German Studies at the University of Oxford

Very excited for today's lecture by one of our doctoral students, Timothy Powell, for the English Goethe Society, at Senate House 5.45pm. Still time to register to attend in person or online via ilcs.sas.ac.uk/news-events/...

How multilingualism can protect against brain ageing A study of 86,000 older adults across Europe shows people who speak multiple languages tend to age more slowly than monolinguals.

We always knew this but it is nice to see it confirmed! @oxfordgerman.bsky.social theconversation.com/how-multilin...

The Metamorphosis. Edward Watson as Gregor Samsa ©ROH_Tristram Kenton, 2011

📢2026 Kafka Undergraduate Essay Prize competition!

Open to: German undergrads at a university in the UK
Theme: 'Bodies'
Prize: £1,000 🏆
Deadline: 6 April 2026

Further details: tinyurl.com/59y4czrf

@oxfordgerman.bsky.social
@oxfordgermannet.bsky.social
@goetheinstitut.bsky.social

#franzkafka

Speaking tmrw Mon 9 Feb 2026, 5.15pm for the General Linguistics Seminar about the nuns' code-switching language - all welcome! @oxhumanities.bsky.social @oxmedstud.bsky.social @oxfordgerman.bsky.social Sneak preview of some examples in medingen.seh.ox.ac.uk/index.php/20...

Tonight! ⏰Friday 20 February, 5.30pm

Before World Fame: Commemorating Franz Kafka in 1920s Central Europe with Ines Koeltzsch

Join us in person (Taylor Institution, Oxford) or online: tinyurl.com/mp8taxdf

@oxfordgerman.bsky.social
@oxfordgermannet.bsky.social
@goetheinstitut.bsky.social

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)

Salman Rushdie on his first fiction book since the attack Salman Rushdie discusses his new book 'The Eleventh Hour,' his first work of fiction since the attack that nearly killed him.

Salman Rushdie reveals that his new short story 'Oklahoma' was inspired by visiting our Kafka: Making of an Icon exhibition at the Morgan Library:
www.latimes.com/entertainmen...

@ox.ac.uk
@bodleian.ox.ac.uk
@oxhumanities.bsky.social
@oxfordgerman.bsky.social
@oxfordgermannet.bsky.social

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.

German Scholarships | University of Oxford The Hanseatic Scholarships, the Theodor Heuss Research Fellowship and the Michael Foster Memorial Scholarship were all established to promote closer Anglo-German links within a European context.

Applications for scholarships for @ox.ac.uk students to spend a year at graduate / postdoc level at Germany (Hanseatic and Theodor Heuss) now open! www.ox.ac.uk/students/fee...

Today (20 June) at the Taylorian: Freebie book event! Come and grab a book pre-loved by some of the Russian and German lecturers

Wadham College Oxford is seeking to appoint to a one-year part-time (three-hour) Stipendiary Lectureship in German, starting 1 September 2025. Apply by 1 July.
Further details: www.wadham.ox.ac.uk/about/jobs/s...

Review: Medieval Mystery Play Cycle – 'Comedy, choirs and inflatable hammers' - Cherwell Against the backdrop of St Edmund Hall’s medieval architecture, these short plays offered a tantalising window into medieval theatre.

Only discovered today the full page article in the Cherwell edition of 1st week cherwell.org/2025/05/05/m... 📯 @oxmedstud.bsky.social @stedmundhall.bsky.social @oxfordgerman.bsky.social

SPIEGEL: Frau Lähnemann, man stellt sich Frauen im Kloster oft als weggesperrte Jungfern vor. Stimmt dieses Bild? Lähnemann: Das ist ein protestantischer Topos, der vor 500 Jahren entstand, als Katharina von Bora das Kloster verließ, um den Reformator Martin Luther zu heiraten. Sie musste diesen Schritt rechtfertigen, der als Bruch ihres Gelübdes galt. So formte sich ein negatives Bild vom Klosterleben. Außerdem ist die Geschichtswissenschaft eine Disziplin, die im 19. Jahrhundert in Preußen entstand und entsprechend von Protestanten dominiert wurde – die verstärkten diese Darstellung natürlich. Tatsächlich gab es eine große Bandbreite von Lebensformen im Kloster.

Lesenswertes Interview mit Henrike Lähnemann über Frauenklöster im Mittelalter:

Frauen im Kloster: Spottlied auf den Priester (Paywall)
www.spiegel.de/geschichte/f...

#medievalsky

Ten versions of Kafka
Taylor Institution, 6pm, 13 June tinyurl.com/4x265bbs
Join Ian Ellison in conversation with prize-winning author Maïa Hruska.
@oxfordcct.bsky.social
@ox.ac.uk
@oxhumanities.bsky.social
@oxfordgerman.bsky.social
@engfac.bsky.social
@mfoxford.bsky.social
@torchoxford.bsky.social

first page of my article 'circumscribing a gesture: war, breath and memory in De Keersmaeker's staging of Rilke's Die Weise von Liebe und Tod des Cornets Christoph Rilke'

ornate cover of the first edition of The Cornet in the famous Insel-Bücherei

New pub alert:
I wrote about De Keersmaeker's staging of Rilke's The Cornet, including her engagement with its afterlife in World War II. About how her choreography explores its powerful imagery and form, and her evocation of the Nazi salute.

doi.org/10.3366/drs....

StPeter's College & Hertford College:one-year lectureship in German, from 1 October 2025, 6 hours teaching per week.
Apply by 21 May: www.spc.ox.ac.uk/about/vacanc... @ox.ac.uk @ags-gbi.bsky.social

Hannah Arendt: In Conversation with Thomas Meyer and Lyndsey Stonebridge
13 May 16:00
Tuesday 13th of May, 4.00pm, Christ Church Research Centre.
Join us for a discussion with two foremost scholars of Arendt’s life and work

Departmental Lecturer in German @ Exeter, Merton &Pembroke Colleges, £38,674 to £46,913. Fixed term, 01 September 2025-31 August 2026. Closing Date: 30 May
Further particulars:
my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DMZ880/d...

Sabbatical cover for Joanna Neilly: one-year lectureship St Peter’s College, @ox.ac.uk, in association with Hertford College.
Apply by Wednesday 21 May www.spc.ox.ac.uk/about/vacanc...

A post for up to two years as 'Lektor*in' (stipendiary lecturer in German language) @stjohnsox.bsky.social @queenscollegeox.bsky.social - contact Barry Murnane for more info; for the attention of @ags-gbi.bsky.social www.sjc.ox.ac.uk/discover/vac...

Her work centres on social & cultural histories of sixteenth & seventeenth century Germany; gender history; witchcraft; and the German Reformation.

Her most recent work 'Summer of Fire and Blood: The German Peasants' War' was published in 2025.
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🚨GHS CONFERNECE KEYNOTE REVEAL 🚨

The GHS Annual conference is fast approaching and we're happy to announce that Prof. Lyndal Roper FBA (@orieloxford.bsky.social) is our first keynote speaker!

Prof. Roper is Regius Chair in History, the first woman and first Australian to hold the position.
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🚨CFP: GHS Annual Conference🚨

The GHS are proud to share the call for papers for our upcoming conference at the University of Loughborough on the 4-6 September 2025
The deadline for applications is 19 April 2025.

For more info see: www.germanhistorysoc...

#GermanHistSoc2025

A welcome statement! Professor of German @tcddublin.bsky.social "reaffirming its commitment to the role of languages in the humanities and to the central role of the humanities in realizing the academic and societal goals of a 21st century university." my.corehr.com/pls/trrecrui...

Screenshot of a website describing a course in historical linguistics; image embedded showing the figure of Helmbrecht from the Ambraser Heldenbuch

Aus gegebenem Anlass: Lecture on Anatomy of Populism: A Critical Analysis of the AfD and Its Rhetoric by Henk de Berg
@sheffielduni.bsky.social for Historical Linguistics topic 'Language of Totalitarianism' @tayoxford.bsky.social, Room2, Fr 28 Feb, 2pm

The Taylor Institution Library's Voltaire room, with the sun streaming in through its south-facing windows. The walls are green with white trim, the curtains are yellow, and there is a classical art piece above a tall bookshelf. In the foreground are two large wooden tables with chairs and lamps with white pleated shades.

It's a new day at the Taylorian, and a new social media platform 🦋

What to expect?
The same content from our previous posts on other sites: Modern Languages events in Oxford, library updates, and top tips for using the Taylorian!

Let's chat! Let us know what you'd like to see on our feed 🌞

Research collaboration - The British Library The British Library offers opportunities for researchers to collaborate to create new knowledge, with a particular focus on the British Library’s collection, services and infrastructure.

Printed Heritage Collections @britishlibrary.bsky.social & Digital Research team are co-supervising a placement on Computational analysis of early printed book descriptions. For humanities people who want to learn about digital research tools. Deadline this Friday! www.bl.uk/more/researc...

This will be of interest for the newly created account of the Association of German Studies (AGS) @ags-gbi.bsky.social

Screen shot of the job advertisement, with the coat of arms of St Hilda's College at the top, two unicorns, three stars and a shell

Career Development Fellowship in German at St Hilda's College, @ox.ac.uk. Apply by 25 February 2025 www.st-hildas.ox.ac.uk/vacancies/ca...

Screenshot of a double-spread of the pdf of the introduction to the edition of Martin Luther's seminal 'On Christian Freedom', opened at a chapter explaining early modern German spelling, illustrated by a detail from the original pamphlet featuring a virgula and stops

Our edition of 'Von der Freiheit eines Christenmenschen' is now #openaccess available on google books thx to @emmahuber.bsky.social: books.google.co.uk/books?id=oIx... @oxfordgerman.bsky.social #Reformation #pamphlets #Christian #freedom