
Neighborhood in Contemporary Berlin Literature
The neighborhood, as a concept, faces many challenges today. In particular, the scarcity of living space and the competition for affordable housing characterize the daily lives of Berliners and as a topic, proves to be a powerful determinant in what receives media coverage today. Furthermore, the harrowing experiences of flight and exile endured by refugees coming into Europe, as well as the omnipresent fear of poverty, homelessness, and the unknown further place stress on an already fragile social ecosystem. For this reason, great hopes and expectations are being set on local structures within districts and villages. Often the neighborhood thus gains utopian features.
The German term “Nachbarschaft” ("neighborship") designates a locality existing within the minimum recognizable amount of space, whose borders, however, are not defined and are constantly in flux. According to the etymology, “Nachbarschaft” means the relationship to whoever is spatially nearest. But in times of digital media, this spatial vicinity is losing importance. “Nachbarschaft” is about living together peacefully but also includes tense and conflictual relationships.
The starting point of this project are the representations and negotiations of neighborly relationships and networks in contemporary literature. Contemporary literature from Berlin especially displays a wide variety of imaginations of neighborhood. Much of the Berlin literature scene being multi-lingual allows for a wider perspective including neighborhoods between countries, languages, with and in other regions. Furthermore, the focus on neighborhoods transcends common dichotomies such as city versus countryside or district versus city and thus affords a view of social networks under the conditions of global interconnectedness.
The project seeks to add a literary perspective to the predominantly sociological discussion of neighborhood. A central concern will be to find common ground in the questions asked, thereby initiating a conversation between authors and researchers of scientific and literary disciplines. The ZfL Literature Days in the Literaturhaus held in November 2019 inaugurated this literary exploration of Berlin’s neighborhoods. The digital anthology, edited by the project researchers, gathers previously unpublished texts by authors and short scholarly essays.
Publications
- Christina Ernst/Hanna Hamel (Hg.): Online Anthology “Nachbarschaften,” starting 2020
- Dirk Naguschewski: Von Integration bis Datenschutz. Was Klingelschilder über die Gesellschaft verraten, in: Tagesspiegel, 17 Nov 2020
Hanna Hamel
- Neue Nachbarschaften? Stil und Social Media in der Gegenwartsliteratur, in: ZfL Blog. Blog des Leibniz-Zentrums für Literatur- und Kulturforschung, Berlin, 17 Mar 2020 (with Pola Groß)
- Nachbarschaften. Nachlese zu den ZfL-Literaturtagen, in: ZfL Blog. Blog of the Leibniz Center for Literary und Cultural Studies, Berlin, 18 Dec 2019
Events
Distance
Literaturhaus Berlin, Fasanenstr. 23, 10719 Berlin
Tim Dean: How to Have Intimacy in an Epidemic
ICI Berlin, Christinenstr. 18–19, Haus 8, 10119 Berlin & livestream
Jean-Luc Nancy: Touche-touche
ICI Berlin, Christinenstr. 18–19, Haus 8, 10119 Berlin & livestream
Susanna Paasonen: Infrastructures of Intimacy and the Deplatforming of Sex
ICI Berlin, Christinenstr. 18–19, Haus 8, 10119 Berlin & livestream
Zwischenräume. Nachbarschaften im Berlin-Comic “Jein”
Livestream
Neue Nachbarschaften. Stil und Social Media in der Gegenwartsliteratur
Online
Partner oder Polizei? Über die Zukunft des Zusammenlebens mit Hubots
Neighbourhood
Literaturhaus Berlin, Fasanenstr. 23, 10719 Berlin
Photo: Dirk Naguschewski