'Border consciousness' and the re-imagination of nation in the films of Akin, Dresen and Petzold

In my dissertation I explore the role that borders play in the construction of German identity through the films of Fatih Akin, Andreas Dresen and Christian Petzold. Despite the insistence of conservatives that Germany is not an “immigration country,” I argue that the historical fluctuation of borders and the movement of populations into and out of Germany have resulted in a heightened awareness of borders and their significance that contributes to a sense of ambivalence about national identity. This heightened awareness can be seen as a type of “border consciousness,” a term that originated in Chicano/a studies and has been used to analyze exilic and diasporic cinema but which I reconsider in the context of German film. By examining tropes of borders and border crossings, as well as representations of liminality in the work of German filmmakers from various backgrounds, I argue that in these works, border consciousness can be seen as a function of a relationship to national boundaries rooted in histories of displacement, but not necessarily limited to the experiences of migrants and minorities. Drawing upon the work of literary scholars Leslie Adelson and Andreas Huyssen and film scholar Hamid Naficy, I contend that the films I discuss provide evidence for the emergence of new national narratives that could potentially link Germans from minority groups to a broader national imaginary and offer an alternative to the language of divisiveness currently dominating public discourse. In addition, I question how this development can be seen in the context of changes in the European film industry that have begun to redefine ‘national’ cinema, encouraging the embrace of filmmakers who figuratively extend the boundaries of the nationPh.D.Includes bibliographical referencesIncludes vitaby Kathleen J. Sclafan