Press releases of Europa-Universität Flensburg (EUF)

Dissolution of the "National Literatures" Model

A three-day conference at Europa-Universität Flensburg deals with transnational and intercultural literary studies and didactics.

As classics of German, Turkish and Russian national literatures, Goethe's "Faust", Adıvar's "Sinekli Bakkal" and Pushkin's "Evgeny Onegin" are compulsory school reading.

"This long-established model of 'national literatures', which is still carried forward in many teaching scenarios, is increasingly being called into question against the backdrop of global and postcolonial literatures," explains Dr. Isabelle Leitloff, coordinator of the project "Internationalization of Teacher Education @ home: Intercultural Literature as a Module." Within the framework of this project, the scientists Bockmann, Brink, Leitloff and Patrut from the subjects German and Romance Studies at the European University Flensburg are developing a model module on literature and interculturality. Its goal is the internationalization of teacher training @home with the help of literary texts and changes in perspective through transnational seminars.

Digital transnational seminars in a team-teaching format

Germany's future teachers work in an increasingly globalized environment. To teach well in diverse, pluricultural, and multilingual classrooms, they need international experience and intercultural competencies. Literary texts with intercultural potential from the Middle Ages to the present are studied as reflectors of societal negotiation of political and discursive boundaries as well as related power issues; taken in this way, they are suitable as a basis for blended learning teaching modules that are used at different universities in an international context. "To this end, transnational seminars in a team-teaching format have been taking place at the EUF for several years, bringing together students from Germany with students from Romania, France, and Brazil (and, before the war, Russia) in the digital space," Leitloff outlines.

Conference on digital and cultural change in literary studies and didactics


From September 8-10, the conference "Transnational and Intercultural Literary Studies and Didactics. Conceptual and Digital Transformations "at the European University of Flensburg will deal with this change in literary studies and literary didactics in the context of university education, a change that breaks with the model of "national literatures". Digitization acceleration - also due to the Corona pandemic - has intensified this change.Issues of interculturality and internationality in teacher education.

Issues of interculturality and internationality in teacher education

In the context of this intercultural, global, and digital transformation, the conference asks questions such as: What innovations in the field of literary studies and literary didactics have emerged as a result of the conceptual and digital transformation processes? How are philologies - namely literary studies - and thus also the educational profile of prospective teachers changing? In which direction can this change be further conceptualized? Which teaching formats, teaching modules and projects have developed in university contexts? Which ones will endure and be conceptually transformed in the future? Are there specific strategies that enable international encounters and intercultural exchange in teaching and research, despite limited mobility and economic resources? How can interculturality and internationalization in teacher education be shaped for the future in light of these processes?

The conference will take place in y hybrid format. Talks will be given in German, English and French.

View the conference program