Fall 2007 Alumni Newsletter

Membership Matters. This publication is paid for in part by dues-paying members of the Indiana University Alumni Association. Vol. 15 • Fall 2007 Alumni Newsletter Letter from the chair Department getting so much better all the time “I must admit, it’s getting better, getting Claudia Breger organized a remarkable in- immensely successful and impressive, with better all the time,” Paul McCartney sang ternational conference on Narrative Iden- the level of intellectual engagement consis- in the buoyant days of Beatlemania, to tification that included major presentations tent throughout. which John Lennon slyly added: “It can’t by, among others, Rüdiger Campe (Yale), In addition, Ben Robinson has orga- get much worse.” I always liked John best, Albrecht Koschorke (Konstanz), Helmut nized a visit by one of the most prominent but even I must admit it’s getting better. Schneider (Bonn), Marianne Schuller French political theorists, Alain Badiou, What’s getting better? The proverbial life of (Hamburg), and Johannes von Moltke who will deliver a lecture and participate on the mind in Bloomington, Ind. (Michigan). Our current Max Kade Dis- a roundtable discussion on film in No- Over the past few years we have devel- tinguished Visiting Professor, Eva Geulen vember. This semester the department will oped a workshop format that arises out of (Bonn) also presented, as did our students also host a visit by Professor Jennifer Fay, a graduate seminar. Pioneered by Michel Orsolya Kiss, James Rasmussen, and Tyler director of film studies at Michigan State Chaouli’s The Five Senses in the 18th Cen- Hafen. By all accounts, the conference was (continued on page 3) tury, the workshops are designed to con- tinue the theme of the seminar on a more advanced level and to open the conversation to a larger public. Graduate students A word from the editor develop their seminar papers into talks, faculty members from neighboring disciplines whose research borders on the theme of Celebrating the past, present, future the workshop are invited to deliver papers, You probably get the impression that we are always celebrating something around and outside speakers, often ones whose here. Well, this year we did it again: You may recall that last fall we took note of the work informed aspects of the seminar, are fact that Peter Boerner, Fred Piedmont, and Eb Reichmann were all turning 80. also brought in to participate. Last year Now, on page 2, we have some pictures that will show you what that looked like Ben Robinson organized Living Weimar, (as well as a couple of others to let you see what some of us look like now). In the and our then Max Kade Distinguished meantime, I have just passed that same milestone myself. At our annual Honors Re- Visiting Professor, Helmut Lethen, whose ception, the department provided a handsome 70th birthday cake for Albrecht and Verhaltenslehre der Kälte was the central an 80th cake for me. And still a third for Henry Remak’s 90th birthday! To avoid theoretical text of the seminar, was the our looking too much like a bakery here, we’re not including pictures of all of them. featured guest. This fall Claudia Breger All that serves as a reminder, I suppose, that the past is still alive and well among organized Performing Community: Aesthet- us. But the department would count as nothing without its activity in the present, ics and Politics, Violence and Re-mediation, and more important, its plans for the future. For that, all you need to do is turn to an outgrowth of her “Performing Culture” what our younger faculty colleagues are doing right now and their visions of where seminar conducted in 2006. Philip Aus- they are going. lander, whose concept of “liveness” loomed To reach back into the past again, I just heard from Frank Banta that Peter Jansen large in the seminar and workshop, was died this past September. A few of the very-old-timers may remember him: when I guest speaker along with our old colleague joined the department in 1965 he had already been on the faculty for a year, and he Katrin Sieg. Richard Bauman of our De- left in 1968 for the University of Chicago, where he worked until retirement. He partment of Folklore and Ethnomusicology liked the big city, he once told me, and Bloomington was just too small and cozy for and Shane Vogel from our Department of him to feel comfortable. English delivered splendid papers as did our And thanks to all those who (unwittingly) provided me with material for a few graduate students Christopher Sponsler, irreverent cartoons. Please keep comments coming, at any time of the year. Dana Weber, and Zvi Gilboa, along with — William Z. Shetter our former graduate student Sonja Klocke. [email protected] But this workshop was not the only major event of the semester. Fritz Breithaupt and Department celebrates … again! Clockwise from top: Henry Remak; Albre- cht Holschuh; Peter Boerner, left, and Fred Piedmont, right; Hugh Powell, left, Grace Armour, and Eb Reichmann; Steve Wailes; and Frank Banta and Pat Riesenmann 2 From the chair Our undergraduate program also the call of duty, but also, I’m sure, is a continues to thrive. Professor Rex Sprouse labor of love. We are also grateful for the (continued from page 1) and graduate students Dana Weber and part-time lecturers and associate instructors University (and former IU undergraduate), James Rasmussen conducted another suc- who help us in our instructional activities: who will lecture on the politics of American cessful summer of study for our under- Meghan Goff, Julia Lawson, and Sonja films in occupied Germany after World War graduates in Graz, Austria; our graduate Rother. II and conduct a workshop on a related students Justin Glover and Laura Slieker As many of you know, a world music topic. Much more is on the way. taught in the high school honors program festival — The Lotus Festival – takes place What strikes me about all these events is in Krefeld, Germany, the source of many in Bloomington every fall. This year the the active engagement of our graduate stu- future IU Overseas Study students; and we Department of Germanic Studies co- dents in the intellectual life of the depart- awarded the Catherine Clark Fraser Over- sponsored a music group from Germany, ment. Last spring the students once again seas Study Scholarship to an outstanding 17 Hippies, who play an eclectic blend of organized a graduate student conference undergraduate student, Edward Madigan, European music and who, by all accounts, on “Negotiating Identity,” at which Julia who, with a group of fellow undergraduate thoroughly entertained their audience on Hell (Michigan) was the keynote speaker students, is currently studying for the year two consecutive evenings. Please visit their and Carmen Taleghani-Nikazm (Ohio in Freiburg, Germany. Lecturer Nikole Web site at www.17hippies.de. Their CD is State) was the plenary speaker (though Langjahr continues to do a splendid delightful. illness prevented her from giving her talk job organizing large and small activities, In January 2008, the department wel- until later in the semester). In all of our including lectures, discussions, film show- comes our newest faculty member, Profes- events, whether as panel participants or ings, and field trips, for the undergraduate sor Hildegard Keller. You may remember in the role of participatory audience, our population; and lecturer Troy Byler has her name from a few years back, for she students are fully present with their ques- done a similarly tremendous job in working was the Max Kade Distinguished Visiting tions, comments, and conversation. This with high school teachers and students of Professor in 2005. Professor Keller brings intellectual activity is carried off campus to German in the area. We have expanded with her a varied and fascinating back- national conferences, especially the German our curriculum to include more English- ground in German medieval and Reforma- Studies Association Conference every fall. language courses to serve students campus tion studies, which we hope to showcase The presence of Indiana University faculty, wide, and Gergana May has developed a in a major medieval conference next fall. graduates, and current graduate students at minor in Norwegian to complement similar We have also been authorized to hire one the GSA conference has become over- minors in Dutch and Yiddish. more colleague, which would raise our total whelming. This year IU alumnus Derek I would also like to take this opportunity of tenure-stream faculty to 14, the largest Hillard (Kansas State) was awarded the to express our gratitude to Helga Keller of we have been in quite some time. We are prize for best literary article in the German the Center for Research on Concepts and searching for someone in film, media, and Studies Review. Cognition on campus, who once again this visual culture to start August 2008. Each year a number of our graduate year conducted a German-language guided So you see, it just keeps getting better students go off to Europe to study and tour of the IU Art Museum for our under- and better. I must admit. conduct research. This year Laura Slieker graduate students. This is certainly beyond — William Rasch and Justin Glover are in Kiel, and Todd Cesaratto and Dana Weber are in Berlin, as is DAAD Fellow Zvi Gilboa. Christian Weber was the recipient of the Eighteenth- Getting better all the time … Century Studies Program dissertation fellowship, and Andrew Mills was awarded the department’s Seidlin dissertation fellowship. We welcomed seven new graduate students into the program this year: Chris- topher Chiasson, Holly Hamilton, Nilzimar Hauskrecht, Peter Heidenreich, Christiane Kaden, Andrew Limbach, and Anita Lukic.

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