cross-posted from: H-NET List on German History <H-GERMAN@H-NET.MSU.EDU>

"The First Women's Movement: Concepts and Conflicts in German Literature and Culture"

Conference at Ohio State University, May 9 - 10, 1997

Sponsors: The College of Humanities and The Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures, Ohio State University; DAAD - German Academic Exchange Service.

The First Women's Movement hotly debated what was called at the time: Die Frauenfrage (the woman's question), the role of women in society. Women's education, professional training, and women's work were as controversial as were issues of women's health, morality, role in public life, and women's rights. How did this debate and the political and social activities of participants in the women's movement influence the formation of middle class ideology? How did male and female educators, intellectuals, and writers react to or mirror aspects of this movement? How did women authors like Fanny Lewald, Luise Otto-Peters, Luise Muehlbach, Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach, Gabriele Reuter, or Ricarda Huch reinvent their heroines within or against dominant literary (and social) conventions? How were the key issues of education, women's work, and women's suffrage discussed in contemporary texts? Which new myths were formed, which old ones were revived - and what remains?

Lectures and discussions will address these and related questions which arose from Die Frauenfrage in German literature and culture, 1848 - 1914.

Program:

May 9, Grand Lounge, Faculty Club, Ohio State University, 181 Oval Drive

7:00 pm Welcome: Dean Kermit Hall, College of Humanities Bernd Fischer, Chair, Department Germanic Languages and Literatures

Opening Lecture, Robert C. Holub (University of California, Berkeley), "The Academic Woman" Reception

Saturday, May 10, Mershon Center, 1501 Neil Avenue

• 8:30-9:00am Coffee and Donuts
• 9:00-10:15am Moderator: Dagmar Lorenz
  • Karin Wurst (Michigan State University) "Foremothers of the First Women's Movement"
  • Sara Friedrichsmeyer (University of Cincinnati) "Historical Framings: From Luise Mue1hlbach to Louise Aston"
• 10:15-10:45 Coffee break
• 10:45-12:30 Moderator: Barbara Becker-Cantarino
  • Ruth-Ellen B. Joeres (University of Minnesota) "The Authority of Representation: Class , Gender, Technology, and the Conflicts of Change"
  • Volker Berghahn (Brown University) "Women, Workers, and Other Germans in the Nineteenth Century"
• 12:30-2:15 Lunch break
• 2:15-3:30pm Moderator: Helen Fehervary
  • Elke Frederiksen (University of Maryland) "The Frauenfrage' and Beyond:Concepts of Gender, Class and Nation in Gabriele Reuter's Early Writings"
  • Carol Prigan (Ohio State University) "Rosa Luxemburg, Marxism, and Feminism"
• 3:30-4:00pm Coffee break
• 4:00-5:15pm OSU Graduate Student Research Forum, Moderator: Elisabeth Stettler
  • Esther Riehl, "Motherhood and Morality in Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach's Bozena (1876)"
  • Stephanie Libbon, "The Vengeful Woman"
  • Elizabeth Loentz, "Women and Prostitution in Bertha Pappenheim's Kaempfe(1916)"
• 5:15 Closing Remarks
• 6:30pm Buffet/informal dinner for speakers and registered participants (home of B. Becker-Cantarino)

Location and Parking

Events take place on May 9 in the Faculty Club, 181 South Oval Drive, and on May 10 in the Mershon Center, 1501 Neil Avenue. Public parking is available in OSU parking lots close to both locations.

The registration fee is $20 ($5 for students), which includes conference materials, refreshment breaks, a reception on Friday evening after the keynote, and a buffet dinner on Saturday.

For program information, contact:

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