Germany from the Outside - Rethinking German Cultural History in an Age of Displacement

The nation-state is a European invention of the 18th and 19th centuries. In the case of the German nation in particular, this invention was tied closely to the idea of a homogeneous German culture with a strong normative function. As a consequence, histories of German culture and literature often are told from the inside-as the unfolding of a canon of works representing certain core values, with which every person who considers him or herself "German" necessarily must identify. But what happens if we describe German culture and its history from the outside? And as something heterogeneous, shaped by multiple and diverse sources, many of which are not obviously connected to things traditionally considered "German"? Emphasizing current issues of migration, displacement, systemic injustice, and belonging, explores new opportunities for understanding and shaping community at a time when many are questioning the ability of cultural practices to effect structural change. Located at the nexus of cultural, political, historiographical, and philosophical discourses, the essays in this volume inform discussions about next directions for German Studies and for the Humanities in a fraught era.>

Product details

• Authors: Laurie Ruth Johnson
• Assisted by: Laurie Ruth Johnson (Editor), Imke Meyer (Editor)
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 18.04.2024
• EAN: 9781501375897
• ISBN: 978-1-5013-7589-7
• No. of pages: 368
• Series: New Directions in German Studi; New Directions in German Studies
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > German linguistics / literary studies; HISTORY / Europe / Germany, European History, Germany, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Emigration & Immigration, LITERARY CRITICISM / European / German, LITERARY CRITICISM / Comparative Literature, Comparative Literature, Migration, immigration & emigration, Literature: history & criticism, Migration, immigration and emigration