Modern Languages & Literatures

Beret Norman

beretnorman@boisestate.edu

Education

  • Ph.D. University of Massachusetts-Amherst – Germanic Languages & Literatures
  • M.A. University of Massachusetts-Amherst – Germanic Languages & Literatures
  • B.A. Augustana College, SD – magna cum laude English Literature/German Studies

Publications

Articles

  • Norman, Beret.”Carousel of Consumerism: Austrian Filmmaker Barbara Albert’s Critique of Contemporary Society in  Böse Zellen [Free Radicals].  Glossen. 32 (2011). <http://blogs.dickinson.edu/glossen/most-recent-issue-322011/beret-norman-glossen32/>
  • Norman, Beret.  “Social Alienation and Gendered Surveillance:  Julia Franck Observes Post-Wende Society.” German Literature in the Twenty-first Century: Trends, Traditions, Transformations, Transitions. Edited by Patricia Herminghouse & Katharina Gerstenberger.  NY: Berghahn Books, 2008. 237-252.
  • Norman, Beret. “The Politics of Austrian Hip-Hop:  HC Strache’s Xenophobia Gets Dissed.” Colloquia Germanica. Special Issue. Writing In/About Vienna.  39.2 (2006): 209-30.
  • Norman, Beret. “Ostalgie as Verfremdungseffekt in Neo Rauch’s Paintings.“ OssiWessi. Edited by Donald Backman and Aida Sakalauskaite. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2008. 75-88.
  • Norman, Beret.  “‘Avant-femme’ or Futuristic Frauen: Collaborative Art by Women in the German Democratic Republic.”  Holly Crawford, ed. Artistic Bedfellows. Histories, Theories and Conversations in Collaborative Art Practices. Lantham, MD: University Press of America, 2008. 76-91. (First published: AC:Collaborative.  Fall 2005. 15 November 2005.  <http://www.artcircles.org/id57.html>.)
  • Norman, Beret.  “Test the West: East German Performance Art Takes on Western Advertising.” Christoph Lorey and John L. Plews, Eds.  Spec. issue of Journal of Popular Culture. German Matters in Popular Culture. 34.3 (2000): 255-267.

Reviews

  • Rev. of Michaela Brinitzer and Verena Damm. Grammatik sehen: Arbeitsbuch für Deutsch als Fremdsprache. [Seeing Grammar: Workbook for German as a Foreign Language]. In Unterrichtspraxis. 44.1 (Spring 2011) 53-54.
  • Rev. of Friederike Gösweiner. Einsamkeit in der jungen deutschsprachigen Literatur der Gegenwart. [Loneliness in contemporary German-speaking Literature]. In Modern Austrian Literature. 44.3-4 (2011).
  • Rev. of Katja M. Guenther. Making Their Place. Feminism After Socialism in Eastern Germany. In German Studies Review. (Forthcoming 2011)
  • Rev. of Rudolf Habringer. Alles wird gut. Liebesgeschichten. [Everything Will Be Ok. Love Stories] In Modern Austrian Literature.  41.3 (2008). 119-121.
  • Rev. of Wlademar Zacharasiewicz. The Image of Germany in American Literature. In German Studies Review.  31.2 (2008) 444-445.

Grants

  • NEH Summer Institute.  “Melting Pot Vienna: Then and Now.” July 10-August 5, 2006.
    Diplomatic Academy, Vienna, Austria.   Four week seminar.
  • Fulbright German Studies Seminar.  “Current Trends in German Contemporary Literature.” June 8-25, 2005.  Berlin, Leipzig and Hamburg, Germany.  Three week seminar.

Major Research Fields

  • 21st century Literature and Film in Re-Unified Germany
  • Literature and Film of the German Democratic Republic (1949-1989)
  • 20th century German and Austrian Drama
  • 20th century German poetry:  Lasker-Schüler, Celan, Brecht

Courses Taught

Boise State University:

  • Intermediate German I and II
  • German Civilization and Culture
  • Introduction to German Literature
  • Survey of German Literature I and II
  • Advanced Conversation and Composition
  • Advanced Business German
  • The German-Speaking World Today
  • Special Topics: 20th Century German Drama
  • Special Topics: Marginal Voices in Contemporary German Literature
  • Special Topics: German Film
  • Approaches to Foreign Language Education

Professional Development

  • Loyola College Berlin Literature Seminar.  June 27-July 2, 2005.  Berlin, Germany.
  • Alle lernen Deutsch:  American Association of Teachers of German (AATG) Seminar on Diversity in the German Classroom.  July 15-18, 2004.  St. Paul, MN.

Selected Recent Academic Presentations

  • “Creating and Assessing Communicative Competence in the Classroom.” Idaho Association of Teachers of Language and Culture (IATL) / Idaho Association of Teacher’s of German (IATG), Caldwell, ID. Oct , 2011.
  • “Imagined Escape from the East: Antje Rávic Strubel’s Novel Tupelow 134.” Modern Language Association.  Los Angeles, CA.  Jan. 6-9, 2011.
  • “Comic Anecdotes of Failed GDR Indoctrination”.  German Studies Association. Oakland, CA.  Oct. 7-10, 2010.
  • “Using Graffiti to teach ‘culture’ and ‘Culture.’” Idaho Association of Teachers of Languages and Cultures (IATLC) / Idaho Association of Teachers of German (IATG). Boise, ID. Oct. 1-2, 2009.
  • “Travel and Narrative Presence/Absence in Novels by Antje Rávic Strubel.” Women In German Conference.  Snowbird, UT.  Oct. 23-26, 2008.
  • “Ambiguous Dis/appearances:  Narrative Presence and Absence in Recent Novels by Antje Rávic Strubel.”  German  Studies Association.  St. Paul, MN.  Oct 2-5, 2008.
  • “Life as a Consumer Carousel in Barbara Albert’s Böse Zellen (Free Radicals).”  Cinema and Social Change in Germany and Austria. (Conference) Waterloo Centre for German Studies. University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.  May 1-3, 2008.
  • “Performing Consumerism in Barbara Albert’s Film Böse Zellen (Free Radicals).”  Modern Austrian Literature and Culture (MALCA) Conference.  University of Washington, Seattle.  April 24-27, 2008.
  • “‘Hip Hop Gegen Rechts’: Austrian Rappers Wax Political Against HC Strache’s Xenophobia.”  Kentucky Foreign Language Conference.  University of Kentucky, Lexington.  April 19-22, 2007.
  • “Using HipHop Music in the High School Classroom.” Idaho Association of Teachers of Languages and Culture (IATLC) / Idaho Association of Teachers of German (IATG). Boise, ID.  Oct. 5-7, 2006.
  • “Ostalgie in Neo Rauch’s Paintings.”  14th Annual Interdisciplinary German Studies Conference at the University of California, Berkeley.  March 2006.