Feminist Germanistik after Unification: A Postscript from the Editors

Feminist Germanistik after Unification A Postscript from the Editors In our postscript for Volume 5 of the Yearbook, we struggled with the question of theory and its role in feminist teaching and research. Now, looking back over all that has happened in the past year, we—like everyone else—are astonished by the sudden transformation in the GDR. Our discussion of the role of feminist theory in the academy seems dwarfed by the challenges presented to feminist Germanistik by German unification. The very pace of change and the tumult of die Wende have made it difficult to assess what the changes mean for our work as feminist teachers and scholars. As we write this, unification day is only weeks away. What can we say that might still be relevant six months from now? At the outset we want to express our own ambivalence at the enormous gains and losses incurred by the dissolution of the GDR. We have gone from anticipation and pride at the visible role women played in the initiation of political events—the courage of Bärbel Bohley, for example, and the eloquent tenacity of Christa Wolf—to disappointment at patriarchal politics as usual, with women playing prescribed roles inside the structure. Those who inspired the movement toward democratic reforms have been relegated to the margins of mainstream politics. In addition, as Hildegard Nickel points out in her essay, unification threatens rights and advantages that East German women have enjoyed: unhampered access to abortion, child care, the undisputed right to work, generous maternity leaves. The prospect of "one breadwinner families" and the reestablishment of conservative social patterns is disheartening. The strength of conservative politics in both Germanys suggests the absolute necessity of concrete political engagement by feminists. At the same time, we need to acknowledge the necessity for feminist politics to confront the disadvantages of GDR socialism for women—not only the persistence of stereotyped roles and the double burden, but also the Entmündigung of GDR citizens, which in the case of women perniciously reinforced traditional patriarchal behaviors, despite the GDR's ostensible intent to liberate women from such social patterns. Certainly, the independent women's movement in the GDR represents a crucial step. We want to express our solidarity with East German women as they begin to find their own feminist voices. We hope that their struggle 110 Women in German Yearbook 6 against conservative policies will inspire us in Women in German to renew and strengthen our commitment to feminist politics, and to a feminist scholarship that does not exploit women less privileged than we. What can, or should, the role of American, West German, and other Western scholars be in articulating a feminist analysis of changes wrought by unification, for example, or in promoting the emergence of women's studies from the perspective of East German feminists? However we decide to answer such questions, we believe we must respect the uniqueness of the East German feminist project, and find ways to support it even after unification may appear to have obliterated differences. Unification also forces us to reexamine our role as feminist teachers of GDR literature. Regardless of where we locate ourselves on the political spectrum, die Wende cannot help but have an impact on our teaching of the GDR women writers who have nourished us for years. For many of us, the works of Irmtraud Morgner, Christa Wolf, Helga Schütz, Christine Wolter, Brigitte Reimann, and Helga Königsdorf, to name just a few, were a primary source of information about GDR women's attitudes toward GDR policy and daily life. These writers' insights complemented our own; we felt a kinship with them and their sense of what values are necessary for a livable world. Their critique of the GDR and of the capitalist West, grounded in Utopian socialism, allowed us and our students to discuss feminist values within a framework different from the one we inherit traditionally in the United States. With the rejection of the East German regime has come an undifferentiated discrediting of socialism and an ambiguous status for artists and intellectuals who espoused a "third alternative." We must now find ways to teach East German women's literature...