3. MIGRATION LITERATURE – SOCIAL, LITERARY AND EDUCATIONAL ASPECTS
3.4 Educational aspects
3.4.1 Intercultural German Studies
Intercultural literature is able to take the reader beyond the constraints of the self by introducing new horizons in form and content. I believe, with many others, that this literature is not only an important part of German literature but also valuable literature in its own right, and that it has great educational value within Germany as well as elsewhere.
repatriates as part of teaching and research: “Allein von Seiten der Interkulturellen Germanistik (Wierlacher 1985) wurde kein Interesse geäußert, obwohl sie doch mit Hilfe der deutschen Spache interkulturelle Kontexte erzeugt.“ (Chiellino 2000b: 387) There are various reasons for the lack of interest in migration literature displayed by literary criticism. Laudenberg (2004) notes for example, that literary criticism as well as publishing houses show a pronounced lack of interest in poetry written by foreigners and that, as a result, not many foreign authors are represented in poetic anthologies of the 1990‟s. She explains that previous trends in poetic writing such as Critical Poetry, New Subjectivity and Concrete Poetry have been reviewed extensively, and literary criticism therefore has little interest in pursuing similar trends in the writings of immigrant poets. She further notes that German Studies or Germanistik in Germany displays a general lack of interest in autobiographic literature and workers‟ literature:
Kritische Gedichte war man seit Enzensberger, Fried u.v.a. gewohnt; auch die Darstellung des Alltäglichen und eine starke, fast autobiographische Ich- Bezogenheit hatten mit der sog. Neuen Subjektivität ebenso schon ihre Blütezeit gehabt wie die Sprachspiele der Konkreten Poesie. Zudem zeigt die (Inlands)- Germanistik weder für Arbeiterliteratur noch für autobiographische Literatur ein großes Interesse. (Laudenberg 2004: 145)
Chiellino (2000b) also notes that the literary reception benefited mainly the host society, as it was regarded as improving understanding of the self or as providing diversion from a monocultural environment through exotic fairy tales. (Chiellino 2000b: 390) Whether this was a result of post-modern selfishness (see chapter two) or scientific arrogance makes no difference; the fact remains that this literature was not taken seriously. Ören (1986) pointed out that both progressive and conservative forces in literary criticism created cultural ghettoes for foreign authors, either by negating the possibility of development through symbiosis, or by protecting exoticism from being assimilated into the German culture:
Während die Konservativen uns in unser kulturelles Getto einsprerren, indem sie die mitgebrachte Kultur so konservieren, wie sie ist, und eine Entwicklung und Symbiose negieren, versuchen die Progressiven – und das klingt absurd –
uns wiederum in dasselbe Getto zu treiben, weil sie sich, begeistert von der Originalität und Exotik unserer Kultur, so sehr für sie einsetzen, daß sie sogar befürchten, sie könnte in der deutschen Kultur untergehen. Dies ist ein großes Hindernis bei unserem Versuch, den Einfluß, den die Umwelt auf uns ausübt, umzuwandeln in einen Einfluß, den wir auf sie ausüben. (Ören 1986: 92)
We recall that IG scholars controversially employed the concept of distance hermeneutics in an attempt to avoid the assumption of a common humanity and a brand of universalism that was interpreted as assimilation and appropriation of the other: “In der Betonung der Differenz zu dem anderen, Fremden, der Störfaktoren des fremdkulturellen Textes verhindert sie, das Fremde aus der eigenen Perspektive zu vereinnahmen, es vorschnell zu assimilieren.” (von Nayhauss 2004: 74) As indicated earlier in the context of postcolonial criticism, fear of appropriation is based on deeply conservative politics of cultural difference and should not be confused with the attempt to understand literature. Keeping strangeness at bay ties in with an ethnically reduced perspective and a determination to relegate a discussion of intercultural literature to the sidelines of literary discourse. Rösch (1992) criticized the IG approach as introducing strange cultures with a focus on avoiding disturbances:
“Denn die „Interkulturelle Germanistik“ bleibt fixiert auf ihren traditionellen Forschungsgegenstand und bemüht sich um seine störungsfreie Vermittlung in fremde Kulturräume.” (Rösch 1992: 69) A case in point is the 1998 anthology Fremdgänge compiled by Wierlacher and Albrecht. It contains texts on xenology by German authors and scholars. The xenogamic approach presented here is characterized by writing about strangers; in the context of this study, this approach does not represent intercultural literature.
Distance hermeneutics is focused on avoiding disturbances. It is a conservative approach often disguised as liberalism. Apart from protecting the self from the threat of the unknown, it does not want to confront possibly disturbing truths about what is really alien or familiar to an individual. Referring to Sigmund Freud, Bronfen (1997) describes the alien as inherent in the familiar:
Man erinnere sich daran, daß Freud den Begriff des Unheimlichen benutzt, um auf jene Differenz zu kommen, die dem Heimeligen schon immer innewohnt.
Er nennt jenen Augenblick unheimlich, wo das Fremde und das Eigene in dem Sinne kollabieren, daß das Fremde sich als Wiederkehr des immer schon Dagewesenen entpuppt. (Bronfen 1997: 276)
The psychological approach of a common humanity thus includes the idea that the alien is contained in every individual. When it reveals itself as part of our own selves, it may be a terrifying experience. It may also be a pleasant one, as we discover hitherto unknown abilities we share with people we thought were strangers, e.g. a new understanding of situations from another perspective. Experiencing strange worlds in this way may allow us to encounter previously unknown horizons outside, as well as within ourselves.
Pugliese (2006) reminds us that all human relationships are characterised by distance and closeness, including those between the stranger and society. She notes that both concepts are not to be regarded as opposing forces in a relationship but as aspects of movement towards (social) transformation. (Pugliese 2006: 36) Intercultural engagement therefore also means that decisions regarding distance and closeness must be made.