us there.
Ten years of Women in German
celebrate this occasion.
we do indeed have cause to
Welcome to our new members from the West Coast and welcome back
to some of our founding mothers!
Susan Cocalis
Did you receive your copy of the March newsletter? If you
did not, please contact us and we'll send you a copy. We were
unaware of overseas and Canadian mailing restrictions. Sorry!
Pictures in this issue were taken by Almut Poole. The graphics
are by Susan Cocalis.
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WIGLET EDITORIAL
The Wiglets have united! We are now trying to clarify our function
and role within WIG. As we stated in the August newsletter, we see the
Wiglets as a group within a group that will enable us as graduate students
to address issues of particular interest. We have in mind the following:
--practical help with CVs and interviewing;
--help in getting published;
--dissertation support groups.
We will address these issues at the weekend mini-conference that will take
place in Amherst in early February. This will also be a time for graduate
students to meet and exchange ideas. We want to hear from you! Please
send us your suggestions. We would also like to encourage departments
that have a group of interested WIG members to form collectives and send in
opinions on a regular basis.
We're excited about the Wiglets--let's keep it going!
Kathie von Ankum, Joan Keck Campbell, Susanne Kord, Bettina McGimsey,
Leslie Morris.
AUS UNSEREM BRIEFKASTEN
Dear WIG,
I've been re-reading WIG materials, especially last newsletter and I'm
anxious to get new one and/or news from you re: conference. I wish I had
been able to go--I think it would have been a different experience for me
this time than in the past. Through newsletter work and our June gettogether I feel more a part of WIG--amazing what "active" participation
will do (in any group, class, relationship, work). Anyway, after re-reading
our editorial "Wiglets Unite" (oh no!?) I was thinking how odd it may have
been that neither Leslie nor I were at conference: it feels like having
given birth and never having glimpsed the product. What was Luise Pusch
like? I imagine her "talk" was humorous and "live". (ed. comment: it was
indeed. )
Karin Obermeier
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,"I.
**********'Hf'':'Hf*''';'<-'<*':**':-*******'k**
Dear Wiggies,
The most recent WIG newsletter is so nice, with all those pictures and a very
tempting list of the activities during the next conference.
I know I won't be able to come, though I am spending the next week--as
summer vacation--in Portland, where my brother and his family live. The October
weekend comes right in the middle of the school year and so far there's nobody
paying my fare for a four day trip, so I'll have to hope that you do send my
greetings to all during the festivities, meetings, etc. and keep your lights
all shining. Enjoy Oregon!!!
You know, I don't think you shot that roll of film in October 1977, because at
that time I was smack dab in the middle of the Berlin scene having a wonderful time
with all those Berlin Frauen--the photos look more like they might be 1976, or
perhaps 1978. Your xerox collage is really nicely put together, however.
I'm still in NYC, will be starting fulltime work as archives assistant and
all around project coordinator at the Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives where I've
been working part-time for the past 1 1/2 years--at NYU--and keeping body and
soul together also teaching--a lot of gigs. Last year I taught some nice German
for Deutsches Haus--translation courses for art historians and the like. This
year I'm cutting down on part-time teaching, and only taking the sexy and
lucrative offers like "Women Workers and the Labor Movement," a graduate
course at Rutgers, and an NYU Humanities survey.
One nice and funny surprise that recently happened is that I got the
Jahrbuch der Ricarda Huch Gesellschaft. My dissertation is cited there twice,
and they're planning to translate the article out of "Beyond the Eternal
Feminine" for the next issue. Amazing. Now that I do nothing anymore with my
Ricarda, she develops a strange life of her own and haunts me in these rather
pleasant, poignant ways.
Miriam Frank, NY,NY
**********************************
-4Liebe WIG:
ich mochte mich heute noch 1n e1ner
anderen Angelegenheit an Euch wenden.
ls handelt sich urn eine Ausstellung
"'Frauen sehen ihre Zeit", eine Ausstellung von Buchern von Frauen von der
".1"-
~."
.~
"
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"Women's material" was segregated in the traditional manner into a special
section, with an introductory public lecture by Inge Buck. Inge's subject,
"Zur Situation der Frauen am Theater im 18. Jahrhundert am Beispiel von Karoline
Schulze-Kummerfeld (1745-1815)" traced the life of the actress, who was born
into a theatrical family through the years of the famous theater reform movement, traced her roies as bourgeois heroine, her difficulties in maintaining a
clean reputation, her upwardly-mobile marriage into the bourgeoisie, and her
assimilation through the feminine arts of sewing and running a girl's sewing
class. Inge's talk tied together the presentations in the "women's session"
(organized by Sigrid Weigel and Helga Slessarev): Dagmar Ladj-Teichmann described
the shift in fancy handwork from a skilled trade to a feminine class-marker of
leisured, but "occupied" female virtue. Helga Slessarev explained the doublestandard in the socialization of daughters, using the examples of Campe and
Lessing. Inge Stephan showed how "Tugend" changes in meaning in the 18th century
from general morality to gender-specific, physical innocence. Jeannine Blackwell
showed the limits of tolerance in her discussion of "weibliche Gelehrsamkeit"
by showing how much of it Anna Luise Karsch, Benedikte Naubert, and Luise
Gottsched themselves practiced and acknowledged in others. The sum of the session
was a definite agreement on a severely limited tolerance of women's education,
professional work, and non-bourgeois behavior in the Enlightenment. The whole
assembly was forced to hear a summary of the women's session at the wrap-up.
Please note: a predominantly male group, such as the Lessing Society, gets much
more in the way of financial support than Frauen in der Literaturwissenschaft,
which did not get any financial backing from either the "Patriotische Gesellschaft"
or- the city of Hamburg for its much larger conference held there in 1983. I
personally got no travel money from my university to give a plenary talk at the
Frauen in der Literaturwissenschaft conference, while I did get it for the
Lessing Society. So much for tolerance and its finances.
Jeannine Blackwell
ed. note: a more detailed report on the individual papers can be found in the
September 1985 issue of Frauen in der Literaturwissenschaft, pp. 20-22.
********************************
IVG 1985 -GCTTINGEN
A first for this year's meeting of the Internationale Vereinigung flir germanistische
Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaft was Forum IX: "Frauensprache - Frauenliteratur?"
It's week-long program covered many periods and approaches and was extraordinarily
rich in its offerings. It was also steadily well-attended by a group that included
a number of WIG members: Marianne Burkhard was one of the three section organizers,
gave a feminist paper in another forum, and was elected to the Ausschuss that
will organize the next conference in Tokyo in 1990. Paper presenters from WIG
included Ruth Bottigheimer, Ruth Dawson, Elke Frederiksen, Ruth-Ellen B. Joeres,and
Anna Kuhn. Martha Wallach and Helga Kraft were frequent participants/observers.
The forum generated a great deal of sometimes friendly interest from the media,
television and radio in addition to the press. The variety of theoretical approaches
was welcome but revealed evidence of a basic split between the followers of
French post-structuralist theory and the others, an amorphous group composed
of all nationalities. To many, the problem seemed to be the intolerance apparent
among the strict adherents of the French school. We found ourselves asking:
why are we doing this to each other? Why can we not disagree on a more equal
level? Let us try to deal with this problem both before and in Tokyo in 1990.
Ruth-Ellen Boetcher Joeres
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ed. note: There is a more detailed report on the IVG conference in
the September 1985 issue of Frauen in der Literaturwissenschaft,
pp. 26-28. After an initial discussion of the general goals of the
Forum IX: Frauensprache-Frauenliteratur? they concluded their
report with the following comments:
1m Anschluss an die theoretischen Referate brach immer wieder
die Kontroverse urn die Bedeutung von Theorien im literaturwissenschaftlichen Kontext auf: Wurde den primar auf der
theoretischen Ebene argumentierenden Vortragenden zu
grosse Abstraktheit, blosses esoterisches Spiel vorgeworfen,
so lauteten die gegenteiligen Vorwurfe "Naiver Zugang",
"Steckenbleiben in blossen Spiegelungen eigener Ansichten
im Text". Ebenso stark war aber der interne Gegensatz zwischen
angloamerikanischen Theorien, die eher der Interpretation
unter Einbeziehung psychoanalytischer und sozialhistorischer
Theorien verpflichtet sind, und den poststrukturalistischen
Diskurstheorien des Phalloegozentrismus franzQsischer Provenienz.
Weitgehende Obereinstimmung herrschte allerdings in der
klaren Unterscheidung von biologischem Geschlecht und gender Merkmalen eines Textes. Dass Forschung und Diskussion sich
hier weiterentwickeln, und dass der Begriff des neuen Blickes
ernstgenommen werden muss, zeigte nicht zuletzt die heftige
Diskussion urn die Interpretation des Schweigens im Anschluss
an das Referat von Bottigheimer. Schweigen als Zeichen
der Entmundigung und Machtlosigkeit stand einer Interpretation
des Schweigens von Frauen als Ausdruck der Macht gegenuber.
WIG CON FE:RE: NCE: 1985
Thursday Evening, October 24
WOMEN IN GERMAN, WOHER, WOHIN?
FIVE GENERATIONS OF WIG MEMBERS SPEAK OUT
Moderators: Sara Lennox and Sigrid Brauner
When this session was proposed at the 1984 WIG conference, we han
as an organization two aims in mind. We wanted first of all to celebrate the ten years of existence and good health of Women in German,
to proclaim how important it's been for all of us in so many ways.
But simultaneously last year many of us perceived a kind of confusi~
about what the organization really was and what it wanted and could
do-- and that confusion connected to a larger confusion about what
feminism was and what direction it was going in the mid-eighties.
We also realized more and mor2 clearly that there were real generations
in WIG, women shaped by different political experiences with the
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women's movement and other political movements, who are at different
places in their lives, who come to WIG with varying kinds of needs
and need different things from WIG. So, as Sigrid Brauner and I
planned this session, we thought of it as a place to begin to confront those issues, that it was healthier and more productive and
more feminist to look at and discuss and celebrate our differences
rather than sweeping them under the rug and pretending we're all
just alike.
Thus we chose as our panelists women ranging from a WIG founder,
Gisela Bahr, who will retire shortly, to a graduate student, Melissa
Vogelsang, who attended WIG for the first time last year. We included two stalwart supporters from the middle generation of WIGgies,
now both chairs of their departments, Jeanette Clausen and Bunny
Weiss (who spoke also as a Jewish Germanist). We asked Biddy Martin
to speak as an untenured faculty member and as a Lesbian; though
she was unable to come to the conference, she sent us a moving
letter to read, and Naomi Stephan was willing to join our panel
on short notice to speak as well about being a Lesbian in our
profession. Finally Almut Poole spoke about being on the margins
of Germanistik while centrally involved in feminist activism.
Our panelists stressed WIG's importance as a community as well as
its growing pains; its function as a feminist space where it is
possible to say the word "Jewish", or "Lesbian" as well as the
support it's offered women in public areas; the danger of our
succumbing to fashionable depoliticized theories of the eighties
and the necessity for us to reclaim our radicalism and our connections to the feminist movement. (As Almut put it, the philosophy
of this group has always been, "Get off the cross, we need the wood!";
we've all had problems, but let's do something about them!) Since
women and film was a Schwerpunkt of our conference, our session
began and ended with a film: initially with Gisela Bahr's ~arvelous
record of the 1978 WIG conference at Miami University, and to conclude, with a wonderful film Almut had brought because it reminded
her of how WIG makes her feel, "One Fine Day", celebrating the
richness, strength, and diversity of women's lives throughout
history. As our panel ended, we formed smaller groups, each
charged with the task of discussing three questions: "What role
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does feminism play in your work and your life?"~ "What would a
women's movement look like that supports this kind of feminism?"~
and "How could WIG specifically support this kind of feminism?"
The thoughts generated by these small groups became the basis of
discussion for the wrap-up session on Sunday morning.
Sara Lennox
University of Massachusetts/
Amherst
*****
When I first came to WIG 1979 I was teaching at a men's college
where the few women of the faculty were included in the form of
address, "Gentlemen of the faculty." I needed a support group of
women. I had been to a girl's camp for years and to a women's college and knew that I needed to be among women, both personally and
professionally. At WIG I found Germanists/feminists talking about
anti-Semitism, lesbianism, issues of racism and aging - subjects
which weren't mentioned at other meetings which I went to, like
the AATG or MLA. What struck me most immediately about WIG was that
people waited for me to identify and define myself~ I did not have
to justify myself, but rather was asked, who are you, why are you
here? In this open context I found that emotional energy, really
passionate feelings connected people and indeed sometimes led to
upset and tears. Over the years I have found that people do cry at
WIG, that women share uniting experiences, that electricity can flow
through the group during shared experiences like the cabaret, dancing
and late laughter. These experiences are, I think, most possible
during the October conference in a setting which encourages free
sisterhood, in a setting which is potentially intimate and open,
and yet remains professional. I recognize that it is hard to maintain a balance which allows for emotion and for caring/addressing
of difficult divisive questions. In our feminist context, we are
trying to be cohesive and changing while trying to preserve the very
fragility of such intense exchanges ... it's all very hard - at the
very least.
As for WIG - wohin?
I hope that our feminist mission will mark everything we do, that we
will stay passionate about our feminist work and about each other,
that we will continue to have the chance for self-definition and
group definition, that our feminism will keep raising difficult issues
that are silenced by the profession and society, and that we will
seek that continuing metamorphosis which grows out of our idealism/
feminism/desire to transform our lives and society.
Sydna (Bunny) Weiss
Hamilton College
*****
The movie I presented was made at the third WIG conference in Oxford,
Ohio in 1978. It concentrates on the atmosphere of our meeting, that
is, on the women, the way they spoke and interacted, their body
•
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language, their listening, their laughter, their togetherness.
With a 'soundtrack' of the songs we sang and recorded at the
conference.
In my panel contribution I spoke to four points. (1) Reasons
for founding WIG: the pressing need for a network and support
group to help each other survive, and succeed, in the male-dominated profession. (2) Benefits derived from WIG: heightened consciousness, bonding, trust, encouragement, inspiration resulting
in a collective breakthrough and higher visibility of WIG members
in all professional activities.
(3) Growing pains: How to
do things collectively without avoiding responsibility; how not
to leave out newcomers or those with special needs, like graduate
students.
(4) Outlook: With the struggle not over yet, we'll
still need strategies to cope with obstacles in our professional
and personal lives. However, we can afford to be more assertive
now, and reaffirm the values we believe in, such as warmth,
spontaneity, humor, the wholeness of intellect and emotion, and
non-competitiveness. I think we are doing very well.
Gisela Bahr
Miami University,Oxford, Ohio
*****
Friday Morning, October 25
DEUTSCHE FILMEMACHERINNEN UND DER NEUE DEUTSCHE FILM
Moderators: Sandy Frieden and Vibeke R. Petersen
"Women in Modern Germany: Literature and Film"
Heidrun opened her presentation with a short discussion of the
various problematics which she had had to face when entering the
field of cinema studies and among the more important issues she
listed some of the differences between the two media, literature
and film. There is by virtue of the nature of literature a constant distance between the text and the reader, whereas film
invites, nearly demands, an identification process. Film speaks
directly to the audience, draws us in and exhibits another world
with possibilities which are denied us in reality. This gives
rise to another set of issues which Heidrun mentioned, namely
whether film or art as a whole has a function as a weapon
(maybe 'tool' would be a friendlier word) in a cognitive process.
Tracing this line of thought to its logical conclusion, one then
10
also had to ask if the 'female gaze l could be any different than
the 'mal e gaze and if wonen could be anything else but object
in patriarchal, phallocentric society.
l
Referring to two examples a) 'guestworkers in Germany 1 and b)_
'the women's movement 1 she suggested useful material and pointed
out aspects to be dealt with when teaching these subjects. The
aim is to present an overview of aspects of contemporary German
society by using documentary material, feature films and fiction.
These sources are to supplement each other and have to be dealt
with according to their genre.
Vibeke R. Petersen
New York University
*****
"Sprache in Heidi Genee's Film 1+1=3"
"Heidi Genee's Film 11+1=3 1 bricht als feministischer Film mit der
fur den traditionellen mannlich-orientierten Hollywood Film geltenden, in~wischen axiomatischen Beobachtung Laura Mulveys, die Frau
sei nicht Subjekt, sondern Objekt des Blickes. Wahrend der Mann eine
privilegierte Stellung im phallozentrischen Diskurs einnimmt, wird
die Frau definiert durch den Mangel. Aus dieser Rolle des Mannes im
dominanten Hollywoodkino folgt, dass er als Subjekt uber die Sprache
herrscht.
Eben diese von Mannern geschriebene und den Frauen in den Mund gelegte Sprache ist es, was feministische (Drehbuch-)Autorinnen und
Filmemacherinnen nicht langer als ihre Sprache akzeptieren. Mit der
Subjektwerdung der Frau ist notwendigerweise die Suche nach einer
nicht phallozentrischen Sprache als adaquater Ausdruck feministischen
Bewusstseins verbunden. Diese Suche und Ansatze einer anderen Sprache
finden sich in der Literatur wie im Film. Wahrend sich dies in der
Prosa im Bereich des Verbalen vollzieht, gliedert sich die Darstellung von Sprache im Film folgendermassen in formale und thematische
Bereiche:
a) Sprache und Fehlen von sprachlichem Ausdruck (Schweigen, Musik, etc)
b) Bildkomposition
c) Thematisierung von Sprache und Norm
Der Klarheit halber und urn Oberschneidungen und darausfolgende Wiederholungen zu vermeiden, werde ich nicht streng nach diesen drei
Aspekten zu trennen versuchen, sondern im Gegenteil ihr Miteinanderverbundensein deutlich werd~n lassen."
Gabriele Weinberger
Ohio State University
Unfortunately Gabriele Weinberger was not able to get funding and
could therefore not present her paper, but Sandy Frieden gave an
abstract and brought out the essential points very well indeed.
Thank you,Sandy.
*****
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"Women as Mothers/
Women as Others"
"'Die gute Mutter ist dadurch bemerkenswert, dass sie abwesend bleibt ...
jeder sucht eine gute Mutter und
'~einer hat sie gefunden.' So behaupcet Janice Doane in ihrem vor kurzem
erschienen Artikel, "Looking for Mrs.
Goodmother" (enclitic, Fall 1982).
Mein Essay versucht hauptsachlich
folgende Fragen zu beantworten: wie
andert sich die Situation, wenn die
Person, die den Film dreht, eine Tochter ist -- und vielleicht auch eine
Mutter? Wie wirkt diese Tatsache auf
die Figur der Mutter im Film? Bringt
sie uns zu einem besseren Verstandnis
des Unterschieds zwischen dem Begriff "Mutterschaft" und der wirklichen Figur der Mutter?
Mei_n Artikel verwendet einige Ideen von Nancy Chodorow (The Reproduction of Mothering) und Adrienne Rich (Of Woman Born). Nach der
Analyse einer mutterlichen Rolle in den Filmen von Sanders-Brahms,
von Trotta, Sander und Bruckner, schliesst diese Untersuchung mit
folgender Bemerkung: obwohl Filmemacherinnen diesen Stoff anders
als Manner sehen, geht die Suche nach der Goodmother immer weiter."
Jan Mouton
Loyola University of Chicago
*****
"Jutta Bruckners 'Hungerjahre' als Beispiel fur den neuen deutschen
(Frauen) Film"
"Hungerjahre" lasst sich an den folgenden Merkmalen als "typisch"
fur den neuen "Frauenfilm" in der BRD bezeichnen: 1) eine Auseinandersetzung mit der Vergangenheit, insbesondere mit der Figur
der Mutter; 2) ein neues Verhaltnis zum weiblichen Korper; 3) die
Darstellung der Verhaltnisse zwischen Frauen; 4) das private,
subjektive Erlebnis wird als symbolisch oder paradigmatisch fur
eine ganze Generation gesehen; 5) Manner werden als schwach
portratiert; 6) der Film ist anti-autoritar und engagiert. Ausserdem
kann dieser Film als typisches Produkt fur den Neuen Deutschen
Film schlechthin behandelt werden, wenn man folgende Charakteristika
bedenkt: 1) der Film stellt sich als Film und nicht als Wirklichkeit dar; 2) die Handlung ist nicht einheitlich oder linear;
3) der Film kommentiert andere Medien; 4) Laiendarsteller werden
bevorzugti 5) die Zuschauer mussen aktiv an dem Film teilnehmen;
und 6) der Film gibt uns ein alternatives Bild von der jungsten
deutschenGeschichte. Dieser Aufsatz erlautert diese Gesichtspunkte
und schliesst mit ein Paar Bemerkungen uber die Rezeption des Filmes.
Robert Acker
University of Montana
I
-12-
"Organizing and Teaching a Unit of German Women Filmmakers"
In designing the course, my goals were to expose undergraduates to a
broad spectrum of West German films directed by women, and to provide
chern with the socio-historical and cinematic contexts necessary for' a
full appreciation of their political and aesthetic significance.
The next task was to find and select reading materials which would
explicate the necessary historical and political background, as well
as materials which would provide students with an introduction to film
analysis and some film theory, especially as it has been used and
developed by feminists.
Rick Mc Cormick
UC Berkeley
Rick's handouts consisted of the following:
1)
film distributors
2)
course description and syllabus
3)
table of contents of the course reader
4)
list of helpful sources
5)
instructions for sequence analysis
6)
sequence analysis worksheet
7)
midterm and final exams
If you are interested in a copy of Rick's excellent reader, it is
available from him for $20.00. His address is: 1639 4th Ave.
Oakland, CA 94606.
While we are talking about articles on film, Sandy Frieden has copies
of B. Ruby Rich's "'Madchen in Uniform': From Repressive Tolerance
to Erotic Liberation" (an analysis of the film as a lesbian film).
She will send you a copy for $1.00. Her address is: 7614 Burning Hills
Houston, TX 77071.
Finally, the need for material relating to teaching film courses about
women filmmakers led us to plan a special-issue volume of the Women
in German Yearbook on film. See the announcement later in this issue.
Vibeke Petersen, NYU
[
-13-
Friday afternoon
FEMINIST CRITICISM: APPROACHES AND ALTERNATIVES
Moderators:
Melissa Vogelsang and Helen Cafferty
"Killia's Tertium: Christa Wolf and Kassandra"
A concept of feminism as radical other, i.e. as an utopian alternative informs Christa Wolf's Kassandra. The five lectures undermine social, political, and linguistic conventions at the level
of syntax, grammar, plot, and genre. Methodologically, my paper
demonstrates that feminist criticism can and should enlist any
critical model so long as this model serves to explicate the
feminist voice.
Melissa Vogelsang
Yale University
"Feminist Criticism: Approaches and Alternatives"
The problematic relationship between theory and practice has
become increasingly acute for feminist Germanists teaching
American students on the undergraduate level. My presentation
was intended to clarify some of the conflicts and contradictions
that femninist Germanists encounter in their roles as cultural
mediators and practitioners of feminist critical approaches to the
canon.
With the growing emphasis on women's writing and theories of
women's writing, token treatment of women has replaced the standard
reading list of all male authors. The very complexity and sophistication that has accompanied the development of feminist theory on
women's writing, however, has become problematic. The rich pluralism
of contemporary theory which has touched variously on the similarities and differences between men and women has emerged as a schism
between American and continental theorists, a development made more
difficult by the alliance of our German sisters have made with
French theory.
After a brief sketch of the critical models of Sigrig Weigel
(Lacan-Irigaray), Elaine Showalter (Ardener), and Biddy Martin
(Foucault), I suggested that we question the desirability of
asserting one monolithic definition of "difference" that ignores
other differences and that we rather entertain, at least as a
useful fiction, the similarity of our female and male students'
desire and capacity for emancipation from the patriarchy.
Helen Cafferty
Bowdoin College
-14-
Friday afternoon
PROJECTS IN
Coordinator:
PROGRESS
Charlotte Smith
The following WIG members discussed
their works in progress:
Ruth-Ellen Boetcher-Joeres (U Minn.)
"Interdisciplinary Methods for the
Study of German"
Martha Wallach (U Wis., Green Bay):
"Mother Figures in German Literature"
Jea'nnine Blackwell (U Kentucky) :
"True Confessions: Pietist Confession
and the Witchtrial 'Urgichte'"
Marlene Heinemann (U Wyoming): "Women in. the Nazi Concentration Camps"
Jutta Arend-Bernstein
Woman Writer"
(Assumption Coll.): "Ingeborg Drewitz:
'Just' a
Lorely French, Janice Murray (UCLA) : "Publishing a Graduate Student
Journal: New German Review: A Journal of Germanic Studies"
Karen Remmler (University Coll.): "Two Summer Programs in Berlin
("Berlin: Political Anomaly, Urban Bohemia or Metropolis of the Future"
"'tnd "Berlin Today: The Legacy of Weimar and the Second World War")
Friday evening
FRAUEN 1M FILM
Film showing: Helma Sanders-Brahms' Deutschland, bleiche Mutter (1979)
Coordinator:
Jeannine Blackwell
Ellen Seiter's excellent paper, "What have your sons done to you?
Germany, Pale Mother," stressed four main problems in a feminist
approach to the film. 1) The mother-daughter relationship is depicted
as isolated from that of other mothers and daughters and its social
setting, which curtails a deeper critique of Fascism's implications
for all women. 2) The use of melodrama and individual suffering to
elicit sympathy allows for an emotional rather than critical involvement. 3) The female voice-over is empowering to the director-daughter
but takes the voice and words away from Lene, the mother, who cannot
- or may not - tell her own story. 4) T~e use of the mother as
metaphor for Germany's isolation and "rape" by the allies should
be criticized by feminists in that rape itself is one of the worst
things imaginable for a woman and thus should not be used to
describe a "worse" condition. Although these four points are critical,
-15-
Seiter is by no means totally negative about the film; the
aufdience at WIG, too, responded to many aspects of the film
favorably. In the discussion, people asked whether the rape scene
was really used as a metaphor; comments were made about the film's
overwhelmingly negative ending; and there was general praise for
the visual/oral work in the fairy-tale sequence.
Jeannine Blackwell
University of Kentucky
S~turday
morning, October 27
AUF DER SUCHE NACH EINER FRAUENFREUNDLICHEN SPRACHE
Coordinators:
Charlotte Armster and Jeanette Clausen
We had originally planned to begin this session by doing some consciousness-raising on sexism in language, followed by presentations
on a linguistic approach to literature (Almut Poole), language
teaching (Barbara Wright), and women's conversational styles (Lee
Jenkens). Because two of our speakers weren't able to attend the
conference, however, and because the rest of us found that our
ideas kept on evolving right up to the last minute, things actually
turned out somewhat differently.
I introduced our topic by reviewing ways in which the standard
language excludes and/or silences women: the so-called generic
masculine makes us invisible; the words available to us for selfdescription mirror the status quo and thus also reinforce it (cf.
Luise F. Pusch, "Frauen und Lesben?" in Das Deutsche als M~nner­
sprache). I spoke in favor of changing language deliberately, to
inspire and, hopefully, to accelerate social change, rather than
assuming that social change will be followed by desirable changes
in language. Evidence that the latter can't be counted on is
abundant; here's an example from an interview with a GDR worker
(Karla, 25, Brigadier): "Erst war ich Arbeitsgruppenleiter in einer
Obstbaubrigade, danach FDJ Sekret~r, dann brauchten sie mich im
Gemusebau. Ich habe 24 Mann in der Brigade,. 23 sind Frauen." (So
sehe ick die Sache, Kiepenheuer & Witsch, 1984, p. 261). As the
quote clearly shows, the generic mQsculine is alive and well in the
GDR despiteeee large numbers of women in jobs formerly held mostly
or exclusively by men. As a counter-example I cited the April 1985
decision by the Hamburg Hochschule fur Wirtschaft und Politik,
"die gesamtee Aufnahmeprufungsordnung in der weiblichen Form
abzufassen." That is, the document will refer only to "Professorinnen," "Pruferinnen," etc. ~egardless of whether there are any
women on the faculty: "Es kornmt darauf an, ... Frauen in Forschung
und Lehre personell und inhaltlich zu verankern. Eine Prufungsordnung, die Frauen und ihre Unterrepr~sentanz an Bochschulen sprachlich und bewusstseinsm~ssig sichtbar macht, ist ein Beitrag hierzu."
(quoted from Frauen in der Literaturwissenschaft, September 1985,p.5)
-16Next I gave a summary of Barbara Wright's contribution, "A Feminist
Approach to the Use of German TV Commercials in the Classroom," and
showed an excerpt from the videotaped presentation Barbara had sent
from Germany. She recommends using German commercials (available on
videotape) as supplementary material in first-year German courses
because students enjoy them and are motivated to use them. But because
all commercials sell much more than just the products being advertised
(such as images of vulnerability, frivolity, and general sexual
availability of women), it is essential to teach students to view
them critically, to look for the covert as well as the overt messages.
Attention to the contrast between nonverbal and verbal communication is of obvious importance here. Later, during the discussion
period, one woman suggested a brilliantly simple approach: run the
commercial with the sound turned off, and invite students to write
t~eir own script based on what they see happening.
Our next speaker, Lee Jenkins (San Francisco State), was also absent
so Charlotte Armster gave a summary of her paper on women's conV8rsational style (published in German in: Gewalt durch Sprache, ed.
Senta Tramel-Plotz). Charlotte highlighted five main points that
Jenkins makes. Contrary to a widespread myth, women's conversational
style in storytelling is not characterized by hesitations, interruptions, etc. but by cooperation: 1) women use supportive body language,
gestures, and verbal encouragement (uh huh, right; go on, etc.);
2) they establish connections among the various members of the group;
3) they pass on other people's stories as well as telling their own;
4) everyone has her turn -- interruptions occur, but in a supporr.ive
manner; 5) there is comparison rather than competition -- not "my
story is better than yours" but "my story is like yours." During the
discussion period, the importance of ethnic and/or class origins
in conversational styles, and the necessity of emphasizing these factors
in reporting researsh results, were brought out.
Our third presentor, Almut Poole (Los Angeles) gave her own talk,
since she was not absent. Almut spoke about her research on the use
of negations in feminist writing. She is interested in how negations
are used to contradict or oppose the status quo: since the "norm"
is always stated affirmatively (e.g. "white"), a first step in
departing from the norm is to use negation ("nonwhite"). There are
in~eresting 20nstraints on the use of negatives, e.g., the pair
"happy/unhappy" exists, but "sad/unsad" does not. Examining the works
of Mary Daly over the years, and
looking only at two negatives, "not"
and "no," Almut found that Daly's
later, self-consciously feminist
works contain many more occurences
of negations. Eventually she would
like to compare works by self-decared
female and male feminists with those
by nonfeminist writers.
-17-
Our final panelist, Naomi Stephan (Santa Monica, CA), brought us
back to our own very individual and personal relationships to language. She asked us if speaking German made us feel like we were back
in the 18th century, or whether it seemed as if we were wearing a
mask, like the one she had just donned. Before we had time to come
up with any clever, intellectualized responses to these questions,
she asked us to do two exercises. The first, done with a dyad partner,
was to describe ourselves using only feminine nouns (excluding those
such as "Freundin" or "Professorin" that are derived from masculine
nouns. The second exercise was done in groups of three. This time, we
took turns addressing one of our partners as if she were the German
language, telling her whow we felt about her and why; meanwhile, the
third partner noted down observations about the interaction and after
each of us had taken all three roles, we discussed the results. The
goal of the exercise was to let us explore our emotional relationship
to German. the results were, of course, different for each person.
Try the exercises yourself sometime -- you'll be surprised at what
comes out.
The session concluded with an open discussion, touching on aspects
of all the presentations.
Jeanette Clausen
Indiana U.-Purdue U. at Fort Wayne
Saturday evening
ABENTEUER EINER FEMINISTISCHEN LINGUISTIN AUS DEM LEBEN ERZAHLT
Guest author: Luise Pusch
Moderator: Ruth-Ellen Boetcher-Joeres
Luise Pusch, author of the recent Suhrkamp publication, Das Deutsche
als Mannersprache: Aufsatze und Glossen zur feministischen Linguisti;c,
has published three books and over forty articles on the subjects of
German, English, and Italian linguistics and translation problems,
aspects of teaching German as a foreign language, feminist linguistics,
Women's Studies, and the writings of Mary Daly. She is editing a
series of books for Insel Verlag, the first vdlume of which will
appear this year on the sisters of noted men. She is also preparing
a lexikon of German-speaking women writers to be published bu Suhrkamp in 1986. Luise Pusch has taught a variety of seminars. ranging
from "Transformational Grammar" at
the Universitat Hamburg, to "Feminist
Linguistics" at the Universities of
Hannover and Konstanz. Both her
dissertation and her Habilitationsschrift were on the topic of contrastive linguistics.
Sandy Frieden
University of Houston
•
-18On Saturday evening Luise Pusch, whom we had come to know as a warm,
engaging, sensitive, and intelligent person with a lively sense of
humor, spoke informally about her decision to become a linguist, her
academic career as a more traditonal linguist, and her experiences
(trials and tribulations?) as a "feminist linguist" and as a popular,
non-academic writer. She shared her personal and professional
experiences, her hopes and disappointments, her successes and defeats,
her laughter and her sorrow with us in an unusually candid, always
entertaining, and somehow heartwarming way that captivated all of us.
We sat there, charmed by this amazing woman, listening raptly to her
story. (And with Ruth-Ellen, a personal friend there to egg her on,
it was indeed quite a story!) After Luise had finished speaking, there
was a lively discussion that didn't want to end.
It took the combined efforts of the veteran WIG cabaret impromptu
irregulars to recapture the field. To the piano accompaniment of
Joey Horsley, our Mstress of Herimonies, Jeannine Blackwell, evoked
the spectre of WIG in the year 2000. The professoriniate, consistering
of the permanent part-time emeritae Clausen, Weiss, Blackwell, and
Wallach hobbled to the fore to subdue their recocaliscitrant colleague
whose name is better off left unknown in these pages. Professor X,
tired of having to "film or fade," lamed by the rampant negativity of
post-destructuralism, bored by her younger, suggestophiliac colleagues'
Permanent Physical Response, had that-part-of-the-human-anatomy-lackingon-her-feminist-colleagues to demand the right to teach a graduate
seminar on: "Goethe: A Reconstructionist Look at His Life and Times!"
Not Goethe's sister, not his daughter(s), nor his mother, if he had one,
interested her, nor did the women in Goethe's lives, but Goethe
himself and his works (ranging from Gotz mit der eisernen Faust: erster
und zweiter Teil to Wilhelm Meisters Farbenlehrjahre). It was a truly
horrible thing to hear. Spouting forth quotations like the Brunnen at
Marienbad, Professor X waxed classical and romantic by turns. When all
else failed, her colleagues tried to bind her to silence, but that
too, aJas, failed. Professor X then tried to advance the case of
Schiller and Kleist, if her colleagues were to remain deaf to the
case of Goethe. When confronted with the rape issue in the "Marquise
von 0 ... - das Buch, " she began writhing on the floor in a vain
imitation of "Die Marquise von O. - der Film" in order to explain the
Count's actions. These, however, continued to Count against him and
the Kleist course was turned down. Faced with these grim prospects,
Professor X asked if she might continue at least to "publish or perish"
instead of having to "film or fade" since she felt convinced that
writhi~r' must again become the dominant form of discourse. When denied
-19-
that too, she went into spasms of despair and her colleagues feared
that her heart processor might fail her. Indeed, she had been acting
erratically all evening. All in all, it was a shameless exhibition
that just went to show all of us what a classical education can do
to a young girl's mind!
Susan X. Cocalis
Sunday morning, October 27
WIG MEMBERS SPEAK OUT
Moderators: Susan Cocalis and Melissa Vogelsang
The final session on Sunday morning was an unusually harmonious
and productive one from which several new initiatives emerged that
clarify our position vis-a-vis feminism and the profession. We
decided, for example, that as women in German, we have traditionally
been on the periphery of the discipline of Women's Studies but
that this situation could and should be changed. As women in German,
many of us have examined literature and society in the context
of Fascism, racism, and the Critical Theory of the Frankfurt School
--all issues and perspectives that are evolving into focal points
of the discussion of Women's Studies in America as people begin
to ask what lies beyond post-structuralism or the marxism of te
sixties and seventies. We also feel that it is high time that
German interests were represented in national organizations concerned with women's issues (AAUW, MLA-CSW, WCML, etc.).
Another project was a Task Force on Humane Hiring which would
develop a set of "Guidelines for Humane Hiring" that are intended
to supplement the "Practices of Decency in Hiring" currently
distributed by the MLA to all prospective employers. Helen
Cafferty, Jeanette Clausen, and Sara Lennox agreed to draft an
initial questionnaire to be distributed to WIG members in January.
We would like to collect information on the hiring process, on
the types of situations applicants encounter, the institutional
expectations, the general atmosphere of the MLA and on-campus
interviews, conformance to the principles of affirmative action,
and related issues. We would then like to have WIG members copy
the questionnaire (which is to be filled out anonymously) and
pass it on to their colleagues so that the results could be made
available to the entire profession, possibly by publishing t~en
in a professional journal. A preliminary meeting of those
interested will follow the business meeting (after the Bettina
session) at the MLA.
Other suggestions included establishing a contact person who could
supply the names of WIG members willing to serve as reviewers in
upcoming tenure cases. (The candidate is' usually asked to provide
the names of some of the reviewers.) Marianne Burckhard agreed
to serve in this function and requested that interested WIG members
send her updated CV's, fields of competence, and potential
limitations. (see announcement in this issue)
'-20-
We also discussed a big-sister system in which graduate students
could team up with more experienced WIG members for pre-screening
of papers, advice on publishing, delivering papers, etc. The idea of
a dissertation support group was also broached. Regional WIG meetings
similar to the one held last June in the Northeast would be conducive
to the implementation of sucb plans. Time will be set aside at the
next WIG conference for special interest groups (graduate students,
part-timers, administrators, those defying description) to meet and
form support groups. These groups, however, will remain open to
anyone who wishes to participate.
The question of our relationship to our West German sisters was also
raised since there was some concern voiced at various times during
the conference about the growing lack of tolerance demonstrated toward
non-post-structuralist methodologies at the IVG conference last
summer and the Frauen in der Literaturwissenschaft conference in
Bielefeld. It was pointed out, however, that one encounters a similar
lack of tolerance wherever and whenever post-structuralism becomes
an issue, be that in West German-American relations or in American
academic discourse. Indeed, such struggles have been characteristic
of debates in the Women's Studies fora of the MLA and on various
campuses for a while now. Perhaps we should shift our focus to address
issues related to the hegemony of one methodology and to the ramifications of the star-system of academic discourse when applied to
feminist concerns. Non-feminist, non-sisterly behavior in the public
eye is not a phenomenon not endemic to the West German scene. The
issues concerning our relationship to our West German sisters will
have to be addressed, however, in the near future in order to prevent
a polarization along national lines. We would like to reaffirm our
commitment to a climate of mutual cooperation. The solidarity we have
worked so hard to achieve is too important to us to see it
"destructed" by a vocal few clamoring in the French mode.
Susan Cocalis
CAllS FOP.
WIG
Next year's WIG
bE' held 'in Portland,Oregon at the
C,'l
delightful Rene\<{al r>,v:,,'
co-ordinators will Ix
,~.c"
(Stanford University1
"f~
have begun contact
,> "",,,,.,_",:>
T~dy of th e hnge
'
1 s convent. Conference
'Col,,:; College) and Katherine Strachota
to j!)1!ite a filmmaker in 1986 and
"i- h
o! ,"
As of now we are considering Helke
~.,(," c
Sander, Margarethe 'fen
No
definite plans have ;Y',
RECENT
~'C
O't:;",t
We would like 1~ m
literary theory n
country.
Discuss;,
invol vement ar"":: ;, C'
the peace movew£~~
in the non-al igT::f
fiJrmscd' women's political
feminist strategies within
,,,.-,,;.!-;i'J(; political groups, as well as
;1
~~~8~;8
',.r" I 1,
Send a 1 to 2p'!
.J an J. ce HI , ' .
Departm(-m "
Royce ~h; ~
UCLA
Los An~:;e:
Completed paper's
ions <,,,,b.ieb deal with feminist
,t.G' day [",:'minist praxis in either
,
"
/
J
1986 to both
Joey Horsley
German Department
UMass/Boston
Harbor Campus
Boston, MA 02125
-22-
-
We are solici ting pa~rs for a session on Approaches and
Applications to be held at the Warren In Gerrran conference in Portland,
Oregon in October 1986.
The pa~rs may be a description and critical analysis of one or
more schools of feminist criticism, for example marxist,
structuralist, lesbian, semiotic, etc. Pa~rs may also show practical
application of feminist literary theory to a text either written by a
waran or containing v.Dmen figures. However, in this case the emphasis
IIDst be on the methodological approach. Papers may be devoted
excludingly to either theory or application or they may contain both
elements.
1-2 page abstracts due April 15, 1986. The full pa~r should not
exceed a maximum of twenty minutes oral presentation and is due August
31, 1986. For further information, please contact either of the panel
co-ordinators.
Vibeke R. Petersen
German Dept.
New York University
19 University place
New York, N.Y. 10003
(212) 598-2428/2429
WIG Conference
Pedagogy
Liz Corra
1716 2nd Ave., # 4A
New York, N.Y. 10028
(212) 534-7590
October 1986
~ feminist criticism of new methodologies and new approaches/innovations
1n teaching language and/or German Studies.
Please send proposals about feminist eValuations of methods like TPR Rassias
etc. and/or presentations of models for German Stud~
C
.
. .
~es or
onversat1on and
Compos1t1on courses with a feminist perspective.
Please submit a one-page abstract bY March 15, 1986 to:
Heidrun Suhr
Gisela Moffit
Dept. of German/ 219 Folwell Hall
Pe 315
University of Minnesota
Central Michigan University
Mineapolis, MN 55455
Mt. Pleasant, MI 48858
(612) 37 3-6138
(517) 774-3292
-23-
feminism ~ psychoanalysis
Feminist Psychoanalytic Interpretation of Literature
Feminist Psychoanalytic Interpretation of Film
Feminism and Psychoanalytic Theory
Papers on any of these topics are welcomed for submission.
Papers should be
of a length that can be read in 20 minutes and should be postmarked by
February 15, 1986.
Send submissions to: Richard Feldstein, Kate Mele, Judith Roof, Kristina
Straub, Conference Coordinators, Department of English, Illinois State
University, Normal, IL 61761-6901
Manuscripts submitted for the conference will be reviewed by the editors
of Literature and Psychology for inclusion in a special issue on feminism
and psychoanalysis.
. .•........
...........••..
CALL FOR PAPERS
WOMEN'S VOICES/GERMAN FILM
Women in German [WIG1 is preparing a two-volume
publication on film entitled WomelJ's VoiceslGemJlllJ
FUm.
The first volume is a collection of analyses of
Individual German films and is Intended for classroom
use. We are Interested in feminist perspectives on
relations between German film and the voices of
women - both at the level of rllmic production and
critical reception. The volume will include essays
Incorporating women film makers, lesbian and gay
issues, GDR films, and films from all periods - Third
Reich, Weimar, New German Cinema, etc.
The second volume will address film pedagoU: topicaloverviews (e.,. surveys of genres, subject matter,
historical perIods, cinematic techniques); syllabi;
classroom materials; and articles on teaching
methodologies.
Please submit papers of 100U page length, MLA
formaL Papers will be refereed and should be prepared
for blind submission (hame and institution only on
separate title page). Send completed manuscripts by
Aueust I, 1986 to Sandra Frieden, German
Department, University of Houston, Houston, TX
77004.
Editors: Sandra Frieden
Richard W. McCormick
Vibeke R. Petersen
Laurie Melissa Vogelsang
.....•...•.....•....
-24CALL FOR PAPERS
1WELFTH NEW HAMPSHIRE SYMPOSIUM ON THE
GERMAN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC
I
June 20-27, 1986
World Fellowship Center, Conway, N.H.
The central theme of the 1986 Symposium will he "The GDR Today and Tomorrow: Visions and Realitks.'· As in past years. the
Symposium will be interdisciplinary: economists, historians, political scientists, SOciologists. etc .. as well as Germanists and specialists
working in the areas of art, music, the media, and theater, etc. are invited to participate. Several of the seminars planned for 1986 will
involve the treatment of topics from the perspectives of various disciplines. Papers are being solicited for the following topics:
I. The 11th Party Convention - Arthur A. Stahnke. Dept. of Government. So. Illinois University, Edwardsville. IL 62026;
Karl-Heinz RiSder. Institut filr Theorie des Staates und der Rechte. Akademie der Wissenschaften der DDR. Otto-NuschkeStr. 10-1], DDR 1086 Berlin. Anita M. Mallinckrodt, 2937 Macomb St. NW. Washington. D.C. 20008.
Interdisciplinary seminar with political scientists, economists, cultural theorists after initial short papers.
11. Technology. NalUre and the Environment: Changes in GDR Society· Volker Gransow, Fakultat fUr Soziologie. ('!'jv Bielefeld.
D 4800 Bielefeld]: Wolfgang Ertl, Dept. of German, University of Iowa. Iowa City. IA S2242.
Interdisciplinary seminar with papers on economic. social, political. and environmental issues. and on the treatment of these
issues in literature and other cultural forms.
III. Minorities in GDR Society - Volker Gransow (See II); Carol Poore. Dept. of German, Brown University. Proykkn(·e. RI 02906.
Interdisciplinary seminar with papers on social and political issues of minorities (minorities understood in the widest sense
of the word) and on the treatment of minorities in GDR literature and other art/cultural forms.
IV. Environments for Living: City Planning. Housing. and Ecological Issues in the GDR Today - Patricia Herminghouse. Dept. of
Foreign Languages. University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627; Christiane Lemke. Zentralinsfitut fUr sozialwissenschaftliche Forschung. FU Berlin. BabeIsbergerstr. 14-16, D 1000 Berlin 31.
Interdisciplinary seminar with papers on the economic, political, and social aspects of living conditions in the GDR. and the
reflection of these issues in GDR literature and culture in general.
V. Means of Socialization in the GDR - Christiane Lemke (See IV); Anita M. Mallinckrodt (See I).
Political and social analysis of values and attitudes of the younger generation and the role of the family. schools. media.
military, literature, and informal networks in the socialization process; reflection of socialization in literature and other
cultural forms.
VI. Changing Perceptions of History: German Tradition - Nation Building - Margy Gerher, Akademiestr. 13. A S020 Salzhurg;
Denis Sweet, Department of Foreign Languages, Bates College, Lewiston, ME 04240.
Interdisciplinary seminar with papers on the reevaluation of various aspects of German history and German culture. the
concept of nation in the GDR, and the process of nation building.
\11. GDR Lyric Poetry - Christine Cosentino. Dept. of German, Rutgers University. Camden. NJ 08102; Wolfgang rrtl (See II).
VIII. Recent Trends in GDR Literature and Culture and Cultural and Aesthetic Theory - Christiane Zehl Romero. Dept of German
and Russian. Tufts l fniversity. Medford, MA 021 S5; Nancy Lauckner. Dept. of Germanic and Slavic Languages. l Iniversity of
Tennessee. Knoxville. TN 37916.
Interdisciplinary seminar with papers by Germanists. and other literary scholars. ('ultural historians and theoreticians.
Detailed proposals (title pitts }·3 pages) must be submitted to the lIppmpriate semillar m:"mliz('l'( s) . ill case (~f {'()'OI'Rallizers, O/Ie
copy to each - byJanuary IS. 1986; completed papers, no later tbml April /. Papers should I/ot exceed.W mill/til'S. 71}e preferred
language is EngUsb. For more infonnatiOll on the /Jl'Ogram, cO/l/act Margy GerlJ(!1' (See H); jill' i/lformatio/l 0/1 tbe Sl'lII/Josmm
location. trar'el arrangemellts. etc.. contact W Christoph SclJmauch, World Felloll'ship Cel/ter. COI/I('{~}'. NH (}3818, tel. (6(}3)
356·52(}8.
Regi~tration
Fee. Room & Board for the whole week. all·inclusive.
S19S. dOllble occupancy/S21 O. singlt·.
(In order to ellcourage participallts to stay.for the II'hole ,~)'mjJ()siu/ll. /Jart·tillle 1){lrtici{lallt.~ will he chtl/'/!,ed (/ S25 ref!,istmtio/l fee
and a SJS dai~l' rate. lI'hich in eludes .3 meals and all ()/'er-II~"bt).
...
emldren under 12: S9(} .for the week
Students to age 21: S! lO.for the lI'eek.
f
I,
f
I
I
-25-
RE:CE:NT PUBLICATIONS
R.MMhrmann und Hiltrud Gnlia. Frauenliteraturgeschichte
Schreibende Prauen vom Mittelalter bis zur Gegenwart.
Stuttgart~
~etzler~985.
In England ist jetzt eine Sammlung mit iibersetzten Texten aus
der deutschen Debatte tiber feministische Xsthetik erscheinen
und zwar:
Gisela Ecker (ed.): Feminist Aesthetics, Women's Press Ltd.,
1985.
(solI in den USA bei Beacon Press erscheinen.)
Frauen -- Weiblichkeit -- Schrift~ Dokumentation der Tagunq
in Bielefeld vom Juni 1984. Berlin: Argument-Sonderbano
AS134, 1985.
Nomen's Place in the Academy:
Integrating l'70men' s Exnerience
in the Liberal Ar~Curriculum, ed. r'l. Schuster and S. Van Dyne.
Totowa: Rowman and Allanheld, 1985.
342op. panerbound
$13.95
(available throuqh the MLA B~81P)
A Career r-uide for PhDs and PhD Candidates in En0lish and
ForeignLanguag~ ed. English Showalter.
New York: MLA
Press, 1985.
Studies in GDR Culture and Society 5: Selected Papers from
the 10th~ew Hampshire Symposium on-the GDR.
University Press
of America.
(can be ordered from World Fellowship / Conway,
NH 03815. Vol. I-IV still availahle.)
German Nomen in the 1Rthand 19th Centuries:
l\ Social and
Li terary Historv-;ed. Ruth-Ellen B. Joeres and-Mary LTo Maynes.
Bloomin~ton~
Indiana University Press, 19R6.
Alfred G. Heyer.
The Feminism and Socialism of Lilv Brown.
Blommington: Indiana University Press, 1985.
The Dramas of Hrotsvit of Gandershejffl.
Tran~lated
and intro.
by Katharina M.· Wilson .. -HUns:ter, Sask •. Matrologia Latina-·
Series, Peregrina Publications, 1985.
(Address:
Cr., Saskatoon, Sask., S7H 2Z9 Canada)
40ql~arrison
Das Nohlgelehrte Frauenzimmer. Ed. Elisabeth Gassmann.
2 vols.
(~rchiv fUr Philosophie und Theoloqieqeschichte)
~tinchen, 198485.
(Address:
Judicium Verlag, Postfach 701067, D 8 ~linchen
70, FRG)
*******anyone interes+ed in reviewing any of these, please contact us*****
NAME & ADDRESS/AFFILIATION
Sigrid Brauner
1076 59th St.
Oakland, CA 94608
(415) 652-7131
(U.C. Berkley)
PROJECTS
1.
2.
Dissertation: The Image of
the WITCH in Early Reformation
Literature
Frauen in den Glaubensk~mpfen
d. 16. Jhdt.
Barbara Mabee
114 Forest Park Lane
Huntington, WV 25705
(304) 523-4395
Dissertation: Geschichtsbewusstsein
und Erinnerungsspuren in der Lyrik
von Sarah Kirsch
Tamara Archibald
10106 Pierce Dr.
Silver Spring, MD
(301) 593-1759
Reiseliteratur im frlihen 19. Jh.,
haupts~chlich von Frauen
20901
Joey Horsley
19 Park Lane
Jamaica Plain
Boston, MA 02130
Articles on Irmgard Keun
Naomi Stephan
425 Marine St. #2
Santa Monica, CA 90405
Lesbian Theory: Analysis of
differences in Lesbian and Heterosexual relationships
Linda Schnur
9730 Melbourne Ave.
Cleveland, Ohio 44111
Deutsch-Amerikanische Beziehungen
Deutsche Science Fiction
Jan Mouton
1307 Grant St.
Evanston, IL 60201
Loyola University of Chicago
Mothers in Film; Women's Screen
Silence; Ageism in Folklore and
Film
Jane Rice
Dept. Of German Studies
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305
Dissertation: Issues in the postwar West German Shakespeare discussion
Jutta Arend-Bernstein
Assumption College
Worcester, MA 01609
Article on Ingeborg Drewitz
Jeannine Blackwell
1055 Patterson
University of Kentucky
Lexington, KY 40506
Gisela Bahr
102 E. Central Ave.
Oxford, OH 45056
German Fairy rrales; Pietist con-
fessional literature and witch trial
testimony
Women in recent GIl[< fi lms;
GDR women
I"j lm
on
-27-
NAME & ADDRESS/AFFILIATION
PROJECTS
Victoria Joan Moesner
Department of Linguistic &
Foreign Languages
University of Alaska
Fairbanks, Alaska 99701
Germans in Alaska
Women Artists and their
education - end of 19th and
early 20th centuries
Karen ReQlJDler
6837 Kingsbury 3-W
St. Louis, MO 63130
(14) 727-4716
Ingeborg Bachmann - Relationship
between subjective memory and
collective history, Austrian
tradition (literary and philosophic) in her essays
Walter Benjamin - "Berliner
Kindheit"
Image of USA in contemporary
German and Austrian literature
Karen Jankowsky'
6837 Kingsbury 3-W
St. Louis, MO 63130
Wie Bewegung in Worte eingeschrieben werden in den Texten
Rudolf Labans - 20. Jhdt.
Marlene Heinemann
68 Corthell
Laramie, WI 82070
Women's Holocaust Literature
Women in the Third Reich
Vibs Peterson
634 E. 14th St. No. 7
New York, NY 10009
Article: Feminist Perspective of
the Film Liquid Sky
Book projects: Anthology of
Danish Women Writers; Women's
Voices/ German Film - Co-editor
Susan Cocalis
184 Main St.
Northhampton, MA
(413) 586-3884
Frauen/ Frauenroman im 18. Jhdt.
Women & Performance Art FRG/USA
Bibiliography project with Elke
Frederiksen
German Women Poets; Drama
01060
Helen Cafferty
12 Whittier
Brunswick, ME 04011
Women Dramatists of the 19th Cent.
Janice Murray
Dept. of Germanic Languages
UCLA
Los Angeles, CA 90024
Caroline Schlegel-Schelling Ihre Rolle und Arbeit in der
Romantik
Liz Corra
1716 2nd Ave.
Apt. 4a
New York, NY 10028
Dissertation: Thoughts on the
Concept of the Autonomy of
Literature in Contemporary West
German Literary Theory
-28NAME & ADDRESS/AFFILIATION
PROJECTS
Lorely French
11859 Iowa Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90025
Dissertation: Epistolary Aesthetics
and Poetics of Women during
Romanticism & Bettine von Arnim
Christ Wolf's use of media in
Kindheitsmuster
Edna Spitz
827 Lathrop Dr.
Stanford, CA 94305
Autobiographies/Autobiographical
Narratives - German-speaking Women
1793-1985
19th & 20th Cent. German Women
Writers - translation of short
stories by them
Ruth-Ellen B. Joeres
Dept. of German
219 Folwell Hall
University of Minnesota
Minneapolis, MN 55455
Book: Socially-critical 19th
century women writers
Essays: Luise BUchner, Gisela
v. Arnim, ''Frau Rat tI (Goethe),
M L Kaschnitz, and Hedwig Dohm
Interdisciplinary approaches to
personal narratives
Almut Poole
3827 Effie St.
Los Angeles, CA 90026
(2l3) 661-1053
Dissertation:
Same as last year's
-29-
AN NOUNC€M€NTS
The WIG Yearbook is inviting submissions for its third volume. Volume II is
in print and should appear in the University Press of America sometime next
year. Edith Waldstein will be retiring as an editor after the completion of
Volume III and Jeanette Clausen will co-edit Volume IV with Marianne Burckhard.
Marianne is also looking for someone to replace her, beginning with Volume V.
*
*
*
At the business meeting we decided to initiate a Task Force on H1J1llane Hiring
that will be coordinated by Jeanette Clausen, Helen Cafferty, Sara Lennox and
Pat Herminghouse. This will be discussed after the WIG business meeting at the
MLA, so please set aside time if you are interested. More information on this
will be sent out in a separate mailing in early January.
*
*
*
The following women have indicated an interest in serving on the Executive
Committees of the MLA Divisions. Nominations can be written in on the
standard MLA election ballots.
Victoria Joan Moessner, University of Alaska
pre-1700:
18th/19th Centuries: Jeanine Blackwell, University of Kentucky
19th/20th Centuries: Marianne Burkhard, University of Illinois/Urbana
Ruth Ellen B. Joeres, University of Minnesota
20th Century
Marguerite Allen, Loyola University/Chicago
Sandy Frieden, University of Houston
Women's Studies:
Ritta Jo Horsley, University of Massachusetts/Boston
Martha Wallach has expressed an interest in being nominated for the AATG
executive committee.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Heide Owren has agreed to coordinate the Textbook review
committee.
If you have any material, please submit it to:
Heidi OWlren
23404 26th Ave.
S. Kent. WA 98032
*
*
*
Clearinq-House for Tenure Peviews
Some WIG members often get questions for feminist ~erManists who
could act as experts/evaluators for tenure reviews.
In order to
broaden this pool, we would like to designate a contact oerson who
would have information about people in various fields and who could
suqgest WIG members as tenure evaluators.
I have volunteered to act as such a contact person; thus, I need the
Followinq information from l\TI~ members:
complete cv's
-- specific field (s) in '''hich they can review
-- any limitation in reviewing (eg. only 1 per year, etc.)
Marianne Burkhard
German Dept.
University of Illinois
(217 ) 333-8777 (office)
Urbana, II 61801
367-2674 (home)
*
*
*
-30-
Clearing House -For
Germah-:t.Vo:rne~
in (!erman
Whv do Germans study (!erman outside of Germany?
Bow does the American university system compare - acadern.ically
and otherwise - to the German system?
What are the iob chances for Germans in German - for those who
will stav as well as for those who ~.,ill return home with a degree
from the United States?
Is a deqree in German from the United States considered equivalent
to the same degree from a r,erman university?
Is there a certain logic behind leaving Germanv to study German maybe trvinq to see the forest in spite of all those trees?
If you have ever thought about any of these questions or felt
the Kuckucksei-syndrome in connection with your strange status
as Germans in German abroad, there will be a Clearing House for
German Women in German (GeeWiGs!!!) at the NiG mini-conference
in Amherst next February - to share more 0uestions, maybe some
answers, exchange ideas or just talk.
Contact nerson:
Susanne Koro
c/o ~7iG
Department of Germanic Languages+Literatures,
Herter Hall,
University of Massachusetts,
Amherst., Tl1A 01001
** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
~¥ ~y
** ** **
AMHERST MINI-CONFERENCE
The WIG - Amherst collective will hold a weekend mini-conference
in Amherst February 14 - 16 (subject to change). Further Wigletunification is on the agenda. More information to follow.
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
At the Second Annual Wichita State University
Conference on Continental and Latin American
Women Writers, which took place in Wichita
on April 11 - 13, 1985, the German women
writers discussed included A.L. Karsch,
L.v. .Francois, F. Lewald '
E.
Bruning
, I.
Drewltz and B. Schwaiger. Selected papers
will be published. The organizers plan the
same theme for the 1986 conference. For
more information, contact:
Ginette Adamson / Eunice Meyers
Dept. of Modern and Classical
. Languages and Literatures
Wichita State University
Wichita, KA 67208
*
*
*
-31-
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Several people have requested a copy
of the taped evenings with Luise Pusch .
The electrical outlet that I used was
tricky. Apparentlv, despite taping the
plug to the outlet, contact with the
electrical source was not established.
The tape recorder drew on the batteries
which, telling f~om the speed when playinq the tape back, were rapidly getting
from weak to worse to non-functional.
What we have is a clear beginning
(Ruth-Ellen's introduction) and then
Luise's voice, which becomes progressively faster and higher in pitch and
which is occassionaly interrupted by
our laughter that sounds like "Hlihnergeqacker." Side 1 of the tape is salvageable if played on a machine
where the speed of playback can be controlled manually (i.e. sped
up) and at the same time recorded over to a new tape from which conies
can be made.
I think it would be worth the effort. However, I do
not have such a machine available or acce~s to an Audio Visual
Department at the University. But I'll be happy to mail the tane
to whoever can do us all this favor. Please contact: AI~ut Fleck
'Poole, 3R27 Effie St., Los ~ngeles, CA 90026, (213) 661-1053.
*
*
*
More Luise Pusch Interviews: KUAC, Fairbanks, Alaska, made two interviews
with Luise Pusch. They are available at a cost of $10 each from:
.,...
Karla Tonella
KUAC
University of Alaska
Fairbanks, AK 99775-1420
Please state if you want reel-to-reel
or cassette. If you want a cassette,
please say whether with dolby or not.
Interview I is Luise with Patty Kastelic
==-"-_ and Karla Tonella. It is a general
discussion of what is linguistics, of
Luise's work, differences between German
and English, and the book about sisters
of famous men. Interview II is Luise
~-------------with Karla Tonella.
It focusp.s on Mary
Daly. Comments by Daly herself are
played, then discussed by Karla and Luise.
*
*
*
•
-32-
226. Racism in Post-1945 Women's Literature
322. Bettina von Arnim and Her Circle
<;;;"t/AjiMY.,; 1>£'" 29
8:30-9:45 a.m., MichIgan State, Marriott
1:45-3:00 p.m., Denver, Marriott
Sit T, bee,:zK
Program arranged by Women in German. Presiding:
Dagmar C. G. Lorenz, Ohio State Univ., Columbus,
and Linda DeMeritt, Allegheny Coll.
Program arranged by the Division on Eighteenth- and
Early Nineteenth-Century German Literature. Presiding:
Klaus L. Berghahn, Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison.
1. "'1m Totenspiel ungewisser Bedeutung': Antirassistische Assoziationsraume in der Lyrik von Sarah
Kirsch," Barbara Mabee, Marshall Univ. and Ohio State
Univ., Columbus
2. "Racism? More or Less in Anne Duden's
Obergang," Leslie A. Adelson, Ohio State Univ.,
Columbus
25. Demythologizing Bacbmann
7:00-8:15 p.m., Scottsdale, Marriott 17/da'!/
lU'e·2"):.
A special session; session leader: Beth Bjorklund, Univ.
of Virginia
1. " 'Gedichte Sind Nicht Markttiichtig': Ingeborg
Bachmann's Theoretical Statements on Lyric Poetry,"
Jo Van Vliet, UniversiUit Bonn
2. "Bachmanns Oberredungskunst," Albrecht Holschuh, Indiana Univ., Bloomington
3. "Philosophical Backgrounds to the Todesarten:
Heidegger and Wittgenstein," Sara Lennox, Univ. of
Massachusetts, Amherst
4. "Subverting 'Reality': Bachmann's Mythic Counterpoint," Karen' Achberger, St. Olaf Coll.
Respondent: Peter Nutting, Colby Coli.·
661. Bettina von Arnim (1785-1859) in Social,
Historical, and Literary Context
12:00 noon-l:15 p.m., Chicago F, Marriott
~f)N.
D &(! • .:J().
Program arranged by Women in German. Presiding:
Ruth-Ellen Boetcher Joeres, Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, and Elke Frederiksen, Univ. of Maryland,
College Park
1. "Spinoza's Daughters," Kay Goodman, Brown
Univ.
2. "Spare the Rod and Spoil the Child? Bettina's
Gritta-Miirchen," Shawn Jarvis, Univ. of Minnesota,
Minneapolis
3. "From the K6nigsbuch to the Armenbuch (and
Back Again): Poverty and Its Narration in Bettina von
Arnim," Edith Waldstein, Massachusetts lnst. of Technology
4. "On the Death of Tragedy: Margaret Fuller's Revision of Bettina von Arnim's 'Sublime Originality,' "
Christina Zwarg, Reed Coil .
1. "Bettina von Arnim and Friedrich Holderlin:
Melody, Metrics, and Madness," Marjanne E. Gooze,
Univ. of Iowa
2. "Gestaltete Kunstfigur und gestaltende Kiinstlerin:
Zur Symbolik der Kindfigur Mignon bei Bettina von
Arnim," Konstanze Baumer, Syracuse Univ.
3. "Bettina und die Romane Achims," Michael Paul
Liitzeler, Washington Univ.
4. "Bettina von Arnim: Resisting Definitions," Nancy
A. Kaiser, Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison
,.~
~MLA
keep abreast at
the MLA
74. The Outsider in tbe Age of Goetbe
8:30-9:45 a.m., Miami, Marriott Stlf)
I
TJRc.U
Program arranged by the Division on Eighteenth- and
Early Nineteenth-Century German Literature. Presiding:
Barbara Becker-Cantarino, Ohio State Univ., Columbus
1. "Redemption Outside: A Parallel Form in Anton
Reiser," John Pustejovsky, Marquette Univ.
2. "The Myth of the Insider in Kleist's Die Verlobung
in St. Domingo," Stephanie Barbe Hammer, State Univ.
of New York, Stony Brook
3. "The Insider as Outsider," Sander L. Gilman,
Cornell Univ.
4. ''Aussenseiter in der Goethezeit: Rahel Varnhagen," Heidi Thomann Thwarson, Columbia Univ.
>
120. Tbe Outsider.in tbe N!.e of Goetbe
6"l'[r. f)ec;-, 2-g
II
10:15-11:30 a.m., Miami, Marriott
Program arranged by the Division on Eighteenth- and
Early Nineteenth-Century German Literature. Presiding:
Barbara Becker-Cantarino, Ohio State Univ., Columbus
1. "'Kriminalistische Unfiihlbarkeit': The Outsider
as Insider," John A. McCarthy, Univ. of Pennsylvania
~ 2. "Wo~en as ?utsiders?". Ruth-Ellen Boetcher
Joeres, UOIV. of Mmnesota, Mmneapolis
3. "Lenz und Moritz: Enteignete?" Wolfgang Wit!kowski, State Univ. of New York, Albany
4. "Reevaluating Kleist as Outsider: The Fusion of
Rhetoric and Ethics," Jill Anne Kowalik, Univ. of
Colorado, Boulder
•
-33-
90. Defining the Part-Timer: Gender, Race, and
Demographics SitT ( I>ee. ~
579. Reclaiming Our Feminist Legacy: The Impact of 1\vo Federal Projects on the Humanities
8:30-9:45 a.m., Gold Coast, WT, Hyatt
9:00-10:15 p.m., Du Sable, WT, Hyatt
Program arranged by the MLA Department of English
Programs. Presiding: Janet N. Powers, Gettysburg CoIl.
Program arranged by the MLA Commission on the Status of Women in the Profession. Presiding: Leonore
Hoffmann, Manhattan Community ColI., City Univ. of
New York
1. "From Candy Striper to Part-Time Instructor: Upholding the Great ltadition of Female Volunteerism,"
Elizabeth T. Hayes, Syracuse Univ.
2. "What's Happening in the Urban University: Current Efforts and Proposals in the New York City Area,"
James D. Walker, New York Univ.
3. "The Demographics of Part-Time English Instruction in the Boston Area," Mary Kay Mahoney, Boston
CoIl. and Univ. of Massachusetts, Boston
Respondent: Richard Lloyd-Jones, Ulliv. of Iowa
1985
103. Striking Images: Feminist Theory, Practice,
and Politics in the Arts >"It " PiZC, U
10:15 a.m.-12:00 noon, Regency B, WT, Hyatt
A forum arranged by the Division on Women's Studies
in Language and Literature and the MLA Commission
on the Status of Women in the Profession. Presiding:
Adalaide Morris, Univ. of Iowa
1. "'Creating Something Else to Be': The Issue of
Feminist Cinema," Thresa de Lauretis, Univ. of California, Santa Cruz
2. "She Sees the Invisible: Contemporary Feminist
Art," Gloria Feman Orenstein, Univ. of Southern
California
3. "From the Mississippi Delta," Endesha Ida Mae
Holland, playwright and storyteller, Minneapolis, MN
BOA.!. be:.,
1.. "Looking Back: Ten Years after Two NEH and
FIPSE Projects," Leonore Hoffmann
2. "Research and Publication: The NEH Institute
and the D~scovery of My Immigrant Heritage," Rose
Kamel, PhIladelphia ColI. of Pharmacy and Science
3. "Networking: Support during and after the NEH
Institute," Dure Jo Gillikin, ColI. of Staten Island City
Univ. of New York
'
4. "Community Outreach: Regional Women's Literature," Virginia W. Beauchamp, Univ. of Maryland
College Park
'
5. "The NEH Institute and the Current Debate on
the Humanities Curriculum," John L. Schilb Associated ColIs. of the Midwest
'
428. Making Connections: Open Meeting of the
MLA Commission on the Status of Women in the
Profession
12:00 noon-l:15 p.m., Grand Ballroom C North, ET,
Hyatt gVAJ. &e;c.. ~'i
An open discussion of the commission's activities, its
future projects, and the interests and concerns of
women members
538. Cash Bar Arranged by the Women's Caucus
for the Modern Languages 51.? AJ I bEe 'lq
t
5:15-6:45 p.m., Columbus I and J, ET, Hyatt
Presiding: Karen Merritt, Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison
382A. The Politics of Women's Studies: Getting
Promoted, Getting Tenure, and Changing the
.bii1!. ~q
Canon
9""".
291. Anonymous Is a Woman: Love Stories in
Women's Voices SA" /)~C.:l<Y
7:15-8:30 p.m., Regency B, WT, Hyatt
Readings on love, based on the words of anonymous
women
Shere Hite, New York, NY; Ntozake Shange, Houston, TX; Sharon Olds, poet, New York, NY
10:15-11:30 _egency B, WT, Hyatt
A special session; session leader: Ann Heidbteder Eastman, Virginia Thch
~nnessee
Panelists: Carol Orr, Univ.
Press;
Catharine R: Stimpson, Douglass ~011., Rutgers Univ.;
Jane Isay, Simon & Schuster; Gloria BJ'wles, Editor,
Theories of Women's Studies; Joan Cl\apano, Indiana
Univ. Press
",
2..'1
-34-
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
Early in December Synda (Bunny) Weiss &ill be sending out requests for syllabi for courses (or course components) on women
(literature, language, civilation, etc.) in German-sDeaking
countries. She will enclose a sample format and urges you to
look at the Syllabus ~roject I for inspiration.
Deadline for
submission of syllabi is February 1, 1986.
(Hamilton College,
Clinton, NY 13323.
315-859-4780(office), 315-853-2834(home))
*
*
*
Please send us copies of any bId pictures you might have of
former WIG conferences. We shall reimburse you for them. We
would like to start a photo archive of WIn.
I
The photographs in this issue were taken by Almut Poole and
copies can be obtained from her for .30 Der photo.
Almut Poole
3827 Effie St.
Los Angeles, CA 90026
*
*
*
If you think your university may be interested and able to host our
19R6 guest film maker (including an honorarium, hospitality and
travel to her next enga~ement), please send your name and address
to me:
Melissa Vogelsanq
2293 Yale station
New Haven, CT 06520
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
The film ONE FINE D~Y 6 5 1/2 min., 16mm, color) is available
for a small fee (to cover postage and handling) from Almut Fleck
Poole, 3827 Effie St., Los Anqeles,CA 90026, (211) 601-1053, or
you can purchase it for $125.00 (film) or $100.00 (3/4 video)
from: Circe Records, 256 S. Robertson Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA
90211 .
* *
*
Der DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst) hat ein Stipendienprogramm fUr kurzfristige Forschungsaufenthalte (3 oder 6 Monate) und fur
Landeskundliche Sommerkurse an verschiedenen deutschen Universitaten
(Ein neuer Sommerkurs in Marburg/Lahn,
1985 erstma1ig durchgefuhrt, soll sehr
gut gewesen sein.).
Nahere Information:
DAAD, New York Office
535 Fifth Avenue, Suite
New York, NY 10017
(212) 588-0464
(Heidrun Suhr)
I
-35*******************************~
Video Materials: Jim Pusack (German, University of Iowa) has been
working on a video project that offers six half-hour German news programs to subscribing institutions. The news is processed and made
available very quickly and is of current interest to viewers. Subscriptions run between $300 and $600 per year.
Ingrid Scheib Rothbart of the Goethe House in New York has a complete
catalog of German AV materials and other video information that will
be made available to AATG members.
Catalogues for ordering subtitled German video-cassettes can be
received from:
German Language Video Center
7625 Pendleton Pike
Indianapolis, IN 46226
317-547-1230
Tamarelle's French Film House (has German as well)
110 Cohasset Stage Road
Chico, CA 95926
916-895-3429
*
*
*
A study group at the University of Freiburg has come up with a proposal
to integrate women's studies into the university. They feel that "Frauenforschung" has so far been poorly represented at the university. The
group seeks support for their project from non-university women as well.
If interested and/or willing to help, please contact:
Dr. Gisela Schoenthal
Universit~t Freiburg
Deutsches Seminar
Wertlunannplatz
7800 Freiburg i. Br.
--Ich bin bereit, das Vorhaben mit meiner Unterschrift zu unterstlitzen:
o ja/o nein
--Ich habe Interesse an einer Diskussionsveranstaltung zur Uberarbeitung
des Antragsentwurfs:
o ja/o nein
--Meine Meinung zu dem Vorhaben/Entwurf:
Absenderin:
~,
J
.
~;
'.' ..
-36Translators: Vibeke R. Petersen needs translators for a projected anthology
of modern Danish writers. Anyone interested please contact her c/o German
Department, NYU, 19 University Place, New York, NY 10003; 212-598-2428/2429.
Marianne Burckhard also needs translators for a planned anthology of Swiss
wo~en.writer~. P:ease contact her, c/o German Department, 3072 Foreign Language
BUlldlng, Unlverslty of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801.
*
*
*
Edna Spitz is compiling a bibliography of autobiographies written
by German speaking women from 1793 to the present. It is part of
a planned German volume in an autobiography series project at the
Stanford Center for Research on Women. She would like to hear from
women working in this genre and also from readers for some of the
autobiographies collected, since this is to be an annotated bibliography.
Edna Spitz
827 Lathrop Drive
Stanford, CA 94305
415-857-0675
P.S. Edna Spitz would also like to organize
a Bay Area WiG meeting. Anyone interested
please contact her.
*
*
Walfriede Schmitt, stage and screen actress from Berlin-GDR, will be artist-inresidence at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, from March 22 to April 18, 1986.
She will play the lead in the university theater production of The Good Woman of
Setzuan (in English), with performances from April 9 through 13 at 8 p.m. and
April 12 at 5 and 9 p.m.
Since Walfriede will be tied down with rehearsals, she can't travel during her
stay but those interested in meeting
her are invited to come to Oxford and
see her in the play. I can put up a
few of you in my house, others perhaps
with friends. So, if you plan on coming,
be in touch well in advance, please, so
I can reserve tickets and get organized.
Gisela Bahr
GREAL, Miami U.
102 E Central Ave.
513-529-2526
513-523-3985
Oxford, OH 45056
*
.,.... ,..,..UIS& V.H .... -
."... ...,...."."".IIIT JI4A'f"otfA.
\jIIW."..",.
TJI_ &.A~"'"
a"'_AlTA.
CJI""L"
CMIf'.,.....&.~
A
*
*
The Wichita Converence on Latin American
& European Women Writers will be held
from April 10 - 12, 1986, in Wichita .
-31The Women's ~tudies International ~orum -- formerly Women's ~tudies
Internatioal Quarterly -- appears 6 times annually and publishes
research reports as ~ll as book reviews from the international,
multi-disciplinary field of women's studies.
Each issue inaluies the "l"eminist Forum", which contains information
on conferences, projects, contact addresses and new publications in
women's studies.
Two of the 6 annual issues appear as "General Issues", in which
recent trends and developments are discussed; the other 4 issues are
topic-related "~pecial Issues".
For information on contributions and/or subscription write:
Dale ~pender. Elizabetz, Renate Duell; -Klein, Rosetti House, Flood
~treet, London ~3, UK.
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** -* ** ** ** *~
Material uber Romantische Lie~e gesucht: Ich bereite ein ~eminar
uber die Entstehung der romantischen Liebe im Patriarchat vor und
suche historisches, soziologisches, psychologisches und
literaturwissenschaftliches ~aterial zu diesem Thema.
Kathi Belser, Berchtoldstr. 47,3012 Bern.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Arbeiten fiber ~chweizer ~chriftstellerinnen:
•
.
l"Ur in Projekt uber ~chweizer Autorinnen suche lch 3em:nar-,
.
Lize~tiats- und Doitorarbeiten, Artikel et:. uber ~c~welzer ~c~rlft­
stellerinnen aus allen Jahrhunderten. Koplerkosten ubernehme lch.
Doris ~tump, Klosterstr. 19, 5430 Wettingen, CH.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
.
"b
L·1 Braun arbei tet?
LILY BRAUN -- Gibt es Jemand, der u er 1 Y
~Information ware ich dankbar. .
. .
16 Paris
•
tlalle
15 avenue Ferdinand BU1Sson, 750
,
Dr. Marianne"
,
Tel.: (1) 620-46-44.
I
I
-38-
Das Feministische Frauenarchiv in Frankfurt (Arndtstr. 18, 6 Frankfurt 1,
Tel: 0611/745044) konzentriert sich vor allem auf aktuelle Themen und auf
Dokumentation der Neuen Frauenbewegung ("vom autonomen Feminismus bis hin zur
Arbeit von Frauen in Institutionen, Gewerkschaften und Parteien"). Konsulatation
der Prasenzbibliothek ist kostenlos--archiviert ist neben Buchern auch die
"graue" Literatur (Broschure, Flugblatter, Zeitungsausschnitte, Jahrbucher
feministischer Zeitschriften usw. ), .wie auch Dissertationen und Examensarbeitell.
AuBer weiterer Materialanschaffung sind andere Projekte geplant: Arbeit als
Dokumentationszentrum, d.h. auf Anfrage waren Informationen von der Literaturliste bis zum umfassenden Dossier geliefert. Das Archiv ist eine unabhangige
Stiftung des Hamburger Instituts fur Sozialforschung, Finanzierung wird fur
zehn Jahre gesichert! Das Archiv tiber sich selbst: "Eine der Hauptschwachen
des Neuen Feminismus ist, da~ er die systematisierte Sicherung und Weitergabe
von Wissen bisher nicht geleistet hat. Unser Archiv konnte ein Beitrag dazu sein.
*
*
*
Autonomes Frauenarchiv und Forschungsinstitut Wiesbaden. Zwei Frauen,
Gerda Guttenberg und Marianne Zepp, "ausgebildete und erfahrene Journalistinnen/
Forscherinnen" verftigen tiber ein Archiv "der Zeitgeschichte und der Frauenbewegung der letzten zweihundert Jahre" und bieten Ubersetzungen, Forschungsarbeiten an. Bestande des Archivs: 10 000 Bande aller Wissenschaftsbereiche,
Zeitungen und Zeitschriften mehrerer Sprachen, "graue" Materialien von 1970 an.
Abo der ARCHIV-Blatter ist auch zu haben. (Tel.: 06121/403203)
*
*
*
* *BERLIN* * * * *BERLIN* * * * *BERLIN * * * * *BERLIN* * * *
Aufgrund exzellenter
Bibliotheken und einer anregenden
Kulturszene wird Berlin mehr und mehr zu einem Zentrum fUr
langere Forschungs- und Ferienaufhalte fUr Germanisten.
FUr
diejenigen, die regelma~ig nach Berlin fahren,
stellt sich die
Frage nach
einer angemessenen Wohnung, in der man ~ngestort
arbeiten und leben kann. Ideal ware eine ruhiggelegene E1gentumswohnung in einem der schonen Berliner Altbauwohnungen, die von
zwei oder drei Leuten zusammen erworben und genutzt werden
konnte. Die Vorteile einer gemeinschaftlichen Nutzung liegen auf
der Hand.
In Berlin sind zudem erfreulicherweise die Wohnungspreise niedriger als in vergle~chbaren an~eren deu~schen Gro~­
stadten. Da ich selbst seit langerer Ze1t an e1nem solchen
Projekt interessiert bin, habe ich bei meinem diesjahrigen
Aufenthalt in Berlin Kontakt zu einem Makler aufgenommen, der
mich auf eine passende, gUnstigerweise im Moment noch nicht
bezugsfertige Wohnung aufmerksam gemacht hat. Sie liegt in einem
hUbschen Dachgescho~, das gerade ausgebaut wird, und befindet
sich in Universitatsnahe.
Wer prinzipiell ernsthaft an einer Eigentumswohnung in
Berlin interessiert ist, sollte umgehend mit mir Kontakt aufnehmen:
Konstanze Baumer
Madison St., Apt, 116
Syracuse, New York 13210
phone (315) 422-5930
-39Hamburg -- Der HO~hschulrat ~er Hochschule fur Wirtscha1t und
Politik (HWP) hat am 25.4.1985 folgenden BeschluB gefaBt:
Der Hochschulrat beschlieBt mit 10:014 ~timmen,
die gesamte Aufnahmeprufungsordnung in der weiblichen
Form abzufassen und als neuen §16 in die AufnahmeprUfUngsordnung aufzunehmen, daB mannliche Personen
die Funktionsbezeichnungen in der mannlichen Form
tragen.
Vorausgegangen war ein PO-lntwurf, der alternative Formulierungen
mannlich/weiblich benutzte. Das Hochschulamt strich bei seiner
Genehmigung alle Hinweise auf Frauen und stellte den Hochschulrat
anheim, in einem weiteren Paragraphen den Hinweis anzufugen, daB fUr
Frauen die weibliche Funktionsbezeichnung gelte. Der Hochschulrat hat von
dieser Moglichkeit jetzt umgekehrt Gebrauch gemacht.
ls wUrde die Arbeit des Hochschulrates unterstutzen und uns Hochschulfrauen Mut zu weiteren Aktivitaten machen, wenn von innen und auAen
entsprechende ~olidaritatsbekun~ungenund den Hochschulrat gelangen
wUrden!
(Aus~iige aus der Anderung der Aufnahmeprufunp;sordnung:
"1. AIle vorkommenden Funktionsbezeichnungen werden 1n
weiblicher From gefUhrt:
In § 6 Absatz 1 wird als neuer ~at~ 2 eingefiigt:
'Das Thema des Vortrags bestimmt die Bewerberin'.
In § 7 Absatz 1 ~atz 1 erhalt folgende Fassung:
'(1) Die Noten fUr die einzelnen schriftlichen Prufungsleistungen werden von einer Pruferin, die fUr die mundliche
PrUfungsleistung von der Prufungskommission festgesetZ:C'
§ 13 Absatz 1 • • • erh!lt ala neuer 3atz folgende Fassung:
'FUr den schriftlichen Teil werden Professorinnen, die dieser
Gruppe nach § 166 Absatz •••• ,)
Dagmar Filter
Gisela Kamke
(Koordinierunsstelle Frauenstudien und Frauenforschung)
Angelika Kluge
(HWP-A~tA Frauenreferat)
~ibylle Rasch
(wiss. Mitarbeiterin - HWP)
I
-48-
-49SUBSCRIPTIONS/MEMBERSHIP
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38 Read your label and
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Weisefrau, Uta 38
Feminist University
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