Abstract
This chapter looks at the process of merging literary research on the Romantic idea of symphilosophy with a pedagogical approach oriented toward classroom inclusivity that attends to the learning needs of all students regardless of their gender, age, race, disability, and sexual orientation through a peer-like environment including the instructor. The use of this core concept of the European literary tradition lends itself to a decolonialization of literature and language courses in conjunction with feminist ideas because they prioritized post-colonialism and postmodernism and brought into focus theories of intersectionality. I believe that German Romantic philosophy—with its openness to dialogue, emancipation of women, and acculturation of Jews in the Romantic salon—and its extension, the letter, are relevant to these pedagogical objectives regarding diversity and can be successfully applied in digital and social media projects. The Romantic salon can be then perceived as a decolonizing space albeit as a different type of decolonization.
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Notes
- 1.
I use the term “networking aesthetics” in a much broader way than Anne Fuchs, who coined the phrase “Vernetzungsästhetik,” in attempt to describe network analysis as an epistemological technique to access the minute details in W.G. Sebald’s work. Fuchs suggests that Sebald uses coincidence as an organizing principle for writing history against the grain in that he entwines old untold, personal stories and thus purposefully connects seemingly unrelated experiences and events to form an act of remembrance that counteracts the domineering logic of history.
- 2.
For various theoretical and practical approaches see Scott Denham, Irene Kacandes, and Jonathan Petropoulos, eds. (2000). A User’s Guide to German Cultural Studies.
- 3.
Since 1990 the consensus has been building that Early German Romanticism was not only a literary but also a philosophical movement, and a number of literary scholars (Paul de Man, Azade Seyhan, Alice Kuzniar, Phillipe Lacoue-Labarthe, Jean-Luc Nancy, Manfred Frank, and Isaiah Berlin) established that Early German Romanticism had affinities with postmodern concerns. See Frederick C. Beiser’s (2003). The Romantic Imperative: The Concept of Early German Romanticism.
- 4.
The current group on Facebook is called “Rethinking World Literature” and has over eleven thousand members who contribute on wide range of topics and discuss the newest trends in and approaches to literature in a way that is not Eurocentric, but rather encompasses truly all world literatures of many different epochs including also contemporary works.
- 5.
Kim, David D. Deutsch 170. Goethe und Weltliteratur (syllabus).
- 6.
Kim, David D. Deutsch 170. Goethe und Weltliteratur (syllabus).
- 7.
Renata Fuchs, German 158: Introduction to Study of German Literature and Culture (syllabus).
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Fuchs, R. (2020). Digital Media Network Projects: Classroom Inclusivity Through a Symphilosophical Approach. In: Criser, R., Malakaj, E. (eds) Diversity and Decolonization in German Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34342-2_12
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