Spotlight – Jenny Gohlke
Goethe’s Faust, that is how it all started. Maybe. In fact, I do not remember when exactly I came to love German Literature so much. Books have always been fascinating to me. And I usually spent my free time reading one after the other. It then was my High School teacher – German and philosophy – who made me aware of all the hidden wisdom and universal ideas and problems that can be found in Classical German Literature. And it is here, where I humbly decided that I need to know everything there is about German Literature and Philosophy.
After High School, I completed my Bachelor in German Literature and Philosophy, and while doing so, I worked as a research and teaching assistant in the field of Philosophy of Mind. I began a Master’s program in Philosophy, and spent two semesters taking classes at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo. Their German department, coincidentally, was in need of a German instructor, and where else, if not at a random garage sale, would you come to know about that open position and be invited to teach? So, while really enjoying my German teaching job and also advancing in my philosophy studies I realized that I had developed a particular set of questions and interests and that not Philosophy but the German Studies program at MSU was the unique place to pursue them. This program allows me to use and apply my theoretical background to more pragmatic themes. My focus shifted from questions such as: “Is there an objective reality at all and how do we know?” to applied ones like: “How can we represent and mediate memory and experiences?” Very soon after the beginning of my PhD studies I focused my attention and research on questions about (im-)possibilities of representation and also on the formation process of Holocaust experiences, memories and feelings. I am glad that I finally found a way to combine my research interests as a scholar with my personal passion for deciphering the ways we experience the world.
Michigan State is not only a place for me to do research, though. I also have the opportunity to teach in the German program as well. I teach 200-level courses and it is a particularly rewarding experience to be the person myself now who helps students appreciate the power of language, literature, and culture (even though we do not read Goethe).
Da steh ich nun, ich armer Tor… well, yes, at this point I might not have learned “everything there is”, as it has been my plan in High School, but I am taking big steps in the right direction, and most importantly I am able to share my enthusiasm with other undergraduate and graduate students. I also had/have the chance to present my research at several conferences such as the Untimeliness of Media Graduate Student Conference at the University of Pennsylvania, the Refugee Symposium here at MSU, and the Languages, Literatures and Cultures Conference at the University in Kentucky. I, too, was selected as a Humanities without Walls Fellow for this upcoming summer, where I will take part in a three-week workshop for pre-doctoral students in the humanities that will help me to prepare for my intended career in a Holocaust museum.
I consider myself really lucky to be part of the German program here at MSU, and I cannot wait to see what else there is the future holds in store for me.
