The German Studies Committee is an interdisciplinary group of Oregon faculty devoted to research, teaching, and public dialogue concerning all areas of German culture. The departments, programs, and schools most actively involved in the Committee include: German and Scandinavian; History; Judaic Studies; Philosophy; Comparative Literature; the School of Music; the School of Architecture and Allied Arts; and the Clark Honor's College.
What distinguishes our approach from that of other German Studies groups is our shared commitment to the analysis-theoretical and historical-of limit structures and border zones on all levels of German cultural history: logical limits, aesthetic forms, psychological borderlines, political borders, and so on.
This commitment is based on the general principles that have guided the (post)structuralist and cultural studies research traditions, respectively-traditions whose best insights we hope to preserve, combine, and refine. First, as (post)structuralism teaches, the internal contents of any cultural entity are always defined by the "external" limits of that entity, but the "external" limits always remain paradoxically internal to the entity they frame, so that their delimitation in turn becomes an infinite project. Second, as cultural studies work emphasizes, the delimitations of cultural entities constitute not just matter for potential knowledge but also instances of power. As such, their delineation is always politically overdetermined. Our common investment in borderline delimitations, based on these two fundamental considerations, entails finally a sustained reflection on the divisions and gaps between the various disciplines the members of the Committee represent in our respective scholarly enterprises. This reflection ensures the self-conscious exploration of the conditions and implications of interdisciplinary research in the field of German Studies.
The establishment of "Working Groups" has enabled the Committee to structure this interdisciplinary work in terms of thematic clusters that represent the sustained research agendas of the members. These are: Power and Religion; Discipines and Institutions; Center and Periphery; Gender, Psyche and Society; Aesthetic Forms; Translation and Memory; Thought, Perception and Being.
Participating Faculty:
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