German-language Literature and Transnationalism

This research explores transnationalism as a contemporary reality that 'saturates' everyday life in ways that leave none of us unaffected. Specifically, it responds to the AHRC 'Translating Cultures' theme and looks at the ways transnational flows (of people, ideas, culture, etc.) are being remediated in today's German-language literature. How is transnationalism different from other concepts such as globalisation (the standardisation of services and products), internationalisation (greater engagement with other nations), mass mobility (tourism and migration as mass experiences), or digital networking, and how does it relate to today's multi-directional translation of culture(s) back and forth across borders? How does it impact on real people? And how do literary texts in German respond to the ambivalences of transnationalism - what kinds of aesthetic strategies and contents arise in response to the simultaneous restatement and permeation of the nation's borders that is characteristic of transnationalism and to the risks and opportunities that transnationalism presents?

The study frames Germany as an exemplary transnational space in which the ambivalences of transnationalism are being played out in an acutely pressing and concentrated fashion. Sixteen authors are examined over the four substantive chapters of the book which will be the primary (academic) outcome of the project: (1) (re)imagining a 'diasporic longing' beyond 'home'; (2) parochialism and cosmopolitanism; (3) national and global culture(s); and (4) encounters between diverse values and beliefs. A key argument will be that transnationalism pushes us to rethink the positionality of both 'minority' writers and 'nonminority' writers and to re-read their work in juxtaposition with one another. Indeed, if, as ethnologist Regina Römhild claims, one of the key effects of transnationalism is that 'the ideal of fixed territories of culture turns into a fiction, and mobility becomes the common ground for the proliferation of diasporic life-worlds, cultures and identities', then this surely applies to all residents of the (still-existing) nation-state, whether 'settled', migrant or diasporic. The book's aim is to generate new insights from this juxtaposition of minority and nonminority authors, both into their work and social and cultural standing and into the relationship between culture(s) and transnationalism more generally.

This project is intended to benefit scholars working in German Studies as well as researchers across a range of other contemporary literatures (since transnationalism is, by definition, a global phenonomen), as well as colleagues in Comparative Literature, cultural studies and social-science disciplines with an interest in the translation of culture(s), the politics and cultures of transnationalism, and migration and diasporas. The outcomes include a book, an edited volume, a book chapter and introduction, and three conference papers, in addition to informal talks to scholars in literary studies and social sciences and a narrative account of the project's findings to a meeting of Germanists. As a lasting legacy for the project, a Centre for the Study of Transnationalism and Culture(s) will be established at the University of Leeds as a focal point for Arts and Humanities researchers and a hub for future collaboration between Arts and Humanities and the Social Sciences. In addition, the project has significant impact potential. In the UK, it is planned to exploit the insights generated by the research by means of radio segments on transnationalism's impact on national and global cultures and on live concerns (e.g. immigration). In South Africa, it is planned to exploit the project's insights into literature's engagement with the dialectic of parochialism and cosmopolitanism and the risks and opportunities of encounters between different values and beliefs to promote engagement between diverse and often divided communities

I have some experience of generating impact from my research in the broad area of translating culture(s). I have organised events with German authors, publishers and translators, appeared on C4 News on Günter Grass's revelations that he had been in the Waffen SS (2006), done an extended segment for the BBC World Book Club on the new translation of Grass's Tin Drum (2009), and written for publishing magazines (e.g. New Books in German) and regional newspapers (The Yorkshire Post) on German writers and current affairs. I have also won Leverhulme funding for an Artist-in-Residence to exploit my work on trauma (2009). Recently, I have been asked to contribute to a series of programmes on German writers and the Holocaust for BBC Radio Three.

In this project, I intend to develop two forms of specific impact.

First, I will develop my work with the media and its public, benefiting both by contributing to innovative programming and encouraging engagement with other cultures. I am participating in a six-session workshop to develop skills in conducting radio and TV interviews, writing copy, and pitching ideas to radio and TV, and will be making contact with Radio Three in relation to one or more segments focussing on the transnational appeal of German-language literature in the UK and linking issues within the literary texts I am examining to live concerns (e.g. immigration). This contact is written into my work plan for the months July 2014-March 2015, post-submission of the book, when my work is most likely to attract attention (i.e. in the run-up to publication). I am also in discussions with the Goethe Institute about bringing one or more German authors to the UK and Arts' Council, Yorkshire for advice on whether it might be possible to attract minority audiences in Yorkshire to a discussion of diaspora cultures featuring a German minority author. Here, media outlets and regional arts' organisations will benefit from input into their creative output. The wider public will also benefit, in terms of cultural interest (quality of life) but also in terms of improving understanding of other communities, including those living in close proximity (inter-cultural dialogue). The immediate impact will thus be to inform public debate on the densely interconnected world in which we now live, that is, on the impact of transnationalism itself.

Second, I will develop a relationship with The Institute for Studies in Race, Reconciliation and Social Justice, at the University of the Free State (UFS), South Africa. The Institute has invited me to engage with community groups on and near the highly combustible UFS campus about the German experience of perpetration, restoration and reconciliation (based on my major AHRC award: 'From Perpetrators to Victims'). Leeds has paid £1600 for an initial visit to SA in 2012 ; the UFS has made me a Research Associate, giving me funding from September 2014. In our future collaboration during visits in late 2013 and late 2014, I plan to work with local partners in the Institute and German/Afrikaans department to generalise my research on transnationalism and German-language culture to the South African context. More specifically, we plan to present literature (using texts in German, Afrikaans and S.A English) to local community groups as a catalyst for inter-cultural dialogue on the risks and opportunities of cross-cultural encounters, whether across or within borders. I am confident that this innovative engagement will benefit local communities by promoting engagement between them (quality of life and community relations) and also be of interest to media outlets in South Africa and the UK, as a secondary impact. More specifically, my work will benefit colleagues at the Institute (a third-sector organisation) in their own work with community groups (an immediate direct impact) and their engagement with policymakers pursuing national reconciliation (a longer-term indirect impact on effectiveness of policy).