Professor Kerry Dunne
Adjunct Professor, School of Arts
Qualifications
BA (Hons), MA (Hons), PhD (Syd), Dip Ed (La T)
Contact
| Email: | kerry.dunne@une.edu.au |
| Room: | Other |
I did my undergraduate (BA Hons) and postgraduate studies (MA Hons with University Medal and PhD) at the University of Sydney. I came to UNE in 1987 having taught German at the University of Sydney (1984-86), the University of Melbourne (1980-81) after having spent 1982-83 in Germany on a DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst) scholarship.
Affiliations
German Studies Association of Australia (Vice President 2002-2007)
Women in German
Research interests
My research is on several topics:
- Computer-assisted language learning or CALL;
- Post-war German film;
- German crime fiction;
- Günter Kunert, the twentieth-century writer and dissident;
- Georg Büchner, the nineteenth-century dramatist, writer and political activist.
My current project in CALL involves analysing online learning in second language acquisition. A Higher Education Innovation Program grant that I won for 2005-2006 enabled German language assessment to be developed using the affordances of the new technologies. A grant from the Carrick Institute (2007-2008) is funding work on an interactive e-instructional tool, Deutsch e-rklärt. The data flowing from student use of the online language sites is being analysed to assess the impact of online materials on independent learning. Deutsch e-rklärt addresses the issue of diverse types of students studying in today’s tertiary sector by providing a range of points of entry into a specific topic.
As second major area of interest is German popular culture, and in particular contemporary German film and crime fiction written in German. Popular culture reflects the socio-cultural concerns of the ‘author’ and audience, so an analysis provides an insight into the changing nature of German society. I am analysing films by prominent German directors of the post-war period such as Fatih Akin, and in crime fiction am examining the picture of society, often regional society, that emerges in the work of writers such as the South German writers, Völker Klüpfel and Michael Kobr, and the Swiss writer, Hansjörg Schneider.
My current research focuses on identity in the post-Wende, 21st century German speaking countries. It is a development from my previous research in literature which dealt with individuals' response to and efforts to give meaning to their experience of a post-Enlightenment world: a world in which the uncertainty about the existence of God means that there are few existential certainties or supports.
Günter Kunert is a survivor of the Holocaust in Germany and he was later exiled from East Germany. Reconciling his life experiences with the project of finding meaning in individual experience is challenging, and Kunert uses religious allusions as metaphors for exploring the nature of human existence in the 20th century. Der Sündenfall: A parabolic key to the image of human existence in the work of Günter Kunert 1960-1990 (Lang, 1995) is the exploration of Kunert’s work from an existential perspective.
Georg Büchner and Fyodor M. Dostoevsky were writing at a time when the implications of the Enlightenment for humanity's spiritual equilibrium were only beginning to manifest themselves, and Stranded on the Shoals of Reason? Büchner and Dostoevsky in Tandem (2006) is a comparative analysis of their thematic universes.
Publications
1. Books
a. Dunne, Kerry. Der Sündenfall: a parabolic key to the image of human existence in the work of Günter Kunert 1960-1990, Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 1995, 345 pp.
b. Dunne, Kerry; Campbell, Ian, eds. Unravelling the Labyrinth. Decoding Text and Language. Festschrift for Eric Lowson Marson, Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 1997, 174 pp.
c. Dunne, Kerry. Standed on the Shoals of Reason? Büchner and Dostoevsky in Tandem, Stuttgart: Akademischer Verlag, 2006, 186 pp. (Stuttgarter Arbeiten zur Germanistik)
d. Bandhauer, Andrea; Boss, Bettina; Dunne, Kerry; Mehigan, Tim; Möllering, Martina; Veber, Maria. New Directions in German Studies: A Context of Interdisciplinarity, Dunedin: Otago UP, 2005. (Otago German Studies Vol 20).
2. Book Chapters
a. Dunne, Kerry. “Apocalyptic Imagery in Günter Kunert’s Novel ‘Im Namen der Hüte’” Kerry Dunne, Ian Campbell, eds. Unravelling the Labyrinth. Decoding Text and Language. Festschrift for Eric Lowson Marson, Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 1997, pp. 147-58
b. Dunne, Kerry. “The Linguistic and Performative Levels of the Sexual Register in Büchner’s ‘Woyzeck’” [Chapter in a Sydney Univeristy Theatre Studies publication; accepted, but the book has not yet appeared]
3. Refereed Journal Articles
a. Dunne, Kerry. “Woyzeck’s Marie: ‘Ein schlecht’ Mensch’? The Construction of Female Sexuality in Büchner’s ‘Woyzeck’”, Seminar 26.4 (1990), pp. 294-308
b. Dunne, Kerry. “No Conceivable Hope: The Symbolic Function of Medusa, Clio and the ‘Fee’ in Günter Kunert’s Work”, German Quarterly 76.2 (2003), pp. 155-167.
c. Dunne, Kerry. ‘Gespräch mit Günter Kunert”, Deutsche Bücher XXIV (1994/3), pp. 179-94
d. Dunne, Kerry. “Günter Kunert. ‘Baum. Stein. Beton. Reisen zwischen Ober- und Unterwelt’”, Deutsche Bücher XXIV (1994/3), pp. 195-96.
e. Beck, W; Dunne, K; Fisher, J; O’Sullivan, J; Sheridan, A. “A Cappella and Diva: A Collaborative Process for Individual Academic Writing”, M/C Journal 9.2 May, 2006. http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0605/09-divas.php
4. Non-refereed Journal articles
a. Dunne, Kerry. Cognitive and Affective Aspects of Second Language Learning. CHOMI Bibliography No. 5, Richmond (Vic): Clearing House on Migration Issues, 1978. 23 pp (An annotated bibliography)
b. Dunne, Kerry. “The Contents of Their Wallet”, Kangaroo 1988: 5
c. Dunne, Kerry. “Gwen Harward. Short Stories”, Kangaroo 1990: 7
5. Non-refereed conference papers
a. “Das Bild Berlins im Werk Günter Kunerts” (The Image of Berlin in the Work of Günter Kunert).” Invited Paper. Goethe Institut Landeskundekonferenz. Maroochydore, QLD. July 1987
b. “Religious Imagery in Günter Kunert’s ‘Im Namen der Hüte.” AULLA 28, Feb 1995
c. “Best Teaching Practice at UNE in European Languages.” AVCC CEQ (Course Evaluation Questionnaire) Best practice in University Teaching Symposium. Griffith University, October 1996. (Joint paper with Dr Hilary Hutchinson)
d. “Wie war das? (What was that?) Interactive multimedia software for listening comprehension.” AULLA 30, Feb. 1997
e. “May they rest in peace?: Joseph Vilsmaier’s Film ‘Stalingrad’” AULLA 36, Feb, 2003
6. Reports
Dunne, Kerry; Corkhill, Alan. Benchmarking Report on the Department of German, University of Sydney. (2004) 10 pp. (Unpublished)
7. Electronic Media
a. Dunne, Kerry; et al. Wie war das? CD-ROM. 1997. (Interactive multimedia program for enhanced listening comprehension for intermediate level students of German).
b. Dunne, Kerry; et al. Ach, so war das! CD-ROM. 2001. (Interactive multimedia program for enhanced listening comprehension for intermediate level students of German).
c. Dunne, Kerry; Evans, Jennifer; Lehmann, Beat; Petzl-Berney, Julia; Web based assessment for all 8 undergraduate language units and for German Hons GRMN 401H
d. Evans, Jennifer; Lehmann, Beat. Dunne, Kerry. Deutsch erklärt. An e-program in German for introductory students.
8. Submitted (under review)
a. Dunne, Kerry. 'Delivering subject choice and quality assurance in specialised disciplines: The University of New England’s model of subject delivery at the University of Newcastle' (Australian Review of Applied Linguistics)
b. Dunne, Kerry. 'Lessons learnt: student response to an online second language learning environment' (Journal of Open and Distance Learning)
c. Dunne, Kerry. 'Klüpfel and Kobr’s Kluftinger novels: Reading the clues to contemporary German identity' (German Cultural Studies)
d. Beck, Wendy; Dunne, Kerry; Fisher, Josie; O’Sullivan, Jane; Sheridan, Alison. 'Turning Up the Heat: Collaboration as a Response to a Chilly Research Climate' (Studies in Higher Education)
9. In preparation
a. 'Turkish German identity in contemporary German cinema: the films of Fatih Akin'
b. 'Ensuring diversity: collaborative models for small subjects and courses' (edited publication)