Wellesley Wegweiser 2023

Dear Readers,

Fortunately, we can look back to 2022/23 as a “pretty normal year” - while most of us still opted to use masks in our classrooms, the atmosphere on campus felt so much more relaxed and reminiscent of the pre-pandemic era! 

Relaxed travel restrictions allowed us to take our graduating majors last May on the senior excursion that we unfortunately had to cancel in the previous two years.  Likewise, we received permission to offer our famed wintersession-in-Berlin course last January, returning to the Kastanienallee on Prenzlauer Berg.  We were just as happy when we learned a few months back that we will be able to take another group of German 202 students to Germany’s capital in January 2024!

For a language department it is crucial indeed that our international venues are up and running again. Our majors are spending their junior year abroad in Vienna and in Tübingen again (and how we envy them!), and we have students who will be traveling to beautiful Dresden to work as summer interns at our internship sites, the Frauenkirche and the Entwicklungspolitisches Netzwerk Sachsen.

My dear colleague Professor Anjeana Hans, too, will be abroad - she is looking forward to doing research in Vienna during her upcoming sabbatical year.  To cover her classes, we have hired a fabulous new colleague, Professor Anh Nguyen, who will be serving as a visiting lecturer starting in September.

As always, I would like to express our department’s admiration for the wonderful work done by our students and by the members of our wonderful German Club, and for the terrific support that we keep receiving from our amazing department administrator Katie Sango-Jackson! Ohne Euch liefe* hier gar nichts!

Mit besten Grüßen,

Thomas Nolden

* Subjunctive II of “laufen”, contrary-to-fact  :)

Focus on Faculty

Thomas Nolden

Thomas Nolden was happy to introduce yet another group of students to beautiful Berlin and its many cultural marvels (Mozart’s 'Zauberflöte’ performed as a silent movie at the Komische Oper, Bert Brecht’s “Gespenster” as a puppet play at his Berliner Ensemble, and Mendelssohn Bartholdy Elijah, performed at the Berliner Philharmonie). Another highlight for him was the Queerness in Photography exhibition at C/0 Berlin. He also had a chance to take members of the beloved German Club and students in current classes to New York to visit the Neue Galerie and a performance of Richard Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier at the Metropolitan Opera in April.

He served as the chair of the Committee of the Chairs and Directors of Language Departments and Programs and co-chaired Wellesley’s Committee on Environmental Sustainability.  He taught a new course on food cultures as part of the exciting Calderwood Program in Public Writing and was happy to see his new volume In the Face of Adversity: Translating Difference and Dissent appear.

Anjeana Hans

Anjeana Hans had the chance to meet a whole new group of students in her first- and second-year German language courses, and to work with intermediate and advanced students in her course on post-WWII short stories. Alongside her work with these fabulous students, she chaired the College Academic Agenda Committee, which organizes Academic Council meetings and committee elections and is working to review the faculty governance structure. In addition, she continued work on her research, including her book project on Austrian independent films produced between 1933 and 1937 and a chapter on representations of ‘the Orient’ in early German film. She is looking forward to a sabbatical leave next year: she will spend that time in Vienna in order to complete the research for her book, which was interrupted by the effects of the pandemic. The year ended on an exciting note, when she was notified that she's been promoted to Full Professor. 

Professor Emeritus Jens Kruse

Jens Kruse continues to enjoy his retirement. He lives on Orcas Island, WA, where he writes occasional book reviews for The Orcasonian. He recently published a book, Observations from Orcas Island: Poetry, Memoir, Book Reviews, Essays. He remains engaged with members of the Wellesley College community and encourages students and alumni to stay in touch via email at jkruse@wellesley.edu or Twitter at @jenskruse2.

Professor Emeritus Margaret Ward

This past year has brought much excitement! Margaret's son, Nelson, got married and they celebrated the wedding in East Brookfield, MA. In early November, Margaret and her husband, Tom, took a two-week trip to Morocco, which had been delayed since 2020 because of the pandemic. She had a lovely time exploring the rich cultural and linguistic history of the area. She spends her days as a member of the Bay Singers secular chorus and as a member of two book clubs. She can always be reached by email at meward44@gmail.com or mward@wellesley.edu.

New Courses and Publications

GER 338/CPLT/ES 238: The Color of Green Literature: Writing in the face of Environmental Collapse 

This course, taught by Thomas Nolden, discusses the narrative challenges posed by the Anthropocene by reading fictional and critical texts that have emerged in different parts of the world over the course of the last three decades and identifying the fictional tools and aesthetic strategies that writers are exploring to address the climate catastrophe. For more information, see the course browser.

CPLT/ES 362/GER 362: Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: From Farm to Table to Print 

The topic of food challenges us to address difficult questions of intersectionality (of the personal and the political, the local and the global, the human and the non-human). In this seminar we learn to translate academic discourses into public writing formats that might include op-eds, social media posts, (cook) book reviews, Wikipedia entries, restaurant reviews, and portraits of food activists. Taught by Thomas Nolden.

GER 234: ‘Anders als die Anderen’: Minorities in Germany and Austria 

What does it mean to be “different” in Germany and Austria, and, by extension, what does it mean to “be” German or Austrian? In this class, taught by Anjeana Hans, we will consider the reciprocal relationship between those two positions and examine how religion, race, sexual identity, and citizenship is implicated in defining the individual’s position. Throughout history, minority groups have played key roles in shaping and (re)defining what “German” or “Austrian” actually means. By considering the centuries-long roles of the Jewish community and Black communities, the gay rights movement beginning in the late 19th century, and the history of the German-Turkish population and of immigration more broadly, we will examine the ways in which difference was defined at various points in history, trace the influence that those who might have been considered “outsiders” played in shaping German-speaking cultures, and look at the ways forward that are currently being sketched out by those working towards a broader and more inclusive society. 

Warning Shadows by Anjeana Hans

Artur Robison's Warning Shadows - in German simply Schatten, shadows - premiered in 1923 to critical acclaim. This story of a fateful dinner party at which a flirtatious wife, her jealous husband, and their guests are entertained by a traveling illusionist who deals in shadow play and hypnosis was extolled by one critic as superior to Wegener's Golem, Lubitsch's Passion, even Murnau's Nosferatu and Wiene's The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. One of the few silent movies to eschew intertitles, it was an attempt to create a "pure film," drawing on the qualities of cinema that made it not an heir to literature or theater but a unique and autonomous art form. Staging a story of desire, adultery, and violence, Robison's film also engaged with discourses at the heart of Weimar culture, from changing gender norms to hysteria and hypnosis to the construction of spectatorship. Seen this way, Warning Shadows is both a gripping narrative of infidelity and jealousy and a film inherently about film. Read more here.

In the Face of Adversity: Translating Difference and Dissent by Thomas Nolden

In the Face of Adversity explores the dynamics of translating texts that articulate particular notions of adverse circumstances. The contributors show how literary records of painful experiences and dissenting voices are at risk of being stripped of their authenticity when not carefully handled by the translator, how cultural moments in which the translation of a text that would have otherwise fallen into oblivion instead gave rise to a translator who enabled its preservation while ultimately coming into their own as an author as a result, and how the difficulties the translator faces in intercultural or transnational constellations in which prejudice plays a role endangers projects meant to facilitate mutual understanding. Read more here.

Founders Art Initiative

The German Studies Department, together with the Committee of the Chairs and Directors of Language Departments and Programs, initiated a new endeavor in '22-'23 to display student art and poetry in Founders and Green Halls. Students were asked to submit original artwork or poetry for consideration to be displayed for a minimum of a semester. To start the project, a poem by Mila Cuda, English and Creative Writing '21, was selected. Below is their artist statement.

"TO:'' is a digital collage poem made from images of stick-n-poke tattoos. Each image within the collage was taken by [Mila] or submitted to [them] via close friends and internet acquaintances.

Tattoos, in essence, are a form of bodily affirmation, though stick-n-poke tattoos in particular are a hallmark of DIY queer punk identity. Made distinct by their accessible nature and wayward grittiness, stick-n-poke tattoos do not use a machine; they often take longer and (some would argue) hurt more.

Many of the submissions [Mila] received came with anecdotes along the lines of "I gave this to myself in quarantine" or "My best friend did this with a sewing needle." [Mila] chose to limit [their] collage to stick-n-poke tattoos as a way to honor these intimacies.

The words we gift ourselves, with purpose and permanence, are often in an effort to love our bodies even just a smidge more. [Mila’s] ultimate aim with this piece is to funnel [their] rage into a message of defiance and a love letter to [their] queer comrades. [Mila] will not respect cruelty, nor will [they] beg to be forgiven for [their] sapphic gender bent existence. We owe it to ourselves to flirt with joy, to crush—not be crushed.

Mila Cuda, November 2022

A special thanks to Marysabel Morales ’24 for her work on this exhibit.

Year in Review

German Club

This year in the German Club, we had a lot of fun events and open meetings! During open meetings, we watched German-language TV and movies, played German board games, and got to know one another. Our first major event was an Oktoberfest celebration, where we baked pretzels and drank apple cider. For our Christmas Market-themed event, we made spätzle and knit German Christmas pickles, which are a debated tradition among German immigrants in the US.

Our kick-off events of the spring semester included Scherenschnitte, which is the German art of paper cutting. We learned how to cut out a bouquet of flowers and a house scene. The following week, we learned how to cut out face silhouettes, which is a common tourist attraction on the streets of Germany and Austria. Later in the semester for our final big event, we celebrated spring by hosting a baking event, where we made Vanillekipferl, Apfelstrudel, and Kinderpunsch. While baking, we also crafted maypoles. 

We’ve had so much fun getting to know each other and become more involved in the German Studies Department this year!

Alumnae Aktuell

Emily Betz, 2011

I am a German major from 2011, and I wanted to share that in December 2022 I completed my Ph.D. in Early Modern History at the University of St Andrews. I am now based in London and work for the Royal Historical Society.

Alphina Kain, 2013

I cannot believe it has been ten years since I graduated from Wellesley, but when I look back on the last ten years, I see that a lot has happened since I moved to Germany. After starting dental school in Munich and realizing that I did not like teeth as much as I thought I did, I had a brief stint working as a flight attendant for Lufthansa. I then began medical school in Munich and have recently completed my medical studies this past summer. Currently, I am finishing my medical doctoral thesis while applying to clinical positions as a physician. In fact, the grammar book that I used for my first German language class at Wellesley is still a vital resource during a time of cover letter writing (I made sure to take it with me when I moved here nine years ago). As much as I would have loved to attend Reunion this year and see Wellesley and the German department in person, my current obligations are therefore keeping me in Germany a little longer. Maybe I will make it to the next reunion (as a Fachärztin)!

Katie Christoph, 2021

This past winter, I traveled to Europe for the first time since the pandemic abruptly cut short my time in Tübingen three years ago. I caught up with dear friends, attended a superb performance of Jean-Paul Sartre's Geschlossene Gesellschaft at the Burgtheater in Vienna, ate far too much Sachertorte, and only found myself stranded by the Deutsche Bahn twice. (After spending many cold and rainy hours on a train platform in Passau, which I believe to be equivalent to purgatory, I'd like to amend Sartre's "Hell is other people" to instead read "Hell is the Deutsche Bahn.") 

Aside from that, the second volume of the Festschrift that Professor Nolden and I edited together in honor of Larry Rosenwald was published in February. I moved back to Boston this past summer, and on Sunday mornings, I can be found enjoying the Goethe German film series at the Coolidge Corner Theatre. I think often and fondly of Founder's 4th, and of all the wonderful people who continue to wander about its magnificent halls. 

Olivia Davis, '22

After graduation, I spent the summer job searching and relaxing in Arizona with my family, and ultimately moved back to Cambridge in the fall. I am working in Harvard's Alumni Affairs & Development office, on the donor relations team. I work on reports to donors who establish scholarship funds for undergraduates and spend most days coordinating email projects and working with student and donor data. Through the Harvard community, I found a Deutsche Gesprächsgruppe and am able to practice my German. One member of the group happens to be Jean Leventhal, who used to work in the German Studies Department at Wellesley! 

My fellow German Studies alums from the Class of 2022 also live in Boston and I see them from time to time! Hope Ferris and I have run into each other on more than one occasion on Harvard's campus and we and our respective roommates sometimes go to pub trivia in Somerville together. Amy Lin and I try to meet up when we have the time (as she is very busy at dental school!) and recently got dinner together in February. As for travel, I will be spending two weeks in Vienna, Munich, and Berlin with a few friends this August! I'm very much looking forward to using my German and eating as much Schokolade and Brot as I physically can while I'm there! Alongside all of the food and historical interests of this trip, my friends and I will be seeing an Annenmaykantereit concert while we're there, a band I was introduced to in my German 201 class! All that to say, I hope all is well on Founders 4th and I miss all the professors and my friends in the department dearly!

Class of 2023 German Studies Graduates

German Studies Department Prize Winners

The Natalie Wipplinger (Senior) Prize

Renee Remsberg ‘23

The Ethel Folger Williams (Sophomore) Prize

Sabrina Feldman ‘25

Nyssa Youhn ‘25

The Elizabeth Vogel Falk Prize

Liz Kolln ‘25

Emily Levine ‘24

The Department of German Studies

The Wellesley Wegweiser is a yearly publication produced each spring by The Department of German Studies. Spring 2023 was produced and edited by Nyssa Youhn ‘25. Inquiries and alum updates can be sent to ksangoja@wellesley.edu

Wellesley College/106 Central St/Wellesley MA 02481/ wellesley.edu/german