“Berlin's Cultural Diversity Across Two Centuries” is a five-week school teacher seminar to be held in Berlin for sixteen participants to study Germany's cosmopolitan society over the past two centuries. Co-project directors Robert Shandley (Professor of German and Film Studies, Texas A & M University) and Brent Peterson (Professor of German, Lawrence University) lead an examination of the complex chronological “narrative of migration both to and within Germany” as well as “the rich multicultural heritage of contemporary Germany.” Observing that “both the traditional textbook treatment of German high culture and the tourist guide highlights of Germany . . . reinforce the image of German monoculturism,” and oversimplify “the long and complex history of German cultural diversity,” the directors focus on Berlin and its historical incorporation of French Huguenots, Polish Catholics, Eastern European Jews, “guest workers” from Turkey and Southern and Eastern Europe, and international asylum seekers. The seminar includes texts by Adalbert von Chamisso, Rahel Varnhagen, Heinrich Heine, Amos Ören, Ermine Sevgi Özdamar, Renan Demirkan, and Wladimer Kaminer; films by Tefvik Baser (40 Square Meters of Germany) and Anno Saul (Kebab Connection); and television episodes by the ensemble “Kanak Attak” and from the series Turkish for Beginners. It also draws on the resources of the German Historical Museum (DHM), the Jewish Museum in Berlin (JMB), and the Kreuzberg Museum and incorporates site visits to the city’s key neighborhoods, such as “Little Istanbul,” and to nearby Potsdam. Envisioned participants are teachers of German, world history, government, and civics—with intermediate proficiency in German.
