iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Elizabeth Ward @elizabethward.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

It was great to welcome Prof. Bill Niven @bniven.bsky.social to @viadrina.eu this week to work with C1 English students from across the Faculty of Social and Cultural Sciences. We discussed shifting frames of memorialisation, with students presenting on 3 case studies from Frankfurt Oder and Słubice

071

Reposted by Elizabeth Ward

Berghahn Books @berghahnbooks.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

#OpenAccess! ENTERTAINING GERMAN CULTURE: Contemporary Transnational Television & Film, Ehrig @herrehrig.bsky.social, Schaper @chewschaper.bsky.social, and Ward @elizabethward.bsky.social [eds.] is now available in paperback! : bit.ly/43G1fKY #FilmStudies #TelevisionStudies #MediaStudies #History

032

Elizabeth Ward @elizabethward.bsky.social · 26/03/2026

A fantastic first day at the 2026 DEFA-Stiftung Conference "DEFA Without Borders: Mobility and Space" organised by Prof. Michael Grisko and Prof. Patrick Rössler at @unierfurt.bsky.social Two more perfectly packed days lie ahead!

040

Elizabeth Ward @elizabethward.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

Taking a moment to stop by for some positive, motivational words before my paper today at the 2026 DEFA Tagung in Erfurt

1112

Elizabeth Ward @elizabethward.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

Chicago may have ripped Goethe, but Bonn has protein shake Beethoven

A statue of a very muscular young Beethoven

0234

Elizabeth Ward @elizabethward.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

The River Oder along the Frankfurt Oder-Słubice border is currently full of ice disks! They move really fast, make a wonderful sound and are VERY cool to see. @viadrina.eu

1335

Elizabeth Ward @elizabethward.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

Back at a rather chilly @viadrina.eu for the start of exam season

030

Elizabeth Ward @elizabethward.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

Really looking forward to discussing Konrad Wolf's 1959 film "Sterne" with @klingstedt.bsky.social Seán Allan tomorrow at @uniofstandrews.bsky.social The Byre Theatre events.st-andrews.ac.uk/events/east-...

070

Elizabeth Ward @elizabethward.bsky.social · 20/11/2025

Los geht’s! It’s lovely to be back in Hamburg for the 38th Cinefest Kongress, this year on the theme “Zwischen Schreibmaschine und Filmkamera Literaten und ihr Verhältnis zum Film”.

050

Elizabeth Ward @elizabethward.bsky.social · 10/11/2025

I am currently filling out a Gantt chart that requires me to declare what I will be doing in October 2030. I would like to point out that I still haven’t decided what I am having for dinner this evening.

2172

Elizabeth Ward @elizabethward.bsky.social · 04/11/2025

Seizing the opportunity of an unexpectedly warm afternoon to take teaching outside and onto the Ziegenwerder. I dare say that the @viadrina.eu is the only university in the world where I can say “If you are facing Poland, you are group one. If you are facing Germany, you are group two”.

Trees with autumnal brown and gold lining the river

070

Elizabeth Ward @elizabethward.bsky.social · 22/07/2025

Ach, wie schön. Die Kinder gehen auf Klassenfahrt.

Neoclassical statues loaded onto an open top moving truck

082

Elizabeth Ward @elizabethward.bsky.social · 30/05/2025

A weekend gift for all Germany-based followers: bore your nearest and dearest with a fact about fit washing-up liquid. Ever wondered why the bottle is the shape it is? No? Me neither. But there is a reason: it is designed to look the shape of the Roter Turm in Chemnitz. You are welcome.

A bottle of fit washing-up liquid next to the Roter Turm in Chemnitz

7297

Elizabeth Ward @elizabethward.bsky.social · 22/05/2025

Darmstadt seems to specialise in statues of men who look furious that they had to pose for the artist in the first place.

A statue of an angry looking man with his hands on his hips

A statue of an angry looking man swing his arms

A statue of an angry looking man on his side

2213

Elizabeth Ward @elizabethward.bsky.social · 13/05/2025

This, this and a thousand times THIS.

031

Reposted by Elizabeth Ward

Evan Torner @guyintheblackhat.bsky.social · 28/04/2025

It's the time of year when I remind my colleagues that, while student feedback is meaningful, student evaluations of faculty are *not* a high-quality instrument of measure, and we over-rely on that data at the peril of the profession. I am saddened that we have normalized them.

0143

Elizabeth Ward @elizabethward.bsky.social · 10/04/2025

I'm really pleased to be able to share news of a forthcoming book: I have signed a contract with @boydellandbrewer.bsky.social for a new edited volume on East German Film and Cultural Diplomacy.

Agreement between Boydell & Brewer and E Ward

2235

Elizabeth Ward @elizabethward.bsky.social · 08/04/2025

I'm thrilled to have been part of this brilliant volume on Wolfgang Kohlhaase, edited by Ilka Brombach, Chris Wahl and Michael Wedel. My chapter examines Kohlhaase's positioning of female characters in three films: Eine Berliner Romanze (1956), Solo Sunny (1980) and Sommer vorm Balkon (2005).

040

Elizabeth Ward @elizabethward.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

It’s @scmstudies.bsky.social conference time! Really looking forward to hearing so many great papers over the next four days. Happy conferencing to all fellow #SCMS25 delegates!

080

Elizabeth Ward @elizabethward.bsky.social · 02/04/2025

Really excited to be in Chicago for this year's @scmstudies.bsky.social conference. I'll be discussing an aspect from my #MSCA research project: what happened when Disney attempted to screen a film at the Berlin Film Festival about a real-life hot air balloon escape from the GDR.

Title slide from presentation. The image is of Disney's Dumbo flying with a hot air balloon of Disney characters and a cartoon Berlin Wall

3152

Elizabeth Ward @elizabethward.bsky.social · 20/03/2025

In the archive... I go to get more files from the desk Archivist: Wie viele schaffen Sie denn? Sie haben eine Stunde. Me: Ich bleibe optimistisch und nehme fünf. Archivist: Optimistisch ist das nicht. Das ist utopisch. Ich gebe Ihnen drei. 😂

2171

Elizabeth Ward @elizabethward.bsky.social · 24/02/2025

At the ZDF studios in Mainz today to use their in-house archives.

060

Elizabeth Ward @elizabethward.bsky.social · 25/01/2025

The bar for commemorative plaques seems quite low here.

2100

Elizabeth Ward @elizabethward.bsky.social · 10/01/2025

De wereld bleef doof (the world remained deaf) Monument for Jewish Deaf War Victims, Amsterdam

A close up of a memorial of undefined people walking

Showing how to sign "De wereld bleef doof" in sign language

0131

Elizabeth Ward @elizabethward.bsky.social · 06/01/2025

Snow means I have been unable to return from northern England. It is a burden I will bear.

Snow-covered hills with a road winding through

2340

Elizabeth Ward @elizabethward.bsky.social · 23/11/2024

Excited to be presenting today at the CineFest International Film Congress, which this year is dedicated to German-Swiss film relations. I'll be discussing the significance of East German films at the Locarno Film Festival for East German cultural diplomacy during the 1950s @zeitgeschul.bsky.social

Presentation slide. Titled: Vom kleinen Much zum Draufgänger Biene. Die DEFA beim Locarno Film Festival

1121

Elizabeth Ward @elizabethward.bsky.social · 22/11/2024

I'm pretty sure he was more of a wine man.

An advert on the side of a van reading, "What would Jesus brew?"

060

Reposted by Elizabeth Ward

Ben Schaper @chewschaper.bsky.social · 16/11/2024

This article excellently catches one of the reasons why I quit as Stipendiary Lecturer at Oxford last year 🚫 Whilst it describes the wage-related shortfalls very well 📉, there are other factors involved that leave ECRs in a very precarious situation 🚨 🧵 below 👇 www.theguardian.com/education/20...

theguardian.com

Oxford relying on ‘Deliveroo-style’ contracts with most tutorials not taught by full-time staff

Leading university accused of relying on young academics employed on gig-economy terms

152

Reposted by Elizabeth Ward

William Carruthers @williamcarruthers.bsky.social · 08/11/2024

I would like to see the numbers on exactly how many members of ‘the general public’ were readily accessing academic history work before internet paywalls. If it was more possible to see physical volumes/journals, how many people bothered?

021

Elizabeth Ward @elizabethward.bsky.social · 06/11/2024

Morning (in) America. Mourning (for) America.

Front page of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung: an orange monster emerging from a trash can

0143

Reposted by Elizabeth Ward

Tom Smith 🏳️‍🌈 @tomsmithgerman.bsky.social · 07/08/2024

Excited this is out! Such a joy to share a section with @elizabethward.bsky.social and @kyfrack.bsky.social, and to be able to tag them both here, unlike on Tw*tter(!) My chapter uses trans theory to explore the army's 'binary panic' around women soldiers. www.berghahnbooks.com/title/AllanD...

Screenshot of opening of my article, "A Woman's Work? Women Soldiers, Masculinities and Binary Panic in Documentaries of the East German Army".

Cover of Documenting Socialism: East German Documentary Cinema, edited by Sean Allan and Sebastian Heiduschke. Sepia image of people outside a cinema with the sign DEFA Zeitkino.

195

Elizabeth Ward @elizabethward.bsky.social · 17/04/2024

Looking forward to speaking about the work of screenwriter Helga Schütz in relation to her East German contemporary films of the 1960s and 1970s at the Literaturforum at the Brecht-Haus in Berlin tomorrow. Details and programme: lfbrecht.de/projekte/hel...

The title slide of the presentation. Three photos of women and the title, "„Alle haben gelacht. Ich habe zu Hause geweint.“ Weibliche Selbstaushandlungen zwischen privater Erfahrung und sozialistischer Öffentlichkeit in Helga Schütz’ Gegenwartsfilmen"

010

Elizabeth Ward @elizabethward.bsky.social · 11/11/2023

Miraculously, the University of Hull ranks eleventh in the Guardian’s 2023/24 “Best UK universities for languages and linguistics”… despite having made its entire department redundant over two years ago. The senior leadership team will be thrilled.

The Guardian league table for languages showing the University of Hull eleventh - despite having no staff. Or a Languages Department.

2205

Elizabeth Ward @elizabethward.bsky.social · 05/11/2023

Neues Palais and Park Sanssouci, Potsdam

Autumnal trees lining a path to a palance

080

Reposted by Elizabeth Ward

Ustinische Sümpfe @ustinoff.eurosky.social · 30/10/2023

In der ganzen DDR fehlte es nicht nur an Baumaterial für Häuser und Wohnungen, sondern auch an Bauarbeitern. Die SED hatte festgelegt, dass alle Bezirke Leute und Material zu stellen hätten, damit Berlin schön wird. Am 30.10.1989 reichte es den Leipzigern. Ende mit Berlin.

https://dfg-viewer.de/show?tx_dlf%5Bdouble%5D=0&tx_dlf%5Bid%5D=https%3A%2F%2Fcontent.staatsbibliothek-berlin.de%2Fzefys%2FSNP2532889X-19891030-0-0-0-0.xml&tx_dlf%5Bpage%5D=3&cHash=7dd44196fd3d20a8584b8c05b222ae7a

1133

Elizabeth Ward @elizabethward.bsky.social · 16/10/2023

Ok, I perhaps I have taken a few more tea breaks than normal. But to be mocked by an online library catalogue... The shame.

Screenshot of library search catalogue. Error message reads: This machine has been idle for quite some time now

091

Elizabeth Ward @elizabethward.bsky.social · 09/10/2023

What a brilliant 4 days at #TheGSA2033 German Studies Association conference in Montréal. It was wonderful to meet peers and friends again and for the first time. A huge thanks to the GSA committee and to the staff of Le Centre Sheraton Montréal for the flawless organisation.

A black and white photo of skyscrapers at night

150