Reading: Family Matters. Of Life in Two Worlds

Project Number:

23-0614

Author:

Martina J. Kohl

Moderation:

Prof. Alfred Hornung

Date:

Wednesday, 14 June 2023, 6 p.m.

Place:

Hörsaal P 4 des Philosophicums
Obama Institute for Transnational American Studies
Jakob-Welder-Weg 20
55128 Mainz

Admission:

Admission is free. No registration required.

Language:

English

In cooperation with:

Obama Institute for Transnational American Studies

Partner:

This event is kindly supported by the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

FAMILY MATTERS follows the traces of a German family that, over generations, continues to cross the Atlantic in both directions. Like Elizabeth and Henry who, at the beginning of the 20^th century, are forced to leave their beloved New York to return to the old country; the violinist Clara who can only live her passion for music in the American of the suffragettes; the war bride Toni, who courageously follows a G.I. to Nebraska after World War II; and, finally, the student Iris who is trying to find her place in both worlds in the 1980s. Looking back, they all ask the same question:  „What if ...?”  What if they had not gone to America, or back to the old country? If they had not fallen in love? What if they had taken that other road and pursued their dreams a bit more forcefully?

FAMILY MATTERS takes ordinary, yet memorable characters out of the yellowed pictures in the photo albums, gives them a voice and places them in their own time. Martina J. Kohl revives the past. She shows that today cannot be understood without the yesterday. And that migration, uprooting and the search for belonging are universal themes. The author will read passages from her new book, followed by Q&As with the audience.