2019-2020
11/15. A Conversation about Rap across Cultures.
The Russian, German, Spanish and Arabic clusters of Global House will hold a discussion event about hip-hop and rap across different cultures. Each language cluster will show 1 minute of 1 or 2 music videos of their choosing. The audience will try to guess what the video is about, followed by the cluster whose video it is revealing the meaning of the song and talking a little bit about the artist. These videos will serve as the base of our discussion questions.
This event aims to expand students’ comprehension of foreign cultures, as well as cultures related to their clusters. In the activity, they will compare and contrast hop-hop music in different cultures, thus engaging in cultural comparison and multicultural communication.
11/17. Conflict in Music.
Explore the repercussions of conflict through song. Through Latin, English, Indonesian, German, Hebrew, and Zulu lyrics, we peer into human’s varied reaction to struggle. Both cultural and compositional conflicts will be highlighted, showcasing soloists from the school of music and singers from across campus in Boston University’s Symphonic Chorus. Repertoire includes Mozart’s rarely heard Misericordias Domini, Holst’s Choral Hymns from the Rig Veda, Vivaldi’s Lauda Jerusalem, and excerpts from William Schuman’s Carols of Death. Come early to reserve your seat for a 7:30pm pre-concert lecture by Dr. Mariah Wilson, and join us at 8pm for an unforgettable evening of song, energy, and contemplation.
11/17 (Sun) BU Symphonic Choir Concert <Culture Pass>
We are singing in German, Hebrew, Latin, Indonesian, and other languages.
2018-2019
9/28 Let’s Eat: Germany
Senior Lecturer Susanne Werk led a cooking workshop at the Global House where students learned to make homemade Maultaschen (Swabian ravioli) and Kässpätzle (German pasta with cheese).
10/3 Kaffeestunde
While enjoying coffee and Frau Friedman’s famous raspberry cake, students played games, worked on puzzles and met with representatives from Study Abroad Dresden.
11/5 Kaffeestunde
This year marked the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Students created their own “Berlin wall graffiti” and learned more about the reunification.
11/9 Movie Viewing, Currywurst
In collaboration with the Global House, Prof. Werks LG 308 “Food Culture in German-Speaking Countries” class organized a movie showing of “Die Entdeckung der Currywurst” with Currywurst tasting.
12/5 Weihnachtsfeier
Students enjoyed seasonal treats such Stollen and Lebkuchen, and got crafty making snowflakes and stars.
2017-2018
Kaffeestunde
occurs on multiple dates throughout the year
4/13. Big Fat Books Symposium: Faust.
Click here to the view the conference page.
ON SELLING ONE’S SOUL, a day of cross-disciplinary conversation on the vicissitudes of the Faust legend and the third in the Department of World Languages & Literatures’ BIG FAT BOOKS series on major works of world literature.
2016-2017
10/2 Fukushima, Mon Amour, German Film Screening at Coolidge Corner Theater.
Marie, a young woman from Germany, travels to Fukushima shortly after the earthquake and tsunami and the resulting nuclear meltdown to escape her own heartbreak. She joins the organization “Clowns4Help” to cheer up the elderly refugees living in makeshift pre-fabricated housing – the young have already left for the cities.
While attempting to bring a little joy into people’s lives with a humorous stage routine, Marie realizes that her comic talents are actually quite limited. But instead of returning home, she seeks the company of aging Geisha Satomi, who is determined to return to her devastated home in the restricted fallout zone. Slowly getting to know each other, the two women eventually learn that they share similar fears and worries.
In German with English subtitles
For more information, please click here.
10/15 Uwe Timm: In my Brother's Shadow Reading and Discussion, Goethe Institute.
Uwe Timm is one of the most successful contemporary authors in Germany, having published more than 20 books. Six are available in English translation, among them The Invention of Curried Sausage (Die Entdeckung der Currywurst) and In My Brother’s Shadow (Am Beispiel meines Bruders), in which he approached his relationship with his father and brother. Uwe Timm was the youngest son in his family. His brother, 16 years his senior, was a soldier in the Waffen SS and died in Ukraine in 1943.
This autobiographical novel is the point of departure for a conversation with Sabine von Mering, Professor of German and Director of Center for German and European Studies, Brandeis University, about Germany’s past in the present.
https://www.goethe.de/ins/us/en/sta/bos/ver.cfm?fuseaction=events.detail&event_id=20804493
10/18 The German Energiewide to Renewables with Craig Morris, Brandeis University.
While politicians in the US are still debating whether climate change is actually happening, German citizens convinced their politicians to pass laws that would allow them to make their own energy even when it hurt utility companies to do so. From the origins of the Energiewende movement to the shut down of nuclear power plants Germany has witnessed a dramatic increase in people power: Community control over solar and wind farms, efficiency, local heat supply, walkable cities…In their new book about this “power shift”, Craig Morris and Arne Jungjohann explain what made it possible.
Born in the United States, Craig Morris has been living in Germany since 1992. In 2002, he founded Petite Planète, a translation and documentation service focusing on IT and renewables. He is the author of the book Energy Switch (2006) along with numerous articles in both English and German on energy technologies and policies. He writes every workday at Renewables International – and he is a frequent contributor to the Energiewende Blog. He is the co-author (with Arne Jungjohann) of Energy Democracy: Germany’s Energiewende to Renewables (2016).
http://www.brandeis.edu/events/#/?i=1
occurs on multiple dates throughout the year
