Sommersemester 2015

Prof. Priscilla Dionne Layne, PhD: HS/OS Postcolonial German Literature

The end of the Second World War marked a turning point in history when the oppressed and exploited of the "Third World" used both violent and non-violent means to break free from colonial rule. Literature and film each played an important role as media through which the autochthonous could express their interrogation of the past, discontent with the present and hopes for the future. Aesthetic works were also instrumental in winning Europeans for transnational solidarity movements. On the heels of these political and aesthetic uprisings of the postwar period, postcolonial theory emerged in the mid-1970s when scholars challenged the representations, definitions and histories which had been put forth by the imperial powers. Most of the theoretical, political and aesthetic texts of this era engage with French or British colonialism – such as Frantz Fanon’s Black Skin, White Masks, Gillo Pontecorvo’s The Battle of Algiers or Edward Said’s Orientalism. But what about the legacy of Germany’s colonial involvement? Although Germany, as the consequence of its brief colonial history, does not seem to be rich in postcolonial literature, one cannot deny the presence of the colonial in Germany, from the Nickneger of the 1950s to the current debates about reparations for the Herero. In this seminar, we will read postcolonial theory and German literature. Some of these texts might be set in the so-called "Third World", while others might depict the experiences of foreigners in postwar Germany. The following questions will guide our discussions: What differentiates German postcolonial theory from the theoretical texts from other countries? What is postcolonial German literature? Do the German authors of the postwar period succeed in a cultural exchange with the "Third World" that does not simply repeat the racism and fetishism of colonial literature?

Lesen Sie hier im Tagblatt: Prof. Priscilla Layne über Postkolonialismus, das Teach@Tübingen-Programm und ihren Aufenthalt am Deutschen Seminar.

Lesen Sie hier: Germanistik global: Priscilla Layne bringt Studierenden postkoloniale Literatur näher.