Weimar Publics/Weimar Subjects

Kathleen Canning is Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of History, Women’s Studies, and German at the University of Michigan. She is the author of Languages of Labor and Gender: Female Factory Work in Germany, 1850-1914 (2nd ed., University of Michigan Press 2002) and Gender History in Practice: Historical Perspectives on Bodies, Class, and Citizenship (Cornell University Press 2006). She is currently a board member of Central European History and the Journal of Modern History.

"The interpretative and methodological pluralism, which is evident throughout [this volume]is a major strength, rendering the volume ideally suited for graduate courses in modern European and German history. By covering an extraordinary range of topics and analytical perspectives, the book opens up a fascinating panoramic view onto ‘the landscapes of ambition and hope, promise and disappointment that galvanized new publics during the Weimar era.’” · Journal of Modern History“…taken together [these articles] provide an excellent and stimulating introduction to current ways of thinking and writing about the Weimar Republic since the ‘cultural turn’. A common theme running through each contribution is the role of individual consciousness and its striving to be heard and expressed in an age when notions of community and collective struggle were also high up on the artistic and political agenda.“  ·  German History“These essays are interesting and useful for the material they present…the efforts it presents in rethinking the existing scholarship and adding new material has much to offer scholars of the Weimar era.”  ·  European History Quarterly

• List of IllustrationsPrefaceList of ContributorsIntroductionKathleen CanningPART I: DEFEAT AND THE LEGACY OF WARChapter 1. The Return of the Undead: Weimar Cinema and the Great WarAnton KaesChapter 2. The Work of Art and the Problem of Politics in Berlin DadaBrigid DohertyChapter 3. The Secret History of Photomontage: on the Origins of the Composite Form and the Weimar Photomontages of Marianne BrandtElizabeth OttoPART II: NEW CITIZENS/NEW SUBJECTIVITIESChapter 4. Mother, Citizens, and Consumers. Female Readers in Weimar GermanyKerstin BarndtChapter 5. Claiming Citizenship: Suffrage and Subjectivity in Germany after the First World WarKathleen CanningChapter 6. Feminist Politics beyond the Reichstag: A Radical Vision of Reform in the Weimar RepublicKristin McGuireChapter 7. Producing Jews: Maternity, Eugenics, and the Embodiment of the Jewish SubjectSharon GillermanPART III: SYMBOLS, RITUALS AND DISCOURSES OF DEMOCRACYChapter 8. Reforming the Reich: Democratic Symbols and Rituals in the Weimar RepublicManuela AchillesChapter 9. High Expectations – Deep Disappointment: Structures of the Public Perception of Politics in the Weimar RepublicThomas MergelChapter 10. Contested Narratives of the Weimar Republic: The Case of the "Kutisker-Barmat Scandal"Martin GeyerChapter 11. Political Violence, Contested Public Space, and Reasserted Masculinity in Weimar GermanyDirk SchumannPART IV: PUBLICS, PUBLICITY AND MASS CULTUREChapter 12.  “A Self-Representation of the Masses”: Siegfried Kracauer's Curious AmericanismMiriam HansenChapter 13. Neither Masses Nor Individuals. Representations of the Collective in Inter-War German CultureStefan JonssonChapter 14. Cultural Capital in Decline:Inflation and the Distress of IntellectualsBernd WiddigPART V: WEIMAR TOPOGRAPHIESChapter 15. Defining the Nation in Crisis: Citizenship Policy in the Early Weimar RepublicAnnemarie SammartinoChapter 16. Gender and Colonial Politics after the Versailles TreatyLora WildenthalChapter 17. The Economy of Experience in Weimar GermanyPeter FritzscheBibliographyIndex