Study Questions and Tips for Week Nine

Retro-Nationalism? Rock Music in the Former German Democratic Republic

1. This is a scholarly article that you are reading (most likely) as a non-specialist. First, do a little research. What is the GDR? What were the circumstances of its founding? What was its official ideology? Who is Eric Honecker? What is the Freie Deutsche Jugend (FDJ)?

2. The GDR ceased to exist in 1990. Why? What were some of the consequences for its citizens? What does Simpson mean by N/Ostalgie? [hint:Ost=East]

3. Turn to pp.259-60. With the second to last paragraph on 259, Simpson begins her conclusion. Read the conclusion and then continue reading the article now that you have a better sense of where she is going with this. Read the conclusion again when you get there.

4. (240) In the second to last paragraph, she distinguishes retronationalism from nostalgia for the East. What is her distinction and what do you think of it?

5. If you are interested, here are links to some of the bands Simpson writes about:

Die toten Hosen: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_Toten_Hosen

Die Puhdys: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puhdys

Pankow (not much in English on them; you could fill this gap this summer): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pankow_%28German_band%29

Sandow: another gap. Only German sources on web, but several videos on youtube

Die Skeptiker: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_Skeptiker

Feeling B: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feeling_B

5.(242) How did the GDR government react to glasnost and perestroika?

6. (256) Why is “FDJ punk” an insult?

7. (260) What is she suggesting with the last sentence of the article? How do you understand this?

Discussion:

1. What kind of research has the author done? What are her primary and secondary sources and how would you evaluate this research?

2. How might we consider punks and punk music fans a counter-public in the GDR?

3. Assuming that a group of musicians wants to reach a public/be widely heard, what were the choices facing punk bands in the GDR? What complicted their status (as opposed to polka bands, for example)?