"Contrapuntal Reading and Hidden Transcripts: Centering African Voices in German Postcolonial Studies". Part of the German Studies Colloquium Series.
Please join us for this colloquium presentation by Dr. Nina Berman (Arizona State University). In person.
For questions, please contact Peter Ecke (eckep@arizona.edu).
Abstract:
Said's method of contrapuntal reading is a recognized method of postcolonialism. Nevertheless, it is rarely used in German postcolonial studies. As a result, African and Asian voices remain marginalized in German literary and cultural studies. In addition to the method of contrapuntal reading, the concept of hidden transcripts, introduced in 1990 by James Scott, is another critical tool to center the voices of those who were subjected to or worked within the structures of German colonialism. Berman’s presentation engages with these concepts by drawing on material from the East African context.
Bio:
Nina Berman is professor in the School of International Letters and Cultures at Arizona State University. Her research and teaching focus centrally on questions of exclusion and inclusion across time and space. She has published books and articles on issues related to globalization, colonialism, orientalism, tourism, minority literature, disability, translation, and intercultural contact. Her most recent books are Germans on the Kenyan Coast: Land, Charity, and Romance (Indiana University Press, 2017), which discusses social and economic dimensions related to the contemporary presence of Germans on the coast south of Mombasa; and a co-edited anthology (with Rebecca Monteleone) on Disability and Social Justice in Kenya (University of Michigan Press, 2022). She is currently writing a book and involved in creating a documentary on Kenyan acrobats.
