Explores how contemporary German-language literary, dramatic, filmic, musical, and street artists are grappling in their works with social-justice issues that affect Germany and the wider world.Social-injustice dilemmas such as poverty, unemployment, and racism are subjects of continuing debate in European societies and in Germany in particular, as solutions are difficult and progress often comes slowly. Such discussionsare not limited to opposing newspaper editorials, position papers, or legislative forums, however; creative works expound on these topics as well, but their contributions to the debate are often marginalized. This collectionof new essays explores how contemporary German-language literary, dramatic, filmic, musical, and street artists are grappling with social-justice issues that affect Germany and the wider world, surveying more than a decade's worth of works of German literature and art in light of the recent paradigm shift in cultural criticism called the "ethical turn." Central themes include the legacy of the politically engaged 1968 generation, eastern Germany and the process of unification, widening economic disparity as a result of political policies and recession, and problems of integration and inclusivity for ethnic and religious minorities as migration to Germany has increased.Contributors: Monika Albrecht, Olaf Berwald, Robert Blankenship, Laurel Cohen-Pfister, Jack Davis, Bastian Heinsohn, Axel Hildebrandt, Deborah Janson, Karolin Machtans, Ralf Remshardt, Alexandra Simon-López, Patricia Anne Simpson,Maria Stehle, Jill E. Twark. Jill E. Twark is Associate Professor of German at East Carolina University. Axel Hildebrandt is Associate Professor of German at Moravian College.

Introduction - Jill Twark and Axel HildebrandtOn Potatoes, Forgeries, Mistaken Identities, and Cultural Revolution in Uwe Timm's Postwall Novel Johannisnacht - Deborah Janson"Maybe the Genuine Utopia": Uwe Timm's Vision of a "Postsocialist" Society in the Novel Rot - Monika AlbrechtSocial Injustice in the German Tatort Television Series - Alexandra Simon LópezDie Toten Hosen, Rammstein, Azad, and Massiv: German Rock and Rap Go Global for Social Justice - Jill TwarkDie Toten Hosen, Rammstein, Azad, and Massiv: German Rock and Rap Go Global for Social Justice - Patricia Anne SimpsonCritical Voices from the Underground: Street Art and Urban Transformation in Berlin - Bastian HeinsohnPolitics and Prekariat in Christoph Hein's Novels Frau Paula Trousseau and Weiskerns Nachlass - Axel Hildebrandt"Erzählt ist erzählt": The Ethics of Narration in Christa Wolf's Stadt der Engel oder The Overcoat of Dr. Freud - Robert BlankenshipSocial Consciousness in the Bionade-Biedermeier: An Interview with Filmmakers Marc Bauder and Dörte Franke - Laurel Cohen PfisterThrough Performance to Social Justice: Schlingensief's Narcissistic Sociality - Jack DavisThe Postdramatic Paradox: Theater as an Interventionist Medium in Falk Richter's Das System - Ralf RemshardtSettling in Mobility: Socioeconomic Justice and European Borderlands in Hans-Christian Schmid's Films Lichter and Die wundersame Welt der Waschkraft - Maria StehleThe Ethics of Listening in Dana Ranga's Wasserbuch and Terézia Mora's Das Ungeheuer - Olaf BerwaldNavid Kermani: Advocate for an Antipatriotic Patriotism and a Multireligious, Multicultural Europe - Karolin Machtans