From Russia with German: Migration Experiences across Three Continents

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From Russia with German: Migration Experiences across Three Continents

Organizer
Antje Petty (Max Kade Institute for German American Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison)
Host
Max Kade Institute for German American Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison
Funded by
UW–Madison’s Center for European Studies; the Department of German, Nordic, Slavic+; and by the Friends of the Max Kade Institute, the UW–Madison Anonymous Fund
ZIP
-
Location
Madison, Wisconsin
Country
United States
Takes place
Hybrid
From - Until
19.09.2024 - 20.09.2024
By
Connections Redaktion, Leipzig Research Centre Global Dynamics, Universität Leipzig

The symposium will explore the migration history and the experiences of Russian Germans in the Americas, their evolving traditions, and identities, as well as their and their descendants’ attitudes toward their two ancestral homelands. Topics include: Russian Germans in the global context past and present; material culture, with a focus on textiles and vernacular architecture; language maintenance and change; and Mennonites, as an example of a faith-based subgroup.

From Russia with German: Migration Experiences across Three Continents

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, over 300,000 German speakers left the Russian Empire. Most settled in the Great Plains states and the Prairie Provinces of Canada, while a few thousand migrated to Brazil and other South American countries. Other Russian Germans followed during the Cold War years and after the fall of the Soviet Union, most by way of Germany. They all brought with them the distinct cultures, traditions, life experiences, and identities that they had forged in the isolated settings of the “German colonies” along the Volga River, the Black Sea, Volhynia, the Caucasus, and other places, colonies that had been established in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

The symposium will explore the migration history and the experiences of Russian Germans in the Americas, their evolving traditions, and identities, as well as their and their descendants’ attitudes toward their two ancestral homelands. Topics include: Russian Germans in the global context past and present; material culture, with a focus on textiles and vernacular architecture; language maintenance and change; and Mennonites, as an example of a faith-based subgroup.

The symposium is cosponsored by the UW–Madison’s Center for European Studies; the Department of German, Nordic, Slavic+; and by the Friends of the Max Kade Institute. It is made possible through the generous financial support of the UW–Madison Anonymous Fund and significant financial contributions by our cosponsors.

For online attendance, please pre-register here:
https://uwmadison.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_0EDs4FQFTf-ZT_P_IXDB7Q#/registration

Programm

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 19

Welcome
9:00 – 9:30 a.m.

Keynote
9:30 – 10:30 a.m.
Stefan Manz, Professor of Global History, Aston University, Birmingham, United
Kingdom: _In the fold of a “Greater German Empire”? ‘Russian Germans’ and
Diasporic Connectedness before 1914_

10:45 –11:45 a.m.
Eric J. Schmaltz, Professor of History, Northwestern Oklahoma State University, Alva:
_“Voices Crying Out in the Wilderness”: Germans from Russia Transnational Networks
across Eurasia and North America during the Soviet Dissident Period, 1972–1987_

LUNCH

1:00 – 2:00 p.m.
Peter Rosenberg, Senior Scholar of Linguistics, European University Viadrina,
Frankfurt (Oder), Germany: _A Brief Sociolinguistic History of Plautdietsch in the Altai
(Russia)_

2:15 – 3:15 p.m.
Göz Kaufmann, Adjunct Professor of German Linguistics, Albert Ludwig University
of Freiburg, Germany: _Russian Mennonites in North America: Three Countries – Three
Identities?_

3:30 – 4:30 p.m.
Aileen Friesen, Associate Professor of History, The University of Winnipeg: _When the
Russlaender met the Kanadier: Cultural Complexities of a Mennonite Reunion_

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 20

9:00 – 10:00 a.m.
Travis Olson, Ph.D. candidate in Art History, University of Wisconsin–Madison:
_“Making It” on the Edge of the Edge of the American West: The Prospective
Landscapes of German Russian Settlers in Southwestern North Dakota_

10:15 – 11:15 a.m.
Ann Braaten, Associate Professor [retired], School of Design, Art, and Architecture,
North Dakota State University: Ethnic Textiles and Clothing of the Germans from
Russia

11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Nancy Martin, Lecturer in Apparel Design, San Francisco State University: “A Stocky,
Almost Round, Appearance”: An Analysis of German Russian Women’s Dress from
1850 to 1900

LUNCH

1:30 – 2:30 p.m.
Claudia Maria Riehl, Professor of Germanic Linguistics, Ludwig Maximilian
University of Munich, Germany: _Being Volga German: Historical Background,
Sociolinguistic Development, and the Formation of Identity_

2:45 – 3:45 p.m.
Mark L. Louden, Professor of Germanic Linguistics, University of Wisconsin–
Madison: Germans from Russia and Diversity in German America

4:30 – 5:30 p.m.
Visit of Max Kade Institute Library and Archives

Contact (announcement)

Max Kade Institute for German American Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison: Antje Petty, Associate Director
apetty@wisc.edu

Editors Information
Published on
05.09.2024
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