Congratulations to the winners of the first round of LIDL prizes! There were three prizes of 500GBP given to finalists and three prizes of 400GBP to first year students studying German at the University of Oxford. Among the finalists, one prize each was given out for the best performance by a student studying German in combination with another subject, one for a student studying German “sole” and a third among the finalists one for the best dissertation-style writing by finalist, be it an extended essay based on research during the year abroad or an advanced translation project. Among the first years, the third prize was for one student studying German from scratch.
Adam Mazarelo (German and Arabic, Jesus College)
Adam won the prize for the best piece of extended writing for his essay: “Voicing the self: A comparative analysis of response to genocide in Yazídí Arabic Ferman and German concentration camp poetry.” The photo shows Adam on his Year Abroad.
Adam writes: The bridging essay gives joint honours students the opportunity to bridge across their two subjects and explore connections between topics across temporal, spatial and linguistic divides. As undoubtedly one of the most engaging and intellectually stretching parts of my degree, the essay opened up new and diverse areas of interest that have pushed me, for the first time, to seriously consider post-graduate study and research. For the essay, I compared Arabic Yazidi poetry composed by female victims of the genocide committed by Islamic State (IS) against the Yazidi population in Sinjar, Iraq in 2014 and German poetry composed by female inmates of the Ravensbrück concentration camp between 1939 and 1945. Specifically, I wanted to show that the poetry refuted the assumption that our witnessing as reader, critic, listener or therapist facilitates testimony where it would otherwise not be possible. This standpoint is encapsulated by, among others, Shoshana Felman and Dori Laub who argue in Testimony: Crises of Witnessing that ‘the Holocaust created... a world in which one could not bear witness to oneself…’. To make the argument, I tried to demonstrate the existence of an extension or ‘voicing’ of the self in the poetry that exteriorised the poetic speaker within a poetic Other outside its own subjective consciousness; partly in order to shift the burden of trauma and pain, but also in order to validate the self’s experiences of atrocity. I focussed on the first-order creation of both testimony and witness, drawing the two corpora together in order preemptively to prevent future recourse to second- over first-order engagement with Yazidi poetry. I also retrospectively questioned the prevalence of such an approach to the German poetry. In the act of self-witnessing I found a mechanism by which the poets asserted positive control over the internal, external and linguistic realities which the perpetrators had sought to deform and dissolve. In so doing, the poets achieved a deeply meaningful sense of 'poetic justice’, demonstrating the existence and importance of poetry as an act that defines humanity, even in that humanity's presumed absence.
Louise Mayer-Jacqueline (French & Spanish, Wadham College)
Anna Louise Mayer-Jacqueline won the prize for best overall performance among the finalists doing two subjects, in her case French and Spanish. The photo shows Louise directing a play (in German) in Vienna during her year abroad.
Louise writes: “When I first came to Oxford to study French and German, I was driven chiefly by a love for languages, or perhaps rather for the space between them. Four years later, that love has not subsided; but if Oxford nourished my knowledge and my enjoyment of them, it also taught me things I could never have anticipated. What strikes me the most, looking back, is the opportunity we were given to think transversally, across hierarchies, languages and disciplines, in a nutshell to go beyond our attributed subjects and papers. To arrive very young and very curious, and to be handed the tools to think for ourselves, the intellectual humility as well as the courage, is no doubt the greatest privilege of having studied here. I count myself lucky for it, and even luckier to be able to continue on next year doing an MSt in Comparative Literature and Critical Translation. Over the years, I have become increasingly interested in theatre, both directing myself and researching translation strategies for the stage. This prize will go towards continuing this research, on stage and page.”
Jennifer Dunn (German Sole, St Hilda's College)
Jennifer Dunn won the prize for the best overall performance in the final examinations by a student studying German as their only subject. Jennifer writes:
To me, my degree meant the opportunity to broaden my horizons - linguistically, culturally, and socially. It meant pursuing my passion for Anglo-European and especially Anglo-German relations, and proving to myself and to others just how valuable the skills developed whilst studying a humanities subject can be. I am thrilled to have been awarded the Lidl Prize in German Studies, and will be putting my winnings towards my move to Munich, where I hope to secure a graduate placement. Having had my academic performance enhanced by immersion in the Bavarian culture during my year abroad, my intention is now to contribute the abilities honed by my course of study to the world of German business!
Rachel Herring (German & History, Merton College)
Rachel Herring won the prize for the best performance in the first-year examination of all students studying German with another subject, in her case History. The photo shows her in the market square in Landau in der Pfalz, visiting friends whom she met via her school German exchange.
Rachel writes: Although my degree combination has sometimes prompted responses of surprise or confusion, to me it makes perfect sense. Not only is there thematic overlap between modern languages and history, but I have also found in my first year that both add to my understanding of the other. The literature-based nature of languages at Oxford was one of the elements which drew me to the course: there is no better example of the connection between a country’s language and its history than the novels, plays and poetry which it produces. The nuances of language mean that certain images and effects are impossible to represent in translation, meaning that the experiences of Germany’s cultural past can only be fully understood through its native language. Studying literature ranging from medieval courtly love songs to First World War poetry and twentieth century novels and drama has introduced me to the richness of material to be found beyond the limits of my native language. Conversely, my studies in History allow me to approach German society past and present with a more contextual and analytical eye. The historical influences on the political and cultural climate of modern Germany provide a more grounded outlook on current affairs in Europe, and its relationships with non-European countries. My choice of joint degree, therefore, comes from my belief that national identity (which seems a highly relevant theme in the modern age), should be approached primarily in cultural terms; that is, through linguistic and historical understanding of nations including, but never restricted to, our own.
Cecilia Marchant (German Sole, Wadham College)
Cecilia writes: Studying German sole at Oxford has been great. This year I’ve really enjoyed exploring a wide range of literature, from the work of medieval Hartmann von Aue, to that of the twentieth century writers Franz Kafka and Paul Celan, as well as delving into German film and thought. I feel like I’m really beginning to deepen my knowledge of German culture and can’t wait for next year.
I’m very grateful for my prize money; it’s given me the opportunity to plan a trip to Germany. This summer, I’m going to stay with families, whom I have previously met through school exchanges, in Detmold and Erfurt, before visiting a friend from university in Munich. I am looking forward to practising my German in very different environments, as well as experiencing diverse German cultures. In particular, it will be so exciting to visit Southern Germany for the first time and to explore the Bavarian countryside.
Anna Jones (French & German ab initio, New College)
Anna Jones won the prize for the best performance in the examination after the first year of all students studying German from scratch. The photo shows her on her language course in Germany. Anna writes:
Coming to Oxford with almost zero knowledge of German was initially quite daunting. While the language is indeed as complex as I expected, learning at such an intensive pace has been an incredibly exciting and rewarding experience for me - I particularly enjoyed the grammar, as unconventional as that may sound! I am really looking forward to being taught alongside post-A-Level students next year as well as becoming more confident reading classical literature in the original language.
This summer I attended a language course in Heidelberg to consolidate what I learned in first year in a more immersive environment; seeing that I could communicate with (and understand) native speakers in various situations after less than a year was amazing and definitely made learning all that vocabulary worth it! This was my first time staying in Germany and it’s given me plenty of ideas for my year abroad - I can’t wait to go back.