German Studies Canada

CCGES at York University (Toronto) will be hosting the conference "The Past on Display - Museums, Film, Musealization" from April 28-30. 2011, and conference organizers, Peter McIsaac and Gabriele Mueller, invite submissions for paper proposals by 30th of September.

Both museums and films are now recognized in German Studies as key sites for the production of historical knowledge and the construction of cultural memory, but what they share in how they present the world remains largely unexplored by scholars. This conference focuses on the intersections between museum and film practices in German culture and seeks to deepen our understanding of past and present relationships between both media by exploring their commonalities and differences. In last few decades, these exchanges between the media and their increasing convergence have often been captured in the relatively unexplored and under-theorized notion of ‘musealization’. Using the notion of musealization, the conference aims to explore the intersections between the exhibition practices of the museum and the visual media in Germany. CCGES welcomes proposals for papers that investigate this relationship between the museum and visual media and their contributions to history and memory discourses in German culture. As an outcome of the conference, organizers intend to publish a volume of essays based on selected conference presentations.

For more information on the conference including details on how to submit paper proposals visit.

GermanStudies.ca invites scholars  (over 250 experts are currently listed on the experts directory) to present their current research in thematically organized research clusters. These research clusters themes will be based on the input provided by researchers organized around shared interests. To start this process GermanStudies.ca has identified initial cluster groups/themes that – very broadly - reflect some of the major research initiatives in German Studies at Canadian Universities. Scholars are invited to suggest additional, more narrowly defined research themes and indicate in which cluster theme(s) they wish to have their current research projects featured.

Suggested Cluster Themes: German and European Politics (Parties, Social Movements); Policymaking/ Key Policies (Environment/ Education etc); Economic Development and Monetary Policies; German and European Society (Aging/ Youth Culture); Cultural Diversity (Immigration/Integration/Identity); Dealing with the Past/ Nazi Germany/ Holocaust; Urban (Sub-national and Sub-state) Studies ; Contemporary Cultural Life in Germany (Cinema/Arts/Literature); German Philosophy and Thought; German-German relations (Literature, Film); Postwar Germany/ Reunification; 1st World War and Weimar Republic; Pre- and Early19th Century Germany; Woman Studies/Queer Studies ; Classics and Romanticism; Medieval Germany; Language Acquisition and Training.