Immigration has become a contentious issue in Europe in recent decades, with immigrants being accused of resisting integration and threatening the secular fabric of nationhood. The most extreme form of this unease has invented and demonized an Islamic 'other' within Europe. This book poses central questions about this global staging of difference. How has such anxiety increased exponentially since 9/11? Why has the Muslim veil been singled out as a metaphor in debates about citizenship? Lastly, and most fundamentally, who sets the criteria for constructing the ideal citizen? This study explores the issue of gender and immigration in the national contexts of Germany and France, where the largest minority populations are from Turkey and North Africa, respectively. The author analyzes fictional works by the Turkish-German writers Emine Sevgi OEzdamar and Zafer Senocak and by Francophone writer Malika Mokeddem. All three deconstruct binary oppositions and envision an alternate third space that allows them to break out of the confines of organized religion. In the latter part of the book, the voices of young Muslim women are foregrounded through interviews. The concluding chapter on the pedagogical tool Deliberative Dialogue suggests ways to navigate such contentious issues in the Humanities classroom.

New essays on the works and themes of Hesse, one of the most perennially relevant and widely-read German authors. Today, forty years after Timothy Leary's suggestion that hippies read Hermann Hesse while "turning on," Hesse is once again receiving attention: faced with ubiquitous materialism, war, and ecological disaster, we discover that these problems have found universal expression in the works of this master storyteller. Hesse explores perennial themes, from the simple to the transcendental. Because he knows of the awkwardness of adolescence and the pressures exerted on us to conform, his books hold special appeal for young readers and are taught widely. Yet he is equally relevant for older readers, writing about the torment of a psyche in despair, or our fear of the unknown. All these experiences are explored from the perspective of the individual self, for Hesse the repository of the divine and the sole entity to which we are accountable. This volume of new essays sheds light on his major works, including Siddhartha, Der Steppenwolf, and Das Glasperlenspiel, as well as Rosshalde, Klingsors letzter Sommer, Klein und Wagner, and the poetry. Another six essays explore Hesse's interest in psychoanalysis, music, and easternphilosophy, the development of his political views, the influence of his painting on his writing, and the relationship between Hesse and Goethe. Contributors: Jefford Vahlbusch, Osman Durrani, Andreas Solbach, Ralph Freedman, Adrian Hsia, Stefan Hoeppner, Martin Swales, Frederick Lubich, Paul Bishop, Olaf Berwald, Kamakshi Murti, Marco Schickling, Volker Michels, Godela Weiss-Sussex, C. Immo Schneider, Hans-Joachim Hahn. Ingo Cornilsis Professor of German at the University of Leeds.

Losing a Part of You Can Bring About the Greatest Gain When eleven-year-old Lalli recuperates from an accident, her world is defined by what she sees outside her bedroom window. But when Lalli witnesses the strange reaction by her old and slightly odd neighbors to a letter they've received, little could she have envisioned what the consequences would be. Not only for Lalli but for the wonderful Mr. Steave. Featuring a soccer-mad brother, cool home-schooling teacher for a father and a gifted Mennonite violinist, Kamakshi P. Murti has woven a story around the life of a young South-Asian American girl, which, at its core, has the universal themes of family forgiveness, true friendship and the power of neighborly love.

Losing a Part of You Can Bring About the Greatest Gain When eleven-year-old Lalli recuperates from an accident, her world is defined by what she sees outside her bedroom window. But when Lalli witnesses the strange reaction by her old and slightly odd neighbors to a letter they've received, little could she have envisioned what the consequences would be. Not only for Lalli but for the wonderful Mr. Steave. Featuring a soccer-mad brother, cool home-schooling teacher for a father and a gifted Mennonite violinist, Kamakshi P. Murti has woven a story around the life of a young South-Asian American girl, which, at its core, has the universal themes of family forgiveness, true friendship and the power of neighborly love.