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It is an undeniable fact that Adalbert Stifter paid detailed attention to his natural surroundings. Yet in the 1980s and 90s Stifter research focused on the author’s use of language: scholars endeavoured to emancipate the text from the intention of the author and to argue that a hermeneutic understanding of the text as a unity of meaning was impossible. More recently, scholars have pointed out the importance of Stifter’s ethical world-view, which insists on an equal treatment of all things. Following on from those arguments, this thesis conducts a reading of Stifter’s works from an ecological point of view and their implication for a good life in accordance with nature. Albert Schweitzer’s "Reverence for Life" and Arne Næss’ Deep Ecology are used as the ethical and philosophical framework. The four discussed works, "Der Hochwald" (1841/ 44), "Bergkristall" (1845/ 53), "Kalkstein" (1848/ 53) and "Der Nachsommer" (1857) show affinities and inconsistencies both between the different texts and within the individual texts themselves. Especially "Der Nachsommer" contradicts itself with its insistence that humans are only an "insertion" in the history of the earth on the one hand and its sympathy for the human desire for domination of the land on the other. Firstly, the thesis shows how the complexity of the ecological imagery in Stifter’s texts reflects the intricacy of a nineteenth-century perception of the world. The enthusiastic conquest of nature and the desire to reorder nature exists simultaneously with the scientific questioning of the subjective world-view. This questioning of a subjective perception of the world is secondly linked to the ecological imagery in Stifter’s work. His idiosyncratic language gives life to all things. This language, which I call an ecocentric narrative style, can be retraced in all his works, even in "Nachsommer". Consequently, the experience of the sublime is shifted into an ecological sublime. The perception of the immensity of nature and one’s own insignificance is not to be overcome by reason, but is instead a comforting realisation of one’s own relationship to and oneness with the entirety of the natural world.

Exploring Urban Spaces in the Young Imagination makes the case for taking seriously children's and young adult fiction as a topic worthy of scholarly analysis beyond a purely didactic focus. The recent explosion of interest in this literature among adult readers and the blurring of boundaries between adult and youth media demonstrate that it has become a powerful influence on popular culture and has captured the collective imagination. As the future inhabitants of urban spaces, paying close attention to children’s and youth perspectives can provide fresh lenses, with which to view the cultural construction of cityscapes. This dissertation examines post-millennium children’s and YA fiction and film. Drawing on theories of the spatial turn, my research provides five case studies on a variety of topics related to the contemporary metropolis – ranging from cognitive disability to environmental concerns. Specifically, it pays close attention to the inherent connections between the developing perceptions of metropolises and the various protagonists’ processes of identity formation. Beginning with Berlin, as portrayed in Andreas Steinhöfel’s popular Rico-und-Oskar-trilogy, my analysis explores the protagonist’s shifting perceptions of his urban surroundings while overcoming the limitations of his learning disability. Furthermore, my research shows how Steinhöfel’s Der mechanische Prinz utilizes the cityscape as a mirror for the protagonist’s psyche and how his knowledge of the Berlin subway system contributes to his self-healing. In contrast, China Miéville’s Un Lun Dun explores the ecocritical implications of London’s urban ‘other’, UnLondon. Katherine Marsh’s The Night Tourist and its sequel The Twilight Tourist illustrate the literary construction of New York City as a ‘mediascape’ and modern myth. Finally, I focus on alternative family structures and their connection to urban spaces, specifically Venice in Cornelia Funke’s Herr der Diebe, and Paris in Brian Selznick’s The Invention of Hugo Cabret. The study concludes with an examination of these novels’ filmic versions and their respective romanticisations of Venice and Paris. The dissertation contributes to the fields of child and youth studies and urban geographies by exposing the manifold symbiotic constructions of cityscapes and youth in post-2000 children’s and YA fiction that shape identities and spaces alike.

This thesis analyzes the connection between film and body memory. Christian Schwochow’s Novemberkind (2008), Johannes Schmid's Wintertochter (2011) and Christian Petzold's Barbara (2012) are post-unification films that represent the past through the senses of sight, sound and touch. Communicative memory conveys the past to future generations, and different material objects, such as photographs, carry the past into the future. These films offer different perspectives and generations, as well as different sense memories of the German past.

Motherhood is a contemporary topic that affects the majority of women in Germany, and yet the experiences and struggles of working mothers often remain taboo or are in conflict with social conventions and established traditions. If one adds to this mothers’ wishes or needs to pursue a career, challenges occur: conflicting priorities, the family structure, social perceptions and pressures, and reconciling and balancing the multi-faceted demands on a woman’s life. „Eine Poetik der Mutterschaft“ breaks the silence around these concern and explores the poeticity of motherhood in German literature and the artwork of two female authors, who pursued their personal and career goals and did not conform to the ideal image of motherhood in Germany: Else Lasker-Schüler (1869-1945) and Marie Luise Kaschnitz (1901-1974). Both women were working mothers, who had different motherhood experiences and challenges. The dissertation begins with a close look at these authors’ biographies, their personal experiences of pregnancy, birth, and motherhood. Next comes an analysis of the literary and artistic works with examples of how motherhood informs their works and creative process, how images of maternity are utilized to communicate a message, and some metaphorical meanings of motherhood in the selected works. I argue that the creative process is a parallel to motherhood itself, and I show how this is connected to the metapoeticity of the works. This dissertation highlights the ways in which Lasker-Schüler and Kaschnitz, like other historical working mother-artists such as Käthe Kollwitz, become role models and inspire women in contemporary times, enabling women to draw strength from each other and to continue to stretch the boundaries of traditional and ideal perceptions of mothers and motherhood.

Following the 2012 capture of Luka Magnotta in Berlin, Thomas Bo Nilsson started to conceptualise his first major solo dramatic installation entitled MEAT. MEAT featured in the 2014 edition Berlin theatre festival Festival of International New Drama hosted by Schaubühne. The piece itself lasted 240 hours long with over 60 actors improvising in a multiple languages in an interactive environment, where audience members enter into the miniature version of Berlin’s queer scene. Out of this complex organism that Bo Nilsson conceptualised and manifested with his partner Julian Eicke, questions about how Magnotta fits into this dramatic installation. A crucial part of the success of Bo Nilsson’s installation is the actors’ use of technology during the performance. Compared to Donna Haraway’s ideation on cyborgs in her book Simians, Cyborgs, and Women, it becomes apparent that Bo Nilsson’s dramatic installation outlines and demonstrates the irony of “man’s dream” to dominate the world via technology. My thesis seeks to analyse how technology is used to transcend the human experience, but as Bo Nilsson’s installation proves through the technologies of place, social media, and cameras, technology does not provide an avenue to the post-human rather merely the reconfiguration of the human body and human habits. The set and actors in MEAT in many ways act as a mirror for the audience to gaze upon their own reconfigured bodies and reveal that the irony of “man’s dream” is that although these technologies change the physical ways people interact with the world, only the “meat” of their bodies is changed, and Dasein remains the same.

Es gibt fünf Betriebsmodi für Schaufelfahrlader und Schwerlastkraftwagen: Die manuelle Steuerung, die Fernhantierung- und die assistierte fernhantierte Steuerung, den Copilot und den autonomen Modus. Die Betriebsmodi spiegeln die Automatisierungsstadien wieder. Für eine vollständige Automatisierung des diskontinuierlichen Transports werden autonome, intelligente Betriebsmittel benötigt. Teilautomatisierte Schaufelfahrlader sind seit über 20 Jahren technische Realität. Durch den Einsatz von automatisierten Fahrzeugen erhöht sich die Arbeitssicherheit, Produktivität, Qualität und Effizienz der Rohstoffförderung. Darüberhinaus kann die Automatisierung zu einer besseren Umweltverträglichkeit beitragen. Autonome Transport Systeme werden grundsätzlich in zwei Bereiche unterteilt: Die Systeme der betrieblichen Ebene und die Systeme, welche sich direkt auf dem Fahrzeugen befinden. Die Systeme der betrieblichen Ebene sind eine Schnittstelle zwischen dem menschlichen und dem autonomen, der software-basiertem Bergwerksplanung und der Grubenbewirtschaftung. Sie stellen Daten für die Unternehmensprozessüberwachung bereit und kontrollieren sowie optimieren das System, dass die autonomen Fahrzeuge steuert. Die Lokalisierung und Positionierung der Fahrzeuge mit einem Navigationssystem ist ein essentielles Teilsystem der Automatisierungssysteme auf den Fahrzeugen. Das Navigationssystem basiert entweder auf dem Prinzip der absoluten oder der reaktiven Navigation. In der Praxis werden Hybridsysteme verwendet, um die Vorteile beider Prinzipien zu kombinieren. Unterschiedliche Sensoren wie Laserscanner, Radar oder Ladar, optische Kameras und eine inertiale Messeinheit ermitteln Messdaten, die das auf dem Fahrzeug befindliche Automatisierungssystem zur Steuerung, Positionierung und Überwachung des autonomen Fahrzeuges benötigt. Es gibt zum Stand der Erstellung der Projektarbeit vier kommerzielle Automatisierungslösungen: Auto Mine (Sandvik), Mine- Gem/Command for Underground (Caterpillar), Scooptram Automation System (Atlas Copco), Automated Guidance (Nautilus), die weltweit in mindestens 28 Bergwerken eingesetzt werden. Diese Systeme autonomisieren das Fahren von Schaufelfahrladern und Schwerlastkraftwagen sowie das Abkippen des Haufwerkes. Das Füllen der Schaufel erfolgt im assistierten fernhantiertem Modus. Es gibt vielversprechende Forschungsprojekte zur Weiterentwicklung der Automatisierungstechnik der Betriebsmittel und der betrieblichen Ebene.

Die Optimierung des Bohr- und Sprengverfahrens im Südwestfeld des Steinsalzbergwerks Heilbronn der Südwestdeutsche Salzwerke AG und die Ausarbeitung der schriftlichen Arbeit erfolgte im Rahmen eines angeleiteten Industriepraktikums. Die Empfehlung zur maschinellen Auffahrung im deutschen Salzbergbau wurde durch die Aufsichtsbehörde, in diesem Fall das Regierungspräsidium Freiburg unterstützt. Diese Veröffentlichung der schriftlichen Arbeit geht mit der Empfehlung der sofortigen, behördlichen Stilllegung des Baufeldes aufgrund fehlender Automatisierungsmaßnahmen und einer fehlenden sorgfältigen Risikobewertung des Sprengverfahrens einher.

Color fish card of two swimming sturgeon. Descriptive text in German on back. From the collection of Gord Edmondson