Diversity and Decolonization in German Studies

This book presents an approach to transform German Studies by augmenting its core values with a social justice mission rooted in Cultural Studies. ​German Studies is approaching a pivotal moment. On the one hand, the discipline is shrinking as programs face budget cuts. This enrollment decline is immediately tied to the effects following a debilitating scrutiny the discipline has received as a result of its perceived worth in light of local, regional, and national pressures to articulate the value of the humanities in the language of student professionalization. On the other hand, German Studies struggles to articulate how the study of cultural, social, and political developments in the German-speaking world can serve increasingly heterogeneous student learners. This book addresses this tension through questions of access to German Studies as they relate to student outreach and program advocacy alongside pedagogical models.

Regine Criser is Assistant Professor of German Studies at the University of North Carolina Asheville, USA, where she also serves as the coordinator of the First Year Seminars and the Director of the UNCA Prison Education Program. She is a co-founder of the Diversity, Decolonization, and the German Curriculum (DDGC) scholarly collective. Her research focuses on cultural representations of the GDR in contemporary Germany, inclusive pedagogy, and conceptualizations of belonging.

Ervin Malakaj is Assistant Professor of German Studies at the University of British Columbia, Canada. He is a co-founder of the Diversity, Decolonization, and the German Curriculum (DDGC) scholarly collective. He specializes in late-18th- to 21st-century German media and cultural history. His research focuses on 19th-century literary cultures, film history, narrative theory, queer theory, and critical pedagogy.