Gabriele Eichmanns

	Rank:		Assistant Teaching Professor of German
	Ph.D.		University of Washington 2008
	Department Member Since: 2008

Personal Statement
Over the years my research as well as my teaching has been informed by the overarching question of whether human beings are able to overcome cultural differences and accept diverse ways of living. One instance that provided me with a first-hand experience occurred last spring when I took a group of students from the University of Washington to Vienna to spend three months in one of the most beautiful cities of Europe to explore the Austrian language and culture. Not only was I witness to their growing understanding and sensitivity regarding the foreign environment, but I also noticed their immense interest in comparing the Austrian to the American culture and in seeing their own ways of living with European eyes. This experience reminded me of my own numerous times abroad when everything seemed different at first but became familiar as time went by.

I started out as a double major in Comparative Literature and Japanese Studies at the University of Bonn in Germany. In my junior year I decided to spend a year in Southern Japan in order to improve my language skills and to learn about Japan and its people. It was a memorable experience and led to another, much longer stay abroad: This time I went to Seattle to continue my studies at the University of Washington where I received my M.A. in Comparative Literature. Another year in Denmark followed where I studied Comparative Literature from a Danish perspective while learning about Scandinavian culture and literature. Upon my return to the States I had made up my mind that I would stay in the States and enter a Ph.D. program in German so that I would be able to teach my own language while, at the same time, learn about my host country’s culture.

My recent research has primarily focused on the German notion of Heimat (home) and on the impact globalization has had on this very German concept after the fall of the Berlin Wall. In order to examine this multi-layered question, I have incorporated different fields of study such as politics, sociology, history, philosophy and cinema studies making my project cross-disciplinary in its approach. I attempt to bring together theoretical reflections on the concept of Heimat from German scholars as well as international theories on globalization, the nation, and the notion of hybridity. Furthermore, I analyze a number of literary and cinematic works of the late 20th/early 21st century that delineate new concepts of post-national identity in a united Germany that is becoming more diverse and heterogeneous.

My future project will be comparative in its nature and involve a study of the encounter between East and West. Drawing on my background in Comparative Literature and Japanese Studies, I am particularly interested in the German and Japanese perceptions of each other’s nation. I plan to examine essays, short stories, and novels by contemporary German as well as Japanese writers such as Thomas Brussig, Kenzaburo Oe and Yoko Tawada.

Courses taught:
82-121 Elementary German I
82-221 Intermediate German I
82-222 Intermediate German II
82-324 Contemporary Germany, Austria, and Switzerland
82-426 Germany in the Age of Globalization

Recent Work - publications and presentations

For More Information
Gabriele Eichmanns
Department of Modern Languages
Carnegie Mellon University
Baker Hall
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Office: PH 100A
Phone: (412) 268-4783
Fax: (412) 268-1328