tbfuhr

Image
Thomas Fuhr wearuing leather jacket in front of flowering plants
tbfuhr@arizona.edu
Office
LSB 320
Office Hours
Mon. & Thu. 1-2 PM
Fuhr, Thomas Benjamin
Lecturer

Dr. Thomas Fuhr received his doctorate in Transcultural German Studies from the University of Arizona, and he currently serves as Lecturer and Language Program Director of the German Studies Department. His research interests include political authorship, environmental humanities, translation, and he is seeking to explore ways in which expressions of belonging to land in literature and music can inform second language teaching. He has published several articles on contemporary literature that engages in political discourses (including one on the topic of critical dystopia), and he co-translated an essay on food. In his dissertation entitled “Eternal Return? Heimat in Contemporary German Literature,” Dr. Fuhr investigated the role that the concept of Heimat plays in Germany’s increasingly pluralistic society, by dissecting how literary authors reconfigured ideas of home, belonging, and identity in novels published between 2014-2018. His doctoral advisors were Assistant Professor Dr. Joela Jacobs (Tucson) and PD Dr. Leonhard Herrmann (Leipzig) as well as Professors David Gramling and Chris Cokinos.

Before coming to the USA from Germany, he studied at the Johannes-Gutenberg University in Mainz and at the ISCTE in Lisbon, to receive his M.A. in Ethnology, Pedagogy, and Spanish Philology. At the University of Arizona, Dr. Fuhr has taught German language classes at all levels as well as General Education courses. In the academic year 2020-2021, Thomas held the position of Assistant Language Program Director of the German Department, he is part of the 2017-2018 University Fellows Program cohort, and has received a Russel J. and Dorothy S. Bilinski Fellowship for the 2022-2023 academic year. 

Dr. Fuhr has a chapter in the forthcoming book Juli Zeh: A Critical Companion, published with De Gruyter in September 2024. 

Currently Teaching

GER 302 – German Conversations

Development of conversational competence including speaking and listening skills and pragmatic awareness, with a focus on topics related to contemporary German-speaking societies.

GER 325 – German Cinema

This course provides a historical overview from the 1920s to the present, with a focus on genres and movements such as expressionism, film noir, propaganda, New German Cinema, the Berlin School, by filmmakers such as Lang, Murnau, Riefenstahl, Ade and Akin. Films will be analyzed and discussed as aesthetic works and historical cultural products, and social issues such as gender, class, race, ethnicity and national identity will be explored. This course may be applied toward the major or minor.

GER 301 – German Cultural and Literary History

German 301 is an intermediate/advanced course for students to expand their knowledge of the cultural history of the German-speaking countries. The course advances students' ability to discuss and write critically about literature, film, and other cultural artifacts related to key moments in German history. Taught in German.

GER 411 – Dealing with the Past

Examines how German writers, artists, or filmmakers have sought to come to terms with the past. Taught in German.