GRST Majors and Minors

Madeline Smith-Huemer ‘14, a double major in History and GRST, Oscar Takabvirwa ‘14, a double major in Mathematics and GRST, and Mari Jarris ‘14, a double major in COL and German Studies, gave short presentations about their theses.

“New Forum’s Third Way and German Grassroots Organization” is the title of Maddy’s thesis. She explores a political movement that arose during the fall of 1989 in communist East Germany. Amidst the chaos that was the decline of the SED regime, a grassroots organization named “New Forum” began to develop an alternative political program, which it called the Third Way. As can be inferred from the name, this Third Way was intended to be a solution to a problem of two extremes — one being the political oppression of the East German government and the other being the possibility of unification with West Germany. Instead, New Forum advocated for the internal reform of the GDR, which would be achieved through a predominantly apolitical strategy. Within the literature on East German opposition and German reunification, the concept of the Third Way has challenged countless historians, most of whom have chosen to analyze New Forum’s apolitical movement only in the context of the GDR. In order to better understand the apolitical Third Way, this thesis will employ two methods of historical analysis. First, the Third Way will be investigated through its defining features, that is, the central tenets of the alternative movement. Secondly, a historical approach, in which New Forum is related to other Third Way movements throughout German history, will seek to make sense of the greater meaning of public organization as it relates to German political identity.

Oscar introduced the audience to Stories in Transit: An Anthology of Texts by Exiles, Migrants and Émigrés, translated from the German with an introduction and conclusion.

The last 10 years of Oscar’s life have been filled with a lot of travelling and moving around the world. With every stop have come unique challenges: bureaucratic hurdles, language barriers, and the question of integration—whether to fit in, to stick out, or to position himself somewhere in between. His thesis project constitutes a response to those challenges: a collection of both fictional and non-­fictional accounts of émigrés, migrants, and exiles at various stages of their journeys; organized around the themes of identity, bureaucracy and migration, and language.

Mari concluded the presentations with her thesis, “Theory, Empirics, Revolution: A Three-Dimensional Approach to Subverting Authority.”

Mari addresses the Frankfurt School’s interdisciplinary critique of authority in the 1930s through the 1970s. She analyzes the dialectical relationship among the Frankfurt School’s three methodological approaches that yield its “social philosophy”: philosophical critique, empirical research, and political practice. Mari explores the question of how economic, social, and political tendencies are internalized in individuals using the Frankfurt School’s social psychoanalytic concept of the “authoritarian character.”

Julian Thereisa, a double major in CSS and German Studies, with a certificate in International Relations, wrote a thesis for the CSS entitled, “Gentle as Jade: Perspectives Upon the Multiple Lives of Lou Tseng-Tsiang.”

Future plans of our GRST majors / minors, and prizes  

Julius Bjornson ‘14, a Music and German Studies major received the Fulbright Teaching Assistantship Grant and will be teaching English at a German Gymnasium (high school) in Nordrhein Westphalen. “With his musical talent”, it would not surprise us if he formed a band and led it with his fiddle. He received the Blankenagel Prize for his outstanding work in German Studies.

Katherine Dean ‘14  received the Baden-Württemberg–CT Exchange grant.

Mari Jarris ’14 received a Fulbright Grant and a DAAD Grant and decided to accept the DAAD Grant to continue her research on the Frankfurt School critique’s of Idealist philosophy at the Akademie der Künste in Berlin next year. She hopes to enroll simultaneously in a Master’s program in German literature. She received a scholarship to attend the Middlebury French Language School this summer, which will enable her to expand her study of German to Franco-German history and philosophy. Mari was awarded the Prentice Prize for her outstanding work in German Studies.

Elizabeth Lauffer ’07 received the Gutekunst Translation Prize administered by the Goethe-Institut.

Julian Thereisa ‘14 was awarded a Baden-Württemberg grant and was admitted to the Chinese Studies program at Oxford University and the Masters program in International History program at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva. Julian decided to go to Geneva, and he is looking forward to living and studying in Switzerland, a country he has never visited. While in Geneva, he aims to intern at an international organization or NGO to gain some work experience. He has been awarded the Joan Miller Prize for his outstanding CSS thesis and the Scott Prize for his accomplishments in German. He was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa.

Maddy Smith-Huemer ’14 was awarded the Blankennagel Prize for her excellent work in German and the Robins Memorial Prize for excellence in History.

Oscar Takabvirwa ’14  Oscar started working  for Argus Information and Advisory Service, a big data strategic consulting firm in Westchester County, in early June. He received the Blankennagel Prize for his excellent work in German. Oscar was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa.

Matthew Alexander ’12,  a Phi Beta Kappa scholar and the recipient of the Blankenagel Prize for his outstanding accomplishments in German, also received a Fulbright assistantship to teach English at a high school in Saxony, Germany. Matt’s thesis, for which he received high honors, was a translation and adaptation of Lord Schadt’s online play, “Lost Modern Love.” The play premiered at Wesleyan in May 2012 under Matt’s direction. An excerpt of his adaptation has been published in VOID Digest Vol. 2, May 2012, pp. 57-59. This summer Matt will intern as a script reader in Los Angeles.

Max Flescher ’12 is an alternate for a Fulbright teaching assistantship to teach ESL in Austria.

Lynn Heere ’12 received a Fulbright assistantship to teach English at a high school in Thuringia, Germany. She also received a teaching assistantship for English in Kärnten, Austria, but decided in favor of Germany. Lynn wrote her thesis, for which she received honors, on “From Spassguerilla to Stadtguerilla: The Theory and Praxis of the West German Student Movement.”

Steven Le ’12 will be teaching English as a Foreign Language in Vietnam. He leaves to take up his teaching position in July.

Jessica Spates ’12 received the Baden-Württemberg scholarship for study and research at Freiburg University in Germany.

Katherine Wolf ’12 was awarded the Scott Prize for excellence in foreign-language study. A major in German Studies and art history, she wrote her senior essay on “The Fabric of the Bel Composto: Bernini’s Draperies and the Redefinition of the Arts.”

Carmen Yip ’12, a Phi Beta Kappa scholar and double major in German Studies and sociology, will be working as a resource analyst for Deutsche Bank in New York. She will start her training in September 2012, then move to London, followed by Frankfurt, before returning to New York City. Carmen plans to spend the summer at home in Hong Kong.

Wesleyan University Program in Regensburg Participants

Hsiao Tung Huang ’12, a dance major, declined an offer to study in the European Erasmus Program in favor of the dance program at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. But she hopes to return to Germany very soon!

Lana ’12,  a music major, received the Baden-Württemberg scholarship and will conduct research at Heidelberg University in Germany next year. She hopes to find a performing arts internship in Heidelberg.

And what are some of our sophomores and juniors doing this summer?  

Julius Bjornson ’14 has been studying in Regensburg since January 2012 and will finish his semester at the end of July. Then he will move to France, where he will spend a semester in Wesleyan’s Paris program.

Nathaniel Elmer ’14 received a DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) University Summer Course Scholarship for the Humboldt University summer course “Deutsch Erleben.”

James Gardner ’13, a Mellon Mays Fellow, has been studying under the auspices of the Berlin Consortium for German Studies at Berlin’s Free University since February 2012, while conducting independent research on Afro-Germans.

Mari Jarris ’14  received a scholarship from the DAAD to attend a German language and culture course from July 8 to August 2 at Bremen University in Germany.

Julian Theseira ’14 received a DAAD scholarship to attend a summer course on German literature at the Catholic university Eichstätt-Ingolstadt from July 17 to August 9, 2012. The course focuses on the discovery of physical spaces in modern German literature.

Oscar Takabvirwa ’14 has been studying at Regensburg University since January 2012; the semester there ends in late July.

Avery Trufelman ’13 received the Prentice Prize, given to a junior or senior who excels in German or French. Avery also received the DAAD “internxchange” scholarship, which will enable her to spend 11 weeks in Berlin this summer. She will attend a 6-week seminar program designed to deepen the recipient’s understanding of the politics, society, and culture of Germany, the country’s current media landscape, and working conditions for journalists. She will complete her stay with a 5-week internship with a German newspaper, (online) magazine, TV or radio station, or press or PR agency in or near Berlin. 

German Studies major, Katherine Wolf ’12, has been studying at the Freie Universität in Berlin since Fall 2010 and worked as an intern at the Galerie oqbo last spring.  Katherine sent us the following article from Berlin. She will be back at Wesleyan this fall.

Friday, May 13, 2011, 7pm

Opening Evening, 7pm at both locations. Gallery Tour led by Katherine Wolf begins in Galerie oqbo at 8pm.

Five months and the majority of the first semester had flown by, but returning to Berlin after the holidays, I felt as if I needed an activity to deepen the substance and purpose of my abroad experience. Dozens of emails and a rewritten version of my resumé auf deutsch later and I found myself at at a table with artist and co-founder of the Galerie oqbo Michael Bause: the acquaintance of the childhood best friend of my favorite German teacher. On our first meeting we chatted about the gallery while drinking cappuccinos. I got a tour of the petite gallery, with its main room, the kitchen and meeting area (with a fridge consistently stocked of white wine, cheap champagne, and beer),  and the narrow spiral staircase that leads to a second exhibition room in the basement.

Our second meeting was in the apartment of artist and American Abstract Artists member Gilbert Hsiao to meet about the upcoming exhibit celebrating the 75th anniversary of the creation of the American Abstract Artists organization. Gilbert was, so to say, the guardian of the artworks; on the walls of his home hung nearly every piece that would soon be presented in that lonely, empty gallery on Brunnenstrasse. They varied in style, in color, technique, and medium. I was astounded, thrilled, and filled with excitement for my tasks to come.

My main assignment for the moment is to formulate gallery tours (in German!) through that will be offered at the opening event, on the state-sponsored nation-wide “Kulturtag,” and during the last week of the exhibition.  It will offer insight into the development of abstract art and its public reception, from its development in the early 20th century through present day, as well as touch upon the differences between American abstract art and German abstract art. Depending on the availability of the American ambassador to Germany, I may be giving him and his council a private tour, too.

I am elated to be working with such an engaging and interesting group at oqbo. Though its small, the six co-founders are all working artists and fascinating, engaging, hilarious individuals. I have already been exposed to new discoveries about the behind-the-scenes workings of the art world, and am sure that more is sure to come.

William Krieger ’11: Other than German Studies, I also majored in Art History. I wrote a thesis in both departments about the contemporary German artist Martin Kippenberger (1953-1997), focusing on three of his major installation projects from the 1990s.

Next year, I will continue working on my thesis at Humboldt University in Berlin under a Fulbright grant and hope to continue my interest in German studies in a graduate program after that.

Ben LaFirst ’11: I have a double major in German Studies and Sociology. My senior essay in Sociology is entitled “Monopoly Capitalism and Network Neutrality: The Future of the Internet as a Material/Discursive Body”. I studied one semester in Regensburg and am excited to go to Austria, where I will be teaching English to Austrian high school students this fall. This is part of the United States Teaching Assistantship program sponsored by the Fulbright Commission in collaboration with the Austrian-American Educational Commission.  After my year as an ESL Assistant in Linz, Austria, I hope to enroll in a Master’s program to study history and eventually get a job as a history teacher.

Ryan Moses ’11: I am a German Studies and History major with a concentration in European history. My particular interests in history focus on Germany. I wrote an extensive research paper on German companies and their ties to the Nazis, and  another paper that examined the evolution of the relationship between German companies and their Nazi pasts, focusing on certain key events that forced them to reevaluate how they address their troubled history.

After Wesleyan, I’m hoping to pursue a career in finance.

I would recommend to anyone considering studying a foreign language that they study abroad. Living in Germany was one of the best times I’ve ever had. Whether it be for a summer, a semester, or an entire year, you’ll have a great time and learn more about the language and the culture than you can imagine.

Anya Olsen ‘11: I am a College of Letters and German Studies Major.

I wrote my thesis on the portrayal of women and gender in four selected works of German literature in the period after World War II, comparing two from West Germany and two from East Germany.

After I graduate, I will be going to Tübingen and studying there as part of the Connecticut-Baden-Württemberg Exchange Program. I will continue looking at issues of gender within German literature, as well as taking German history courses.

Catherine Steidl ’11: At Wesleyan, I have majored in both German Studies and Archaeology. I wrote my thesis within the Archaeology Department on specific female votive statuary from the Athenian Acropolis and the ways in which we can use them to learn about women’s roles and social experiences in Ancient Greece. My studies in German were extremely critical to my thesis, however, as a good portion of my research relied on German texts and archaeological reports!

Next year, I am taking part in the CT-BW exchange and attending the University of Tübingen to improve my German and continue my studies in Archaeology before applying to PhD programs in Classical Archaeology, for which German is essential.