The German Studies Division of the Department of Modern and Classical Languages, Literatures and Cultures at the University of Kentucky invites your submissions.
65th Kentucky Foreign Language Conference
April 19-21, 2012

Please submit your abstracts electronically via the KFLC’s central abstract submission site at:
http://www.kflcabstracts.uky.edu/index.php/kflcabstractsite/kflc2012
Deadline for submission of abstracts: November 15, 2011

Special Topic Panels:

Conflict and Culture (Joseph D. O'Neil and Hillary Herzog)
How is conflict represented or reflected in the literary, artistic, and social texts of German culture?  How does conflict constitute an object of study for Germanists? What role does it play in the methodologies of German Studies? 

From historical considerations of war, genocide, and other forms of destruction to recent responses in social and political theory to a globalizing world, German literary and cultural studies manifest a vital interest in conflict. We therefore invite abstracts on these and cognate questions concerning the interplay of conflict and culture in the German, Austrian, Swiss, and broader German-language contexts for a panel or panel series at the 2012 Kentucky Foreign Languages Conference. All periods, genres, and approaches are welcome, and we look forward to an intense and informative discussion of the past and future of conflict in our field. Please submit abstracts using the KFLC online system. Contact: joseph.oneil@uky.edu

German Pop Culture (Heide Crawford)
This special session will address all aspects of pop culture in German literature and cultural history. Topics may include, but are not limited to, the arts, film, TV culture, youth culture, food culture, popular literature, music, fashion, sports, games, and linguistics as they relate to the larger concept of pop culture. Papers addressing pop culture topics from a variety of periods in German history are encouraged. Please submit abstracts using the KFLC online system. Contact: hacraw@uga.edu

German Travel Writing (Richard Sperber)
This special session invites submissions on all periods and aspects of German travel writing. Possible topics: Colonial encounters; German-speaking postcolonial travelers; Travel and (German) ethnography; Orientalism, exoticism, or primitivism in German travel writing; German missionary travelers; Travel and tourism. Please submit abstracts using the KFLC online system. Contact:rsperber@carthage.edu

Vicco von Bülow, alias Loriot: Facets of the “Greatest German Artist of our Time” (Bettina Matthias)
On August 22, 2011, Germany’s most famous humorist Vicco von Bülow, alias Loriot, died at the age of 87. Heralded by the Spiegel as “the greatest German artist of our time,” Loriot shaped the lives of at least three generations of Germans, rehabilitated the negative image of German humor, and left behind an oeuvre that spans at least six genres and four media. This panel pays homage to this great legacy, inviting participants to explore any aspect of this multi-faceted artist. Suggested topics include, but are not limited to: the special humor of Vicco von Bülow; Loriot’s aesthetics as a new “progressive Universalpoesie”; Loriot and the art of the caricature; “Der Kosakenzipfel” and other linguistic delicacies; Loriot, the “brand”; Vicco von Bülow as opera director; comedy and political discourse. Please submit abstracts using the KFLC online system. Contact: bmatthia@middlebury.edu

Regular Panels:   
Graduate Student Panel: Joseph O’Neil (jdonei2@email.uky.edu) and Brenna Byrd (brennabyrd@uky.edu)
18th Century: Michael Jones (mjones@uky.edu) and Joseph O’Neil (jdonei2@email.uky.edu)
19th Century: Linda K. Worley (lworley@uky.edu)
20th Century to 1945: Hillary Hope Herzog (hherzog@uky.edu) and Harald Höbusch (hhoebu@uky.edu)
20th Century after 1945: Theodore Fiedler (tfiedler@uky.edu) and N. Jeff Rogers (njrogers@uky.edu)
For conference details and special events (including registration form and hotel information) please visit http://web.as.uky.edu/kflc/
German Luncheon Speaker (Saturday, April 21, 2012):
Robert von Dassanowsky (Professor of German and Film Studies, Director of the Film Studies Program, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs)

For conference details and special events (including registration form and hotel information) please visit the KFLC website.