March 1, 2006

Ossi Wessi: Ossi Wessi The conference aims to explore historical, cultural, political, linguistic and literary movements occurring in and around the landscape of German Reunification. In January 1989, Erich Honecker stated, “Die Mauer wird in 50 und auch in 100 Jahren noch bestehen bleiben, wenn die dazu vorhandenen Gründe noch nicht beseitigt worden sind.” On November 9, 1989 the Berlin Wall came down and Europe as we knew it ceased to exist. The turmoil of the succeeding 17 years has brought many changes. From the fall of the Russian communist regime to the creation of the EU, the world has…

February 1, 2006

Kurt Mueller-Vollmer will present a lecture on "How the German BROCKHAUS became the ENCYCLOPEDIA AMERICANA: A case study in German-American cultural transfer." The presentation is aimed at expanding the traditional horizon of German-American Studies beyond immigrants’ lore or influence studies to include the important domain of the historical interaction between the two cultures that occurred within the mainstream of American intellectual and cultural history. As case in point, the making of the ENCYCLOPEDIA AMERICANA by the German-American Francis Lieber between 1828 and 1832 will be closely examined, its contents and structure as instrument of transcultural communication be analyzed and its…

February 1, 2006

Jeroen Dewulf (Universidade do Porto) will lecture about "From the Polders to the Mangroves: A polycentric view on Dutch language and culture." How is it possible that the Netherlands, which only a few years ago were seen as a multicultural model for the rest of Europe, seem to have been driven completely off course after the killings of Pim Fortuyn and Theo van Gogh? In a response to the current uncertainties over the future of the Netherlands as a multicultural society, Jeroen Dewulf presents a polycentric view on Dutch language and culture. By putting the periphery in the centre, he…

February 1, 2006

Ludo Abicht, Professor of Literature and Philosophy at the University of Antwerp will give a lecture titled "Seven Ambiguities and Paradoxes: The Jews of the Low Countries."

Abicht is the author of several books regarding Jewish Culture and the Middle East. We are privileged to have him here as a Visiting Professor at UC Berkeley. This semester he is teaching Dutch 179, "Jews in the Lowlands."

May 1, 2005

For the last Bonwit-Heine Lecture of the semester, John Maciuika (University of Virginia) will lecture on "Modernism Before the Bauhaus: Cultural Politics and Architecture in Wilhelmine Germany."

This lecture is co-sponsored by the Departments of History and Architecture.

April 1, 2005

In the latest installment of the Bonwit-Heine Lecture Series, Walter Sokel (San Francisco) will give a lecture on "The Birth of Eugenics and Justice from the Spirit of Tragedy: Reflections on Two Sides of Nietzsche’s Dionysianism."

April 1, 2005

Visiting Professor Geert Buelens (Utrecht University) will give a Noon Colloquium talk titled "The Great War in European Poetry."

April 1, 2005

The German Film Club presents Michael Herbig's "(T)raumschiff Surprise – Periode 1" (2004).

April 1, 2005

German Kabarett: ins leben gequatscht!

With scenes and skits penned by Loriot, Gerhard Polt, Kurt Tucholsky and others.

7:30 p.m. Free and open to the public.

April 1, 2005

German poetry party.