Thomas Mann House Events Archive
August 2024
Foreign Correspondent Unplugged: "Pop and Protest" - Aida Baghernejad, August Brown & Annett Scheffel in Conversation
Goethe-Institut Los Angeles
Information
Join us, the Goethe-Institut, and the American Council on Germany (ACG Warburg Chapter) for a discussion between Thomas Mann Fellow, music journalists Aida Baghernejad (2024 Thomas Mann Fellow) and August Brown (LA Times) as they discuss the powerful interplay between pop culture and the politics of protest in a conversation moderated by Annett Scheffel. The panelists will explore how pop culture has become an indispensable arena for political expression and activism, examining the paradigm shifts in music journalism and the dynamic relationship between entertainment and social change. In this discussion the journalists will negotiate how pop culture can act as an agent of hope and its role as a tool for supporting democracies in peril.
The conversation will be recorded and published on the Foreign Correspondent Unplugged podcast and in the Goethe-Institut magazine GEGENÜBER.
Participants
Aida Baghernejad is a journalist who studied media studies in Berlin, Barcelona, and London. Her work focuses on how cultural products such as music, film, and social media content influence the socio-political state of the world. In addition to numerous contributions for Die Zeit, Der Tagesspiegel, Missy Magazine, and others, she also co-hosts the podcast 55 Voices for Democracy. During her residency in California, Aida Baghernejad will explore the intersection between pop culture and politics in times of multiple crises. She will engage with the history of the Thomas Mann House and of the émigrés in Southern California, and their lasting impact on German and American culture.
August Brown covers pop music, the music industry and nightlife policy at the Los Angeles Times.
Annett Scheffel is a culture writer, editor, speaker, and presenter based in Los Angeles and Berlin. She thinks, writes, and talks about music, film, feminism, and contemporary culture for the Süddeutsche Zeitung, Spiegel Online, Zeit Online Musikexpress, Dummy Magazin, and Deutschlandfunk — preferably at the intersection between identity, society, and politics.
Partners
The series Foreign Correspondent Unplugged is a collaboration with the Goethe-Institut Los Angeles and the American Council on Germany (ACG Warburg Chapter)
Exhibition "Democracy Will Win!" at Lafayette College
Lafayette College (317 Hamilton St, Easton, PA 18042)
Information
Join the Lafayette College for the traveling exhibition "Thomas Mann: Democracy Will Win!"
The exhibition commemorates the series of lecture tours that the Nobel Laureate conducted throughout the Unites States from the late 1930s to the mid-1940s. The first of these tours began at Northwestern University, where more than 4000 people came to hear him speak about the fundamental reasons for liberal democracy. “It is a terrible spectacle when the irrational becomes popular,” Mann said in a speech at the Library of Congress in 1943, and he drew on his considerable powers of thought and expression to counter the sources of this spectacle through his confident motto: “Democracy will win.”
The like-named exhibit is divided into two parts: the first charts the changes in Mann’s political views, while the second connects Mann’s lectures tours to current political situations in both Europe and the United States.
The galleries are open Wednesdays to Sundays, 12-5 pm.
Find more information here.
Partner
The traveling exhibition Thomas Mann: Democracy Will Win! is a collaboration between the German Department at Lafayette College, and the Thomas Mann House Los Angeles.
Student Council on "Democracy and Vulnerability" – with Irfan Nooruddin
Online
Information
The Student Council consists of a team of highly engaged, talented, and diverse undergraduate and graduate students who invite prominent guest speakers to discuss topics relating to society, politics, culture, and art. In conversation with academics, journalists, politicians, and artists, the students will explore the various threats to democratic institutions and principles worldwide, as well as strategies to potentially overcome these threats.
RSVP here!
Participant
Irfan Nooruddin is the Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani Professor of Indian Politics at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. He studies problems of economic development and globalization, democracy and democratization, and civil conflict. His books are Coalition Politics and Economic Development (2011); Elections in Hard Times (2016, with T.E. Flores); and The Everyday Crusade (2022, with E.L. McDaniel and A.F. Shortle), all published by Cambridge University Press. Irfan received a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Michigan, and a B.A. in Economics and International Studies from Ohio Wesleyan University.
Watch our live and in-person July interview with the German performance group Radical Daughters (Radikale Töchter)
You can watch previous episodes on YouTube, listen to the recordings on dublab radio, or read our students' recap on the Thomas Mann House blog.
Meet our 2024 Student Council
Sara Abrahamsson is a fourth-year student at UCLA studying Art History and French. As a culmination of her artistic and academic interest in political graphics, Sara is currently writing her senior thesis paper on the internationalist poster art of post-revolutionary Cuba. Upon graduating, she plans to continue working in museums before pursuing graduate studies in Art History or Art Conservation.
Amy Cabrales is a First-Generation fourth-year undergraduate student at UCLA, studying Sociology and the Russian Language. She is a Mexican-American, Los Angeles native born in Lynwood, California. Her career interests include cross-cultural education via museum work or language instruction and immigrant resettlement, while her academic interests include immigrant integration and self-identity across immigrant generations. She is anticipating returning to Almaty, Kazakhstan for the 2024-25 academic year to inform these interests and advance her Russian proficiency.
Elsa Coony is a fourth-year student at the University of California, Los Angeles double majoring in Global Studies and German. She has previously worked at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum as both a docent and translator and is excited to join this year's council. In the future, she hopes to pursue a career in international development.
Biruke Dix is currently a 2nd year student at UCLA studying Applied Mathematics. He joined the Wende Student Council in 2024 and is deeply invested in the ever-changing properties of art as well as social habits. He hopes that he can create language and conversation that promotes the spread of cultural shifts and social justice.
Matthew Jones is a third-year PhD student in Claremont Graduate University’s Cultural Studies and Museum Studies program. His research currently explores how sites connected to authoritarian regimes function as pilgrimage destinations and what strategies states and institutions employ to reduce extremist attachment at these sites. He is thrilled to continue his training with the Wende Museum through this collaboration with the Thomas Mann House.
Emma Larson is a master's student at Columbia University's Harriman Institute of Russian, Eurasian, and Eastern European Studies. There, she focuses on the gender, social, and political history of Central Asia. Before starting at Columbia, Emma taught English in Kazakhstan with the Fulbright Program. She graduated from Williams College with degrees in History and Russian in 2021.
Zora Nelson is a current undergraduate student at New York University, where she is studying Harp Performance and Media, Culture, and Communication. As an east coaster born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, she discovered the Wende Museum in the summer of 2022 and is honored to be a part of the council. With a passion for writing, Zora sees a future in storytelling to promote social justice.
Lexi Tooley is a current sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania majoring in Political Science and Art History, minoring in Chinese Language and Culture. She is originally from Los Angeles, California, and attended the Archer School for Girls. Lexi has been working with the Wende Museum for the past 2 years. She looks forward to continuing the search for truth and examining the vulnerability of democracy through this program!
Partners
The event series is a collaboration with the Wende Museum Culver City, dublab and the Thomas Mann House Los Angeles.
