Call for papers

Edinburgh German Yearbook Volume 3 (2009)
Contested Legacies - Constructions of Cultural Heritage in the GDR
Edited by Matthew Philpotts and Sabine Rolle

EGYB is a new annual publication for German Studies, published by
Camden House, intended to encourage and disseminate lively and open
discussion of themes pertinent to German Studies, viewed from a wide
variety of perspectives inside and outside the conventional boundaries
of the discipline.

In the context of the approaching 20th anniversary of the fall of the
Wall, volume 3 engages with current debates on memory and tradition in
order to re-visit the cultural history of the GDR. Existing cultural
traditions were one of the principal constraints on the realisation of
the first socialist state on German soil; at the same time, the
cultural values of the past were frequently appropriated in order to
legitimate SED policy. We intend to examine this tension in attitudes
to the past in the GDR, through a range of contributions exploring how
the discourses and values of East German society interacted with the
cultural values of the past, in general, and with the German cultural
inheritance, in particular.

Contributions are invited from the full range of academic approaches -
literary, cultural, linguistic, musical, artistic, political,
historical, and theoretical - and might address, for example, the
following broad areas:

- Continuation and change in political, cultural, judicial,
educational, economical, religious and media institutions
- The 'canon' in literature, drama, music, visual arts
- Conservation versus renewal in the built environment
- Attitudes towards traditions and customs in majority and minority
cultures
- Remembering the past: historical narratives (including history of
science, history of ideas etc.)
- Exhibiting the past: memorials and museums

Publication will be autumn 2009, and the deadline for finished
contributions will be 30 January 2009. Essays may be in English or
German. Abstracts for proposed contributions should be submitted by
email to both the editors by the end of March 2008.

Contact:
Dr Matthew Philpotts (matthew.philpottsmanchester.ac.uk)
Dr Sabine Rolle (s.rolleed.ac.uk).