Masters Degrees (Modern Foreign Languages)

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Browsing Masters Degrees (Modern Foreign Languages) by browse.metadata.advisor "Altmayer, Claus"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    Homosexualität und die Frage der Zugehorigkeit am Beispiel von Lutz van Dijks Verdammt starke Liebe
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2019-04) Van Schalkwyk, Lorenzo; Von Maltzan, Carlotta; Altmayer, Claus; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Modern Foreign Languages.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This Master’s thesis investigates homosexuality and belonging (‚Zugehörigkeit’) in the novel Verdammt starke Liebe (1991) of West-Berlin born German author Lutz van Dijk. The novel portrays the charged relationship between these two concepts as a result of the oppressive politics exercised by the National Socialists during the Third Reich. With Altmayer’s concept of cultural studies regarding German as a foreign language, an attempt is made to not only render visible the categorial interpretive scheme known as homosexuality, but also to illuminate the injustices imposed upon homosexuals during the second world war. This thesis suggests that these injustices influenced homosexuals’ sense of belonging.
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    Race als Zugehörigkeitskonstrukt im DaF Kontext – Eine kritische Analyse am Beispiel von Friedrich Dürrenmatts Die Virusepidemie in Südafrika
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2019-04) Thamm, Eva; Von Maltzan, Carlotta; Altmayer, Claus; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Modern Foreign Languages.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Race as a construct of belonging in the context of German as a Foreign Language (GFL) –A critical analysis of Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s Die Virusepidemie in Südafrika This thesis discusses the cultural pattern of race as a construct of belonging within the short story Die Virusepidemie in Südafrika (The virus epidemic in South Africa) by Friedrich Dürrenmatt. The parabolic story tells ironically about a virus which turns all ‘white’ South Africans into ‘black’ South Africans during the Apartheid regime. Categories of ‘race’ are shown in the parable through a specific way of storytelling and by creating perspectives which prove that characters are ‘culturally’ conceptiualised and constructed. The story is playing with ideas of ‘belonging’ and ‘othering, by constantly offering stereotypes, which show that racism and the construct of ‘nation’ is still very much alive in Europe and South Africa. Based on postcolonial theories about ‘race’ and racism, this thesis analyses Dürrenmatt’s text with a special focus on how a problematic cultural pattern like ‘race’ needs to find more attention within the discussion of cultural studies in the field of German as a Foreign Language (GFL). Therefore, the medium of literature is discussed in particular, with respect to the cited example, as a possible transmitter for critical topics and global problems.
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    South African Space(s) and Belonging(s). A critical analysis of Max Annas’ thriller Die Mauer in consideration of teaching German as a Foreign Language (GFL) within South African Tertiary Education.
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2018-03) Crous, Mikhaila; Von Maltzan, Carlotta; Altmayer, Claus; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Department of Modern Foreign Languages
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT : South African Space(s) and Belonging(s). A critical analysis of Max Annas’ thriller Die Mauer in consideration of teaching German as a Foreign Language (GFL) within South African Tertiary Education. Aiming to address the relevance of GFL within South African Tertiary Education, the focus of the following thesis is South African space(s) and belonging(s) as portrayed in Annas’ prizewinning thriller Die Mauer (2017). The thriller follows the perspective of various actors from different walks of life and from different socio-economic and cultural backgrounds. They are all brought together within the context of a gated community in a suburb of East London. Using Lefebvres Theory on the Production of Space, the thesis explores spaces and belongings. “Social space works (along with its concept) as a tool for the analysis of society” (Lefebvre 1991:33-34), so too, Wagner-Egelhaaf (2015:18) believes literature to be a seismograph for society. The thriller creates a space to which the South African GFL-student can relate, because it addresses so many divergent South African conte(x/n)ts. This is supported by Sarah Nuttalls (2009:11) concept of entanglement in terms of which “identities, spaces, histories […] come together or find points of intersection in unexpected ways”. Regardless of where the reader (or GFL-student) feels that (s)he belongs, through the various cultural patterns (Deutungsmuster) identifiable within the book, trans-national discourses relevant to the South African and D-A-CH context can be opened. The thesis addresses the hypothesis that space constructs, constitutes and assigns belonging(s).
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    Umkampfte Begriffe in staatlichen Integrationskursen : zum Umgang mit migrationsgeschichtlichen »Erinnerungs(w)orten« in Lehrwerken fur Orientierungskurse
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2019-12) Krannich, Hans-Martin; Riedner, Renate Ursula; Altmayer, Claus; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Modern Foreign Languages.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The work analyses migration-historical representations on the subject of »guest workers« or labour migration respectively, in textbooks for public orientation courses with regard to their function in the construction and staging of Germany as an »immigrant country«. The departure point is the discourse-analytical research perspective, which is gaining importance within the context of textbook research in the cultural research section of German as a foreign and second language. Piere Nora’s concept of »places of remembrance«, as well as Jan and Aleida Assmann’s considerations on »cultural memory«, and the concept of migration pedagogy are essential (discourse) theoretical foundations of this work. These approaches are also reflected in different ways in current concepts of cultural research in the field of German as a foreign and second language; especially in the Deutungsmuster-approach and the concept of Didaktik der Literarizität, from which this work also takes theoretical and methodological inspirations. The method used for the investigation of migration history contents of textbooks in the mode of »places of remembrance« or »words of remembrance« (»Erinnerungsworte« Dobstadt 2015) is the thematic discourse analysis, a procedure for the qualitative content analysis of textbooks and school books. Consequently, the migration history contents of the textbooks are not regarded as 'neutral' or objective historical facts and truths. The aim is rather to work out their integration into the broader migration and immigration discourse and associated power structures, beyond the textbooks as such. The analysis shows that both the textbooks and the manuals for teachers attempt to present an image of a culturally diverse society shaped by (labour) migration. However, it becomes apparent that as possible co-constructors of a "collective identity" the corresponding immigrants are largely excluded from the »cultural memory« of the staged immigration society. Instead, the analyzed textbooks reproduce the image of the »guest workers« as »cultural foreigners« and codify their non-belonging to the supposedly autochthonous, culturally 'homogeneous' majority population. This does not only contradict the supposed aim of the textbooks to draw a picture of an open and diverse society, shaped by migration and immigration. It shows the general contradictions as well, that are inherent in »places of remembrance« and the migration discourse. And it also makes apparent the power structures connected to the discourse. Because most of the contradictory statements regarding the (non)belonging of (historical) immigrants to the »country of immigration« Germany remain implicit or are ignored within the textbook discourse, the corresponding content often leads to confusion rather than 'orientation', which is not picked up or resolved through corresponding exercises or contextualization.
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    Zu Lernmotivationen fur Deutsch im sudafrikanischen Kontext am Beispiel einer Fallstudie : Stellenbosch
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2019-04) Groenewald, Karin; Von Maltzan, Carlotta; Altmayer, Claus; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Modern Foreign Languages.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The following thesis focuses on the identification of tendencies in the motivation for learning German as a foreign language in South Africa, and the implicated power structures of these tendencies. Theories regarding the research on L2 motivation and postcolonial studies, in particular knowledge production and the discourse around decolonising the curriculum are therefore taken into account. The history and development of the subject and its curricula in South Africa are also shown. A case study is presented to support theoretical findings on the subject, which focuses on three high schools in Stellenbosch and third years and Honours students of Stellenbosch University. The results of this study have shown that the learning of German is seen as being beneficial to the future lives of its learners, unlocking career and study opportunities that would otherwise not have been possible. It has also shown that German as a European foreign language is regarded as having more practical value (value in use) than African languages spoken in South Africa. This perspective leads to the establishing of hierarchies between languages in South Africa. It is recommended that the teaching of German as a subject takes into account these power structures, in order to adjust itself in relation to the language politics in South Africa.