Question
GER 371 – Reading Responses
What is main point being made in each text or film?
Do you agree with the perspective of the author or filmmaker?
What do you feel that this text or film has to teach us about Germany and German culture? Explain you answer.
Does this reflect in any way on your own native culture? What questions do you have?
Your response should also include a reference to a news article that you have found that has some relevance to the texts and videos assigned. You can use any news source you would like, but make sure that the article deals specifically with contemporary German culture in some way. On the main page of the D2L course website, I have included links to three high-quality online German news sources that feature English-language media to help you find suitable material.
Sources:
Pape – Postcolonial Debates in Germany pages 2-14
Schuetze – Mesut Ozil’s Exit From German Soccer Team- Article by Chris Schuetze
Source: German Studies Review, Vol. 34, No. 2 (May 2011), pp. 377-398 Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press on behalf of the German Studies
Sample paper
Postcolonial Debates in Germany
Germany is one of the colonial countries whose racism and ethnic practices have rose the eyebrows of many people as said. In the past, a lot of negativities that have been witnessed in the countries which were colonized by Germany are said to be sponsored by the Germany as colonial ruler. African nations and even some other nations from Asian continent can a test that Germany is more concerned with success than failure and whenever the failure comes then the racism pops in. The genocide of Rwanda that left thousands of the people dead is an example of the things that places Germany in the frontline for being a racist nation. Germany being the colonial ruler of that particular nation didn’t fight to restore peace when things got hot in that country. Research says that it was believed that opposing ethnic people were not bound for Germany ideologies in their nation. Several occasions people who has gone against the Germany in terms of ideologies, political ideas and even the economic believes were all referred to as the immigrants. The genocide inside left thousands of people homeless. People were killed, women were raped, the bloodshed was too much in that people could not bear the pain. Which they had but they just kept silent.
Germany has been also a great nation and their performance in game balls is something that gave been impressive to many people. For instance, several rimes the nation gas plaid world cup and won because of their good performance. The year 2014 they plaid final and became the winners in that game. That is there latest win. Surprisingly, their midfielder Mesut Ozil was mocked when they failed to show an impressive performance on the followed world cup. At one point messy Ozil had been a greet player, but he had an association with turkey’s president and based on the poor performance of Germany on that game ball, Mesut Ozil was mocked as the contributor of that failed year. They even told him to prepare his exit to his native country and that us turkey. With that, Ozil was not impressed with such mocking language and he tendered his resignation. The article “Mesut Ozil’s Exit from German Soccer Team”- Article by Chris Schuetze explains the reasons for the departure of the English Premier League forward. The circumstances are vividly clear with the postings that the forward have been posting through the social media. In the article I can fully concur with the author on the things that he mentions and according to his perspective on the matter. The text is essentially showing the margin of separation that the German culture offers to the outsiders. They celebrate people when they will and forget the difference but in a loss they point out the odd one out. This is such a wayward culture that a nation like Germany should seize its practice and focus to establish a long lasting unity between the people.
In the other article, Postcolonial Debates in Germany pages 2-14 it speaks on the cultural and neo-colonization which the Germans went through and their involvement in other countries. Their historical works and the other skills that the Germans had essentially shortened the span of colonial era. According to the author, the neocolonial period impacted on the lives of the Germans. With the change of discussion in topics comparison to the Namibian Herero and Nama genocide which was during the colonization by the Germans. This aspects of life have essentially served the Germans culture as colonizers and only would wish well in their backyards compared to the other countries. With no thought towards the genocide of the Namibian people, they served their own interest and so the rest was not of their concern. This essentially teaches us the need for the Germany culture as serving the people of interest.
The article German Studies Review, Vol. 34, No. 2 (May 2011), pp. 377-398 Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press on behalf of the German Studies, also is an important piece of text that defines the Rap music within the German culture and how they essentially gained foothold within the German areas in the early 1980’s. This Rap music were all inspired through the music which was adopted from the western culture. With the evolution of rap music Timothy Brown argues the fact that hip-hop appeals in the lives of people in terms of ethnic. In part of the statement the author wrote “Rap music with the attendant phenomena of break dancing and graffiti gained a foothold in Germany in the early 1980s. Early manifestations of rap in Germany were heavily influenced by the U.S. hip-hop culture that inspired them, including the use of English as the language of rap. From the late 1980s onward, rap in Germany appeared in multiple, temporally overlapping forms. In his article on the ethnic appeal of hip-hop, Timothy Brown argued that there are no distinguishable phases in the evolution of German rap, but only differences in approach and style.1 As in the U.S., rap groups and artists seek to showcase their popularity, their politics, their affinities with the mainstream, or their links to the underground cultural scene. In her essay “Hip-Hop Made in Germany,” Sabine von Dirke distinguishes three “strains” in German rap since the 1980s,”
The statement essentially describes the phenomenon of which Hip-Hop were serving through. It is important to note that the article has speaks rhythm of words through which they decide the important acts that is important pivotal.
References
Pape – Postcolonial Debates in Germany pages 2-14
Schuetze – Mesut Ozil’s Exit From German Soccer Team- Article by Chris Schuetze
German Studies Review, Vol. 34, No. 2 (May 2011), pp. 377-398 Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press on behalf of the German Studies
Related: German Studies
