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“Made in Germany”: The Politics of Teaching German Popular Culture in the Twenty‐First Century
Author(s) -
Kahnke Corinna,
Stehle Maria
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
die unterrichtspraxis/teaching german
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1756-1221
pISSN - 0042-062X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1756-1221.2011.00101.x
Subject(s) - german , german culture , politics , curriculum , context (archaeology) , popular culture , sociology , media studies , pedagogy , art history , social science , political science , history , law , archaeology
In North American universities, pop culture increasingly appears in the German Studies classroom to “spice up” the curriculum. But what is conveyed and taught and how is it inserted into the curriculum and into the US cultural context? This article explores three examples of popular culture in the German Studies classroom: representations of the Berlin Republic in Good Bye Lenin ! and Das Leben der Anderen , Fatih Akin's Gegen die Wand , and songs of the band Rammstein. We argue for an approach that encourages students to explore the politics of national culture in a global context and emphasizes the tensions and contingencies in the materials presented.