Lecture "The Kracauer Project" Ethnography of a German Town in the Aftermath of 1989
Faculty of Humanities, Charles University cordially invites you to a lecture presented by Barbara Thériault (University of Montréal): “The Kracauer Project” Ethnography of a German Town in the Aftermath of 1989.
The lecture will bring together two research interests — contemporary Germany and sociological writing — within one concrete project: an ethnography of a midsized town in what was once the German Democratic Republic, written in the form of feuilletons. Feuilletons are brief texts combining sociology, literature, and reportage, inspired in this particular case by the writings of the journalist, novelist, sociologist, and film theorist Siegfried Kracauer. Portraying the daily life of the town’s inhabitants (be it through themes, artifacts, or places), the texts cast light on different aspects of the process of sociation 25 years after the fall of the wall. After introducing a Kracauerian perspective to sociology, one particular aspect will be presented in the feuilleton fashion: the strange presence of photos and the religious feel it conveys to the town and its people.
Barbara Thériault is a full professor of sociology at the Université of Montréal where she teaches and does research on German sociology. The writings of Max Weber, Georg Simmel, and Siegfried Kracauer constitute a starting point to her research projects.
The lecture is supported by FHS UK Progres Q20 "Culture and Society" programme.
