Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Drawing on data from the twenty year long German Socioeconomic Panel Study, we show that partisanship is bounded. Almost every West German, East German, and immigrant never supports one or both of the major parties and most people vary support for their party by claiming no partisan preference. Hardly anyone ever selects each of the parties at different points in time. Immediate social networks join with social class and religious factors to structure partisanship. The same social logic underpins partisan choice among West Germans, East Germans, and immigrants, though factors unique to each population are also present.

Publication Type: Session Presentation
Abstract: The case will be made for a Germanophone literature by presenting the writings of contemporary Turkish-German and Arab-German authors and discussing how some of these can be used in the German classroom. We will demonstrate a form of the Turkish- and Arab-German interaction within the context of a non-political and non-confrontational mode of co-existence.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Images of nations, however right or wrong they might be, seem to form, fundamentally, through a very complex communication process involving varied information sources. The process starts with one´s experience in very early life. Research has demonstrated that images of nations are very stable and resistant to change. The influence of schoolbooks in forming images of foreign nations and countries should not be underestimated. In the study about 40 schoolbooks (on religious education, geography, history and German language education) still in use have been analysed. In the textbooks India very often is compared with with China whereby the disadvantage is on India´s side. The main feature of India´s image is unbalanced development:On the one side there are incredibly rich people, on the other side so many people are living in absolute poverty. India is used as example for Third World problems like poverty, population explosion, child-labour and discrimination of women. In the textbooks on religion there is a partition in the good (Christians) on the one side and Hinduism on the other side. Only sometimes is India which seems to have no history introduced as a democracy. Proposals for the embetterment of the quality of textbooks are developed because schoolbooks in use today still present the very old stereotypes.

Publication Type: Session Presentation
Abstract: Concordia Language Villages has just released a new handbook for classroom teachers of German, featuring best practices from Waldsee, the German Language Village. The co-authors, each with extensive experience both at Waldsee and in the classroom, will engage participants in active, hands-on exploration of these classroom-oriented units.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Usually the afetr effects of the Holocaust on German-Jewish relationships after the Holocaust are discussed separately from the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. This paper (panel?) tries to discuss the tense triangle of Germans-Jews and Palestinians. The author provides some evidence from his research to present this tense triangle and to discuss the relevance of triangles in current conflicts, suggesting that there is a "hidden particpant" that should be discussed openly in order to understand the dynamic that nurtures them.