The Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures mobilizes around lifelines

"Our wish was to create a real dynamic in our teaching and offer coherence to our students by all working around the same theme. Our team was also inspired by initiatives at the Faculty of Law, which has been practicing Fil Rouge for several years," explains Laurence Mettewie, head of the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures. "Already last year, without it having been explicitly thought of, several of our department's activities revolved around questions of reconstruction, transmission or even resilience." This observation prompted the team to formalize this approach by choosing a common theme.

Thus, the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures has chosen to extend this reflection by looking at how individuals evolve, grow and pass on, with an intergenerational dimension that is particularly close to the team's heart.

Common readings, cinéclub, didactic trips, introductory research topics... there are several educational activities that will illustrate this common thread throughout the year.

The Germa Cinéclub will offer six films, in English, Dutch and German. To inaugurate this cycle, the team has chosen a film that illustrates the theme of lifelines: " Honig im Kopf" by Til Schweiger. This humorous and moving film tells the story of a grandfather suffering from Alzheimer's disease and his granddaughter who will do anything to "save" him, and thus takes a sympathetic look at themes such as dementia, family and memory.

In Dutch, research work in linguistics will focus on the question of linguistic transmission. Students will thus explore how languages are transmitted, are present at different stages of life or how they shed light on intergenerational links, for example through the use of WhatsApp.

The traditional study trip to the Netherlands will also be part of this theme. This year, we're heading for Rotterdam and Fenix, its new museum dedicated to art and migration, where one of the exhibitions recounts stories of mobility, anchorage and passage towards lives they hope will be better. This is an opportunity for students to confront notions of memory, displacement and cultural heritage at the very heart of a museum itinerary conceived as a succession of life lines.

Other activities will enrich the program: student projects specially designed to explore life trajectories, analyses of literary works guided by the theme and meetings with authors from Northern Ireland and Flanders: Wendy Erskine, and Lara Taveirne as well as her French translator Guillaume Deneufbourg.