March 2020

Ulrike Ottinger is an internationally renowned artist whose work has been called a 'small universal theater' of its own (kleines Welttheater). Embracing film, photography, theater, and exhibitions, it draws the viewers' attention to the different ways of showing. The presentation will focus on this deictic structure in Ottinger's work and its presence both in her figures, her scenography, and the compositions of each frame. Showing her way of showing, Katharina Sykora wants to reflect upon this form of pointing things out demonstratively, like with the gesture of the index finger, and on how it generates cultural, historical, and gender differences.

Public event. Free admission.

The Fair Pay Political Roundtable will address how to deal with legislations enshrining fair pay principles as individuals. Equal pay for equal work and work of equal value has been high on the international agenda, as the UN Human Rights Council Resolution on equal pay and the engagement of the Equal Pay International Coalition (EPIC) demonstrates. There are a variety of countries who are rapidly progressing in fair pay legislations. But how can individuals use these laws to ensure fair pay for themselves, in their organizations or private environment.

In the Fair Pay Political Roundtable, experts from policy-making, NGOs, and academia will exchange on legislative approaches across the world and evaluate these approaches in how far they are practically supporting citizens in overcoming the wage gap.

The gender pay gap with its underlying causes is a global phenomenon: no country can report a wage gap of zero. There is strong support for equal pay, as an issue of fairness, and the readiness to act is immense. Irrespective of this consensus, however, women continue to be paid less for the same work or work of equal value.

Please register here

Registration starts at 3pm, please plan your time accordingly

Side event during the 64^th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women

Join the former Director of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs under President Obama Patricia Shiu and the German investigative journalist Birte Meier for a dialogue on equal pay efforts in the United States and Europe. Coinciding with the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, 1014 and the American Council on Germany present this event that elaborates on the current situation of gender equality from a transatlantic perspective. What are the ways forward to close the gender pay gap? What are the best practices and where have policymakers recently failed? Why has it been so hard to put regulatory policies into place which would help to close the gap?

Moderated by Steven Sokol, President of the American Council on Germany (ACG). Presented in cooperation with the ACG and the Thomas Mann House.

While the election year is bringing considerable interest in whether or not a woman may conquer the White House for the first time, female presidents have long become a fictional reality in various TV shows.

From House of Cards' Claire Underwood to Allison Taylor in 24 and Elizabeth McCord in Madame Secretary to Selena Meyer in Veep, female presidents are partially portrayed as competent leaders with a distinct thirst for power who expose or utilize the sexism of the political establishment. But often enough their presence in the highest office is also a cause for concern: these presidents have to meet the suspicion to have obtained the position illegitimately and equate to a crisis for the Oval Office, or even to the democratic system in its entirety.

Elisabeth Bronfen, cultural scientist at the University of Zurich, Heike Paul, americanist and Fellow at the Thomas Mann House and Ellen Seiter from the USC School of Cinematic Arts will reflect on current American TV series and how they prepare us for the first female US president. The event is moderated by historian Paul Lerner, director of the USC Max Kade Institute.

This symposium held on the campus of the Ohio State University brings together speakers from the U.S. and Germany to address aspects of democratic culture and its discontent in the present moment. The latter reveals itself in particular expressions of emotion and negative affect, such as anger, resentment, indignation, and rage, that often thrive on populist simplification and ‘othering’ of specific groups and/or individuals. This has prompted interventions by scholars, journalists, and activists to think about modes of dialogue and reconciliation across various kinds of divides and in different cultural registers.

This event seeks to add to the ongoing debate by historicizing the role of affect and feeling in the history of Western democracies and to develop new perspectives on questions of inclusion and exclusion in social, political, and cultural imaginaries with a view to different media (music, television series, etc.) and forms of political communication. In times of strained ‘official’ transatlantic relations and right-wing populist successes on both sides of the Atlantic, this symposium seeks to identify common ground and shared concerns in working through the current moment of crisis. Participants include Noëlle McAfee, Nikolai Blaumer, Elisabeth Bronfen, Katharina Gerund, Nadine Hubbs, Benjamin McKean, Heike Paul, Marie Rotkopf, Barry Shank, and Michelle Sizemore.