GSURS 2025

The German studies programs at UBC, UVic, and UW Seattle are teaming up to host the fourth annual German Studies Undergraduate Research Showcase (#GSURS2025). Each student participant will have the chance to present their project during a 5–7-minute presentation, which will be followed by a 5-minute discussion. Student presentations can feature either completed research and/or writing or work-in-progress. We hope to provide a dynamic venue that will stimulate conversation and give students a relaxed platform to get constructive feedback on their work. 

Our definition of German studies is broad and inclusive of all student projects relating to any aspect of German studies and/or German-speaking culture in Europe or the diaspora. We also welcome student coursework, such as a term paper, presentation, or creative project (e.g., graphic novel, short video essay, narrative film, etc.). You might have a project you completed for a class that you are particularly excited about. Or you might have an idea you would like to develop into a presentation. Whatever your interest, topic, format, or discipline, we would love to hear about it! 

Registration

In order to attend or present in GSURS 2025, participants must register here.

Contact

Questions? Send any inquiries about the event to Dr. Biz Nijdam (ubc.german@ubc.ca).

German Studies Undergraduate Research Showcase 2025

University of British Columbia, University of Oregon, University of Victoria & University of Washington

Program

Saturday, March 15th

9:30 - 9:40 am – Welcome and Acknowledgements

Session 1: Bearing Witness / Hearing Witness – 9:40 - 10:20 am (40 minutes)

Moderator: Dr. Helga Thorson (UVic)

Lucas Hung (UVic): ““The one that listens has to imagine something”: Secondary Witnesses, Critical Distance, and Musical Representations of the Holocaust”

Olivia Kozlovic (UVic): “Uncertain Positions and Fights for Recognition: Sinti and Roma in Germany After 1945”

Cat Watt (UVic): "Too Young to be a Man: Negotiations of Masculinity in Male Youth Holocaust Survivor Testimony on Sexual Violence"

Break – 10:20 – 10:30 am

Student Plenaries – 10:30 – 11:30 am (60 minutes)

Moderator: Dr. Matt Pollard (UVic)

Garrett Suderman (UVic): “Photography and the Politics of Hope in the Weimar Republic: Albert Renger-Patzsch, Willy Römer, and the Contest for the Future”

Kendyl Stark (UBC): “Cognitive Temporal Warfare”

Break – 11:30 am – 11:40 am

Session 2: Shifting Ground – 11:40 – 12:40 pm (60 minutes)

Moderator: Dr. Jason Groves (University of Washington)

Lou Rissle (UBC): “The East-West Divide and the Rise of the Right”

Emma Dierkes (UBC): “Educational Selection Practices in Post-War East Germany” 

Aoise Roche (UVic): ““I Do Not Use Pronouns”: Nonbinary Germans’ Experiences of Gender-Inclusive German Language”

Lunch Break – 12:40 – 1:10 pm

Session 3: Magic, Uncanny, Surrealistic and Fantastic Tales – 1:10 pm – 2:10 pm (60 minutes)

Moderator: Dr. Dorothee Ostmeier (University of Oregon)

Elli Urbancic: "Construction and Subversion of Gender in the Grimms. An Introduction to Judith Butler"

Micah Primack: "A Content Analysis of Gender Dynamics Among Siblings in the Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm"

Ezra Bergson-Michelson: “A Retelling of Hansel and Gretel in the Style of James Garner”

Anwen Jones: “The Disneyfication of Gender”

2:10 pm – 2:20 pm –Danke und Auf Wiedersehen!