5 Fragen an Dr.in Sibylle Machat

Fachschaft und Studiengangleitung haben sich gemeinsam fünf Fragen an Dozierende des Studiengangs überlegt, die Studierenden die Gelegenheit geben sollen die Dozent*innen ein wenig besser kennenzulernen.

Dr.in Sibylle Machat – Webseite der EUF

Foto von Dr. Machat

1. How did you decide on your field of study?

I have a couple of research fields and research interests, but as most of you will know me from what I mentally label as a „business studies as cultural studies“ class, I’m going to talk about that field a little. It’s actually not a terribly exciting story – I have a „Magister Artium“ degree from the University of Mannheim, which is one of the big business studies universities in Germany, and for this degree I had to pick different subjects that I wanted to study.

The „Magister Artium“ in Mannheim allowed for almost any combination of subjects that one wanted to pick, and so while I also followed my interests into picking „Anglistik & Amerikanistik,“ I knew from the start that I did not want to become a school teacher, and so I added „Betriebswirtschaftslehre (BWL)“ as my second subject („media studies“ was my third and „public law“ my overachiever bonus subject – yes I was keeping my options wide open and also planning on a career in a major corporation somewhere).

The thing about studying a) your own choice of and b) such diverse subjects is that there wasn’t any real interaction / intersection / connection between the disciplines – or rather, you were the connection between the disciplines, were the person who had read texts in both fields, could bring thoughts and ideas from one to the other … .

I found this lack of reciprocal enrichment and the narrow focus in my business studies classes super frustrating – and so I simply started looking for the broader picture and the connections between the disciplines myself. One of the early texts I read that was very approachable and also really showed me that such connections were viable and that people were creating/thinking/writing about them (only not in my classes) was Robert Heilbroner’s The Worldly Philosophers, which I would still highly recommend as an excellent starting point, despite it being a couple of decades old by now.

2. What was your best KSM seminar topic to date, and what would be a desirable topic for a future KSM seminar?

This is tough one, because I genuinely really enjoy all the classes and projects I get to offer in KSM. I’m excited to be teaching the „Introduction to Intercultural Literary Studies“ again in 2022, because I have plans for texts that I want to cover with students there.

3. What book has particularly influenced you, or is a must read?

Narrowing this down to just one book is of course impossible and ‚must‘ is too apodictic a term, but …
non-fiction: Gunnar Olsson, Abysmal: A Critique of Cartographic Reason;
fiction: Lois McMaster Bujold, Cordelia’s Honor.

4. Is the glass half full or half empty?

It’s always completely full – sometimes there’s just more air in there than at other times.

5. Looking back from your own experience, what advice would you give to your former student self?

I know that the Prüfungsordnung says that the written exam in „Technik des Betriebswirtschaftlichen Rechnungswesen“ can be taken as many time as one likes and that the only requirement is that the class must have been passed by the end of your studies, but, trust me, first taking the intensive block seminar course for four weeks during summer break and then deciding that you won’t study for the exam: not the best choice. Taking the class all over again in the fall term will not make it any more enjoyable and really just means that you wasted those four weeks of summer.

5 Fragen an: Prof. Dr. Nils Langer

Fachschaft und Studiengangleitung haben sich gemeinsam fünf Fragen an Dozierende des Studiengangs überlegt, die Studierenden die Gelegenheit geben sollen die Dozent*innen ein wenig besser kennenzulernen.

Prof. Dr. Nils Langer – Webseite der EUF

Foto von drei Dackeln

1. How did you decide on your field of study?

I wanted to live in England for a bit, decided that studying there might be a good idea and applied for places at universities. I received four rejections and one offer and thus embarked on a B.A. in English and German Linguistics at the University of Newcastle on Tyne. I knew very little about the topic which was a stroke of luck. Everything was new and I decided to find everything exciting. This helped with settling into a new environment, culture and country. A short 25 years later I moved back to Germany.

2. What was your best KSM seminar topic to date, and what would be a desirable topic for a future KSM seminar?

The History of Linguistic Purism (= Richtiges und Gutes Deutsch von Schottelius bis Sick)

3. What book has particularly influenced you, or is a must read?

The name of the rose. Die drei ??? und der magische Kreis. Robert Burchfield´s The English Language.

4. Is the glass half full or half empty?

I prefer mugs and cups.

5. Looking back from your own experience, what advice would you give to your former student self?

Embrace everything. Feel privileged to be able to structure your day and study what you´re interested in. Go to research colloquia and public lectures. Find out about the city and region you live in: you will have to tell your grandchildren about this, so make sure you have some interesting stories ready. Learn Frisian!

5 Fragen an: Prof.in Dr.in Karoline Kühl

Fachschaft und Studiengangleitung haben sich gemeinsam fünf Fragen an Dozierende des Studiengangs überlegt, die Studierenden die Gelegenheit geben sollen die Dozent*innen ein wenig besser kennenzulernen.

Prof.in Dr.in Karoline Kühl – Webseite der EUF

Wanderstiefel

1. How did you decide on your field of study?

I really had no choice. My family in which I grew up is multilingual in a non-academic way (meaning that nobody speaks any language or variety properly and never without mixing and switching languages constantly). I didn’t see it coming but when I started writing up my PhD on Danish as spoken in the Danish minority in South Schleswig (which is influenced a lot by German), friends and family weren’t surprised.

2. What was your best KSM seminar topic to date, and what would be a desirable topic for a future KSM seminar?

My first (and best!) KSM-seminar topic has been last semester’s course on ‘Language and migration’. It’s a topic that caught my interest during a research project on Danish emigrants and their descendants in Argentina and North America and I’ve been working on it ever since. The KSM-students brought a lot of interesting migration stories back to class by interviewing people with a migration history (once they overcame their shyness and learnt how to do an interview) which they then analysed by using the theoretical approaches we had studied together.

3. What book has particularly influenced you, or is a must read?

That’s hard to say. I read a lot and rather randomly, and it seems that different books affect you differently at different points in life. Non-fiction: Skautrup (Danish language history) for his immense knowledge and precision, or the weekly The Economist. Fiction: The books by Marilynne Robinson, in particular ‘Lila’.

4. Is the glass half full or half empty?

Always almost empty, always thirsty for more. For others? Always half full.

5. Looking back from your own experience, what advice would you give to your former student self?

Do not be scared of asking questions. Your university teachers would have loved to get some more questions, they would have enjoyed the interest, not considered you stupid and non-academic.

5 Fragen an: Dr. Wolfgang Johann

Fachschaft und Studiengangleitung haben sich gemeinsam fünf Fragen an Dozierende des Studiengangs überlegt, die Studierenden die Gelegenheit geben sollen die Dozent*innen ein wenig besser kennenzulernen.

Dr. Wolfgang Johann – Webseite der EUF

1. Wie sind Sie zu Ihrem Forschungsschwerpunkt gekommen?

So, wie ich mir das gar nicht anders vorstellen kann: Durch Interesse. Aber das herauszufinden, war gar nicht so einfach. Als Teenager war ich mal mit der Schule bei einer dieser Pflicht-Veranstaltungen des Arbeitsamtes. Dort machte ich einen Was-passt-zu-mir-Test und heraus kam: Kaufmann für Spedition und Logistikdienstleistung. Das war damals schon nicht das erste, was mir einfallen würde und als dann ein Mitarbeiter um die Ecke kam und sagte: ‚Was ein Zufall, solche Leute werden dringend gesucht!‘, habe ich mich lieber selbst auf die Suche begeben. Was ich damit sagen möchte: Es war ein langer Weg. Logistisch gar nicht so einfach.

2. Welches war ihr bestes KSM-Seminarthema bisher, und was wäre ein Wunschthema für die Zukunft?

Für das Seminar „Literatur und Gedächtnis“ bekam ich sehr positive Rückmeldungen von den Studierenden. Das Interesse an den Themen Erinnerungskultur und ‚Vergangenheitsbewältigung‘ ist hoch und diese Seminare werden gerne angenommen. Ein Wunschthema für die Zukunft wäre „Lyrik und Gesellschaft“, das plane ich jetzt schon das vierte Semester, aber irgendwie kommt immer was dazwischen. Nächstes Semester bestimmt. Oder übernächstes, mal schauen.

3. Welches Buch hat Sie besonders beeinflusst, bzw. sollte man unbedingt gelesen haben?

Diese Frage wurde mir in anderen Kontexten schon einige Male gestellt und ich versuche immer mich um sie herumzumogeln, weil es mir fahrlässig erscheint, nur ‚dieses eine Buch‘ anzugeben. Das ist ja bei einer Top-10-Liste schon nicht möglich, geschweige denn bei einer Top-100-Liste. So geht das also nicht. Manchmal mogele ich mich um die Frage herum und benenne einen Lieblingsschriftsteller/eine Lieblingsschriftstellerin (was das eigentliche Problem nicht beseitigt, sondern nur verlagert, ich weiß), aber seit Bob Dylan den Nobelpreis für Literatur bekommen hat, ist dieses Feld auch etwas fluide geworden. Das gefällt mir, nämlich dann kann ich meine Lieblingskünstlerin nennen, deren Texte und deren Lieder mich seit Jahrzehnten faszinieren. Und das ist: Patti Smith.

4. Ist das Glas halb voll oder halb leer?

Das hängt schwer vom Inhalt des Glases ab.

5. Welchen Rat würden Sie, rückblickend aus eigener Erfahrung, Ihrem Studierenden-Ich geben?

Das ist so eine Sache: Damals bin ich immer brav zur Studienberatung gegangen und habe mir auch neugierig angehört, was andere, die im Studium etwas weiter waren als ich, geraten haben. Das hört sich für mich heute noch plausibel an. Würde ich aber meinem Studierenden-Ich heute begegnen und einen Rat geben, unter den Bedingungen heute, würde mir folgendes einfallen: Bei allen Zwängen und Nöten, den ganzen Prüfungsanforderungen und unterschiedlichen Modulkatalogen, in denen Du festklemmst, während Du noch unbedingt diesen einen Passierschein A38 bekommen musst, vergiss nicht, dass diese Dinge kein Selbstzweck sind. Schaffe Dir Freiräume, vor allem emotionale und zeitliche, in denen Du das tun kannst, was wirklich wichtig ist im Leben: Ein gutes Buch lesen und mit jemandem über Literatur reden. Denn dafür ist das Studium ja eigentlich da. Wenn das nicht mehr möglich ist vor lauter Modul- und Prüfungszwängen, dann läuft etwas falsch und daran musst Du etwas ändern.

5 Fragen an: Prof.in Dr.in Birgit Däwes

Fachschaft und Studiengangleitung haben sich gemeinsam fünf Fragen an Dozierende des Studiengangs überlegt, die Studierenden die Gelegenheit geben sollen die Dozent*innen ein wenig besser kennenzulernen.

Prof.in Dr.in Birgit Däwes – Webseite der EUF

1. How did you decide on your field of study?

I’ve always loved reading – I have to confess that I was one of those nerdy kids always walking around with a novel or poetry collection in high school. I started studying English with a focus on British literature, and when I spent an undergraduate year in Ireland, I found myself noticing that I was much more interested in my roommate’s reading (who was enrolled in American Studies) than my own. Coincidentally, when I returned to Germany, I had an offer to come on board as a student assistant in the American Studies department, so that’s how I became an Americanist. My research focus in Indigenous Studies came from a seminar during my graduate semester in the U.S. – an amazing course on Native American literature, taught by the wonderful Lucy Maddox and featuring some 15 novels. I was hooked immediately, and have been ever since.

2. What was your best KSM seminar topic to date, and what would be a desirable topic for a future KSM seminar?

I would have to let my students decide that – it also depends on the criteria you set for „best“. My seminars on „Disney and Imperialism“ and „First Contact Narratives from Columbus to Star Trek“ have been pretty popular with students, but I definitely enjoy every topic we explore together. I also greatly enjoy the liberty of deciding on my topics, so if anyone has particularly „desirable“ topics that match with my area of expertise, don’t hesitate to let me know. 🙂 In general, I believe in research-oriented teaching, so I also like combining seminars with academic conferences.

3. What book has particularly influenced you, or is a must read?

How much space do I have – top 100? But seriously… For novels, I would probably go with Henry James’s Turn of the Screw, William Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom, and Toni Morrison’s Beloved. And anything by Louise Erdrich, Jesmyn Ward, and Thomas King. For poetry: Hilde Domin, Robert Frost, Anne Sexton, Simon Ortiz. For plays: Tony Kushner’s Angels in America, Tomson Highway’s Rez Sisters, and anything by Shakespeare). Non-fiction: Roland Barthes‘ Mythologies, Hayden White’s Metahistory, and The Cambridge Companion to Limiting Your Choice of Books.

4. Is the glass half full or half empty?

Half full, always. But my most frequent quotidian answer goes more like this:

Optimist: „half full!“

Pessimist: „half empty!“

Me (as a mom): „why is there no coaster underneath?!“

5. Looking back from your own experience, what advice would you give to your former student self?

Follow your interests and your heart. Go abroad. (I actually did, several times – among the top 5 best decisions of my life!). Dare to ask questions. Do not let yourself be intimidated by others. And, as Mary Schmich once put it: Wear sunscreen.

5 Fragen an: Prof. Dr. Matthias Bauer

Fachschaft und Studiengangleitung haben sich gemeinsam fünf Fragen an Dozierende des Studiengangs überlegt, die Studierenden die Gelegenheit geben sollen die Dozent*innen ein wenig besser kennenzulernen.

Prof. Dr. Matthias Bauer – Webseite der EUF


1. How did you decide on your field of study?

Since I have more than one I focus on film studies. I have been a movie-goer since I was a growing up and always wanted to learn about cinematography, but when I started to study there was no film institute or seminar. So I had to wait until I got a Ph.D. to see such an institute established – and I had the great luck to be invited for collaboration. So I started writing about film and still find this as exciting as pleasurable.

2. What was your best KSM seminar topic to date, and what would be a desirable topic for a future KSM seminar?

Hard to tell. So my general answer is: I feel comfortable when the students do not only pick up the issue but add further information and start researching on their own. The best feedback one can get is to arouse interest and ambition.

3. What book has particularly influenced you, or is a must read?

1. Michail M. Bakhtin, The word in the novel; Umberto Eco, Opera aperta; Wolfgang Iser, Der Akt des Lesens; Nelson Goodman, Ways of worldmaking, Sorry, but there are so many more I could name, at least: Spivak, Can the subaltern speak?

4. Is the glass half full or half empty?

Depends on the beholder and I would always tend to affirm that it is half full.

5. Looking back from your own experience, what advice would you give to your former student self?

Do never accept an advice that do contradict your ambitions and convictions.