Gastvortr?ge
Gastvortrag: Coastal Futures - Water, Communities, Imaginaries
von Claire Waffel, Bauhaus-Universit?t Weimar
Friday, 20 June 2025
10:15-11:45, GW2 B1630, University of Bremen
Organized by Dr. Paula von Gleich as part of the MA English-Speaking Cultures seminar "Water and/in Cultural Theory."
In the context of a growing water crisis, this presentation focuses on a Welsh village predicted to be lost to rising seas in the near future. In contrast to common perceptions of the coastline as a fixed boundary disconnected from temporal change (Bezan & Neimanis, 2022), this presentation will examine the coastal zone through the concept of “thick time” (Neimanis & Walker, 2014), where past and future narratives illuminate the fluidity of water-land boundaries. Engaging in a performative walk along the village’s sea defences, architectural remnants become juxtaposed with future predictions and imaginaries. The presentation will take a multidisciplinary approach, incorporating video and photography. The aim is to create an embodied and situated visual narrative that brings a wider range of future possibilities to the fore.
Claire Waffel is an artist and Scientific Associate at the professorship of Arts and Research at the Bauhaus-Universit?t in Weimar, where she is currently pursuing a practice-based Ph.D. She works with lens-based media and speculative storying in order to produce situated, embodied and place-based accounts of climate change. Through compiling different methodologies into a visual language, her work aims to reveal relationships between communities, climate change and futures. Her research is situated at the intersection of artistic research, environmental humanities, STS and new materialism. She has previously exhibited her work among others at Maxim Gorki Theater, Berlin, Kunsthaus Dresden, Wilhelm Wagenfeld Haus, Bremen as well as MWW Wroclaw Contemporary Museum and been invited on different artists residencies internationally by the Goethe-Institut.
Lecture series “Ways of Water: Aquatic Poetics and Politics in North American Literatures” Summer Term 2024
organisiert von Caroline Rosenthal und Kerstin Knopf
with contributions by Jessa Calderon, Caroline Rosenthal, Keyvan Allahyari, Carolin Grzenia, Florian Wagner, Andrin Albrecht, Kylie Crane, Steve Mentz, Amanda Halter, Alexandra Ganser, Mita Bannerjee, Ruth Gehrmann, and Hanna Masslich.
- Hanna Masslich (University of Jena). “Water(y) Matter(s): Water’s Materiality in Contemporary Theory and Fiction,” lecture series “Ways of Water: Aquatic Poetics and Politics in North American Literatures,” University of Bremen, 3 July 2024.
- Mita Bannerjee and Ruth Gehrmann (University of Mainz). “‘Waves of Knowing’: Gender and Oceanic Landscapes in US American Literature,” lecture series “Ways of Water: Aquatic Poetics and Politics in North American Literatures,” University of Bremen, 26 June 2024.
- Alexandra Ganser (University of Wien). “Maritime Flight in Contemporary Refugee Novels from the US and Canada,” lecture series “Ways of Water: Aquatic Poetics and Politics in North American Literatures,” University of Bremen, 19 June 2024.
- Amanda Halter (University of Jena). “Drawing #WaterBack in Indigenous Picturebooks,” lecture series “Ways of Water: Aquatic Poetics and Politics in North American Literatures,” University of Bremen, 12 June 2024.
- Steve Mentz (St. John’s University, New York). “Paradigms of the Blue Humanities: Submersion, Buoyancy, Form,” lecture series “Ways of Water: Aquatic Poetics and Politics in North American Literatures,” University of Bremen, 5 June 2024.
- Kylie Crane (University of Rostock). “Wetland Murders and other Troubles in Selected Crime Novels by Attica Locke,” lecture series “Ways of Water: Aquatic Poetics and Politics in North American Literatures,” University of Bremen, 29 May 2024.
- Andrin Albrecht (University of Jena). “White Whales, White Pools: An Aquatic Crossmapping of Emma Cline’s The Guest (2023) and Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick (1851),” lecture series “Ways of Water: Aquatic Poetics and Politics in North American Literatures,” University of Bremen, 22 May 2024.
- Florian Wagner (University of Würzburg). “Oceanic Routes and Roots: Tidalectics, Archipelagic Thinking and the Materiality of Water in the Poetry of Kaie Kellough and Junie Désil,” lecture series “Ways of Water: Aquatic Poetics and Politics in North American Literatures,” University of Bremen, 15 May 2024.
- Carolin Grzenia (University of Jena). “Grieving Glaciers: Ice, Loss, and Literature,” lecture series “Ways of Water: Aquatic Poetics and Politics in North American Literatures,” University of Bremen, 8 May 2024.
- Keyvan Allahyari (University of Oslo). “Water and the Survivalist Imagination,” lecture series “Ways of Water: Aquatic Poetics and Politics in North American Literatures,” University of Bremen, 17 April 2024.
- Caroline Rosenthal (University of Jena). “Rivers and Rivering in North American Literature,” lecture series “Ways of Water: Aquatic Poetics and Politics in North American Literatures,” University of Bremen, 10 April 2024.
- Jessa Calderon (artist of the Chumash and Tongva Nations, Southern CA). “The Spirit of Water,” lecture series “Ways of Water: Aquatic Poetics and Politics in North American Literatures,” University of Bremen, 3 April 2024.
Samoa – “Jewel of Germany’s Pacific?”
Gastvortrag von Tony Brunt (Auckland) und Dr. Nicole Perry (U Auckland)
On 27 June, 2024, 12-14 hours, we will have our INPUTS lecture Bremer Denkanst?sse with Tony Brunt (Auckland) and Dr. Nicole Perry (U Auckland) on German colonialism in Samoa: Samoa – “Jewel of Germany’s Pacific?”. The lecture is in English. All are welcome.
INPUTS Writer-in-Residence
Anthony Brunt (Samoa, New Zealand)
In the summer semester of 2024, NZ/Samoan historian Anthony Brunt will be a guest at the University of Bremen for two months as an INPUTS writer-in-residence (13 May – 7 July 2024). Tony Brunt is a historian and photo historian specialising in colonial era photography from the South Pacific, especially from the former German colony of Samoa. For many years he has researched and archived images from private collections and moved them into public access and visibility. Tony Brunt has been a consultant and volunteer photo archivist to the Museum of Samoa since 2012 and created the museum’s long-running online photo exhibition on the German colonial period “To Walk Under Palm Trees”, which ran from 2013 - 2019 and featured over 400 images from private collections. He has spearheaded the museum’s public outreach through social media in relation to historical photography. He has written two illustrated books on early Samoa, including a 2020 study of the recently discovered Karl Hanssen Album of historical photography.
During his stay Anthony Brunt will engage in the following activities:
- co-teach the course “German Colonialism in the Pacific” (with Kerstin Knopf, Wednesdays, 16-18 hours);
- give the lecture “The Legacy of Scientist Otto Tetens: German Samoa’s most important documentarian photographer” within the framework of the exhibition and lecture series “Points of View” (Wednesday 15 May, 18-20 hours, Hafenmuseum, Am Speicher XI 1, Bremen);
- engage in cooperative research at the Deutsches Schifffahrtsmuseum, incl. Panel Discussion “Traces of Samoan Colonial Past in the Collections of the German Maritime Museum”, Monday 3 June, 16-18 hours, Research Depository, with online access;
- give INPUTS Bremer Denkanst?sse lecture (with Dr. Nicole Perry, U Auckland) “Samoa – Jewel of Germany’s Pacific?” (Thursday 27 June, 12-14 hours, MZH 1460).
Organisation: Kerstin Knopf
Everybody is welcome to single classes, lectures and panel discussion.
Points of View: The Legacy of Scientist Otto Tetens (Das Erbe von Wissenschaftler Otto Tetens)
Mai 15, 2024, Hafenmuseum Bremen
The Legacy of Scientist Otto Tetens: German Samoa’s most important documentarian photographer
Lecture by Anthony Brunt (Samoa/New Zealand), in English
There were three commercial photographers operating in Samoa during the German colonial period and also a number of amateur photographers among the settler community. Arguably, none can match the body of work of Otto Tetens, the astronomer who came to Apia in 1902 and spent several years setting up the Samoa geophysical observatory at Mulinu'u. His collection, most of it unrelated to his scientific endeavours, reflects a bold, even adventurous intrusion into Samoan and settler life to get the shots he wanted, clearly driven by a wide-eyed curiosity and fascination with his exotic new home in the South Seas. Photo historian Tony Brunt examines Tetens' large collection - much of it still unseen and held privately in Germany - and mines it for its enduring historical and cultural insights.
In the context of the exhibition Pointsof View_ Artistic and Scientific Perspectives on German Colonial History in the Western pacific (April 14 - August 18, 2024)
Tickets: 8 � / 6 �
HAFENMUSEUM BREMEN
Am Speicher XI 1 // 28217 Bremen
“Summer School: Blue Humanities,” Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg, Delmenhorst, 3-7 June 2024
organisiert von Norbert Schaffeld, Keir Waddington, und Martin Willis
with contributions by Martin Willis, Keir Waddington, Steve Mentz, Owain Lawson, Stewart Mottram, and Jennifer Henke.
- Jennifer Henke (University of Bremen). “Workshop: Academic Careers,” Blue Humanities Summer School, Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg, Delmenhorst, 5 June 2024.
- Martin Willis and Keir Waddington (Cardiff University). “Getting Published,” Blue Humanities Summer School, Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg, Delmenhorst, 5 June 2024.
- Owain Lawson (Cardiff University). “Rivers in the Web of Life, Blue Humanities at the Land-Water Nexus,” Blue Humanities Summer School, Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg, Delmenhorst, 4 June 2024.
- Stewart Mottram (University of Hull). “Estuary and Coast: Adventures in the Green-Blue Humanities,” Blue Humanities Summer School, Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg, Delmenhorst, 4 June 2024.
- Martin Willis and Keird Waddington (Cardiff University). “How to be Interdisciplinary,” Blue Humanities Summer School, Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg, Delmenhorst, 3 June 2024.
- Steve Mentz (St. John’s University, New York). “Kinds of Blue: Watery Forms in the Blue Humanities,” Blue Humanities Summer School, Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg, Delmenhorst, 3 June 2024.
Lecture series “Blue Humanities - Histories, Cultures, Literatures, and Media,” Winter Term 2023/24
organisiert von Kerstin Knopf und Paula von Gleich
with contributions by Steve Mentz, Jeannette Armstrong, Charne Lavery, Oluseun A. Tanimomo, Sukla Chatterjee, Andrea Muehlebach, Andreas Gutmann, and Keir Waddington.
- Keir Waddington (Cardiff University). “How to Feel and Behave During a Drought:
Historical Droughts and Everyday Experience,” lecture series “Blue Humanities: Histories, Cultures, Literatures, and Media,” University of Bremen (online), 24 January 2024. - Andreas Gutmann (University of Kassel). “Rivers in the Courtroom,” lecture series “Blue Humanities: Histories, Cultures, Literatures, and Media,” University of Bremen (online), 17 January 2024.
- Andrea Muehlebach (University of Bremen). “Do Waves Have Rights?,” lecture series “Blue Humanities: Histories, Cultures, Literatures, and Media,” University of Bremen, 10 January 2024.
- Corina Wieser-Cox (University of Bremen). “Mermaids, Oceans, and Queer Speculative
Futures in The Deep,” lecture series “Blue Humanities: Histories, Cultures, Literatures, and Media,” University of Bremen, 20 December 2023. - Sukla Chatterjee (University of Aberdeen). “The Timeless and the Dispensable:
Looking at the Mediterranean and the Refugee through The Optician of
Lampedusa,” lecture series “Blue Humanities: Histories, Cultures, Literatures, and Media,” University of Bremen (online), 13 December 2023. - Oluseun A. Tanimomo (independent scholar). “When to Tell a Single Story: On
Helon Habila’s Shimmery Brackish Waters, Environmental Justice, and the
Blue Humanities,” lecture series “Blue Humanities: Histories, Cultures, Literatures, and Media,” University of Bremen (online), 6 December 2023. - Charne Lavery (University of Pretoria). “Vertical Indian Ocean: Submersion in Yvonne
Adhiambo Owuor’s The Dragonfly Sea,” lecture series “Blue Humanities: Histories, Cultures, Literatures, and Media,” University of Bremen (online), 22 November 2023. - Jeannette Armstrong (University of British Columbia Okanagan). “BC Rivers, Salmon and Syilx Restoration Campaigns,” lecture series “Blue Humanities: Histories, Cultures, Literatures, and Media,” University of Bremen (online), 8 November 2023.
- Steve Mentz (St. John’s University, New York). “Introducing the Blue Humanities: Opportunities and Controversies,” lecture series “Blue Humanities: Histories, Cultures, Literatures, and Media,” University of Bremen (online), 25 October 2023.
“Possible Futures for the Blue Humanities”
Guest Lecture by Steve Mentz?(St. John’s University, New York)
in the seminar “Key Topics in Literature: Narratives of Ocean Cultures,” organized by Mohammed Muharram and Norbert Schaffeld, 13 December 2022.
Annual conference of GAPS and IACPL: “Postcolonial Oceans: Contradictions and Heterogeneities in the Epistemes of Salt Water"
with keynote lectures by Bill Ashcroft, Nicholas Faraclas, Anne Storch, Robbie Shilliam, Karin Amimoto Ingersoll, and Anne Collett.
University of Bremen, 30 May-2 June 2019, organized by Kerstin Knopf, Anna-Katharina Hornidge, Michi Knecht, Thomas Stolz, Ingo Warnke
- Bill Ashcroft (University of New South Wales). “Oceans: The Space of Future Thinking,” “Postcolonial Oceans: Contradictions and Heterogeneities in the Epistemes of Salt Water,” annual conference of GAPS and IACPL, University of Bremen, 30 May 2019. [video lecture]
- Nicholas Faraclas (University of Puerto Rico). “Subaltern Currents and Transgressive Waves: Trans-Oceanic Agents and ‘Creole’ Languages,” “Postcolonial Oceans: Contradictions and Heterogeneities in the Epistemes of Salt Water,” annual conference of GAPS and IACPL, University of Bremen, 30 May 2019. [video lecture]
- Anne Storch (University of Cologne). “Terrible Magical Ways of Healing - Sea, Spa and Skin,” “Postcolonial Oceans: Contradictions and Heterogeneities in the Epistemes of Salt Water,” annual conference of GAPS and IACPL, University of Bremen, 31 May 2019. [video lecture]
- Robbie Shilliam (Johns Hopkins University) “Africa in Oceania: Blackness Connecting Islands,” “Postcolonial Oceans: Contradictions and Heterogeneities in the Epistemes of Salt Water,” annual conference of GAPS and IACPL, University of Bremen, 31 May 2019. [video lecture]
- Karin Amimoto Ingersoll (University of Hawai’i). “Seascape Epistemology: An Embodied Knowledge of and Movement through the Sea,” “Postcolonial Oceans: Contradictions and Heterogeneities in the Epistemes of Salt Water,” annual conference of GAPS and IACPL, University of Bremen, 1 June 2019. [video lecture]
- Anne Collett (University of Wollongong). “Building on the Strata of the Dead: A (Very) Brief History of Coral Reef Ecologies,” “Postcolonial Oceans: Contradictions and Heterogeneities in the Epistemes of Salt Water,” annual conference of GAPS and IACPL, University of Bremen, 2 June 2019. [video lecture]