From a Japanese American Literature Class at a German University

Sept. 22, 2010 - Nov. 10, 2010

This series of articles come from a Japanese American Literature class in Germany. Bettina Hofmann teaches American Studies at the University of Wuppertal, Germany and contacted Discover Nikkei about her class. She asked her students to write their response to the course - to be published on Discover Nikkei.

Stories from this series

Fascination Anime - One Piece & Eiichiro Oda

Sept. 29, 2010 • Lütfiye Bagci

During this summer term I attended a course called “Japanese Americans” at the University of Wuppertal, Germany. We learned a lot about the history, life and culture of Japanese people living in America. Therefore our instructor encouraged us to contribute to discovernikkei.org. So I chose to write something about my most favorite topic: Anime. I still remember the time when my siblings and I used to wake up at 6 a.m. to watch anime before we had to go either …

animation anime Germany graphic novels manga University of Wuppertal

Living and loving two cultures

Sept. 23, 2010 • Christiane Gross

This semester I attended a course called Japanese Americans at the University of Wuppertal. At the beginning of the semester I had no previous knowledge concerning the topic, but as it was declared to be a cultural studies course within our literary studies program, I thought it would be very interesting to get to know a totally new culture. During the semester we got to know a lot about the history and the living conditions of Japanese living in America. …

A Daughter of the Samurai (book) Etsu Sugimoto Germany literature University of Wuppertal

Teaching Japanese American Literature at a German University

Sept. 22, 2010 • Bettina Hofmann

I teach American Studies at the University of Wuppertal. Our school is located in a post-industrial area near Cologne, Germany, and many of our students aspire to become English teachers. One topic about American culture and society which proves particularly interesting to my students is ethnicity. This has become an especially important topic in our society which for a long time claimed to be mono-ethnic and denied different ethnic diversity of its own citizens. In the summer term of 2010 …

diversity education ethnic diversity Germany Japanese American literature literature multiculturalism University of Wuppertal

Authors in This Series

Lütfiye Bagci

Lütfiye Bagci was born in 1988 in Germany. She is a third generation descendant of a Turkish family living in Germany. She has been studying English and history at the University of Wuppertal since 2007. She is interested in different cultures and art, especially Asian.

Updated August 2010

Bettina-Jeannette Bierwirth

Bettina-Jeannette Bierwirth lives in Duisburg, Germany where she was born in 1987. In 2007 she started English and media design studies at the University of Wuppertal. She has been studying Japanese as a third language in her free time for a couple of years.

Updated August 2010

Christiane Gross

Christiane Gross was born in Germany in 1984. She has been studying English and American studies and educational science at the University of Wuppertal for almost three years.　

Updated August 2010

Bettina Hofmann

Bettina Hofmann teaches American Studies at the University of Wuppertal, Germany. She is particularly interested in ethnic literatures and war literature. At the moment she is working on early twentieth-century Japanese American women writers.

She has published on North American Jewish writers such as Michael Gold and David Bezmozgis. Her most recent publication is on the Chinese American author Ha Jin (“Ha Jin’s A Free Life: Revisiting the Kuenstlerroman.” Moving Migration: Narrative Transformations in Asian American Literature. Ed. Johanna C. Kardux and Doris Einsiedel. Berlin: Lit Verlag, 2010. 199-212.)

Updated August 2010

Bjoern Koeller

Bjoern Koeller lives in Wuppertal and is studying English and American Studies, Protestant Theology and Singing at the University of Wuppertal and Conservatory of Cologne/Wuppertal. He came into touch with the topic of Japanese Americans in the seminar with Dr. Bettina Hofmann. In his free time he enjoys playing waterpolo and going to the opera.

Updated October 2010

Latifa Maazouz

Latifa Maazouz was born in Germany, in 1987. She studies English and Romance languages and literature at the University of Wuppertal. Besides languages and writing, she is also interested in learning more about different cultures and history of various countries.

Updated October 2010

Lara Mylord

Lara Mylord was born in Germany in February 1987. She has been studying English and French at the University of Wuppertal for three and a half years now. She took this year’s course on “Japanese Americans” which she attended with great interest.

Updated October 2010

Julia Schulte

Julia Schulte was born in Germany in September, 1987. She has been studying English and American Studies as well as religious education at the University of Wuppertal for two and a half years in order to become a teacher for grammar schools. According to her literary studies course programme, she took this year´s course on “Japanese Americans” by Dr. Bettina Hofmann. In her free time, she works as a volunteer fire fighter in her community, and organizes and teaches the youth section there.

Updated October 2010

Anna Katharina Schulz

Anna Katharina Schulz was born in Mönchengladbach, Germany, on September 22, 1986. She is studying German and English languages and literature at the University of Wuppertal. SHe is very interested in reading books about other countries, cultures and traditions.

Updated October 2010