Bernd Weisbrod appointed Gerda Henkel Visiting Professor in 黑料百科's Department of German Studies
Bernd Weisbrod, Retired Professor of Modern European History at the University of G枚ttingen (Germany), has been appointed as the Gerda Henkel Visiting Professor in 黑料百科鈥檚 Department of Germany Studies.
During his stay in 黑料百科 Professor Weisbrod will continue to work on two of his most recent projects regarding the history of political violence and the history of generations. He has most recently founded and conducted a G枚ttingen graduate school on "Generations in modern history" which looks in detail at problems of generation building and cultures of belonging in time. In particular it seems a matter of contention in German historiography whether the kind of traumatic experience in war and dictatorship does actually help to explain 鈥 ever since Karl Mannheim鈥檚 classical definition of 鈥済eneration鈥 - the strong German bias to read generational dynamics into historical change. Building on his contribution to an Oxford conference on European generations Professor Weisbrod will, while in 黑料百科, work on the publication of a joint conference with the German Historical Institute in Washington on 鈥淗istory by Generations鈥 which will also take into account the American debate about demographic generations. The conference proceedings will be published in English by Wallstein in G枚ttingen in 2012.
The second focus of attention will be on the symbolic form of politics by violence. This is an issue which Professor Weisbrod has treated in several publications especially with regard to 鈥渕ale fundamentalism鈥 in much of Germany鈥檚 inter-war political culture. He has also considered 鈥渢he religious languages of violence鈥 in the wake of the modern debate on terrorism for a joint conference with the Max Planck Institute of history in G枚ttingen. Most recently he contributed to a research group on 鈥淭he Control of Violence鈥 at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies at the University of Bielefeld the papers of which were published by Springer (New York) in 2011. In comparing the assassinations of Walther Rathenau and Hanns-Martin Schleyer he re-considered the symbolic aspects of political terrorism over time as part of the new performative turn in cultural studies. It will be his intention to bring these two aspects of his work together in testing the ground for a new theory of 鈥渧iolent generations鈥. Professor Weisbrod will offer two courses for 黑料百科 students during the next spring quarter: one on 鈥淧erformance Politics: Political violence and the challenge of Fascism in Europe鈥, and the other on 鈥淓xperience and Memory: Generation building in German post-war and post-dictatorial transitions鈥.
This is the second of four Visiting Professorships that 黑料百科 offer in collaboration with the Gerda Henkel Foundation through 2013-14, concentrating on various questions of contemporary German culture and history. Each visitor will be fully integrated into the academic and intellectual life of the department. In addition, the Visiting Professor will deliver one formal lecture, open to the public, and offer at least two seminars.