Westfälische-Wilhelms Universität Münster Welcomes Ball State University

As part of its long-standing partnership with Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, The American Studies Department of the University of Münster was delighted to recently host a delegation of Students from Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. From 10th to 11th February 2014, the team of six including students accompanied by associate professor of English, Rai Peterson, held lectures and presentations on the life and work of American novelist Kurt Vonnegut during their two-day visit to the WWU. On the first day of their stay and at the invitation of the Deutsch-Amerikanische Gesellschaft Münster e.V. the visiting team gave an evening lecture on the significance of Kurt Vonnegut’s German-American heritage in his writing, answered questions from the audience and led a discussion. The next day the American visitors held a workshop for local teachers, university students and staff entitled “Teaching Kurt Vonnegut”. With their multi-media presentation, the delegation examined the major themes present in Vonnegut’s work and provided new insight and approaches for the teaching of Vonnegut in the classroom.
The purpose of the Ball State visit to Germany was to present the results of an immersive learning group of 12 students at Ball State University conducted in cooperation with the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library (Indianapolis). Their tasks involved the digitalization of Vonnegut manuscripts, the creation of a film archive, and also the planning and realization of an interactive mobile Vonnegut exhibit. After their trip to Münster, the Ball State visitors moved on to the city of Dresden, where they unveiled their mobile exhibit at the city library (Städtische Bibliotheken Dresden). The visitors timed their stay in Germany specifically to tie in with the anniversary of the allied bombing of Dresden on February 13-14, 1945. This key event, in which approximately 35 000 Germans lost their lives, and which Vonnegut himself survived, would later form the context for his most influential and semi-autobiographical novel Slaughterhouse-Five (1969).