CfP: Kunstszene gegen rechte Szene: Cultural Responses to the Far-Right in Reunified Germany

Call for Papers: Kunstszene gegen rechte Szene: Cultural Responses to the Far-Right in Reunified Germany

This edited volume seeks to explore how cultural practitioners (writers, artists, musicians, filmmakers, architects, etc.) intervene in such political about ethnicity and identity both to challenge far-right narratives and fight against the amnesia surrounding neo-Nazi and far-right violence in the Berlin Republic. It will explore what art can do that conventional politics cannot in terms of both galvanising alliances and imagining alternative forms of community and belonging.
Please read the full call for papers here.
Potential topics and potential artists/texts could include, but are not limited to:

  • art and political protest/activism (Zentrum für politische Schönheit)
  • art and practical responses to community- and alliance-building (hip-hop scene of the ‘90s, the Ballhaus Naunynstraße, Max Czollek and Sasha Marianna Salzmann’s ‘Desintegration’ project, literary magazines such as Freitext, Jalta and Literarische Diverse)
  • alternative forms of community and belonging in art, literature, and film
  • the politics of queer culture
  • Neo-Nazis in art, literature, and film (Lola + Bilidikidby Kutluğ Ataman, NSU: Mitten in Deutschland, Wir sind jung. Wir sind stark. by Burhan Qurbani, Aus dem Nichts by Fatih Akin, German Amok by Feridun Zaimoglu, Das schweigende Mädchen by Elfriede Jelinek, Rechtsmaterial by Jan-Christoph Gockel and Konstantin Küsper)
  • satire and the limits of satire (Er ist wieder da! by Timur Vermes/David Wnendt)
  • rethinking German memory culture
  • the legacy of colonialism in contemporary Germany
  • collective memory and memorialisation of right-wing violence (Kaltland ed. by Karsten Krampitz, Markus Liske and Manja Präkels; ‘Poesie Post-Solingen’ (Yeşilada 2012))
  • architectural reconstruction and political nostalgia

Please submit a ca. 500-word abstract and a short biography to Joseph Twist at joseph.twist@ucd.ie
Deadline for submissions: 30 November 2020.

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