<nettime> McDeutsch

[Krystian Woznicki <kw@berlinergazette.de>]

Hello nettimers,

a while ago I posted here an essay on the relationship
between the internet, globalization and languages:
http://www.nettime.org/Lists-Archives/nettime-l-0605/msg00052.html

Following up on it, I would like to let you that I published a book on
this issue, that focuses on a particular case of the above mentioned
context and documents a particular project within it.

The book is called McDeutsch, further details I am sending below.

If you are interested in issues like

globalization and/of languages / German
de-/re-nationalization
net-writing/-literature

you might wanna check out the interviews I - in collaboration with
editors of the online magazine Berliner Gazette - have conducted via
email with about 50 cultural workers from all over the world on their
relationship towards the German language.

The bi-lingual book (German / English) contains a selection of the
resulting protocols:

http://ssl.einsnull.com/paymate/search.php?vid=5&aid=1637

All original texts can be accessed here:

http://www.berlinergazette.de/index.php?pagePos=10&keyword=mcdeutsch

The press release, that I am sending below, contains further information.

Best wishes,

Krystian Woznicki

------------------

Press Release

McDeutsch ? Protocols on the Globalization of German
Krystian Woznicki (Ed.)
Berlin: Kulturverlag Kadmos, 2006. 228 p. 14,95 Euro.
ISBN 3-86599-029-0

?We have Lufthansa, Telekom, and n-tv??but we still lack a global
perspective on ?our? national issues.? (Krystian Woznicki, Editor of
the McDeutsch book)

?Save the German Language!? said the cover of Der Spiegel?s issue
commemorating German Reunification Day. Demands for ?more German? are
on the rise in Germany. After ?Quotas for German Music on Radio!? came
the call for ?Obligatory German in Gyms, Bars, and Schools!? Ensuing
debates have even carried over to the popular Sabine Christiansen talk
show, Germany?s so-called ?ersatz parliament.?

Yet, what sort of role does the German language, as a kind of
prosthesis supporting national identity, play at all? Didn?t this
supposed German cultural property become common international property
long ago? McDeutsch documents a project of the same name: an Internet
dialogue carried out in 2006 by the Berliner Gazette.

The book is a selection of 24 interview protocols, created by posing
questions about the German language to cultural workers from around
the world. These protocols show the extent of the globalization of
German and open up a new perspective on what role the German language
plays in the current phase of globalization.

The McDeutsch book, published by Kulturverlag Kadmos, is part of a
larger project of the same name, in which about fifty cultural workers
from all continents (except Antarctica!) have been interviewed on
their attitude towards the German language. All of the resulting
protocols are being published under www.berlinergazette.de (through
31 December 2006). A McDeutsch Symposium at the ?Museum f?r
Kommunikation? (15.12.2006) discussed the issues of the project with
participants from the USA and Africa.

The book contains contributions by Rainer Ganahl, Bernard Imhasly,
Sabine Erlenwein, Anja Wollenberg, Oliver Schmitz, Estela Schindel,
Ljuba Gonchar, Saleh Srouji, Ehssan Varshowkar, Kofi Yakpo, Paul
Th?r?sin, Geert Lovink, Yoshua Okon, Michael Clyne, Eric Hutchins,
Handan Konak, Roman Engelhardt, Jesusa Cabarcas Suarez, Stephen Gaya
Agong, Milena Hajn?, Nick Deocampo, Matias Faldbakken, Tomoyuki
Sugimoto and Nguyen Hung. In addition to that maps and info graphics
designed by Thomas M?ller are included in the book.

Krystian Woznicki, born in 1972 in Glatz, Poland, is the editor of
this book and artistic director of the project. He lives as a critic
and curator in Berlin. In 1999, he founded the Berliner Gazette
(www.berlinergazette.de) and has been editor-in-chief since its
creation.

McDeutsch was funded by the German Federal Cultural Foundation.

For more information, please contact:

Krystian Woznicki
Berliner Gazette e.V.
Sch?nhauser Allee 141a
D ? 10437 Berlin
kw@berlinergazette.de
www.berlinergazette.de


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