Debating German Cultural Identity Since 1989

The events of 1989 and German unification were seismic historical moments. Although 1989 appeared to signify a healing of the war-torn history of the twentieth century, unification posed the question of German cultural identity afresh. Politicians, historians, writers, filmmakers, architects, and the wider public engaged in "memory contests" over such questions as the legitimacy of alternative biographies, West German hegemony, and the normalization of German history. This dynamic, contested, and still ongoing transformation of German cultural identity is the topic of this volume of new essays by scholars from the United Kingdom, Germany, the United States, and Ireland. It explores German cultural identity by way of a range of disciplines including history, film studies, architectural history, literary criticism, memory studies, and anthropology, avoiding a homogenized interpretation. Charting the complex and often contradictory processes of cultural identity formation, the volume reveals the varied responses that continue to accompany the project of unification. ~~~~~~~ CONTRIBUTORS: Pertti Ahonen, Aleida Assmann, Elizabeth Boa, Peter Fritzsche, Anne Fuchs, Deniz Gokturk, Kathleen James-Chakraborty, Anja K. Johannsen, Jennifer A. Jordan, Jurgen Paul, Linda Shortt, Andrew J. Webber. ~~~~~~~~~ ANNE FUCHS is Professor of German Literature at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland. KATHLEEN JAMES-CHAKRABORTY is Professor of Art History at University College Dublin, Ireland. LINDA SHORTT is Lecturer in German at Bangor University, Wales.