Exploring Otherness through Pepe Danquart's Schwarzfahrer: A Lesson in Cultural Sensitivity

Abstract

Culture has not always played a major role in foreign language instruction. Indeed, it was only in the 1980s that educators began giving serious thought to employing culture for language learning purposes. Exploring issues of otherness in Pepe Danquart's film Schwarzfahrer, this article illustrates how one can address the more controversial aspects of a culture in a manner that promotes cultural sensitivity at the same time that it prompts students to gain a greater knowledge of other cultures and acquire more insight into their own cultures.

The presence and absence of race in world language education literature

“…Similar efforts followed for multiple languages: French (e.g., Gross, 2007; Murphy, 2015); German (e.g., Chen, 2022; Divers, 1995; Nenno, 2019; Putnam, 2008; Schenker & Munro, 2016; Uca et al, 2022; Willeke, 2001); Latin (e.g., Kennedy, 2022; Masciantonio, 1977); and Spanish (e.g., Granda, 2021; Rogers, 2006; Watson, 2013). These articles presented lessons that engaged students with race as a theme in authentic texts such as film (e.g., Libbon, 2008; Ruggiero, 2015), classical and contemporary music (e.g., Howards, 2014; Sosulski, 2013), and canonical literature (e.g., Frackman, 2011; Hopkins, 1992). Including race as a topic in WL learning can help contest the norms of whiteness embedded in WL education.…”

Perspectives on the German Energiewende: Culture and Ecology in German Instruction

“…The Baustellen approach (Kassouf, ), the use of German‐language picture books (Moffitt, ), virtual reality environments (Grantham O'Brien and Levy, ), the Kulturexkurs (Peters, ), global simulation (Levine, Eppelsheimer, Kuzay, Moti, & Wilby, ), culture portfolios (Abrams, Byrd, Boovy, & Möhring, ), intercultural e‐mail exchanges (Schueller, ), the use of German film to explore “otherness” (Libbon, ), and Stationenlernen with literary texts (Redmann, ), are all recent proposals for the teaching of German culture.…”

“…The final group of research presents approaches and units that can be adapted to mesh with the curriculum that is already in place. The intercultural e‐mail exchange, as advocated by Jeanne Schueller (), Stephanie Libbon's exploration of otherness through German film (), and Jennifer Redmann's adaptation of Stationenlernen () all present approaches that are adaptable without reworking entire course and curriculum design. Despite their similarities in terms of adaptability, the three approaches differ strongly in their ability to further the teaching of culture.…”

“…Libbon's article on examining otherness specifically fulfills this need for intercultural learning that moves beyond the superficial notions of culture and encourages her students to acquire a more intercultural stance. Although Libbon (, p. 83) does not explicitly mention the Standards , she characterizes her goals as, “an effort to help my students of German become more introspective—to learn more about themselves, their own values, and their own cultures —as they concurrently learn about German‐speakers and German cultures.” Libbon's unit specifically attends to the products, practices, and perspectives of German culture as it deals with film, streetcars, use of mass transit, tickets, racism, passivity, notions about the color black, and emotions (pp. 83–84).…”