Women+ in German Studies (W+IGS)

Ingrid said: "I learned so much from my time as WIGS+ Chair. It's a special organisation and I do miss my role, but plan to remain an active member."

Here's Ingrid at Glyndebourne in 2022 for the UK premiere of Ethel Smyth’s The Wreckers, wearing a suffrage sash in honour of Smyth’s feminist legacy

Last week we held a mini W+IGS celebration at Leeds to say goodbye to our outgoing Chair,
@profingrid.bsky.social — thank you for your committed, inspiring, feminist leadership during turbulent times. 💜

The winning entries were titled:

Isabel Parkinson: “In Two Minds: Consciousness, Gender, and Voice in German-to-English Translation”

Miriam Schwarz: “The Forms of Friendship. How Women’s Friednships Shape and Challenge Narrativity in Contemporary German and Anglophone Literature”

Congratulations👏

Announcing the TWO winners of #W+IGS annual #ECA #BookPrize 🎉

Isabel Parkinson & Miriam Schwarz

Congratulations to them both! 🎉

And last but not least… our final paper by Elizabeth Ramsey examines the question of nudity, nakedness, and male desire in her paper “The madwoman on the stage: Goethe’s Aurelie and Schnitzler’s Fräulein Else as representations of the modern woman’s fractured self”

Next up is Katy Heady, with a paper on Jewish male reactions to female suffrage in the mid-1920s. Katy’s paper has considered perspectives from liberal and orthodox authors on women’s political participation in Jewish communities

Our next paper is from Lorna MacCarron, who emphasises that going through menopause does not mean getting old in her paper “Embodied and Empowered: Aging Bodies in Ulkrike Draesner’s “Eine Frau wird älter””

Kendra’s paper considers the narratology of silences in the two novels, exploring the queer dimensions of silence, and the importance of silence in discussions of heritage, culture, and family

#Panel3 begins with Kendra Löwer, who will be discussing “How gaps in memories influence the perception of oneself- an analysis of Schwarz Rund’s Biskaya and Fatma Aydemir’s Dschinns”

Katya’s presentation concerned 5 recent films on Austria’s NS past, showing that progressive depictions of NS past was neither a lineal or even procress.

Our second paper moves over to #AustrianStudies, with Katya Krylova’s paper titled “Contemporary Austrian Memory Culture on Screen”

Gwendolin’s paper looked at the presentation of “human zoos” during the 1884 Berlin Conference, giving an excellent insight into Germany’s #colonial past.

#Day2 of the annual W+IGS conference begins! Out first paper is by Gwendolin Choi on “Staging Otherness, Staging the Self: Human Zoos, Exhibitions and the Colonial Imaginary”

Now onto our Keynote:

The wonderful Susannah Eckersley is presenting her research on “Memory, Belonging, and Democracy in Germany: Museums and the Politics of Difference”

We’re very excited to learn more about the relationship between museums and German identity!

Thank you to @laurelplapp.bsky.social and Peter Lang for sponsoring the prize. Laurel informed us during the ceremony that this is the 10th year of the W+IGS Book Prize, and we are delighted to recognise two very worthy winners. (4/4)

Our second winner is Isabel Parkinson from @oxfordgerman.bsky.social with her proposal “In Two Minds: Consciousness, Gender and Voice in German-to-English Translation.”

Congratulations Isabel, and thank you for joining us online to summarise your proposal! (3/4)

Our first winner is Miriam Schwarz from @germancambridge.bsky.social. Miriam’s book proposal was titled “The Forms of Friendship: How Women’s Friendships Shape and Challenge Narrativity in Contemporary German and Anglophone.”

Congratulations Miriam! (2/4)

Onto the evening’s festivities:

W+IGS are pleased to announce the winners of this year’s #bookprize. The submissions this year were of such high quality and showed a very promising contribution to the discipline that we have decided to award two winners! (1/4)

Now for @aberuni.bsky.social ‘s own Rose Simpson discussing her work on Mala Laaser and the problems of #memory. Is it an act of escape or an act of resistance?

After some delicious welsh cakes, it’s time for the panels! Panel 1 begins with Anna-Lena Kaufmann from @oxfordgerman.bsky.social, explaining her research on #exileliterature, comparing Feuchtwanger’s Die Geschwister Oppermann and Aloni’s Der Wartesaal.

We’re kicking off our programme this afternoon with a workshop for #pgrs and #ecas in #GermanStudies hosted by the wonderful Professor Sara Jones. Thank you so much for joining us Sara, and for helping us with our #researchimpact and #engagement.

The #W+IGS committee have landed in @aberuni.bsky.social for our annual conference #W+IGS #GermanStudies

And an exciting announcement for our #PGR members!

We're delighted to share that @profsarajones.bsky.social will be leading our #postgraduateworkshop.

Join us at 2pm on Friday for a workshop on turning ideas into #impact- with hands-on project planning and impact mapping. 🧠 #ResearchCulture #REF

#Finalcall to #register for the annual conference at @aberuni.bsky.social next week!

Join us for an exciting programme of papers!

Programme details and registration available here: womeningermanstudies.wordpress.com/2025/10/24/w...

W+IGS are saddened to hear today's announcement of the University of Nottingham's plans to close all modern language degrees.

Read our joint statement, written together with our colleagues at #AGS and the #GLA on the AGS website:
ags.ac.uk/statement-on...

The #Deadline to register for our annual conference is tomorrow!

When: 21st-22nd November
Where: #Aberyswyth
Programme and Registration details here: womeningermanstudies.wordpress.com/2025/10/24/w...

Looking forward to seeing many of you there!

Registration for the #W+IGS Annual Conference closes tomorrow! Check out the exciting programme & register below!

W+IGS 2025 Conference Programme Please see the W+IGS 2025 conference programme below, including information on how to register and how to book accommodation. Registration will close on 3rd November 2025. Friday, 21 November 2025&…

Registration for this year's #Women+inGermanStudies conference is now open! Join us in #Aberyswyth on the 21-22 November to talk all things #GermanStudies.
Registration closes 5 November.

womeningermanstudies.wordpress.com/2025/10/24/w...

Deadline has been extended to 20 October 2025! Please be sure to enter this competition for first book proposals in #GermanStudies in collaboration with @wigsblog.bsky.social. The #winner receives a #cash prize courtesy of #PeterLangOxford

Some of our members might also like to share details of the @psagermanpol.bsky.social‬ #EssayPrize with their undergraduate/ masters students!