Teacher Workshop on Gender

KEYNOTE: HETEROSEXUAL NOUNS AND WORKSHOP: GENDERGERECHTIGKEIT UND SEXUELLE VIELFALT IM KLASSENZIMMER


Keynote Speech by Sophie Salvo, Ph.D. (University of Chicago) on the topic: Heterosexual Nouns: The Masculinist Dreams of Nineteenth-Centrury Linguistics.

Workshop by Dr. Claire Scott (Vanderbilt University) on the topic: Gendergeschlechtigkeit und sexuelle Vielfalt im Klassenzimer: Warum? Und Wie?

Friday, 12/09/2022 5:30 pm - 7:30 pm
Saturday, 12/10/2022 9:00 am - 3:00 pm
Location: Goethe-Institut Chicago (in cooperation with the DAAD)

Theory and lived practice meet in the highly topical issues of gender and sexuality. On the one hand, it is a characteristic of informed language teaching on the pulse of the times when teachers and learners deal with current language variants and discourses in Germany such as "Gendern" or neo-pronouns. On the other hand, the active use of gender-neutral or non-binary types of language integrates this gender equity and sexual diversity into the reality of life in the classroom and its students.

In this year's workshop, we will discuss concrete language variations for representing gender and sexual diversity, and develop strategies for incorporating them into language courses. First, we will approach gender-neutral or non-binary types of language by learning more about linguistic developments, such as (neo-)pronouns and "Gendern". Building on this, we look at the relevance of using that language in the classroom itself to make gender equity and sexual diversity visible, acknowledged and promoted.

The goal is for participants to reflect on their institutions and their own role as teachers and, finally, to make diversity-sensitive practices part of their curricula.

The training, organised in cooperation with the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service), will begin with an opening lecture by Sophie Salvo, Ph.D. on December 9, who will provide an overview of historical theories of grammatical gender in German linguistics. The workshop, led by Dr. Claire E. Scott, on December 10, will apply and deepen these insights to the present and to teachers' practical experiences.


>> Register here


About the speakers

Dr. Claire E. Scott is a Senior Lecturer in German Language at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. They hold a PhD from the Carolina-Duke Graduate Program in German Studies, with a certificate in Feminist Studies. She is interested in 20th and 21st century theater, literature, and film, and her first book, Murderous Mothers: Late Twentieth-Century Medea Figures and Feminism, was published this year by Peter Lang.

Sophie Salvo, Ph.D. is Assistant Professor of Germanic Studies and the College at the University of Chicago. She is currently working on a book manuscript entitled Articulating Difference: Sex and the Study of Language in the Long Nineteenth Century, for which she has been awarded a National Endowment for Humanities Fellowship at the Newberry Library in 2021-2022. She has published articles on Jacob Grimm and grammatical gender (MLN, 2021) and on Jenny Erpenbeck and the politics of form (The Germanic Review, 2019).


Organizational

The course will be held in German and English and in-person. Both parts of the event are compulsory; participation in the introductory lecture is a prerequisite for participation in the workshop.

The DAAD will cover the following costs:
  • Seminar costs
  • Accommodation in single rooms for 1 night (2 nights if necessary)
  • Dinner on Friday, breakfast, lunch, drinks and snacks on Saturday
  • Seminar materials
  • Travel allowance (up to a maximum of $250, receipts required).
  • Registration for the in-person training is here.

Deadline for registration is Sunday, November 27, 2022. Since there are only a limited number of spots available, we ask that you register promptly and in a meaningful manner.

If you have any questions, please contact Franziska Trepke by email.

We are looking forward to your registration!

Franziska Trepke
Teaching Expert
Goethe-Institut Chicago

Michael Thomanek
Senior Program Officer
DAAD New York Office
Top