WCGS Research Groups

The group conducts research and organizes lectures and exhibits on various aspects of Austrian culture, literature and history.

The group hosted the Annual Meeting of the Austrian Studies Association at the University of Waterloo, St. Paul's College, May 2-5, 2013. The topic for the conference was Glaubenssysteme/Belief-Systems. Over 50 scholars from North-America and Europe explored the variety of belief-systems that have shaped Austrian culture both past and present through literature, film, theatre, and music, but also in natural and medical sciences, history, politics and society.

This group investigates historical, cultural, and linguistic phenomena and processes in German-Canadian communities. A particular focus is given to research about the German-Canadian community in the Waterloo region and to work with relevant materials in the Porter Library's Special Collections. An indicative set of topics and foci is: English-German bilingualism, German Canadiana in Ontario bibliography, German-speaking Mennonites, German-Canadian literature, history of the local German community.

This research group meets on a regular basis in Waterloo to discuss related topics, conduct workshops, and offer feedback on research-in-progress. Past events have included "Animal Studies and the Voice of the Other," "Spinoza, Goethe, Deleuze: All is Leaf (or Rhizome--take your pick)," and "Nature and Education Circa 1800."

The Waterloo Applied Language Studies (WAPPLS) group conducts research on language learning and teaching. It focuses on areas such as second language acquisition, language pedagogy and didactics, Deutsch als Fremdsprache.