The Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Cologne Cathedral and the Reeperbahn in Hamburg are places international tourists visit on their travels through Germany, which primarily take them to its large cities. German studies specialists, on the other hand, are drawn to a small Swabian town, Marbach, the birthplace of Friedrich Schiller. The Neckar flows in the valley below, its half-timbered houses nestle on the side of the hill and up above, on the Schillerhöhe, more than 1,200 literary legacies await researchers and students of German from all over the world in the German Literature Archive (DLA). This scholarly idyll is open to everyone because the DLA awards generous scholarships, also to students on Master’s and State Examination programmes, and invites researchers to an International Summer School every two years. The German Council of Science and Humanities describes the scholarship programme as “exemplary” and scholarship holders themselves are full of praise: “Marbach is the best library I’ve ever been able to work in,” says Carly McLaughlin. “But what’s even more important is that it’s a wonderful meeting place for German studies specialists from all over the world.” The 29-year-old from Ireland now works as a research assistant at Bamberg University, but she completed her PhD on the turn-of-the-century German poet Richard Dehmel at Queen Mary College London and, thanks to a scholarship from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), spent many hours in the reading room of the archive – and discussing German literature on the roof terrace of the guesthouse with academics, PhD students and undergraduates from New Zealand, China and Togo. The frequently cited German studies crisis seems very far away indeed in Marbach.
As early as 1968 there were people who would have liked to have buried the subject for good: “Beat German studies to death, paint the blue flower red!” chanted students in Berlin – Novalis’ blue flower, the symbol of Romanticism, stood for fusty literature and a form of scholarship devoted to its study that was considered totally antiquated. Today, too, apprehensive questions determine the debate: Can German studies do justice to the new information age? It is providing graduates with the right kind of education?
These are serious questions, because, although there have been repeated claims that the subject has passed its sell-by date, students have remained loyal to it down the years – first as Magister and State Examination students, now in the recently introduced Bachelor’s and Master’s programmes. Even the chimera of German studies graduates working as taxi drivers to make ends meet has not put them off: some 80,000 students are currently enrolled in German studies programmes at German higher education institutions, which makes them the fourth-largest group – behind business studies, mechanical engineering and law – among Germany’s student population of 1.7 million. After economics, German studies is the most popular subject among international students: 12,800 were studying German language and literature in the 2008/2009 semester, according to figures published by Federal Statistical Office.
Sandra Richter, professor of contemporary German literature at Stuttgart University, also has little understanding for the self-doubt felt by some of her fellow scholars. “Awareness of the German language and literature must be kept alive in a globalizing, multilingual world. That is our responsibility,” says the 36-year-old. Richter’s self-confident and, at the same time, collaborative approach involves leaving the ivory tower and the scholar’s lonely garret and instead increasing institutional and international cooperation. That is why she founded the binational doctoral studies network on “Internationalization in Science and Literature since the Early Modern Era”, which is supported by the DAAD and involves participation from the German Literature Archive in Marbach, the Robert Bosch Foundation’s Institute for the History of Medicine and King’s College London. The Stuttgart-based professor considers the question of how knowledge and literature are linked and how certain types of text contribute to knowledge creation more important than ever before in a networked world.
However, the empirical results of neurological research also present German studies with new challenges. At Munich’s Ludwig-Maximilians University, which was selected by the German Council of Science and Humanities and the German Research Council as one of nine elite German universities in 2006, the philologist Karl Eibl is conducting research in the field of biopoetics and promoting the empirically oriented study of literature. The literary researcher explains the “development of poetry” using findings from evolutionary biology.
A third new area of German studies has established itself at the interface with applied informatics. Under the heading “digital humanities”, investigations are being carried out to ascertain how the new technology can be utilized for research in the humanities. King’s College London plays a leading role in this area in the English-speaking world, whereas in Germany it is primarily the teams around the computer philologists Fotis Jannidis of Würzburg University, Gerhard Lauer of Göttingen University and Jan-Christoph Meister of Hamburg University that are focusing on the goal of being able to compile digital editions, specialist databases and archives that can be used at any place and any time in order to promote interdisciplinary cooperation.
Alongside the new areas of knowledge theory, biopoetics, computer philology and digital humanities, is there any time left at all to read Schiller and Goethe or interpret poetry? Literature professor Sandra Richter nods: “Of course, there is. In Bachelor’s degree courses and during the initial semesters of teacher education programmes the instruction is very traditional. The primary goal here is to impart basic knowledge and practice interpretation. Students can specialize later.” Richter believes this is really the only feasible approach, because it ensures all students gain an insight into the breadth and depth of the subject.
Insights into which universities are best mastering the new challenges facing the subject are provided by the university ranking of the Centre for Higher Education Development (CHE), which it has published since 2005 in cooperation with the weekly newspaper Die Zeit. The evaluation process does not only include factors such as the organization of study programmes, library facilities and research, but also appraisals by over 250,000 students that cover study conditions at the university and the reputations of different departments under individual professors. The CHE ranking very consciously does not select a “top university”, but leaves decisions about the significance of individual criteria entirely up to its users. Nevertheless, the ranking does have something to say about German studies departments. The venerable universities of Tübingen, Göttingen and Freiburg achieve excellent ratings in almost all the areas assessed, while Bamberg and Konstanz attain above-average results. There does not appear to be any reason for fears of a crisis at other universities either if you follow CHE advice: many universities are not only placing more emphasis on innovative research, but also on greater practical relevance of their German studies programmes.
Since October 2007, for example, “German studies in society” at Heidelberg University has offered students the chance to find out about employment prospects and invites representatives from the fields of cultural and human resources management, marketing, sales, corporate communications and business consulting to take part in discussion evenings. Modules in law and business studies complement the German studies programme at Bayreuth University, while students in Bamberg can gain insights into publishing and copyright law.
Numerous new Master’s degree programmes no longer train identical all-rounders, but specialists for specific occupations or careers: Göttingen University’s MA programme in “Intercultural German studies: Germany-China” envisages students completing half their courses in Göttingen and the other half at one of its two partner universities in Nanjing or Beijing. Its graduates are qualified for the labour markets of both countries as cultural mediators. Degree programmes in German as a foreign language (DaF) are also particularly practically oriented and are currently being offered at more than 50 German institutions of higher education. These programmes frequently lead to a Master’s degree and are especially interesting for young German teachers from abroad. “Modern” German studies in 2010 is between Marbach and Göttingen and both cosmopolitan and multifaceted – and fresh as a daisy between Schiller and the Internet.//
Eva Jost
