Explores how contemporary German-language literary, dramatic, filmic, musical, and street artists are grappling in their works with social-justice issues that affect Germany and the wider world.

Explores how contemporary German-language literary, dramatic, filmic, musical, and street artists are grappling in their works with social-justice issues that affect Germany and the wider world.

Social-injustice dilemmas such as poverty, unemployment, and racism are subjects of continuing debate in European societies and in Germany in particular, as solutions are difficult and progress often comes slowly. Such discussionsare not limited to opposing newspaper editorials, position papers, or legislative forums, however; creative works expound on these topics as well, but their contributions to the debate are often marginalized.
This collectionof new essays explores how contemporary German-language literary, dramatic, filmic, musical, and street artists are grappling with social-justice issues that affect Germany and the wider world, surveying more than a decade's worth of works of German literature and art in light of the recent paradigm shift in cultural criticism called the "ethical turn." Central themes include the legacy of the politically engaged 1968 generation, eastern Germany and the process of unification, widening economic disparity as a result of political policies and recession, and problems of integration and inclusivity for ethnic and religious minorities as migration to Germany has increased.

Contributors: Monika Albrecht, Olaf Berwald, Robert Blankenship, Laurel Cohen-Pfister, Jack Davis, Bastian Heinsohn, Axel Hildebrandt, Deborah Janson, Karolin Machtans, Ralf Remshardt, Alexandra Simon-López, Patricia Anne Simpson,Maria Stehle, Jill E. Twark.

Jill E. Twark is Associate Professor of German at East Carolina University. Axel Hildebrandt is Associate Professor of German at Moravian College.

Introduction - Jill Twark and Axel Hildebrandt
On Potatoes, Forgeries, Mistaken Identities, and Cultural Revolution in Uwe Timm's Postwall NovelJohannisnacht - Deborah Janson
"Maybe the Genuine Utopia": Uwe Timm's Vision of a "Postsocialist" Society in the NovelRot - Monika Albrecht
Social Injustice in the GermanTatort Television Series - Alexandra Simon López
Die Toten Hosen, Rammstein, Azad, and Massiv: German Rock and Rap Go Global for Social Justice - Jill Twark
Die Toten Hosen, Rammstein, Azad, and Massiv: German Rock and Rap Go Global for Social Justice - Patricia Anne Simpson
Critical Voices from the Underground: Street Art and Urban Transformation in Berlin - Bastian Heinsohn
Politics andPrekariat in Christoph Hein's NovelsFrau Paula Trousseau andWeiskerns Nachlass - Axel Hildebrandt
"Erzählt ist erzählt": The Ethics of Narration in Christa Wolf'sStadt der Engel oder The Overcoat of Dr. Freud - Robert Blankenship
Social Consciousness in the Bionade-Biedermeier: An Interview with Filmmakers Marc Bauder and Dörte Franke - Laurel Cohen Pfister
Through Performance to Social Justice: Schlingensief's Narcissistic Sociality - Jack Davis
The Postdramatic Paradox: Theater as an Interventionist Medium in Falk Richter'sDas System - Ralf Remshardt
Settling in Mobility: Socioeconomic Justice and European Borderlands in Hans-Christian Schmid's FilmsLichter andDie wundersame Welt der Waschkraft - Maria Stehle
The Ethics of Listening in Dana Ranga's Wasserbuch and Terézia Mora'sDas Ungeheuer - Olaf Berwald
Navid Kermani: Advocate for an Antipatriotic Patriotism and a Multireligious, Multicultural Europe - Karolin Machtans