As the end of October is approaching fast, this year’s DTG Tolkien Seminar is almost upon us! For the first time, the seminar will be held in a hybrid fashion, permitting participation on-site in Marburg as well as online. This year’s seminar offers 18 exciting presentations about “Tolkien and politics” from international researchers, as well as time for discussion, the honorary degree awarding ceremony for the Dwarvish University of the Blue Mountains doctorate and a presentation of Walking Tree Publishers’ latest publications. We have bundled the most recent update concerning registration for online or on-site participation as well as the seminar timetable for you.
Participating online
In order to participate online, please register using the online registration form. Again, participation is free. Online participation will be hosted on Zoom. The conference link as well as additional information and advice will be sent out to registered participants on Friday morning. With some exceptions, online participants will not be able to switch on their video or microphone. If you have questions or contributions to ongoing presentations or discussions, you can hand them in using the Q&A function. For conversation with other participants, you can use the chat function. Additionally, breakout rooms will be provided to enable direct interaction between remote participants and recreate some seminar feeling online, especially during breaks. In these breakout rooms you can use your video and microphone.
Participating on-site
Due to pandemic restrictions, you are encouraged to register in advance if you want to travel to Marburg and participate in person, using the form at the bottom of this paragraph. Registration is free and serves only to facilitate the planning. You will have to provide proof of immunisation (vaccination or recovery from Covid19 infection) or a negative Covid19 test result no older than 24 hours. Furthermore, hygiene and distancing rules must be observed, and surgical or FFP2 masks are obligatory inside and wherever distancing is impossible.
You can find more information on participating in person at the University of Marburg’s Tolkien seminar site
Presentations and timetable
Some presentations will be held in German while others will be held in English (see titles below). To allow for a more focussed discussion, two to three presentations have been combined into a panel. After the last presentation of each panel, some time for discussion will be provided. You can find the event timetable here.
2.00 – 2.15 pm           Opening Ceremony
2.15 – 3.30 pm           Panel 1
- Andre Ay (D): Welche politischen Ideen kann man in Herr der Ringe wiederfinden?
- Robin Auer (D): Political Allegory, Apolitical Narrative & Applicability in Middle-Earth
3.30 – 4.00 pm           Coffee break
4.00 – 6.00 pm           Panel 2
- Friedhelm Schneidewind (D): Die Abstammungsgemeinschaft als politisches Konzept in Tolkiens Mittelerde
- Ulrich Matthias Gerr (D): Ressentiment revisited – Antisemitismus im Legendarium
- Jelena Filipovic (D): Machiavellianism in Middle-earth
