Braun von, Christina

Christina von Braun is a cultural scholar who is also well-known beyond the campus. In this year alone, she has published two comprehensive new works on controversial issues. She combines skillful thematic focus with an effective writing style.

Christina von Braun is the director of the Seminar for Cultural Studies of the Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany. She holds a full professorship there with her own academic chair and is also active in committees on social policy and agencies involved in cultural life; she is a member of the executive committee of the Goethe Institute, for example. She has also become a familiar voice far beyond the horizon of the academic world and the world of cultural policy. She was active as a free-lance author and filmmaker for a decade prior to her academic career: "In my films I concentrated primarily on themes connected with cultural history. But then I noticed that one cannot portray the process of becoming in this way at all well. Texts allow one to capture these dimensions better, and after my book, Nicht-Ich. Logik. Lüge. Libido. (i.e. Not-I. Logic. Lies. Libido) was published in 1985, I began to be invited by universities and academies."

The Issue is Gender

One of the main theoretical approaches in cultural studies, the feminist approach, is evident from the list of her books and writings at the end of this article. "In my view, feminism isn't a term of abuse, as is often the case in this country. But I would still rather regard Gender Studies as my area of research. Among other things, the issue here is how sex and gender are inscribed into the social order, the scientific canon, in medical research or in theological dogmas. Gender Studies investigate and question such norms and sensitize society with respect to gender mainstreaming. The DFG itself (i.e. German Research Foundation) states today that the cause of equality is advanced by Gender Studies."

An independent course of study in Gender Studies has been established at the Humboldt University in Berlin. But while men dominate in "hard disciplines" such as political science, in Christina von Braun's doctoral seminar the current ratio of women to men is 33:2. Have men not yet grasped the advantages and opportunities offered by Gender Studies? "It might be that women who want to obtain their doctorate seek a role model. A woman professor has qualities on which they can model themselves. Furthermore, it is unfortunately still the case that topics related to gender issues are being researched primarily by women. But in my graduate seminar, "Gender as a Cognitive Category " – it has existed since 2005 – men do make up 30 to 40 per cent of the participants."

Cultures and their Unconscious

"It is our view that gender ordering is the terrain on which the unconscious of every culture moves most conspicuously." Thus the central position in the book she co-authored with Bettina Mathes on the veil as a cultural medium. This extensive study has been credited with having a moderating influence on the current controversies surrounding the veil, but not only in this context; our basic knowledge of the relationships between Islam, Judaism and Christianity in terms of cultural history has been enriched here by some eminently readable lessons. Based on the wide-spread reception in German-language literary supplements and newspaper feature sections it is evident that that scholarly works on cultural studies are of interest to a broader public; and according to von Braun, these two experts in western scholarship are also being taken note of in the Islamic world: "The appreciation enjoyed by this book is not limited to a non-Islamic German readership. There were also numerous reactions from secularized Moslems, and I recently received news from Yemen that the book is to be translated into Arabic."

Women's Traditions, Transmitted as "Chinese Whispers"

Christina von Braun is remarkable for her versatile and multifaceted perspectives. A second, much-discussed book that appeared this year and is already in its third edition has German history as its theme, using her own family as exemplar. The relationships of this German family are split down the middle; its story is one that takes place on both sides of the divide between perpetrators and victims of the Third Reich, and the author must also deal with the unpopular issue of the displacement of ethnic Germans from Silesia after WWII. She has done so soberly and unemotionally, and is surprised at the reactions to this book:

"The book has been very widely and positively received. I was amazed, myself. I believe there are two issues that are of primary interest to my readers. One is my family's politically very heterogeneous history: on one hand an uncle who worked closely with the Nazis and provided the armaments industry with new "wonder weapons," and on the other my grandmother, who was arrested by the Gestapo and died in prison, and an uncle who emigrated to London in 1936. The second issue is the fact that I mostly concentrated on the women in the family – on their diaries, letters, etc. . Women have an entirely different way of directly experiencing history itself. And that is what I wanted to show with this family history. And there is a third issue that interests me as a researcher, although this is not a scholarly work; the messages transmitted unconsciously within generational chains. Thus the title, Stille Post (i.e. Chinese Whispers)."

Books by Christina von Braun: Christina von Braun/Bettina Mathes: Verschleierte Wirklichkeit. Die Frau, der Islam und der Westen. (i.e. Veiled Reality. Women, Islam and the West) Aufbau Berlin 2007. 476 pages. Christina von Braun: Stille Post. Eine andere Familiengeschichte. (i.e. Chinese Whispers. A different family history) Propyläen Berlin 2007. 3rd edition, 415 pages. Christina von Braun/Inge Stephan: Gender Studien. Eine Einführung. (i.e. Gender studies. An Introduction) E. Metzler Stuttgart 2006. 2nd edition, 405 pages. Christina von Braun: Nicht-Ich. Logik. Lüge. Libido. (i.e. Not-I. Logic. Lies. Libido.) Verlag Neue Kritik, Frankfurt 1985, (2nd edition, 2000)