Ann Marie Rasmussen

Contact Info:

Office Location:	116C Old Chemistry
Office Phone:	919 660 3160
Email Address:
Web Page:

Typical Courses Taught:

• Medren 114, ASPECTS MEDIEVAL CULTURE Synopsis

• German 302, TOPICS LITERARY THEORY

• German 203s, SEX/GENDER/LOVE GER LIT Synopsis

• German 201s, INTRO MEDIEVAL GERMAN Synopsis

Education:

• PhD Yale University, 1985
• BA UNIVERSITY OF OREGON, Eugene, OR, 1976

Specialties:

Medieval & Early Modern Studies
Gender Studies
Literary History & Criticism

Research Interests: Medieval German Literature and Culture; Poetics; Gender Studies

I came to Duke University in 1988 from the "Deutsches Seminar" of the University of Berne in Switzerland, where I taught as an assistant professor for 2-1/2 years. I have been chair since January 1, 2006. My research and teaching treats medieval literature and culture from the 12th century to the Reformation, with particular focus on gender studies. This past fall I taught, for the first time, an undergraduate course called "The Legend of King Arthur in Literature and Film." Currently I am working on a book on creative obscenity in late medieval German literature. I also study late medieval German vernacular manuscripts, the interpretive categories they suggest, and the scholarly methods that are used to make sense of these artifacts. An example of one way that such philological concerns can be connected with a gender studies perspective can be found in the article "Gendered Knowledge and Eavesdropping in the Late Medieval German Minnerede," in Speculum 77.4 (2002). With professor Kathryn Starkey (German, UNC-CH) and Prof. Dr. Jutta Eming (German, Free University of Berlin) I hold a TransCoop award from the Humboldt Foundation to support research on the representations of emotion in medieval German culture and literature. Professor Sarah Westphal-Wihl (Rice University) and I have edited and translated for publication a selection of late medieval German texts about women. My professional service includes two terms as book review editor for Germanic literatures for Speculum; a term on the executive committee for the MLA's Division on German Literature, Pre-1700; and past President of the Society for Medieval Feminist Scholarship. University service includes DUS for Medieval and Renaissance Studies (2003-2006); executive committee of Academic Council (1999- 2001); Provost's advisory committee for Academic Programs (2003-04); and Chair of the Arts and Sciences Faculty Research Committee (2004-2005).

Current Ph.D. Students   (Former Students)

• Gabriele Wurmitzer

Representative Publications   (More Publications)

1. Ann Marie Rasmussen. Mothers and Daughters in Medieval German Literature. Syracuse University Press, 1997. (Reviews: Almut Suerbaum, in Arbitrium (2/1997):162-64; Albrecht Classen, in German Quarterly 71.4 (1998): 393-94; Katrien Heene, in Paedagogica historica 34 (1998): 143-45; Francis G. Gentry, in Choice 35.7 (1998): 1196; Katherine J. Meyer, in Speculum 74.3 (1999): 816-817; Elisabeth Lienert in Zeitschrift für deutsches Altertum 128 (1999): 89-97; Albrecht Classen, in Tristania 19 (1999): 129-34; Susanne B. Kimball, in Germanic Notes and Reviews 31.2 (Fall, 2000): 203-204; Hartwig Mayer, in Seminar 36.3 (2000): 362-63; Margaret Schleissner, in Medieval Feminist Forum 30 (Fall, 2000): 50-52; Claudia Brinker-Gabler, in Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur 122 (2000): 323-27; Maria Dobozy, Monatshefte 93.1 (2001): 115-17. Discussed by Joseph M. Sullivan, "Brother Hermann's Iolande: A Tale of Ideal Female Spirituality," Monatshefte 90.2 (1998): 161-75, pages 162 and 165; Edith Wenzel, in “Hêre vrouwe und übeles wîp: Zur Konstruktion von Frauenbildern im Minnesang,” in Mannlîchiu wîp, wîplîch man: Zur Konstruktion der Kategorien ‘Körper’ und ‘Geschlecht’ in der deutschen Literatur des Mittelalters, ed. Ingrid Bennewitz und Helmut Tervooren, Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für deutsche Philologie, vol. 9. Berlin: Schmidt, 1999, pp. 275, 278, 280; Ruth Mazo Karras in “Sex and the Singlewoman,” in Singlewomen in the European Past, 1250-1800, ed. Judith M. Bennett and Amy M. Froide. Philadelphia: Univ. of Pennsylvania Press, 1999, pp. 133-34; Albrecht Classen, “Mother Speaks to Daughter: Literary Historical Reflections on a Feminist Theme,” in German Quarterly 75.1 (2002): 71-87; Martin Baisch & Hendrikje Haufe, “Väter und Söhne - Mütter und Töchter. Normbruch und Normerfüllung in Heinrichs von Veldeke “Eneasroman”“in Der Deutschunterricht 60.1 (2003):62-67)
2. Ann Marie Rasmussen. "Visible and Invisible Landscapes: Medieval Monasticism as a Cultural Resource in the Pacific Northwest." A Place to Believe In: Medieval Monasticism in the Landscape. Ed. Gillian Overing and Clare A. Lees. Pennsylvania State University Press, 2006. 239-59.
3. Ann Marie Rasmussen. "Masculinity and the Minnerede in Berlin mgo 186." Triviale Minne? Konventionalität und Trivialisierung in spätmittelalterlichen Minnereden. Ed. Ludger Lieb and Otto Neudeck. de Gruyter, 2006. 119-138.
4. Ann Marie Rasmussen. "Subjektivität und Gender in der Märe Die zwei beichten (A und B)." Inszenierung von Subjektivität in der Literatur des Mittelalters. Ed. Martin Baisch et. al.. Ulrike Helmer Verlag, 2005. 271-287.
5. Ann Marie Rasmussen. "Preserving the Pre-Modern: Cultural Studies and the Problem of Curtailed Memory." German Studies Association Newsletter 29.2 (2004): 29-39.
6. Ann Marie Rasmussen. "Emotions, Gender, and Lordship in Medieval Literature: Clovis's Grief, Tristan's Anger, and Kriemhild's Restless Corpse." Codierungen von Emotionen im Mittelalter / Emotions and Sensibilities in the Middle Ages. Ed. C. Stephen Jaeger and Ingrid Kasten. New York: de Gruyter, 2003. 174-91.
7. Ann Marie Rasmussen. "The Female Figures in Gottfried's Tristan and Isolde." A Companion to Gottfried's Tristan and Isolde. Ed. Will Hasty. Columbia, S.C.: Camden House, 2003. 143-63.
8. Ann Marie Rasmussen. Review of John M. Klassen, The Rozemberk Sisters: Noblewomen in Fifteenth-Century Bohemia. Translated from Czech and German with Introduction, Notes and Interpretive Essay. Cambridge: D.S. Brewer (2002).  Medieval Feminist Forum 35 (2003): 48-50.
9.  Medieval Woman's Song: Cross-Cultural Approaches.  Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2002.
10. Ann Marie Rasmussen. "Reason and the Female Voice in Walther von der Vogelweide's Poetry." Medieval Woman's Song: Cross-Cultural Approaches.  2002. 168-86.
11. Ann Marie Rasmussen. "Thinking through Gender in Late Medieval German Literature." Gender in Debate from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. Ed. Thelma Fenster and Clare A. Lees. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2002. 97-111.
12. Ann Marie Rasmussen. "Gendered Knowledge and Eavesdropping in the Late Medieval German Minnerede." Speculum 77.4 (2002): 1168-94.
13. Ann Marie Rasmussen. "Fathers to Think Back Through: The Medieval German Mother-Daughter and Father-Son Conduct Poems Known as Die Winsbeckin and Der Winsbecke." Medieval Conduct. Ed. Kathleen Ashley and Robert L. A. Clark. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2001. 106-34.
14. Ann Marie Rasmussen. "The Crisis in the Humanities: Feminism, Medieval Studies, and the Academy." Medieval Feminist Forum 29  (Spring, 2000): 25-32.  Reprinted in Women's Studies at Duke University Newletter (Fall 2000): 2; 4-5; Faculty Forum for Duke University 12.4 (19.January 2001): 1-2
15.  Gender and Secrecy. Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies 30.1 (January, 2000).
16. A. Rasmussen. ""Gender and Secrecy"." Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies 30.1 (January, 2000).
17. Ann Marie Rasmussen. "Medieval German Romance." Cambridge Companion to Medieval Romance. Ed. Roberta Krueger. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 2000. 183-202.