Image: The Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities(CURO) recently had it's annual symposium on April 7th-8th. The purpose of this symposium is to "offer an opportunity for students to communicate their research to the broader community" under the guidance of faculty mentors. This year our department is proud to have been represented by students Sara Adkins and Olivia Hogan, who each presented on research that began in previously taken German courses. Sara Adkins, a German, Russian, and Spanish major under the guidance of Berna Gueneli, presented on her paper titled, "Post-Wall Russian-German Interventions in German Literature." To describe her research Adkins states, "This research project explored the literary movement that developed as a result of the third and fourth waves of Russian immigration to Germany. In addition to research of common themes and exceptional works of this movement, such as Olga Grjasnowa’s 2011 book All Russians Love Birch Trees, I also investigated perceptions of these Russian-German authors among Russian speakers." Oliva Hogan, a Psychology and German major under the guidance of Dr. Joshua Bousquette, presented on her paper titled, "The German Woman– a Fluid Definition." To describe her research Hogan states, "I used Etienne Balibar’s theory on national identity to argue that throughout history, German women’s primary identity has been their womanhood (due to inequality), disrupting the national identity or “German-ness” of the German women." Find more information about the Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities and their annual Symposium here.
